American Inventor is a
reality television series based on
a competition to be named America's best
inventor.
It was conceived by UK entrepreneur Peter Jones, who appears on the
British version of the somewhat similar programme Dragons' Den, a format originated in Japan
where it is
owned by Sony. It was produced by Jones
alongside
Simon Cowell and the
producers of
American Idol.
It premiered on
ABC on
March 16, 2006. It was organized as a competition between the
various Inventors resulting in one overall winner.
Janusz Liberkowski, who invented
a new type of child safety seat based on the human
womb called the
Anecia
Safety Capsule, was declared the first season's winner in a
live episode on May 18, 2006. The second season premiered on June
6, 2007. Firefighter
Greg Chavez, who
invented a fire suppression system for Christmas Trees called the
Guardian Angel, was the winner of the second season, on August 1,
2007. On March 20, 2008, the show's official website was removed,
and the series was not included on the 2008 fall schedule.
Premise
Season 1
Twelve inventors and their products are chosen from a pool of
hundreds by four judges including
Ed
Evangelista,
Mary Lou Quinlan,
Peter Jones and
Doug Hall. The 12 semi-finalists are broken down
into four groups of three, with each episode focusing on a
different group of three. Each of the twelve semi-finalists in each
group receives $50,000 to improve their inventions and compete to
become one of the four finalists. In the show's live finale, the
four finalists present a 30-second commercial advertisement for
their product, with the home audience voting by phone for the
winner. The winner receives $1,000,000 worth of business support,
entrepreneurial counsel, physical
resources, and
prize money.
Season 2
Instead of
12 finalists receiving $50,000 checks to develop their inventions
like in season one, six finalists, one from each of the audition
cities of Los
Angeles
, San
Francisco
, Chicago
, New York
, Tampa
and Houston
, will each
receive $50,000 and have one month to develop their
inventions. The 1 finalist is narrowed down to three based
on the judges' preference. Unlike the first season, the three
finalists for voting were declared and were voted on by viewers
immediately after the second-to-last show. The season finale was a
single show, where the winner is declared among the finalist. In
the first season, the finale was a two-episode feature with
30-second commercials on the first and the results of viewer voting
on the second part. Also, the first season had four finalists
instead of six narrowed to three.
Finalists
Season 1 Finalists
- Anecia Safety Capsule: A car seat shaped like
a sphere with a movable sphere inside it. In the event of a car
accident, the sphere will move, lessening the force on the baby.
Winner
- Word Ace: A game that tells you a letter and a
number and you have to come up with a word that starts with the
letter and has a number of letters equal to the number. (Final
4)
- Double Traction Bike: A bike with a seat on
the handlebars. (Final 4)
- The Catch: A bar that sits in front of your
body to help you catch footballs properly. (Final 4)
- Inside Umbrella: An umbrella where the top
part goes inside the bar. (Final 12)
- Head-Line It: A rubber pad to go on top of
your head to prevent sweating and itching under hats, helmets and
wigs. (Final 12)
- Sackmaster: A large shovel with a bag inside
it to make sand-bag filling easier. (Final 12)
- Here Comes Niya Doll: A multilingual set of
dolls. (Final 12)
- Bathroom Clip: A clip to attach to a bathroom
door in case the lock is broken. (Final 12)
- Tonerbelt: An exercise belt (Final 12)
- EZ-X Portable Gym: A portable gym (Final
12)
- Pureflush: A toilet that prevents the spread
of bacteria upon flushing. (Final 12)
Season 2 Finalists
- Guardian Angel: A small, pressurized tank of
water, disguised as a Christmas package, that is placed under the
Christmas tree and attached to a
small hose leading to the top of the tree where a fusible link is
disguised as an angel. The heat from a fire pops the link and water
suppresses the fire. There is also an alarm that works without a
battery & intended to suppress (not fully extinguish) a
Christmas tree fire and sound an alarm to get people out of the
house alive. Winner
- 6-In-1 Convertible Brassiere: A convertible brassiere that
accommodates the full wardrobe of small frame women with a "C" cup
or above. This is a traditional brassiere that converts into six
configurations and affords the full back to be exposed with comfort
because there is no mid-section and it can be worn with full
wardrobe. (Chicago Finalist) (2nd)
- HT Racers: The design and fabrication of
custom vehicles through the use of a computer program and patented
tools. Intended for use by individuals and groups ages 9 and up for
entertainment and educational purposes, this invention is a kit
that lets teens design, engineer, and build remote controlled
vehicles. (L.A. Finalist) (3rd)
- The Claw: A ceiling or wall-mounted bicycle
storage mechanism. The bicycle wheel is grasped by opposing hooks
when the central plunger is depressed. Re-pressing the central
plunger opens and locks the hooks for bicycle wheel removal. The
bi-stable plunger relies on an internal rotary mechanism. (New York
Finalist) (Final 6)
- Wrap-a-Way Cabinet: A station to put in a
drawer or attach to a cabinet to dispense paper towels, gift wrap,
etc. (Houston Finalist) (Final 6)
- EZT4U: A brewing basket that attaches to the
common electric coffee brewing machine in order to brew tea. (Tampa
Finalist) (Final 6)
Time slot
American Inventor debuted March 16, 2006 at 8:00 p.m.
Eastern Standard Time. Each subsequent Thursday, it aired at 9 p.m.
until the season finale May 18, 2006.
American Inventor
aired on ABC and on
CH in
Canada. The second season began on June 6, 2007 at 9pm on ABC. It
aired on
Global in
Canada.
In Malaysia, it is formerly aired on
NTV7 which
later aired a half bit of Malay subtitles. Latin America had the
airings of the show in
Sony Entertainment
Television on Saturday nights at 9:00pm (Chile). In Sweden TV4
Plus and later TV400 has aired the show from 2008.
Controversy
The makers of the program were accused of modeling
American
Inventor on a similar program called
Million Dollar Idea [249301].
The validity of the claim that the Guardian Angel was invented by
Greg Chavez is unclear. This same "invention" was actually a gag
product on
The Tonight Show with
Jay Leno on December 16, 1993, the first
night
Julia Roberts was a guest on the
show. Mr. Leno used a lighter to trigger a smoke alarm within a
Christmas tree which then caused the star on the top of the tree to
spray a strong burst of water, putting out any potential fire.
Several similar patents have been granted over the years and first
season judge Doug Hall has also called it unoriginal, writing in
his blog that he once worked on something similar for a
client.
Credits
American Inventor is produced by Simon Cowell's Syco
Television LLC and
FremantleMedia North America, Inc in
association with Peter Jones TV. The executive producers are Simon
Cowell, Liz Bronstein, Siobhan Greene, Nigel Hall and Cecile
Frot-Coutaz. Co-executive producer is Daniel Soiseth.
See also
External links
.
.
Wikis
Quiz
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