Welcome to Pure America’s Got Talent

Simon Cowell isn’t my favorite person in the whole world, but it’s hard to argue with his ability to produce a TV show. Plus, he has an amazing skill as a judge on TV shows too. So, I was completely intrigued when I saw this article suggesting that Simon Cowell is planning a new TV show called “World’s Got Talent.” Sounds like the perfect spin off to his America’s Got Talent / Britain’s Got Talent shows.

Here’s some details from the article:

The show will feature acts from over 80 countries, with the winner receiving a prize of up to £1m.

A source told The Sun: “This has been Simon’s dream. It will be the biggest reality show the world’s seen. There is a huge wealth of talent out there. The best acts cross language barriers.
…
ITV and NBC are said to be involved and the show is planned to be staged at the Royal Albert Hall.

This could be really fun to watch. I can think of a lot of acts I’d like to see on this show!

In some of the best news I’ve gotten tonight, I’m happy to say that David Hasselhoff will no longer be a judge on America’s Got Talent. I’m sure there could be worse, but David Hasselhoff just felt far too fake for me on the show. He seemed to offer little insight as a judge. Here’s the news as it was reported by E! online:

After four seasons on America’s Got Talent, David Hasselhoff is leaving the judges’ table, his rep confirms to E! News. “I am proud that I was part of making America’s Got Talent, the No. 1 rated show for the past four summers,” Hasselhoff said in a statement.

“It’s been a rewarding experience and now I’m thrilled to be able to follow my dream to do my own TV show, which will be announced very shortly.”

I know that MANY people won’t share my happiness. Many people loved having the Hoff as a judge on America’s Got Talent. To those people I offer my condolences. However, I’ll be VERY happy to see a freshness on the judging panel of America’s Got Talent. It had really grown quite stale this past season. Far too predictable and not very entertaining.

I’d still LOVE to have Simon Cowell join as a judge. He’s absolutely BRILLIANT as a judge on Britain’s Got Talent. However, I’m quite sure that Simon can’t be a judge on America’s Got Talent because of his contract as a judge on American Idol. I’m not sure who else is available.

I’d also love to have the blonde girl from Britain’s Got Talent replace Sharon on the judges panel as well. I’m not sure her name, but she was quite good. Yes, I guess you can say I’m a big fan of the way the judges worked on Britain’s Got Talent.

Best of luck to the Hoff and we’ll be watching to see what his next TV show will be.

Poor David Hasselhoff has done it again. If the British tabloids are to be believed, he got rip roaring drunk at Simon Cowell’s 50th birthday bash and continued on this junket for 2 more days until his assistant called for a doctor. It was said the assistant was afraid David would die from alcohol poisoning.

David was allegedly so drunk, he took a swing at his assistant, missed and hit the doctor. The article went on to say he had been so loaded that he wet the bed and ruined 2 mattresses. The hotel got him to a hospital and he was in rehab for 2 days.

David, David, oh David. He is very well liked by most of the AGT audiences and contestants, including myself, but I just wish he’d wake up and come to his senses before he kills himself. I can’t help but wonder what would happen to him if he did something to bad enough to get fired from judging AGT.

Since he clearly can’t handle his drinking, he should have given this party a miss. Seriously. Sometimes on the show the look in his eyes reminds me of what Paula looked like on American Idol from time to time. Does anyone out there think David will ever get into rehab and stay sober?

Yes, I’m making the assumption that Susan Boyle is going to win Britain’s Got Talent. That aside, I found this little quote of Simon Cowell really interesting:

Music mogul Simon Cowell has revealed that singing sensation Susan Boyle would get a spot on America’s Got Talent provided she wins at the Britain’s Got Talent show.

“I would say to anybody who won the British show[Britain's Got Talent] that we guarantee them a spot on the American show. I think that’s a great incentive. So if it is Susan, yes,” the Sun quoted him as saying.

Of course, Simon Cowell produces both Britain’s Got Talent and America’s Got Talent, so he could easily make this happen. What isn’t very clear to me is how the Britain’s Got Talent winner would participate in America’s Got Talent. It doesn’t seem fair or likely to be as a contestant on America’s Got Talent (like the article linked above seems to assume). Instead, I could easily see the winner of Britain’s Got Talent appearing as a special guest on one of the later America’s Got Talent shows. Similar to how Terry Fator came back and did a number.

Either way, I think America would love to see the winner of America’s Got Talent do a number at the finale of America’s Got Talent. Talent is talent regardless of where it comes from.

I’m not sure exactly why, but Shaun Smith’s audition stood out the most to me for his group of BGT semi finalists. He chose a song that would be super popular thanks to U2. He executed it fairly well. Simon Cowell threw him a bone and recognized that he’s only 17 years old right now. That’s another great storyline.

One thing I have to say is that the camera work was horrible on his act. When he went to hit the high note, the camera work killed it for me. That aside, I’m really glad that Shaun Smith will be a finalist on Britain’s Got Talent 2009.

Check out the BGT semi final performance of Shaun Smith singing “With or Without You” by U2

I must admit that the first time I saw Susan Boyle I really enjoyed her story. I was a little disappointed when I found out some background information on Susan Boyle. However, the story of Susan Boyle is still really fantastic even if a bit doctored.

What is really disappointing to me is Susan Boyle’s semi final performance on Britain’s Got Talent. You can see it for yourself. Here’s Susan Boyle singing “Memory” from Lloyd Webber’s Cats

Simon Cowell was right about not wanting to be in Susan Boyle’s shoes. Susan did pick it up a little about half way through her performance, but the beginning of her performance was awful. If it was anyone but Susan, Piers and Simon would have both buzzed her off the stage. I think the problem is when the song goes high, Susan isn’t very good.

I’m not really upset with Susan. She is living the dream and many people have been inspired thanks to her. That’s a wonderful thing. I just can’t believe that Simon Cowell would give her a standing ovation after that performance. Maybe the standing ovation was for Susan’s media tour and not for her singing.

Now that I’ve sounded like a downer, I loved this episode of BGT. Almost every single act was incredibly entertaining to watch.

I know this is a little late, but it was too interesting not to post about it. I’ve previously called out Donald Braswell from America’s Got Talent for not being a real underdog story. I just explained that Donald had been singing as the three tenors in San Antonio before going on America’s Got Talent and after his surgery. That didn’t seem quite right for me. I was blaming the producers as much as I was Donald, but that didn’t stop Donald Braswell fans from going on about how great Donald was. Turns out I love those fans, because they bring a nice bit of traffic to my site;-)

Well, in a little bit different way, I guess Susan Boyle, of Britain’s Got Talent fame, has been called out by BuddyTV as well. Here’s what they uncovered/implied about Susan Boyle:

• Britain’s Got Talent found Susan, not Susan finding BGT
• Simon Cowell new about Susan Boyle well before she was on stage and so his reaction was disingenuous
• Susan Boyle has been kissed (I added this one from an interview I saw Susan Boyle do)

At the end of the day, Susan Boyle has inspired millions. Certainly it was well contrived on the part of Britain’s Got Talent. Now that I’ve seen the audition process up close on this blog, I can see how there’s no way Simon Cowell didn’t know about Susan before he saw her. I guess we can say that Simon is a great actor. He sold it.

At the end of the day, it rubs off a little of the shine that was on Susan before, but it’s still amazing that “frumpy” Susan Boyle can sing like that. Should be fun to see her in the next rounds after being so famous.

I know I’m a little late in actually posting this, but I needed to post a few comments about the second episode of Britain’s Got Talent. Basically, call this the cliff notes version of the second episode of Britain’s Got Talent. I’ll embed videos of these various talents (and not so talents) where possible.

I’ll be listing possible contenders on this season of Britain’s Got Talent, the joke acts that were highly entertaining and what I think was highly overrated by the judges.

Contenders:
Julian Smith – The nice part of this act is that it provides something other than a great singer. The show I’m sure is looking for more variety acts to compete with the singers on the show. So, this fits the bill. Kind of a bit like Kenny G, but with a look that’s 100 times better. I have a feeling the judges will like Julian a lot and so will much of Britain. See the BGT video on YouTube.

Shaheen Jafargholi – This was the closest we came to getting a Susan Boyle like act in Britain’s Got Talent episode 2. I felt like the 2 song thing was far too staged, but Shaheen was dead on in the second song and really was talented. There’s something about a cute little kid with a big voice that people love on these talent shows. Assuming he makes good song choices he’ll do quite well on Britain’s Got Talent. See BGT video on YouTube.

Jokes:
Singing Souls – This act was absolutely horrific. However, the interaction with Simon Cowell was awesome. My favorite line is when Simon says “you should be the mouthpiece.” Super funny. Check out their video on YouTube.

Overrated:
DCD Seniors – I’m pretty sure that DCD Seniors are going to have a few people that were entertained. It was pretty entertaining, but it didn’t really fit into the category of talent in my book. There wasn’t anything special about their act and that will absolutely catch up with them on this show. Check out the video of DCD Seniors and you’ll see what I mean.

Here’s a link to see the full Britain’s Got Talent episode 2 video. It was quite entertaining. The judges on it are so much better than Sharon and the Hoff. I do still like Piers, but Sharon and the Hoff are horrible on America’s Got Talent.

Sitting here across the pond, I’m glad that we can still watch the full episodes of Britain’s Got Talent here in America. Someone posted the full videos to YouTube for all of us American’s to be able to enjoy the amazing talent from Britain’s Got Talent. Not to mention the always entertaining judging by Simon Cowell and Piers Morgan.

If you don’t have time to watch the whole show you should at least watch Susan Boyle’s video on Britain’s Got Talent. Otherwise, enjoy the first episode of Britain’s Got Talent 2009:
Removed by BGT

If you’re having a problem with the player above, you can see the full BGT episodes on youtube unless BGT decides to take those down too.

I’d been planning to cover more of Britain’s Got Talent and just haven’t had the time. After watching the following video of Susan Boyle shocking Simon Cowell and Piers with her rendition of I Dreamed a Dream from Les Miserables, I think I might have to start making time. Check out the video of Susan Boyle on Britain’s Got Talent to see what I mean:

UPDATE: BGT has had all of the videos taken down.

From a never been kissed, awkward 47 year old to a singer that Simon Cowell actually really enjoyed. That’s what Britain’s Got Talent is all about.