On his radio show, Howard Stern often embraces nearly naked lesbians and strippers. But the shock jock is now part of a very different program, something that was never more evident than on last night’s America’s Got Talent episode, following the new judge buzzing seven-year old rapper Mir Money off stage. Sharon Osbourne did the same, but it was Stern who attempted to comfort the child, telling him to dry his tears and saying to the audience: “This job is too rough for me, I don’t really wanna do it anymore.” Watch the clip now and take special note, PTC. Does this look like a man of vulgarity to you?!? Howard Stern Comforts Crying Contestant
If NBC was aiming to create headlines with its hiring of Howard Stern as a judge on America’s Got Talent , the network can consider its mission accomplished. Of course, not all headlines are positive, especially not that highlighted by the always-grumpy Parents Television Council. Referring to Stern as Stern in a statement as “a performer who is synonymous with shock, profanity and obscenity,” the PTC added: “The once-proud broadcast network has lost its way and has made it clear it holds no concern whatsoever for children and families… Not coincidentally, in just over three weeks the network will be standing before the United States Supreme Court arguing for the right to use the F-word at any time of the day, even in front of children.” What do you think of Stern’s hiring? Will he make for an acceptable judge?
America might have talent. But it no longer has Piers Morgan as a reality show judge. “I’m leaving America’s Got Talent after 6 wonderful years,” Morgan Tweeted last night, following an announcement on his CNN talk show.“Turned out that juggling’s harder than it looks, so I’m going to focus on CNN.” Morgan went on to thank “NBC, Fremantle, and of course, my friend Simon Cowell, for giving me such a great opportunity. It’s been a blast.” No word yet on who might replace this panelist, but first chime in: Will you miss Piers Morgan on America’s Got Talent ?
We’re down to 10 acts on America’s Got Talent , 10 performers who are mere days away from fulfilling their dream. Who bombed? Who rose to the occasion? Who ought to advance? The answers await… Miami All-Stars – Had the disadvantage of going first in a very important week. I didn’t understand the football/cheerleader theme and the dancing was too frantic. The group gets extra points for the big dancing chicken. The whole performance lacked direction and the music transition was executed really sloppy. My Grade: C+ Lys Agnes Performance Lys Agnes – Was aiming for a rock/opera hybrid that the vocal coach didn’t like. I wouldn’t listen to her because she sabotaged several of the kid acts this year. Lys reminded me a bit of Des’ree in the beginning, her lower range sounds like Cher, which Sharon noted as bad. I appreciated the increased production value and the epic ending, but did it take too long to get to the end? My Grade: B+ Landon Swank – Decided to go with a simplistic routine, which was an interesting idea for a finale. The close-up magic worked for the TV, but if this was a Vegas act, I wouldn’t have approved. It took too long with him removing the tie and changing the channel. I liked the concept of the glass fish tank, but there was a minor slip-up with “closing” the hole he had. I’m not sure where the fish ended up. My Grade: A- A nna Graceman – Small town Anna took her risk by not being in front of a piano. Her rendition of “True Colors” was wobbly in the beginning, but by the chorus she got to use her upper register. I hated her pronunciation of “rainbow” before the second verse. Whoever chose her dress should be fired because she looked like a cupcake wrapper. The performance was nice, but the song choice was sleepy. My Grade: B- Silhouettes – The combination of national monuments with really strong shapes was probably the groups’ attempt to listen to Piers’ suggestions last week. They managed to get colors and still create motivating shapes. Ending with the “Believe” and the final shot of all of the little storylines put together was the winning touch. My Grade: A+ Smage Brothers Riding Shows – The Smage brothers finally introduced the non-brother Troy and gave him as much praise as possible. After jumping over grandma, the brothers decided to go with a very trick park theme. Troy got a lot more abuse this time around where I’m pretty sure he got smacked in the head. Poor guy had to run to every box to prepare to get almost-killed. Most of the tricks were solid, and the bottle opening with the wheels was a cute finish. My Grade: B+ PopLyfe – After taking on the Beatles, PopLyfe went for the next bar: Michael Jackson. It’s interesting that they still had the gall to pick MJ after The Fiddleheads bombed. The Jackson 5 approach was a smart decision to integrate the young ages plus the cute choreography. I didn’t like that they didn’t end with an epic vocal run, but it was a solid performance. My Grade: A West Springfield Dance Team – The dance troupe decided to go darker than their prior performances, but I have to think that high amounts of makeup are a problem for dancers. The group used more dub step to emphasize their movements, which helped show a clean routine. I could see why Piers would dislike the routine because it was one-dimensional with the formations and the transitions. My Grade: B Landau Eugene Murphy, Jr. – West Springfield was criticized for performing the same thing over and over again, but Landau will never get the same criticism. Landau is an endearing person and his vocals were strong, but his music selection has gotten a bit stale even if it was Dean Martin instead of Frank Sinatra. My Grade: B+ Team iLuminate – As the closing act, iLuminate already has the advantage of being fresh in mind, but they raised the bar even though they didn’t experiment with new colors. By changing the genre of music, adding a person, and the dimension of height, they kept their routine fresh and it was moving to watch. They even managed to throw a bit of Silhouette touch of the ending of the person on the top of a mountain. My Grade: A+ So, who should end up in the final four? Silhouettes, Poplyfe, Landau and Team iLuminate.
This weekend sees the release of the gritty, critically acclaimed heist movie The Town , where Ben Affleck carries the action not only in front of the camera in the lead role, but also behind the camera as the film’s director. Indeed, some of the greatest movies ever made were directed by actors who also appeared in their films — consider that highwater mark set by Orson Welles with Citizen Kane — but how have cinematic multitaskers like Affleck, George Clooney, Clint Eastwood and others fared over the past decade?
We’ll conceal the champion until after the jump, but America’s Got Talent crowned its fifth-season victor last night to the delight of many and to the abject disappointment of others. Let’s break down the potential for mainstream success (and credibility).
It’s a big night of debuts and finales on TV tonight — Survivor returns, Top Chef: Just Desserts rocks your palette, America’s Got Talent and Big Brother conclude, and a stirring new drama called Outlaw offers Jimmy Smits (and Jesse Bradford !) a meaty role to dig into. We preview it all after the jump.
