I love the idea of a talent show that focuses on more than just singing, especially the same old adult contemporary music that we hear over and over and over again on the likes of American Idol, Star Search, or any other popular talent competition. The problem is that when it comes down to it it ends up being nothing more than a singing competition with some other performers thrown in for good measure, but without a shot at winning.<br /><br />The "judges" constantly berate people for not being diverse or "mixing it up" enough, which flies in the face of what the show is supposed to be about. Take, for instance, the martial arts exhibition group Sideswipe. They were told by all of the judges that they wanted to see more than just punching and kicking, and that they had to do more dancing and add more production to their numbers if they were going to have a shot at winning. WHAT!?!?!? They are a martial arts group. . . . . PUNCHING AND KICKING IS WHAT THEY DO!!! Why not tell the singers that they need to add more flips and jumps and tumbling to their acts? When it comes down to it the judges, and America, do not consider anything other than singing to be real talent, and that is a shame, because the variety is what could be the shows strongest feature.<br /><br />In defense of the show, there is much more variety than you will see on American Idol. At the end of the second season there is a blues/reggae singer, a young American Idolish singer (though not of the same caliber), a ventriloquist/impressionist whose act is 99% singing, and a beat boxing singer. There is more variety than many other talent competitions, but it would be really nice to see more of the true variety acts and far fewer singing acts.<br /><br />Another negative is that the show would be totally unwatchable without TIVO. Less than half of every show actually involves performing, and they spend way too much time on background info and letting you know what is coming up "after the break."