obie juan

The concept of bringing in expert judges and acts from all over the world to participate is a welcome one - albeit, having three American judges who may not particularly be considered qualified enough, as a whole, to judge all genres makes for a perplexing format (nothing personal against Drew, Ru or Faith, mind you). It appears that judging (at least for the American judges) is predominantly based upon "the best" emotional factor as a gauge for what constitutes as an act deserving of a high or low score in order to advance, rather than focus on a mix of the entertainment factor and technical merit that each act has worked to perfect. It begs the question: what exactly is the criteria for the scoring? The American judges' scoring also seems inconsistent with their feedback - or rather, their attempts to provide positive reinforcement(?) Aside from that, in as much as I adore jolly James Corden, it was striking to witness the appalling shaming of the judges, who are respected professionals in their own fields, for not having voted with the majority (particularly in this day and age, bullying is never funny or appropriate "entertainment" and diminishes genuine, vital perspective). That all said, although the format of this lofty endeavor is quite disjointed on several levels, with obviously much room for improvement, the acts themselves are intriguing and quite good: the Korean martial arts crew is Olympic level, the exceptionally talented child acts are impressive (and would be even if adults), and there are plenty of Cirque du Soleil level performers to leave the audience in awe, wondering how on earth to judge one as better than the other. I don't expect that the audience is meant to agree with all the judges' decisions each time, and fortunately, the judges do appear to be more discerning with their scores after moving past the "Auditions" phase to the "Battle Rounds". But, does it make sense to pit a country singer against a classical pianist, or a magician against a contortionist when there are other acts within their respective genres who've also made it to the Battle Rounds (like, say, the pianist vs. the giant harp)? Not so much. Instead, it's an apples vs. oranges nonsensical match up. This became yet another source of frustration from a viewer's perspective. All the acts, nonetheless, are deserving of respect. It's been a pleasure to witness their hard work and dedication coming to fruition, all to be shared on one show. Perhaps, however, it's time for a program that simply showcases acts and allows for the ratings to be the judge.