Dan wrote on October 28, 2009 01:34 PM: All three judges proclaimed Kevin Skinner the probable winner of AGT 2009 directly after his pedestrian rendition of Garth Brooks' "If Tomorrow Never Comes". It was a perfectly commonplace performance; surely, about every 8th person you pulled at random off the street could manage to sing with the same lump-in-the-throat-cry-in-my-beer quaver for a lot less than a million dollars. After watching the judges gush like groupies, I went on YouTube to try to understand what they possibly could have been raving about. The verdict: Kevin Skinner is by all appearances a nice guy, and it is good to see a nice guy not finish last; but AGT purports to be about talent, not sentiment, and it should have been obvious to all from the first song that Kevin Skinner does not have a tenth of the talent of Garth Brooks or any other top-shelf County singer. Talent, unlike skill, is inborn; it is not a quality that can be developed. To pretend otherwise, and to give a "talent" award (as opposed to a "nice guy who sings with emotion" award) to the undeserving, is to do a grave injustice to the truly deserving. So, what about the fact that Kevin Skinner won AGT 2009 fair and square by a majority of votes? It stands as yet another proof of the depressing reality that the vox populi is all too often only a bleating echo of the opinions of would-be "experts". The "experts" in this case did not have the expertise to see that a Vegas show headlined by Kevin Skinner, Grandma Lee and the like was foreordained to fail(unlike the up-coming one to feature impressionist Pete Peterkin, AGT 2009 semi-finalist, this New Year's Eve).

Mary Lewis wrote on October 21, 2009 08:46 AM: Mike, I couldn't agree with you more. I saw the show last week and thought it was terrible. I felt like I was at an unorganized high school talent show hosted by Jerry Springer, who looks horrid in real life. Obviously, the television show is a huge production to make these acts look bigger than they really are. This show will not last on the Strip, purely due to the fact that it is not up to par with other shows here in town.

Dee wrote on October 17, 2009 12:52 PM: Kevin Skinner needs no polishing; his style is unique in the country music world. Consider that Garth Brooks has come out of retirement to perform just as Kevin does - with only a guitar and a mike.

Joan Clark wrote on October 17, 2009 09:53 AM: Sorry you can`t say anything positive about anyone on this show, especially my fellow Kentuckian, Kevin Skinner.
Do you remember, or are you too young, a young man from Tennessee who had been playing and singing at the Louisiana Hayride? His name was Elvis Presley. When he performed at the Grand Ole Opry for his first and only time, he was made fun of and told to go back to driving a truck, his previous profession.
Hmmm. Wonder what ever became of him?

Ky Gal wrote on October 16, 2009 10:04 PM: Hey Mike. Love your reviews.I hope you keep writing them. Hopefully PH will cancel the show early and AGT will let Kevin out of his contract. Then Kevin could come back to Ky and start recording CD's in Nashville. All of his fans are waiting to buy his first CD. I guess you're not old enough to remember old time country music.
At least Grandma Lee got to attain her goal of entertaining on stage in Vegas.
I hope that Barbara with her beautiful voice is beginning to realize that opera just isn't very popular in the US where English is still the primary language.
I have been to Vegas many times but I have never been to PH. ( Never plan to either.) It appears that you description of "mismash" is right on.
PH can't even get the order of performance correct as well as having problems with lighting and sound. PH should stick with "peep shows" as their reputation warrants.
I have a special request. I would like for you to interview 4 or 5 people at random after the show. I would like to to know where they are from and the acts they liked and the acts they didn't like. I think your readers would enjoy that as well as your repetious biased opinion.
I will be in Vegas in Nov and I could get free tics but I would NEVER be in the same building as Jerry Springer.
Vegas is a fantasy world. I go there occasionally to escape from the real world in Ky where honest and caring family, friends and neighbors make my life so rich and happy. I also visit Tahoe every Jan to see the awesome beauty of the snow covered mountains. It is the Swiss Alps on a small scale.
Pleasego there once.
Thanks for reading
wordcountup

Dan wrote on October 16, 2009 10:18 AM: My wife and I saw the show Sunday night at Planet Hollywood and it didn't disappoint us at all. of course, we watched each segment of the TV show and are fans. Springer was funny, Acrodunk and Recycled Percussion are full of energy and very entertaining. Hairo amazes with his agility. Barbara Padilla sang opera which is her talent but her duet with Marcus was a bust in my opinion. The highlight of the show to me was Lawrence Beamen who sang Ol Man River and a song he had written, a beautiful voice and strange presence. Grandma Lee did the same jokes she did on the TV show and they were amusing the first time but kinda flat the second time around. As for the headliner, Kevin Skinner, that diamond needs a bunch of polishing.

Russ Morgan wrote on October 16, 2009 09:13 AM: I apparently don't have a heart because I was not at all impressed with Kevin Skinner at any point of AGT and was shocked each week as he survived the eliminations. I think the open mic night comparison to him is dead on. I think he's got a great voice for singing to his kids or at a family reunion or something, but not a million dollar winning show headliner.

Texas Tenors are pure cheese and again, maybe good on an open mic night, but I can't imagine sitting through more than one number from them.

And don't even get me started on Grandma Lee. She probably cracks up her grandkids when they bring their friends over to her, but she is not a comedian. If I remember correctly, I think she auditioned for Last Comic Standing and didn't even make it past her first audition. And LCS had a really bad habit for taking marginal comedians that had an interesting back story, and even they were like, eh, no thanks. Did she even have any new material or did she spend her whole set making jokes about having sex with Piers Morgan, which is all she did during the show.

My wife and I were all set to buy tickets to this show prior to the AGT finale, then when we saw that Kevin Skinner won over great acts like Barbara Padilla, Recycled Percussion, The Fab Five and Acrodunk (who inexplicably didn't even make the top 10) we said, uh... maybe we won't be spending $100 to watch this.

Todd wrote on October 16, 2009 05:19 AM: Mike ~

I think you need to learn what talent is. I suggest you got back to school and learn something about such. I hate to hear what you have to say about shows like Lion King or Blue Man.

Jan wrote on October 16, 2009 03:48 AM: I get so tired of negative reviews for anything that is not the cookie cutter talent you've gotten used to listening too. This show is good clean fun. So what if the acts don't meld together like you think they should. There is much more on that stage that I would rather listen to and enjoy than some of the so-called talented celebrities out there today. Rap/hip-hop stars such as Kanye West do nothing but jump around on stage saying monotone phrases to "music". And That's supposed to be talent? How about Lady Gaga?? Amy Winehouse?? That's music??? I've watched award shows in the past, and the talent on there is anything but good. I'd much rather listen to Kevin Skinner sing with his guitar in an "open mic" kind of way than have to listen to the "lack of talent" cookie cutter people that the music industry has thrown our way in the last 15 years. Give Kevin Skinner time...that diamond in the rough will polish up real nicely.