Yeah me too. I really wanted that football guy to go through too.
In fact I though they might have put him through due to balance the final up a bit more as it's already got plenty of singers going through as it is already.
I was still impressed with his act even despite his mistakes. He must have put so much work into it, arguably moreso than anybody else. He must have had geek-like dedication to get as good as he is.
If there was some kind of wild card entry I'd put him through.

The only strictly variety act that I've enjoyed so far this year are Kate and Gin (my favourites) Hoop la la and Jeremy the footballer, oh and The snake lady (she should have gone through). The Magic acts have been dire, the young comics were ok but too young to make an impact in the real world. I don't think the guy doing the impersonations tonight is all that good either, Holiday Camp entertainment level and really that sort of act is so old fashioned now that it has to have some sort of twist to succeed.

Still, the show is a great opportunity for all those dance troupes to have their day and it also gives nutters like the Star Wars man and Anya a chance to make a name for themselves.

Two turntables or record decks used to make music.

Some acts you might want to have a look at on Lastfm.com or youtube or something would be DJ Shadow, DJ Q-bert, and Cut Chemist.

There's a good documentary film about the genre called 'Scratch'.

with one less child act we could have had hoop la la

now that was a variety act

They were robbed I tell you. Robbed!

Have they got a web page, Sid? We could all go on and say hi guys, you were robbed

http://www.hooplala.co.uk/page8.htm

There you go.

They sure have http://www.hooplala.co.uk/

I suppose singers and dancers are more interesting to watch than the others that came before the judges. I thought that the woman who was smashing that block of whatever over that fellas back was absolutely boring to the highest extent. I also thought that the strongman act was also boring as well. It's really only dancers and singers that can capture the people's attention. There's only three acts so far that have caught my attention so far. The rest just sort of bore me to be honest.

Yes but one of my points was that the judges and/or producers decide which acts are allowed to even enter the first round in the first place.

Just because you saw a bad magic act, strongman act, or any other niche act on this show, doesn't mean that all acts of that nature are bad.

It just seems that this show is deliberately trying to force singers and dancers onto us by selecting bad niche acts or token niche acts to get through but who have little chance.

It doesn't necessarily mean the public prefer singers and dancers, it's just means that the show has selected acts to appear which favour singers and dancers and make all niche acts look like a bad thing. So obviously the public have little choice other than to vote for the singers and dancers because of the quality control before any of these acts got on the show in the first place.
So the show itself reinforces the perception that singers and dancers = Good. Any other niche acts = Bad (Or nice try thank you for taking part as a token act).

If the show chose great magic acts, or great niche acts of any kind then the perception of those acts may be different and it'd be more of a variety show where you'd feel that you don't have to be a singer or a dancer to win.

Yeah, fair enough. I get what you mean. Kind of like maybe they are deliberately picking the worst acts of each genre outside of the singing and dancing category, so that they'll end up being knocked out by the judges when they see how bad they are. I actually never thought of this.

Better still, let's gate-crash tonight Britains Got Talent and hold up placards and chant "Hoop la la were robbed!"

Blimey, they've even posted their phone number.

Shall I text them?!

Television over the years has undermined the true variety act.
We used to have much broader light entertainment shows, talent shows, magic shows, comedian showcases etc.

Now instead of searching for talent of all types we are left with X Factor year in year out.

Simon Cowell doesn't help with his put downs, of too West End/Broadway/Vegas....... to devalue anyone who doesn't fit in one of his prepared boxes.

Sadly people accept his judgement and we are left with not much variety at all unless Simon can make a fast buck.

Bring back the true talent shows, the comedians, magicians etc we need some fun entertainment!

Yes you're right. That's exactly what I mean.
Or just picking niche acts that they think are just okay and will provide a nice bit of filler to support the more favoured singing acts.

But I also think you have a point too though. Because I think over the past few years we have kind of been conditioned to think of talent mainly in terms of just singers, due to what all the previous talent shows have been geared towards in recent years. So we have probably become biased in favour towards singers on these shows because we haven't been exposed to anything else. We think of the word 'talent' and the first word that probably springs to mind is probably 'singer' without even thinking about it.

If we were exposed to more very good niche acts more often then we may regain an appetite for variety in the true sense of the word.
It would be difficult to unlearn what we have become used to believing to be acceptable talent over a succession of years though.

I think at one point in time, on a talent show you'd see a comedy double act, or any other sort of thing like that, as having an equal chance in a talent competition as a singer would have. But with this, and with it being a show which Simon Cowell is associated with, I think you tend to think 'No chance'.

I agree with you Dome, good post.

I think the way Simon is that he's just too square.
Everything is about being conventional and predictable.

So even when you see a good niche act that you've enjoyed, I always get a sense of anxious insecurity that briefly passes over me where I think he's going to pull a 'weird face' at them, as he often does.
Amanda's pretty much the same.

Anything that's slightly out of the ordinary and it appears that Simon's first instinct is to see it as too weird and too bizarre and doesn't fit into his conventional vision of the world. He never sees genuine difference as being a good thing.
He'll even praise bad singers as long as they have a marketable image that he thinks fits into what he sees as normality.

I have enjoyed a couple of this year's 'niche acts' (football guy, martial-arts guys) but, on the whole, I do tend to prefer singers or dance acts. I like impressionists too if they are really good, likewise comedians, but in this type of show they almost invariably aren't. My favourite 'niche act' ever, though, has got to be that man who used to sing Mule Train while whacking himself on the head with a tray. Now that was quality!

How can a journalist, a 2nd rate actress and a cheesy-music pop producer judge dancers/jugglers/contortionists etc etc and even classically trained singers?
It's all wrong-horribly wrong.

You're going back a few years.

My friend at school would die of embarassment when her father performed that as a party trick.

You must have gone to some brilliant parties.

Just for you, dome:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCJP-9TaGis

Now, that's entertainment!

Thanks for that, I think.

Made me crack up!!!!

So this is the eventual breakdown...

Signature
Kate and Gin
Andrew Johnson
Cheeky Monkeys
George Sampson
Strike
Faryl Smith
Andrew Muir
Escala
Nemesis

5 Dance acts (Strike, Dance/Niche)
3 Singing acts
1 Musical act (Escala)
1 Niche act (Kate with Gin the performing dog)

Although maybe you could call Strike a niche act as it's 'sort of' dancing, but very niche.

4 child acts too. Which makes me think it should have been balanced out with an old guy singing and banging a tin tray on his head