Posted Wednesday, May 14, 2018 by RODNEY HO/rho@ajc.com on his AJC Radio & TV Talk blog
Little kids who can sing, dance or show off their smarts are TV gold. Just ask NBC and Steve Harvey, who hosts "Little Big Shots," which returns for a third season Sunday.
Two metro Atlanta kids will be featured in the first two episodes this Sunday, which air back to back.
First up this Sunday will be Zachary Tzegaegbe, a six year old from Lilburn. Since the age of three, he has been fascinated by presidents. He knows all of them in order. He knows random facts about them, including the first president to ride a train (Andrew Jackson). He has studied and memorized notable presidential speeches. On Sunday's episode airing at 7 p.m., Zachary will re-enact a John F. Kennedy speech and banter with Harvey.
Why is he so into presidents? "They're so nice and they do good," he explained. But his desire to be president has waned since he learned that several have been shot and assassinated. "It's dangerous," he said. Instead, he plans to be a mayor instead. Not many mayors, he said, get shot.
His mom Peggy Davis said they heard about the show at Kiddin Around Models and Talent Agency where he does modeling and the rep there loved how much Zachary liked presidents. That fact alone got him on "Little Big Shots."
Peggy, who is principal at Kelly Lake Elementary in Decatur, said when Zachary was three, he first learned about George Washington, Abe Lincoln and the then president Barack Obama. She had an iPad and began showing him pictures of all 45 presidents. He began watching YouTube videos of presidential speeches. She was amazed when he began quoting Franklin D. Roosevelt.
"He knows more about presidents now than I do," she marveled.
She brought him to meet Jimmy Carter. They visit presidential museums. I grew up in Oyster Bay, Teddy Roosevelt's town and when I mentioned that president's name, Zachary quickly said, "Speak softly and carry a big stick!"
Credit: Rodney Ho
Credit: Rodney Ho
During the second hour, the 2017 "America's Got Talent" runner up and local singer Angelica Hale will return to NBC and perform. The adorable 10 year old with the incredible singing voice used to live in Johns Creek, recently moved to Suwanee.
She has been performing regularly since the show ended last summer, going to Taiwan for the first time to sing before bank executives and going to Vancouver to sing as well. She recently helped out for a Muhammad Ali charity fight night event and got to meet Aerosmith lead singer Steven Tyler, country legend Reba McEntire and famous songwriter and producer David Foster. To her, celebrities "are just like regular people. They're so cool!"
Angelica has been working on new music, even writing her own songs. She has no dates to perform in the new future in Atlanta but is hoping to nab something soon.
ON TV
"Little Big Shots," returns for third season at 7 p.m. Sunday, March 18 with a second episode at 8 p.m. Starting next week, it will be on at 8 p.m. Sundays.
About the Author
