There seems to be an awful lot more filler this season than previous seasons...there was a LOT of focus being made on Howard Stern. I watched the show tape-delayed one hour on my DVR...and by 10:00, I had almost caught up to the live broadcast after fast-forwarding through the commercials and a lot of the filler. I know that Snapple is a show sponsor now (really...Snapple?), but that whole blue-room segment seemed completely unnecessary.
...oh, the talent. Not a lot impressed me, to be totally honest...of course, we didn't really see a lot of it either. Seems a lot more had been bunched together in montages, with mostly (you guessed it) Howard's comments left in. The Earth Harp was really cool, and definitely seemed the most Vegas-ready of any of the acts tonight (add a few more instruments and a stage show behind it and it could totally work), though the iLuminate-knockoff act was pretty cool too.
Howard actually reminded me of Piers at times...he's not afraid to say what he thinks. Of course, I still don't understand why Piers gave up AGT for his crappy low-rated CNN show...but oh well. As mentioned, there was an awful lot of focus being made on Howard versus the talent, though...this needs to end, and fast.
The new opening titles looked really cool, especially in HD. The new opening theme, however, is absolutely abysmal. Dunno why Cowell insisted the show needed so much change...it was fine as it was. At least they remixed the AGT theme instead of using the inferior British one. I was relieved to see that the set stayed largely unchanged (the added LEDs are totally pointless, though)...when it was announced that the show was receiving a major makeover, I fully expected to see the crappy, over-the-top British set.
