I guess I've gotta eat my words. While "Talent" has always been a fun show, I always chalked much of that up to shock jock Howard Stern, judge extraordinaire. With him gone, I figured all entertainment value would go with it. And the addition of Simon Cowell? Well, surely he'd just go mad.
Instead, Cowell is injecting a seriousness that is being met by some fairly (equally) serious contestants.
The show kicked off with a mother/son dance pair - Alla and Daniel. Dancing to “Moves Like Jagger,” they totally rocked their performance and almost immediately had everyone on their feet.
Then, contortionism courtesy of a guy named Jonathan, who blew the judges away with his ability to bend his body in the craziest ways. I was watching the show, dumbfounded. This guy bent himself in ways that the Kama Sutra would applaud. “I’m gonna remember you,” Simon told him. Which is exactly what you want to hear.
Next up: Musicality, a high school choir group from Chicago. They came to prove that where they come from doesn’t affect what they can do. The group chose to sing a One Direction song — and promptly snapped up four yesses.
But it was an 82-year-oldnamed John Hetlinger who stole the show. A retired aerospace engineer (he helped repair the Hubble Space Telescope), he started doing karaoke about 15 years ago when he retired, and it turned him in to the singing machine he is today.
"This would probably be a high point of my life and many careers," Hetlinger told Cowell when the judge asked why he choseAmerica's Got Talent. And then Hetlinger started rocking out, to a Drowning Pool song, no less. Sure, the novelty of this guy tackling an epic heavy metal song, rather than some show tune, added to the rousing response. But that's the point, isn't it? To get a rousing response.
His performance got a standing ovation from the audience, and also from judge Howie Mandel (yes, he's still on the show).
And, yes, this is the same episode that featured 12-year-old Grace VanderWaal singing an original song, "I Don't Know My Name," shocking the judges in a much different way. Both contestants got their fair share of viral love these past few days.
The little girl - as good a ukulele player as she is a singer - got through the emotional song and received a standing ovation.
"I think you are living, beautiful, walking miracle," Mandel said before giving her the golden buzzer and sending her through to the live shows. "You're original…I think the world is going to know your name."
"Grace, you know what I predict for you? I think you are the next Taylor Swift," Cowell said. He made a bold prediction on a reality competition once before, when he told a competitor he felt she would not only win "American idol," but that she would go on to sell more records than first season winner Kelly Clarkson. The crowd was stunned. That competitor was a girl named Carrie Underwood.
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