A big Congratulations to Michael Grimm, winner of America’s Got Talent 2010!!

Final America’s Got Talent 2010 Top 4 Performances

Well, season 5 of America’s Got Talent is coming to a close. I’m kind of sad about that since it really has been an interesting season. The talent on this season of America’s Got Talent has had more variety and has been more refined and professional than in season’s past.

That said, I was right that the top 4 has kind of been a disappointment for me. I’m not sure if it’s the top 4′s fault or AGT for having so many episodes to finally make it to the final. Either way, the top 4 are talented, but the TV show just wasn’t all that exciting for me.

Ok, enough in general, here’s my specific thoughts on the top 4:

Prince Poppycock – Piers is absolutely right to buzz him. Ok, maybe it’s a little distasteful to do it in the finale, but that’s his job as a judge to do it. Prince Poppycock is as much about show as he is about singing. Tonight he chose to take away half of his talent by really just singing. Ok, he gets some partial points for the costuming, but the costuming is really just meant to accentuate and underscore his performance. The song just doesn’t match the Prince Poppycock persona. Two weeks of generally disappointing performances is not looking good for him.

Michael Grimm – With singers so much of it is choosing the right song. Michael had chosen good not great songs up until the finale. The songs fit his voice, but didn’t really compel the masses to love him. I think tonight’s song choice was a great choice. It fit his musical style. It had the right amount of energy and excitement that is needed for a show like AGT. Very well done. He should be very happy with his performance. I still have some doubt that his style and genre will have enough mass appeal to get him the win.

Jackie Evancho – I thought it was an interesting choice of music for Jackie. Although, I think the music plays perfectly for most of her fan base. As I listened to her tonight I think I was most impressed with her ability to really nail the pitches and create such a beautiful and consistent tone. We’ve seen some amazing kid singers on the show, but one of the challenges they usually have is hitting the right pitches (what people call pitchy) and being consistent in their singing. Jackie has been pretty flawless in that regard and that’s talent. Although, I think her special X factor is that she’s just adorably cute.

Fighting Gravity – I was glad that we got another chance to see Fighting Gravity perform after last week’s relatively weak performance. Tonight’s performance was back up to the Fighting Gravity level. I’m not sure the mistake that Piers pointed out will matter that much. I do think they were kind of missing that next level of WOW that would have given them a chance to win AGT. However, Howie is spot on that a black light theater show is going to be in Las Vegas. It will also likely be branded Fighting Gravity. When Terry Fator got to Las Vegas, he worked with some great talent and really took his show to the next level. I think the same thing will happen with Fighting Gravity and it will become one of those must see shows that I tell people who visit me about. I’ll be the first one at their premiere to let you know about it.

As you can see, my bet is on Jackie Evancho winning, but as I said in my previous AGT 2010 winner post, it is so close that tomorrow we could be surprised. The suspense will be pretty intense. I can’t wait to see what happens!

America’s Got Talent 2010 Top 4 Thoughts

It’s hard for me to believe that next week will be the finale of America’s Got Talent 2010. My wife however thinks that this season has gone on forever. I hope that’s not because she thinks I spend too much time blogging about America’s Got Talent. It is my job after all;-)

Well, we’re down to the final 4. If you’ve been reading Pure America’s Got Talent the past few days, then the results show won’t have been a shock at all. Especially the way they announced it. Based on our polls, they should have put the Michael’s head to head and we wouldn’t have really known which one was going to make it. Instead, the whole thing was pretty anti climactic for me.

Enough about that. On to the final 4. Here’s my thoughts on the acts:
Fighting Gravity – America really fell in love with this group after their first couple performances. However, I think this last performance soured quite a few people to Fighting Gravity. Let’s be honest here. The lasers were cool, but it wasn’t nearly as good of a performance as they’d done before. I think it will be hard for them to bring back the original magic and wow factor again in the finale. I hope I’m proven wrong though, since the dark light theater concept is brilliant.

Michael Grimm – I’m not sure about Michael Grimm myself. I think he has a decent sized group of incredibly passionate fans that love him and love the style of music he does. Then, there’s the rest of the audience who doesn’t really dislike him, but also don’t love him either. It will be interesting to see if his group of passionate fans will be enough to get him the win.

Prince Poppycock – I believe that Prince Poppycock is the most polarizing figure in the finals. There’s a bunch of people that adore what he does and a bunch of people that hate what he does. There aren’t that many people in between. Although, like Fighting Gravity, I think he took a bit of hit in his popularity with his last performance. The good part is that most of the hit he took was from people who probably weren’t going to vote for him in the first place. Marianya learned that his final performance will include a bit of John in it along with Prince Poppycock. I’m interested to know how he plans to do that.

Jackie Evancho – It’s going to be a real challenge for Jackie to match her last performance. Between the song choice, the ethereal stage production and her performance she’s going to have a hard time matching that in this next performance. I wonder if she peaked one episode too early. Where does she go from here? If she does execute a similar performance to her last one, she’s going to be a hard little girl to beat.

Overall, it is interesting that 3 of the final 4 our singers. Although, it’s kind of hard to classify Prince Poppycock as a singer. If he just got up and sang, he would have been gone long ago. He’s so much more than a singer. For the variety aspect I’d have loved to have Jeremy in the final 4 instead of Michael Frimm or even Michael Grasso, but it is what it is.

My biggest concern for the finale is we have 4 acts left that are more or less predictable. We know almost exactly what we’re going to get from Michael Grimm and Jackie Evancho are going to do. If you like it, then you’ll be happy to hear more of essentially the same. Prince Poppycock will be a similar over the top routine and Fighting Gravity will have to pull some crazy rabbit out of the hat to really have the WOW factor.

I guess that means I’m predicting a talented, but less than extraordinary final 4. What do you think?