by Arthur Perkins
 
As Piers Morgan says late in the show "America made some strange decisions" and I concur heartily. I concur with what Piers said that the talent in this quarterfinal was marvelous. However, the results below are not what I think were warranted and not what I expected. Some marginal teams got through and at least one excellent team got the shaft. The top entertainment last night was was provided by Ashley Tisdale of High School Musical II and by the band Daughtry.
 
Nick Cannon opened with footage of some dialogue from the prior evening: Nick - What type of ogre breaks the hearts of 3 little girls? Piers responded that he is that ogre. David says to Pixie Mystere "How do you feel about going to school in Las Vegas?" Dave Johnson got in a sly remark that I had missed on Tuesday night, but the producers want to make sure nobody overlooks it:
"They (the judges) are all pretty old."   I don't feel that he was fair with that remark because I felt his performance was the problem, not the advisory judging. Let's get right to the heart of the results.
 
The first pairing was pianist Jeffrey Ou vs. vocalist BRI. Right at this start the announcement of this pairing was a shock. I projected Jeffrey Ou to go home, not on the technical problem which impeded the audience and judges from hearing the second half of his performance, but on the merits of the first half of the performance and the structure of it. I projected BRI on the Bubble where she might make it. She didn't. The vote went to Jeffrey Ou and I knew that one of my top 5 was going home as a result.
 
The second pairing was magician Jay Mattioli vs. singer/comedian Dave Johnson vs. vocalist Lawrence Beamen. I was pleased here since it meant that two of my "going home" predictions were almost certain to happen as there was no way Lawrence Beamen was going to lose this. Lawrence did win as expected.
 
The third pairing was jugglers Mario and Jenny vs. Marcus Terrell. I was sad to see this, as it pitted two of my top 5 against each other and guaranteed one would be going home. Mario and Jenny are going to the semifinals and Marcus Terrell is going home.
 
The fourth pairing was musicians G-Force, dance group U4Ria and contortionist Hairo Torres. I knew that G-Force would be out, but which of acts I rated "on the Bubble" would be moving into the semifinals? It was Hairo Torres. He is good but I don't think he deserved to be in the 5 going on.
 
The final group was the unfortunate pairing of 2 great acts, dance troupe Footworkingz vs. Pixie Mystere. In my judgment, they both deserved to go through. However, America decided that they were the #5 and #6 teams and subject to a decision by the judges. Sharon said "I love Pixie magic but you have future opportunities. The group for now is Footworkingz." She voted for them.  Piers said both were exceptional, so he must put through the act which had the better chance to win. That was Footworkingz, which won the final spot as a result. Pixie Mystere should feel a bit shafted, not by these 3 judges but by the home audience vote that put them in jeopardy.

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