American Inventor

Tonight is time for American Inventor, the second of the shows that I have just gotten around to watching now that March Madness is down to the Final Four (GO GMU!!!).

The concept of the show itself is interesting. But it is extraordinarily clear that it is from the same producers as American Idol. It is set up exactly the same. From the Ryan Secrest-like host, to the judging panel, to the shots of convention centers full of people shouting “I’m the American Inventor,” it’s almost the same show. I think they may even be using the same city shots from Idol. It’s distracting to watch it’s so similar. Just because it works on Idol, doesn’t mean you should reproduce it frame by frame.

There are a couple of places where the shows differ, and they don’t differ in a good way. For some reason, American Inventor feels the need to switch between cities. It’s hard to follow when they hype the fact that they’re in New York, then they’re in Chicago, then all of a sudden they’re in San Francisco. The other thing that is confusing is the structure of the show itself. On Idol, when you make it through to the next round, you know exactly what is happening – you’re going to Hollywood. Getting through to the next round on this show is significantly fuzzier. We know that in the end 12 inventors are going to get money to produce their products. But what happens in between then and now? They keep passing people through to the next round, without ever telling us what that next round is. Strange.

Just like on Idol, American Inventor has its share of contestants that are great, and contestants that really shouldn’t be on the show. Most of them are silly – like the stripper wrap and the bladder buddy. But I guess there are a few that are actually interesting.

So on to tonight’s episode. Tonight was the first time that I saw a product that I would actually buy. Alas, it didn’t make it through to the fabled next round. That’s right, I would buy the bra. No, I don’t have breast implants. But the woman who invented the bra missed a huge market – her bra looked like it would be a lifesaver for anyone with larger breasts. I would buy it. I would buy 10 of them. I hope she really does make it – she could make a mint.

The other thing I found interesting is that for every invention, Doug seems to be an expert in the field. Clearly, I’m not the only one who is amused by that – the producers did a great “Mr. Know It All” bit. And maybe he really does speak from experience – the producers never tell us what he’s invented, just that there are tons of his inventions in everyone’s house. Even so, it’s annoying. Really annoying. I’ll take Simon over Doug any day.

So one more week of this round...I guess that gives them a little more time to figure out what the next round is.