America's Got Talent: New York Serves Up Talent And Oddities
Episode 2 Recap by Jacob D.
June 29, 2006
Welcome to another week of America's biggest talent show, America's Got Talent! Last week, the show got started with a bang. Or a snap, as it were. We saw a lot of "interesting" acts and scratched our heads, wondering what the judges were thinking. Well, I was. Some of the acts that made it through were some you'd expect such as singers, dancers, acrobats, and magicians. Others weren't so conventional, including a professional snappist, a guy with bike horns, and even a 65 year old stripper. What kind of crazy stuff will we see this week? Who will break out and become a star in waiting? Let's take a look.
The stage is set, the lights are on, and Regis takes the stage to tell us that tonight, we'll be seeing the auditioners from New York and the East coast. After seeing a clip of people signing up in New York and Regis introducing the judges, the first group of auditioners is called up onstage.
The first act to take the stage will be All That. Not to be confused with the singing group who auditioned last week, but a new group of guys. These 5 men will be clog dancing. Not the type of clog dancing that involves Swedish dress and wooden shoes, but then, I don't really know what "clogging" is outside of that. Watching them dance, I guess it's just clog dancing without all that costume stuff. They are great and move at a quick clip, immediately engaging the audience. They make it through the audition without either of the judges buzzing them out. David says they could win, Brandy loves them, but Piers doesn't like them. However, he says that's only because every woman in America will fall in love with them. I think they could go far. They have the talent, the look, the sex appeal...the whole package. The judges put them through to the next round.
Next is William J. McGowan, who will be singing for us tonight. In his intro clip, he says he has a God given gift and people are "taken aback" when he sings. When people build themselves up like that, all I can say is they better deliver. He chooses to sing a song called "Cara Mia" (I missed the artist he said it was by) and feels it will show off his range. Right away, everything is just wrong. He doesn't have the look of a star, the enthusiasm, the charisma, or any of that. Well, is he a good singer? Um, not quite. He definitely has potential. You can tell he's trained, but the notes he was hitting and the sound of it all was just "off" to me. It doesn't help that right after he starts, we cut to a kid in the audience covering his ears. Piers hits his buzzer, but the worst is yet to come. The song hits an up tempo portion and William's attempts at entertaining only exacerbate the fact that he really doesn't have any of the qualities of a good entertainer. Through it all, the audience is absolutely stone faced. David finally hits his buzzer and after a heinous high note, Brandy hits her's to put us out of our misery. It's a no vote and Brandy actually gives him a "hell no" vote. That was probably the worst audition I've seen and that includes the Shadow Dancers from last week. It'll be hard to top that one.
Regis calls up more auditioners, one of whom is "Leonid the Magnificent", and insanely tall guy in shorts, boots, and large wings. He is LITERALLY dwarfing Regis up on stage there! You'll have to see it when it reruns on Bravo.
Speaking of Leonid, he is next onstage. We don't get an intro clip or any explanation of what he does, so I'll just have to guess as he goes along. Dramatic music plays and he slowly marches to the front of the stage carrying a sword in his left hand and something else in his right hand. Oh, that's a knife. He puts the knife in his mouth and with his eyes closed (in dramatic fashion) balances the rapier on the tip of the knife blade. He keeps it balanced while doing some slow choreography, but when he goes for what looks like a split, the rapier falls and he gets buzzed by Piers. After some repositioning, he tries again and is successful, although very shaky. He changes position a little and pulls out a string, which he uses to lift the rapier by its point and balance it in the air. Then, the act is done, with Leonid taking a bow. I don't know what to call that, but it was unique. Piers calls him "magnificently useless" and David says it was more scary to watch than entertaining (based on the sword dropping and the precarious position of it all). Brandy gives him a yes vote, but Piers and David say no and Leonid is out.
Immediately taking the stage is Elliot Zimet and just looking at him, I'd guess he'd be singing or doing comedy. He takes his mic, but it doesn't seem to be working. He takes it off the stand anyway and throws it out where it magically becomes a dove! Wow, how'd he do that? So I guess I'm wrong and he'll be doing a magic act. He does some cool tricks where he turns a cell phone into sunglasses and makes more doves appear through various means. It's all set to a cool, hiphop beat and he just goes from trick to trick to trick. After pulling out a couple veils, he even makes a parrot appear! With his act done, the audience gives him a standing ovation. The judges love him and put him through to the next round.
Next is Corina Brouder who will be playing the harp and singing. It didn't work for Kathy Kavanaugh so will it work for Corina? I suspect it might since she's a pretty young thing and Kathy's audition sounded like a funeral dirge (even though I liked it). In her intro piece, she tells us she is nurse and when her sister got into a terrible accident, she would sing for her in the hospital. The other nurses thought it was cute so they asked her to sing for other patients and Corina thought it was such a blessing. I think she just endeared herself to a lot of people with that clip. Rather than doing some opera song like Kathy did last week, she sings Sarah McLachlan's "Angel" and this might sound cliché, but her voice wafts out like, well, an angel. It's an incredibly sweet and moving piece. I think I like her. Everything about her is so warm, soothing, and inviting. Her look, her spirit, her voice, and obviously, the judges loved it and decide to put her through to the next round. I think she could have a shot at winning. I certainly want to see her again.
The next person to audition is Dave Smith who plays the guitar and sings, while sitting in a chair with his legs behind his head. He sings a song with lyrics like "bend me, shape me, anyway you want me" (the song sounds familiar but I can't place it) and invites the audience to put their legs behind their heads. He gets through his audition with only David buzzing him, but I don't know if he'll be moving on. It's certainly possible after some of the stuff the judges tipped their hat to last week, but the act was nothing exciting. I mean, had he not had his legs behind his head, he'd just be some guy playing the guitar and singing. A very mediocre act. Brandy asks him what made him do something like this and he guesses that he just needed the attention. I like him. He seems like a nice guy and he has a clean look, but the act was nothing special. Brandy says yes, but David says no. Piers seems nonplussed, but he decides to give Dave another chance. Dave is through to the next round. The chair he is on is rotated offstage with him still in "legs behind head" position and it's kinda funny. Backstage, Regis asks him to demonstrate how he did that with his legs.
In a bit that seems kinda staged, Brandy asks Regis if they can bring Leonid back out because she has a gut feeling about him and wants to discuss him with the judges again. I don't deny that Brandy likes him, but I wonder if she was the one who decided to interrupt the auditions for another round of Leonid or if people behind the camera thought it'd make for good TV. Kinda like that one American Idol results show where Rebecca Romijn asked if Taylor Hicks could perform "Jailhouse Rock" again. I liked Leonid, so let's see where this is going. Leonid comes back onstage and as Brandy pleads with the guys to give him a second chance, Leonid begins to cry. The crowd cheers when Brandy asks if they're behind her, so I guess they like him too. You really have to see this. The crowd cheers and Leonid gets on his knees and bows before them. It's all so dramatic and flamboyant. Piers thinks he looks great, but the act was clumsy and tells Leonid to change his (Piers') mind. Leonid gives a tearful speech about dreaming of this moment and showing what he can do and implores them to give him one more chance. The audience must really be behind him because he even has people out there crying with him. Brandy asks for a second chance and David asks the audience if they want him back and they do. Piers decides to change his vote because Leonid is passionate and emotional, which are some things an entertainer needs to be. Leonid is put through to the next round. He is happy and skips offstage, literally.
Our next act is something.....
Are You Buzz Worthy? We Want Your Thoughts!
Have you got something interesting to say. We'd like to hear it. We'll post your comments in Buzz Worthy. This is your chance to sound off about your favorite Reality TV show. Or the show you hate. Did somebody do something really stupid? Really smart? Is there a strategy being over looked? Is a performer for real? Or not getting the buzz they should? Here's your chance - take it.
They Were Cast - Why Not You?
Reality TV Calendar will send you the latest casting calls as soon as they are released. Calls are often short notice with short deadlines. You need to make contact immediately. You can't do that unless you have immediate notification of the call. One Time Payment, Only $7.95.
Click For More Information.
All articles are the intellectual property of and copyrighted by the individual authors. By submitting an article to Reality TV Calendar you are granting Reality TV Calendar permission to display the article in perpetuity.
