America's Got Talent Recap: Who Should Be Going to Finals?

Didn't catch tonight's episode? Read our recap to find out what happened!

By Bruna Nessif Sep 05, 2012 3:43 AMTags
America's Got TalentNBCUniversal, Inc.

Nope, it's not the finals just yet.

America's Got Talent made sure to make it's viewers wait as long as possible before crowning this season's winner, so tonight we experienced the second half of the semifinals.

In case you missed it, read on to find out who performed tonight in hopes of making the cut tomorrow during eliminations (and then, yes, it's finally the finals!).

Cloggers All That were up first and promised to do "a trick that will blow your minds." So what did they do? Play around with the elements. First, they set their clogs on fire (yes, fire!) and then they danced around on water. Both very dangerous, so you gotta give them kudos for that. Regardless, the judges weren't too taken back by their performance.

Next was 10-year-old Sebastien El Charro de Oro (so cute!). He showed off his powerhouse vocals with a Spanish opera song tonight, and the judges were so impressed! Howard Stern even called him a "Mexican superhero" (but that may or may not have been in regards to the Latina dancers behind him).

Magic of Puck's performance was best summed up by Sharon Osbourne's comment, "The whole performance was flawless!" Puck made a woman levitate on stage, only to reappear in a glass case. And all this happened while an autographed handkerchief with Howard's name was tied around her wrist. 

The act by Clint Carvahlo and his parrots depends on your thoughts of birds. If you're frightened by them, this only made it worse. If you're not, then this was kinda magical. His bird Kitty danced, mailed a letter, flew through hoops, which were held up in the crowd (ah!) and took a can of soda from Sharon. You can decide whether that's cool or scary.

Comedian Jacob Williams, unfortunately, wasn't that funny tonight. Howie Mandel still thought Williams' awkwardness worked in his favor (um, thanks?) but Stern said, "This was not your best material," and added, "I felt you lacked confidence in your own performance tonight." Ouch.

There was a little issue, at least according to the judges, when it came to father-daughter singing duo Shanice & Maurice Hayes. The pair belted Mariah Carey's "Anytime You Need a Friend," but Howie, Howard and Sharon all felt that Maurice should have let his 18-year-old daughter shine more, calling her "the star."

All Wheel Sports took the stage and showed off their acrobatic stunt bike skills, but one of the members made a mistake and wiped out. No worries, though. That turned out to be the most exciting part of the show and the judges still praised their work.

Singer Tim Hockenberry took on Joe Cocker-Tom Waits' rendition of "Imagine," and earned himself a standing ovation from Stern, who said, "This is great," and added Hockenberry deserves a place in the finals. Meanwhile, Howie gave a different opinion, telling Tim that he has "that gritty voice we've heard before," and lacks originality.

The adorable kids' dancing group the Untouchables made us older folk feel intimidated to ever step foot on a dance floor again. Their performance earned high recognition from all of the judges and it made one little girl burst into tears because, "I'm so happy and I feel like we did amazing and we've been working so hard!" So sweet!

The pretty pooches from Houston, otherwise known as the Olate Dogs, danced a conga line, rode a scooter, did back flips and even showed some love for their boss man Richard Olate. Stern said, "I've never seen such well-trained dogs. You guys have to be in the finals. I beg America to vote tonight."

Surprise, Lightwire Theater is still awesome. The New Orleans group wowed everyone with a lightsaber battle between a tiger and dinosaur. You don't even have to see it to know that it was cool. And the judges were all about it.

The last act of the night was David Garibaldi and His CMYKs. By using movement and music, Garibaldi and the group created a large panel of art which turned into the Statue of Liberty—wait for it—in only 90 seconds! The judges were amazed (as they should be) and Howie exclaimed, "You are not just an entertainer. You are not just an artist. You are a creator."

Which three acts do you hope to see move to the finals? Sound off in the comments!

Let's take a look back on these awesome America's Got Talent OMG moments!