Star Search, April 4: Quoth the Raven, That’s a Four

Due to a variety of problems, the Star Search recap for Friday’s episode is a bit shorter than usual. But we’ll still get you the scores, the winners, and some other details! We had our usual motley crew of Naomi Judd, Ben Stein, and Ahmet Zappa as judges, plus guest judge Raven.

The Junior Singer competition placed nine-year-old Victoria Huggins against 13-year-old Luis Figueroa-Roig. Victoria sang “Almost Like Being in Love” and got 4, 5, 3, and 5 stars from the judges (in the order they are listed above). Ahmet Zappa’s score was particularly strange as it was accompanied by him making a comment about how what she was doing should be illegal because it was so good – but then why three stars instead of five? As we often see in this competition (though usually with Naomi), the judges don’t actually have to make any sense.

Luis received scores of 5, 5, 4, and 4, putting him one point ahead going to the viewer vote. The voters gave Luis 17 stars to Victoria’s 15, putting him through to the semi-finals.

In the comedian category (which was absent in the first show of this season because they had to fit in two of the finalist categories from the previous season), we had Tim Northern up against David Crowe. David’s routine about women received straight 4s while Tim’s jokes about family got 5s from everybody except Naomi, who gave him a 4. The audience weighed in heavily in Tim’s favor as well, giving him 17 to David’s 14 and putting him through to the semi-finals.

The young dancer competition put two groups against each other. First were the duo of Mike Tyus and Geena Wheeler, who did an energetic number that only got them 3s except for a 4 from Raven. Then a trio, Power Club Express, did a modern jazz dance that earned them 3s from Naomi and Raven and 4s from Ben and Ahmet, meaning they would go to the audience vote one point ahead. However, the audience felt more strongly about the duo than the judges had, giving them 15 to Power Club’s 13 and meaning Mike and Geena would move ahead to the semis on a one-point victory.

Finally, we had the adult singer competition. Lisa Mack – who has huge hair (see photo at top of the article) – gave a powerful “Lady Marmalade.” She got 5s from Naomi and Ben, 4s from Ahmet and Raven – despite the fact that Raven cheered, “I absolutely loved it! It was wonderful! You have to wonder what it would take to get a 5…

Lisa’s competition was Matt Alber, who got 4s from Naomi and Ahmet, 3s from Ben and Raven. Matt was going to the viewer vote four stars lower, which would be a tough margin to overcome. Indeed it was as the viewers preferred Lisa by one star, 15 to 14, so she advances to the semi-finals.

Next episode, look for a return to our usual more-detailed recap, presuming we’re out of the woods as far as VCR/satellite/etc. trouble goes! And then Friday will be the first semi-final round.

David Bloomberg is the Editor of RealityNewsOnline and can be reached at rno@pobox.com.

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