Like the season of American Idol, I'll be bringing in various members of gameshownewsnet.com to help me with the color commentary. Jason Block will be with me later on this season, but this evening we get commentary from graphics wizard Travis Schario.

But first, the ground rules. We get 12 acts this week, as the judges...no...Simon Cowell...no...the advertisers deem that we need more than 40 acts. 5 of these 12 acts will advance to the semi-finals. So as guidance for all 48 acts, here is some advice for how to get further than Round 1.

1. Incorporate music into your act. Every winner has been at least part singer and over 90% of the finalists of the history of the show have had some sort of singing experience.
2. Bring it. You get one and only one shot to play. Make it your best.
3. Don't bring what didn't get you there. If you did opera to get into the Quarterfinals, don't all of a sudden do a Gloria Gaynor 'I Will Survive' performance, which happened last season.
4. Expand your repertoire. If you do the same act you did the first time you were on stage, America will call you on it.
5. Finally, be gracious to the judges, Nick Cannon and everyone else. Fighting with the judges will not help you with America's vote.

Got it? Good. We start the show with Breaksk8, a set of dancers that came in 4th on MTV's America's Best Dance Crew. Can they win America over and go even further on this show?
The Good: It was a nice homage to Michael Jackson. They did tell a story with the performance. And the unison Moonwalking across the stage was sweet.
The Bad: They didn't need the excessories, including dancing girls in the corner that seemed to do nothing. They instead needed someone to speed up the music, because it was incredibly slow-paced. And the gaffe at the end, where they needed to get the money bag at the end of the stage for the exploding money bit and he didn't get anywhere close, was quite noticeable.
The Travis: The skaters were really good. The routine was spot on. The choice of song was great, and that sequence of Moonwalker was one of the best ever. The stagecraft was there, but it was too slow and clunky.
The Verdict: As a fan of America's Best Dance Crew, I really wanted to see Breaksk8 put some of that high frenetic energy into their act tonight. Though it was good, it wasn't great. I think they could slide to next week, but even if they do, they have to raise the energy level or they won't get much further.

Our next act is Thia Megia, who is one of the 14 year old singers in the competition. Can she sing her way to the top?
The Good: It's a nice song to play with. We get decent vocals from her, and from a performance standpoint, its fine.
The Bad: The song isn't that memorable and I'm not going to remember what she sung (which is The Climb, by Miley Cyrus). She was also off-pitch at the beginning of the song. And with the giant fan placed mysteriously somewhere on the stage, it felt more like The Wizard of Oz, as I expected the generated wind to form a tornado and carry her off the stage into a land with witches and flying monkeys.
The Travis: The song choice was good for her if she hadn't slurred her words from the beginning of the song. I liked it when Miley Cyrus sang it and I liked it ten times better because I can't understand Thia. And why did we have a wind storm? What's up with the fan?
The Verdict: Thia's audition was better than what we got tonight. This song was not only bland, it was not memorable. If the other singers blow her into the floor, she better hope her supporters are by the phone, because I think she's going to have problems tomorrow night.

The Platt Brothers are acrobats. mimes and dancers. They are looking for a big bad act - which they need, because dancers on the show have historically stunk. Can they do any better?
The Good: There were slivers of creativity - especially in the second half. They gave us a broad spectrum of what they could do.
The Bad: The problem was the first half of the performance. It was uneven, and it was the one word you don't ever want to hear in a dance performance - sloppy. The campiness did not help, because it drops them down from unique performers to entertainers for a 12 year old girl's birthday party.
The Travis: I don't get it. I absolutely do not understand their act. What the hell was it? The cheerleaders at my college did that stuff. I liked the cheerleaders better, because they were hot.
The Verdict: If they took any of those simple ideas and made it a 2 minute story, the potential is there for an act that is avante garde in it's style and execution. However, I don't think they'll get to the semi-finals to show that to us.

The first Wild Card act that Simon Cowell brought to us is The Diva League - a bunch of trannies from Washington DC. Their act tonight? 'Disturbia' in a graveyard, complete with lip synching and male vampires going after their necks.
The Good: The dancing was...um...creative. And the fake hair and dresses looked somewhat nice.
The Bad: Disturbia was the right song. After watching them dance and lip synch badly, I was disturbed. I was hoping that one of the male vampires, on biting the guys neck, would also bite into the microphone wire, which would have either caused a blackout or electrocuted one of them in the process. Either of which would have stopped the act, and that would have been fine by me.
The Travis: You know the part where the guys closed the caskets on the women? That's where they belong. I completely agree with Piers 100%.
The Verdict: There was a good 12-15 acts worthy of being brought back to the stage. This was NOT one of them, and the public will agree in kind. Simon Cowell is officially 0 for 1 in bringing acts back.

Speaking of disturbed, yodeling dominatrix Manuela Horn is here. I originally would give her no shot, but now it's up to 50/50 because 1. There's a Lady Gaga crowd out there and 2. The acts so far have been less than stellar. Can the Mominatrix spring the shocking upset?
The Good: She gives up her cookies and displays her pancakes. And at least she sang her own lyrics.
The Bad: Unfortunately, Manuela violated rule #3, which is to not bring a completely different vibe from what brought her into the dance. We went from Mominatrix to wholesome mom baking cookies and playing double entendre. She needed to be much edgier much earlier for it to work, and I think if she did the same act as with the Mominatrix outfit on, it would have paid off. Maybe she was too smart and cerebral for the judges, who X'ed her off the stage.
The Travis: It was Donna Reed for the 21st century with a little Weird Al in there. It played out perfectly. I saw exactly where she was going, and the judges X'blocked her. I whole-heartedly disagree with what the judges did. I would not have thrown up that X.
The Verdict: I agree with everyone. I liked the Weird Al movement, but the pacing was slow and not at all like what she auditioned with. She needed more Mominatrix, and I think that's going to cost her tomorrow. I personally liked her act, but I also liked the Aeon Flux S/M calendar.

Who wants some comedy? It's time for Last Comic Standing reject Grandma Lee, who talks about body parts and pulls out underwear from Piers and David. Naughty boys.
The Good: The underwear bit was very funny. She's got the old curmudgeonly role down perfectly. She has great stage presence and her comic timing is down pat.
The Bad: She did this skit before on Last Comic Standing (the first joke of course, not the underwear joke). It's a funny act, but less funny when you've heard it before.
The Travis: She was hilarious. I could absolutely see her advancing through, and the underwear shtick was great.
The Verdict: I think we found our first candidate who is clearly making the semi-finals tomorrow.

The second half of the show starts with Mosaic, who is a band that won MTV's Top Pop Group. Why exactly did they need more money if they won an MTV sponsored contest? Oh yes, the ratings tanked harder than Mark Sanford's libido after people discovered his South American love shack.
The Good: Their choice of song is 'Superstition' by Stevie Wonder. It's much tighter than anything they did on MTV's Top Pop Group. It got very, very hot at the end of the song, where the group got their act together.
The Bad: VERY shaky at the beginning of the song. Too much drum and bass and not enough vocal harmonies, which is how they should have started to begin with.
The Travis: Being a fan of Rockapella and Davinci's Notebook, I like a good a capella act when I see one. I saw a pure a capella band and I liked it. They brought it. Good song choice, too.
The Verdict: We had 2 groups that started on MTV before showing up here. Breaksk8 went backwards, while Mosaic went forwards. Barring something strange happening, they should also make Round 2.

If you've think you've seen Acrodunk before, you're right - they have been on an earlier season of America's Got Talent. Now that they get a second chance (where they must be perfect), can they take advantage of it?
The Good: They hit the tricks. All of them. In front of a live audience. That's impressive.
The Bad: They hit the shots, but you had the guy on the left hand side of the stage struggle to make his wall kick flips, visibly taking extra bounces on the trampoline before getting up the wall. And why do you need civillians who aren't dunking running around the stage? Do we need artificial people to boost up the excitement?
The Travis: It's a halftime show. I've seen halftime shows. I'd like to see it as a halftime show. Let's keep it in the arena.
The Verdict: I think they did as good as they could do. The problem is that I don't know if that's going to be enough for a 90 minute Vegas show and I think the judges are going to zap them the first chance they can. So to avoid that, they need to finish in the Top 4, and I don't see that happening.

Arcadian Broad moves from performing at his school to performing on stage. The 13 year old gets to strut his stuff via the piano and a classical music piece and then via dancing to the music of Footloose. Will the risk of playing the piano pay off?
The Good: He can dance. And he can play the piano. And he can do both well.
The Bad: The problem here is that he did both at the same time during the act. I thought he was good on the piano, but it didn't fit with the dancing or the music. He violated rule #3 and Piers calls him on it.
The Travis: It was perfect stagecraft. He reminded me of a young Kevin Bacon. It's always good to see these people come up with a second talent. Piers is completely wrong.
The Verdict: I agree with Piers - the piano, if anything, made the dancing seem more generic than it already was and exploited him on it. Travis correctly and accurately called that the piano playing vs. the dancing gives us the story of Footloose (the theme of the act). My concern is that the voting public won't pick up on that same connection, and that could be problematic for Arcadian.

Can Drew Thomas and his illusions step up their game? He promises to do something that's never been done before. In this case, never been done before is sending 3 babes to The Hoff via a wooden box and Drew being put in another box being constructed by Welders, but the 3 ladies wind up switching positions with the welders and Drew shows up behind the judges.
The Good: It's a nice fun trick. What I like about it is that they had 2 separate illusions going on at one time, which made the action move.
The Bad: Too much dead space going on in the middle of the act. And not only has the trick been done before, it's been done on Season 1 of America's Got Talent, care of Nathan Burton, who also finished his trick hanging out behind the judges and their table. Apparently one of Drew's special talents is magically making the judges memories disappear.
The Travis: I thought it was a very good illusion. I don't know he did it, but it was good. I disagree with Piers that Drew should change his look, because I think he looks good in jeans.
The Verdict: I think Drew looks good in jeans as well, but I think that Piers wants Drew to give himself an identity that separates himself from the Criss Angels of the world. I have a feeling that he'll have another shot to do so.

Kevin Skinner is back for another song. He plays the guitar again, singing 'To Make You Feel My Love', written by Bob Dylan and covered by everyone and their mothers. Can he get America's love as well?
The Good: Skinner's strong point is conveying emotion through his music. He delivers it in spades tonight. It's a heart-warming rendition to show that he's not a one trick pony.
The Bad: Skinner's weak point is keeping the pitch continuously under the guitar. And again, he doesn't disappoint. He's flatter than an Aunt Jemima Pancake.
The Travis: As a rule I don't like country music, but he brought the house down. He was a very real singer. I'd love to see him write and perform a couple of his own songs.
The Verdict: Before the night started, I considered him a heavy favorite to make it to the final 5. There's nothing that he does here to make me change that opinion. He's a lock to advance.

We finish the night with Lake Houston Dance. This is the second group that Cowell has brought back. Can the dancers show that Cowell got one act correct tonight?
The Good: They bring the energy that some of the other dance groups tonight lacked. They also brought attitude and spunk to the forefront and told a story, which other groups did not do.
The Bad: Sloppy, sloppy, sloppy, sloppy, sloppy. And I don't mean the pillow fight at the end. I mean the uneven choreography throughout the performance. And I think everything going on being the girls was there to mask the lack of timing that some of the dancers had. Piers called them on it and he's absolutely right.
The Travis: I will have to agree with Piers. There was too much stage craft and it took away from the act. It was good, but if the stage was clear, it would have been better.
The Verdict: I would like to borrow one of the pillows and nail Simon in the head with it. Yes, it's a feel good story, but there's a bunch of acts that had a chance to win the whole thing and tonight, he didn't bring back any contenders. Make it 0-2 for returnees.

Overall: The night itself as a whole was much better than in previous seasons. There were no 'Train Wrecks', and it wouldn't surprise me to see 8 of the 12 acts advance. That being said, this was not the strongest of groups and the best is yet to come. Here's the predictions.

Gordon's Top 4:
Kevin Skinner
Grandma Lee
Mosaic
Breaksk8

Judge's Call: Drew Thomas Vs. Arcadian Broad - Drew Thomas Advances

Travis's Top 4:
Breaksk8
Manuela Horn
Grandma Lee
Kevin Skinner

Judges Call: Mosaic Vs. Acrodunk - Mosaic Advances

Join us in 24 hours to see who the first groups in are.