From Media Village

AMERICA'S GOT TALENT
317
10-01-2008 9:00PM

LIVE FINALE—The final five contestants compete for a chance to win the million-dollar prize and become the most talented person in America. Jerry Springer hosts and David Hasselhoff, Piers Morgan and Sharon Osbourne also star.

Queen Emily 5th Place
Donald Braswell 4th Place
Nuttin But Stringz 3rd Place
Eli Mattson 2nd Place
Neal E. Boyd wins America's Got Talent

Greetings,

7:53 pm Oct 1st 2008 E.S.T.

Short and sweet last minute wishes for the top 5 of "America's Got Talent 2008" And thank's for bringing me back to the show!!! All of you...

D.B.

Wish you luck. Great voice, good looking. You have a career ahead, win or lose. Thank you for your remarkable journey. You depict strength and courage.

E.M

Wish you luck. Outstanding talent on the piano, you future awaits, your voice is right up there also.. You have opened so many doors, not only for yourself, but for many piano player/singers watching. You have given them hope...Win or lose...

N.E.B.

Wish you luck. You have shown throughout this whole competition, how someone could go from zero, to hero. I could not imagine the courage you had to muster week after week in front of the audiance, and the gazillion's of fan's watching all over the world. Guy's who were like you before, give hope to guy's who were like you before. Great job, and a great career await's.. Win or Lose...

Q.E.

Wish you luck... To quote your Grandmother " You do in fact have something special", "You can do anything you want to do" "To believe in yourself" end quote.. And girl, look where you are now... You were the lighthouse for me on this comp... You shown week after week...And win or lose, I said it before, I'll say it again, your life has just begun. I am sure your family is proud, as a lot of Canadian's....

N~B~S

Wish you luck...You have shown everyone, that it doesn't matter where you come from, it is what is in your heart. I see your face's when you play and I see tears sometimes, that's the stuff. I ask that you accept any result given and embrace it as a new life and continue to learn and grow in your particular genre, and if you can focus on that, knowing the exposure given you by AGT 2008, and the fact that no-one has has ever seen that type of act before, I can see you guy's touring all over the globe, again with hard work and professionalism...

Judges,

Good job this year, especially with all this year's talent. I understand it is not easy at times, but for what it's worth, it's a paycheck, and you witness some great talent to boot...

Out...

Great_White_North

Wow I really liked hearing all the top ten sing together (with the exception of Kaitlyn, sorry child, yes you are cute but you can't sing). It's going to be an interesting show.

Very nice post, Great White North! I too wish all the finalist the best in the future. They are all top talents. Still throw my biggest wish for Donald to take home the marbles.

OK, this is just so wrong......I really didn't need to see the 'Audition All-Stars'.

They brought the little old lady back..she's so cute...

that was soooo bad. lol

I thought Queen Em would be the first to go, she seemed to be the weakest of the 5. Man, this is going to get harder. I think next will be either Donald or Neal.

The all stars were hilarious haha.

Bye bye Emily. Just Emily.

It was like watching a train wreck, I just couldn't look away. LOL

I agree.

I think they've all gotten enough exposure that somebody will help them to continue to pursue their love of music.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say it'll be Neal, Donald, Eli, and Nuttin But Stringz for the win. That's the order for leaving...

Although Neil has a good voice, I honestly don't see him taking the #1 spot. If anything he could get a good deal with an Opera or something similar after the show.

GO ELI!!!!!!!

Donald does have a great voice....but I agree that musical theater is where he belongs....not just a solo show.

I think it will definitely come down to Eli and Nuttin' But Stringz

Whoa.....NBS in THIRD?!? That is a shock. Can Eli beat judge favorite Neal???

WOW! NBS in 3rd place, I did NOT see that one coming.

I did NOT see that coming on NBS - I really thought it was going to be them.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! I can't believe this! NUttin but stringz still rulz!

OMG! Pierce just looked defeated and Sharon and Hoff were totally shocked.
I can't imagine that Neal will beat Eli.....but I sure didn't think NBS wouldn't make the top 2.

I'm stunned...I cannot believe that Nuttin But Stringz weren't in the top two...I'm sorry, Neal E. Boyd is not this good...

wow unbelievable!!! go eli!!!

I was hoping that NBS would have been in the top 2 spots...but oh well. We'll see at the other side of the break.

David,

I think the greatest option for the top 10 or 5 would be to have a variety show in Vegas with all of the 5 or 10 with the winner as the lead performer. With all the acts this year I only think that Eli has the act that can play well enough on its own. The piano and singing takes me back to Elton John and Billy Joel and I would pay to see that, however the others are weaker and I don't know that I would. However, if you pair up the top 10, I would definitely would. Just as the show that Jerry is promoting for Oct 17th, that is going to be a signal back to what I am talking about. If that show does well, it will most certainly be a show to either host in Vegas or take on the road. I can't be in Vegas because of work but I want to be there. Great job on the judging, you all do a wonderful job and I know its got to be hard. Thank you for all that you do and keep it real, be true to yourself and keep up the great work. I am one fan out of a hugh number but I see the tears in your eyes when some of the great talent perform and I can see that you have passion and spirit.

Thank you.

I've been rooting for Neal all along, but I won't feel bad if Eli wins it, I like them both.

Considering all the hype about them here, I was shocked seeing NBS take third.

The greatest performance tonight so far was definitely when the top 10 sang. I wonder why I had the feeling Kaitlyn would have the last part of the song.

It should have been Donald or NBS. Period. I guess if you cry everytime you're on camera?
We'll see.

Eli never cried and it could be him.

I tell you what isn't a shocker....Neal's crying

I've been pre-disposed for NBS this whole time, but still, I think they were robbed!

Where I live the NBC affiliate must be prerecorded because they played the last few seconds of the show first so you knew who it was that won before the show even started even though it said it was a live broadcast what a bummer!!

I'm rooting for Eli. But I wouldn't mind if Neal won. These two are really good.

I am so sad! I LOVE Nuttin But Stringz!!!!!!!!!

I'm really shocked NBS got third.
I honestly think they should have won the whole thing. Regardless, I know they're going to be really famous after this.

At this point, I won't be surprised if Neal wins.

There is no.way.

NEAL BOYD?!?!?!? What the hell just happened?

Whoa! Neal must have had a lot of grass roots voters out there!

Neal Boyd won it .. how is that possible?

Neal won. Well, the producers at least got what they wanted. An emotional victory. Ah well, congrats Neal.

so so disappointing
the crowd is not too enthused

Can someone check outside and see if the world froze over...

Yea, that's just great. I seriously wouldn't pay money to go see an Opera singer. Not that he doesn't have a good voice, it's not Vegas. Sorry. >.>

When I was voting, I was always considering whether it was the type of act I'd go to see in Vegas.....while I think he is great and very talented, I can't imagine people flocking to Las Vegas to see him. Maybe I'm wrong....congratulations, Neal!

Unbelievable,I am definitely not watching the finale when it comes on over here on the west coast

No one saw this coming .. it was supposed to be Eli vs. NBS. Neal Boyd didn't even do a sensational job during the finale.

Agreed. I just do not think there is any possible way that the votes swung that way. No way at all. I also thought that there was no way in the world that they would just copy the winner of BGT.

Wow - what a bunch of sour grapes in here. I was going for NBS or Eli, but I'm thrilled for Neal. I think it just goes to show that not everyone in this country doesn't appreciate Opera.

These Are the Easiest to Spot Acts whose style and perfomrance I spotted and predicted from the first episodes, and are total Stereotypes that seem to hold true:
Fat Black Man- Either Rap or Opera
Fat Black Woman- Soul Diva
Young White Girl- Country
Dude With Piano- Elton John-esque
Little Kids- Auto-Finals for the "aww" Factor
Older White Man- Classic (Show Tunes or Oldies)
Large Number of Performers- Hip-Hop Dancing

Very few exceptions to these perfomance stereotypes- there were the Tapping Dads, whom while I didn't like personally, I appreciated their uniqueness as an act. There were also the Slippery Kittens and those two sisters from Romania who couldn't be easily categorized, but the two were practically the same act.

Nuttin But Stringz: So here we have two, young, urban black boys with big diamonds in their ears and braided hair and baggy shirts. What are they gonna do?

Rap?
Dance?
Nope, they bust out some violins.

What a wonderful, stereotype-smashing act! They are not what is expected of a perfomance by young black American men, and that is what made them the best act in this entire show.

I am so disgusted that these talented, addictive artists didn't win.

We will have hundreds of fat people singing opera, kids singing disney songs, little girls who miss their daddy singing country manure, you will see ANY singing act again. Singing is common. But NEVER are you likely to see an act like Nuttin But Stringz again.

i happen to love opera and still don't think neal should be the winner

Well I'll be, I just don't know what to say. I am happy for him and I'm sure all the top ten will have wonderful opportunities ahead.