Good just isn’t good enough on “America’s Got Talent: All-Stars.”
NBC’s super-competition (Mondays at 8 EST/PST) assembles past champions and fierce contestants for an 8-week battle in which 60 acts from across the globe throw down to be crowned the best of the best.
On Monday’s premiere, 10 hopeful acts – including Season 2 champ, ventriloquist Terry Fator; the second winner of “Canada’s Got Talent,” singer Jeanick Fournier; and aerialist Alan Silva, an “AGT” finalist for Season 15 – performed for judges Simon Cowell, Heidi Klum and Howie Mandel, the only evaluator with the ability to send an act to the finals by way of the Golden Buzzer this episode. The second spot in the final would be voted on by a panel of “superfans.” The other eight acts would be eliminated.
Who will win ‘AGT’? Watch Drake Milligan’s country smash, Sara James’ haunting Kate Bush cover
The 10 best TV shows of 2022, ranked, from ‘White Lotus’ to ‘Andor’ and ‘The Bear’
Light Balance Kids provided a bright spot in the two-hour opener. The group of (mostly) young dancers wears lights while performing as the stage lights are lowered. Since the group first competed on “AGT” in 2019, their home of Kyiv, Ukraine has come under attack from Russia.
A member of the group said some traveled to the competition solo because “some of our parents, like my father, are still in the war in Ukraine. He’s fighting for our country for independence and freedom.” She remembered waking up at 4 a.m. when “my family grabbed me and we (ran) to the underground station because it was bombs and rockets everywhere.”
Another dancer added the group was happy to return “to show the world that light always wins.”
Light Balance Kids, Golden Buzzer recipients in Season 14, got Klum moving along with their upbeat choreography to “Move Your Feet.” Their routine earned a standing ovation from the audience.
Fact check:War in Ukraine continues, contrary to post
Volodymyr Zelenskyy:Ukraine president leads embattled nation in fight against Russia
“This was such a fun party, and it needs to be longer!” raved Klum.
Cowell was equally impressed. “It was your best performance you’ve ever done,” he said. “Really. By a mile.” Reflecting on what the group has experienced, Cowell added, “If anything defines an All-Star, it was that performance, really.”
“There’s such an amazing message here,” Mandel agreed. “Where you come from, at this point it’s arguably the darkest place in the world, and you come across the globe to bring us light. And if I can do anything, anything on behalf of America, on behalf of ‘AGT: All-Stars,’ to bring you even more light than you’ve brought us, I’d like to do that for you.”
And with that he hit the Golden Buzzer, firing a shower of confetti at the dancers. Then, Mandel joined them on stage. “You’re amazing!” he said. “You’re my favorite act ever! I love you!”
How Harrison Ford, Helen Mirren’s ‘1923’ Duttons fit into the ‘Yellowstone’ universe
Mandel’s use of the Golden Buzzer meant there was only one more place for a competing act from Monday’s show in the finals. Show host Terry Crews revealed the panel of fan’s Top 3: the Bello Sisters, an unbelievably limber trio who danced to a slowed-down rendition of A Flock of Seagulls’ “I Ran”; singer Caly Bevier, who belted an original song; and Fator, who dazzled the judges with two puppets singing “Rocket Man.”
Cowell said he would’ve voted Fator through to the finals if he could, and Klum expressed her hope that the fans would push him through also. Fator is a safe bet, at least for Las Vegas. After winning his season, he was offered a five-year Vegas residency for $100 million.
But the superfans had their sights set on another act. They selected the acrobatic Bello Sisters, finalists from Season 15, to move forward to the finals.
Eddie Murphy joins ranks of Tom Hanks, Oprah Winfrey as Cecil B. DeMille award recipient
“Wow!” a shocked Cowell said.
“I would never guess that,” Mandel told Cowell.
“You’ve just beaten the best of the best,” Cowell told the sister act. “Congratulations.”
