Welcome to Pure America's Got Talent

I think it’s really clear that A LOT of people are VERY unhappy with the selections made by the judges (and should we say producers?) of America’s Got Talent. I’ll talk more about other eliminations in a future post, but for this one I want to talk about the travesty that is the Magicians that they selected.

Between Murray Sawchuck and Michael Grazzo the slight-of-hand magician, at least from the performances we saw (which is what the judges are suppose to use) it’s very clear to me who was more skilled. To me it was such a poor decision to take Murray (who no doubt has a better look) over Michael.

The funny part is that the appearing car trick that Murray did is the lamest trick in the book. It’s lame on a number of levels. First, everyone does some form of trick like that. It’s basically been done. Plus, tricks like that on TV are even more lame since you can’t really see what’s going on.

Of course, Murray complained that the slight-of-hand stuff that Michael did wouldn’t work in a big auditorium performance. The funniest part is that in person Murray’s appearing car doesn’t work in a large auditorium since you see them roll the car in. It could only work on TV where they make sure the angles don’t show the car. Totally LAME!

Plus, I actually watched the slight-of-hand work by Michael Grazzo live at the Las Vegas Auditions. I was sitting in the balcony and from an angle. Yet, even from that distance, Michael’s magic was impressive. That’s why it was crazy that Howie said that it was too small. Not to mention, Michael had proven that he could do big tricks too.

Needless to say, I was completely disappointed with this choice. It will be interesting to see what Murray brings in Hollywood. However, I don’t have really high hopes. I just wish I could afford to go to LA and see it live. Time to start taking up donations so I can go cover it for you;-)

Turns out that some of the readers of Pure America’s Got Talent (this site) have been cheating on me and heading over to the official NBC America’s Got Talent forums. Good thing I’m a forgiving guy. At least as long as they keep coming back;-) I should also make it clear that this site is a completely independently run fan site. I have no connection with America’s Got Talent, Fremantle Media, NBC or any other part of the show. I do have contact with their PR and publicity people like any other TV news organization might have. However, this site is for the fans.

Well, turns out that a number of readers from this site are reporting that their comments on the NBC America’s Got Talent boards are getting taken down. Reports are that it’s for a TOS Violation, which likely is for comments that were “inappropriate and bordered on contestant bashing.”

I haven’t been to those AGT boards in a while, but I remember they had a ton of really funky rules. In fact, that’s part of the reason I haven’t gone back. However, I find it pretty amusing that they want to try and control people’s comments even if it’s bashing the AGT contestants. Don’t they realize that by doing so, they’re just making people even more angry with the show?

I guess it’s good news for me, because plenty of those people have come to this site where they can share their feelings openly without worrying about a TOS violation. Also, don’t get me wrong. NBC and America’s Got Talent are well within their rights to remove anything that they want on their site. Just like I can remove anything if I feel like it’s in the best interest of this site. However, just because they can, doesn’t mean that they should.

I’ve been running a number of TV related blogs with open comments for the past 4 years. I’ve seen thousands of people comment over that time. Yet, I’ve only had to moderate a half dozen comments (besides the straight up SPAM comments). It just very rarely makes sense to remove comments that people have made. There’s almost no benefit.

Instead the way to deal with those comments is to address them in an open manner. The problem is that it takes some real skill to do it effectively. I’m guessing that the board moderators for the official AGT forum don’t have those skills (or haven’t been given them). So, it’s just easier to make a rule for them to remove the comments. I personally only draw the line when people start making personal comments about other people’s comments or vulgarity of any sort. That’s just unnecessary.

While it feels like removing the comments will make things better, it ironically usually makes things worse.

As such, you’re certainly welcome to make critical and heartfelt comments about America’s Got Talent on this site. In fact, we’re happy to see when you do. That doesn’t mean we will agree with you or that other readers will agree with you either. We can be adults and disagree about topics. Unfortunately, that’s a talent that America seems to be sorely missing.