‘America’s Got Talent’ rankings: Brandon and Savannah, Jonathan Allen, and others
We predicted that the first “America’s Got Talent” live show was going to be a lot better than it ended up being. So where does this latest group of performers stack up? Somewhere in the middle. There’s not an act that we are on the edge of our seat to see, but there are several (once again, mostly singers) that America is probably going to get behind as we do move ever closer to the next round of this competition.
This list, as with the others, is more about predicting consensus rather than sharing are own favorites, and we’re basing it on a few things: Edit, screen time, performance quality, and even the field. Take, for example, that we’ve already seen an impressionist and two opera acts advance.
12. Kelsey and Bailey – After the Olate Dogs last year, it’s difficult for anyone to rise to that level. It’s a dog that can dance, and there’s only one of them. This is a cute little house party act, but not for this show. Our cat has about as much of a chance of auditioning into the semifinals and he’s 100 years old with no teeth.
11. Jim Meskimen – This is the best impersonation act of the season, but since he doesn’t have the same story as Angela Hoover, he didn’t get much screen time until now. Therefore, he’s probably a long shot to advance unless he comes out and completely nails it with an inspired set of material.
10. Chicago Boyz Acrobatic Team – First of all, we’re annoyed by the inability of people to actually spell boys properly, almost like they think that having a z at the end makes them somewhat more hip. We do like the act to a certain extent, but it feels repetitive versus the other strength and acrobatic acts that are in the competition.
9. David “The Cobra Kid” Weathers – A great act for seeing it once, but there is no way America votes for this. People are terrified of snakes, and there is such an air of unpredictability about this that one of these snakes could potentially kill him at any given moment. Not the fun kind of danger.
8. AeroSphere – She flies around in a sphere. After a few minutes of this, we personally believe that some of the novelty associated with the act is lost. There’s just only so much you can do with this.
7. Mitsi Dancing School – A beautiful sort of cultural Chinese routine that we are always thrilled to see make it to this point in the competition. A lack of screentime will probably doom it, and that may not be a terrible thing given that we don’t know what sort of range an act like this really has. For now we are just happy that it is receiving the attention that it is.
6. Leon Etienne and Romy Low – Sadly, they are probably best known for being honest about the failures of another magic act in Vegas Week, and we haven’t seen much of them outside of that. We’re a sucker for good magicians, so this hope shall guide them in our eyes for now.
5. Deanna DellaCloppa – A very good singer, but her entire Vegas Week package was somewhat awkward, overly emotional, and plagued by technical problems. We want to hear a great song from her Tuesday, and not just quotes about how this is her last chance and how she has been passed on too many times in life.
4. Kenichi Ebina – Super-entertaining, and fantastic at what he does. We say this because we have seen thousands of animators on this show and “So You Think You Can Dance,” and you really need to actually do something impressive to get our attention at this point. He has managed to do just that, and so you have to applaud him.
3. Jonathan Allen – To be fair, we get him and Branden James very confused, mostly because they both have this sort of deep, voice. But do we really need another opera act in the semifinals, especially given that both Branden and Forte are there? We’re ranking him here based on talent, but we almost think producers will bury him in a bad part of the show.
2. Brandon and Savannah – We really like this brother / sister duo. They’ve proven that they are just not some kid act trying to rely on the “aww” factor, and they’ve worked hard to create their own music and perfect their stage presence. It’s going to depend very much on what they choose to perform, but we like them far more than any of the other vocal acts in this round … even if we think that there is another act with a better shot at advancing.
1. American Military Spouses Choir – If we were going straight on talent, they would probably not be this high up, but there is such respect for the military out there that they have a very good chance at advancing. We could genuinely see them having a career after the show doing various gigs at military functions.
If you want to see the acts that are already through to the next round, our advice for you is to head on over to the link here.
Photo: NBC