At the risk of offending fans of the show, I have to state right here and now how much I hate America’s Got Talent. I hate reality shows in general, but I think I hate this one with more of a passion because I’m forced to watch it. This is not one of those “guilty pleasure” things – I really AM forced to watch it. I write for a magic magazine, and magicians are on that show all the time. Therefore, I’m forced to sit through an agonizing 60 minutes – sometimes 90 if it’s a “special episode” – watching and keeping tabs on the magic men and women who appear and what they perform so I can report it for the magazine. I am, quite often, given inside information on what is about to happen on the show from sources I’m not at liberty to divulge, but, STILL, I have to watch the episodes to confirm all this information and to report anything else my sources may NOT have told me. Some of the magicians who have appeared in the past have been friends of mine, and yet I’m still praying for their early elimination so that my pain can end sooner.
With the exception of these magician friends, America’s Got Talent, for the most part, is a showcase of untalented people being judged by even less talented celebrities. I auditioned at one of the preliminary auditions for the first season of the show – before I knew what the show was all about – and thank God I wasn’t chosen. After the first season aired, I realized that my act wasn’t right for what they were looking for, and I’m glad they thought so too. I was spared the degradation of someone like David Hasselhoff telling me what he thought of the act that I have been making a living with for the last 15 years! No thanks. I don’t need Knight Rider and Jerry Springer critiquing my performances.
A perfect example is what happened to my friend Kevin James on the most recent season of AGT. Kevin is a very talented magician who has had his own show in Las Vegas for the last four years. He has performed all over the world and presents magic that no one else does. He invents all of his own tricks and is admired by his peers. On AGT he stunned the judges with his unique version of cutting someone in two. Stunned them. They were literally speechless. And when you take into consideration that one of the judges, Piers Morgan, can be pretty indifferent, and even rude, to most of what he sees, that’s saying something.
Well, due to time constraints in a later episode, Kevin was faced with performing a portion of one of his routines so that it fit into the show’s 70-second slot requirement. Therefore, it wasn’t as impressive to the judges as his past effects had been. Piers just tore into him, and even exposed the trick Kevin had just performed! It was totally uncalled for and entirely unprofessional.
In talking with Kevin after the fact, he explained that he was given the chance to reply to Piers’ tirade, which he did in a professional manner – resisting the temptation to tear into the guy, and explained how his style of magic was different from other magicians as he creates everything on his own. “It’s like the singers on this show writing all their own songs every week,” is what he told the audience and television cameras. None of his remarks were aired. Kevin even said that he talked with the producers of the show asking them to at least edit out the part where Piers exposed the trick. A trick that he performs for thousands of people every week in Las Vegas. No such luck. Kevin said he would have been satisfied if they had left in Piers’ conniption fir and didn’t air his comments as long as they edited out the trick’s exposure. Instead they did just the opposite.
Thanks, America’s Got Talent. Thanks for filling our airwaves with more mindless drivel that you try to pass off as talent, while the truly talented are mocked and trivialized.
--Shawn
Shawn McMaster
Conjured-Up Creations
P.O. Box 973
Newbury Park, CA 91319
805-480-0703
www.conjuredupcreations.com
