NatrlBornThrllr

Did anybody watch the premiere of this reality show tonight? It's basically American Idol, except instead of singing, you bring in your inventions to get a yes or no from the four judges. I thought it was interesting enough, though I didn't care for the judges.

-JP

chino77

seemed very very fake to me.

edit...after watchingthe entire show i think its the worst show ive ever seen.

NatrlBornThrllr

My favorite invention of the bunch was actually the one by Evan and Jaron, the musicians. I hate eating a bowl of cherries because I always end up needing a second bowl for the seeds and stems...so I'd definitely buy their invention if it were to be mass produced and sold for a reasonable price.

-JP

DRG

This initial episode was interesting, but I don't see how this is going to work as a series. I understand the audience will be voting and whatnot, but what is going to change each week? I mean, everyone will vote for the inventions they like, but the next week it will be the same inventions so you're pretty much going to keep voting for the one you like (unless it gets voted off, I suppose). Seems sort of pointless in the long run.

NatrlBornThrllr

Yeah, but with enough votes and some changing from week to week due to eliminations, I think there'll be a clear-cut winner eventually. Also, they purposely turned away a mother because her invention was too good. They said that she didn't need their help, that all she'd be doing was using their show for promotion, so they didn't pick her. It seemed like they tried to choose inventions that could be worked with and changed throughout the course of the show.

-JP

chino77

that invention of hers was awful....btw do parents call their kids "retarded"? i thought that wasnt the correct term.

dsa_shea

Her invention was simply a video that is supposed to help 3-5 year olds.

NatrlBornThrllr

I noticed that and wondered the same thing.

Yeah, and that one guy's invention was just a set of weights to help people get in shape. She had an entire table full of products that compliment the video...it seemed like an entire line of educational games and whatnot. I'm not saying that it was the most original thing to be brought in, but it was certainly as deserving as most of the other items that were chosen. You can play the "it was simply such and such" game with 85% of the items that we were shown.

-JP

Ttiberius

Not sure exactly how it works but I know the ones that move on get $50,000. to further advance their invention before the next round,so there must be a pretty good time frame between rounds

ItsGreekToMe

I wonder where the kid that made the auto doggy air conditioner got the idea?

Maybe here?

That poor kid was crushed.

Tazwolff

They should have hired a few lawyers as zit boys handlebar seat is not legal. I waste my time handing out at least 3 citations a week to people riding on handlebars. And they need someone from the USPTO because I'm sure that someone somewhere has a patent one at least one of the items they said yes to. That's the real way to making money these days. Patent something, anything and some day someone will implement your idea so you can sue the hell out of them.

But hey, wouldn't we all love a "Bladder Buddy" and stick... I mean "Wand" while waiting for the bus in a city?

Ttiberius

Just guessing but I think the ones they were Ok-ing tonight are going into a pool (like auditions) & out of this pool comes the final 12 that get the $50,000. to advance .Probably they will check out the legal ramifications etc of anyone before they are selected for this final 12.

FinkPish

I really didn't like this show. It seemed like the worst kind of manipulative reality show; never did I feel like I was watching what really happened in the judging room, it all felt completely manufactured in editing. I'm so sick of these fake awkward pauses and staring contests; there's no way that anything went down like that. And I'm seriously getting sick of seeing judges who are complete bipolar assholes; I think Simon Cowell is a total dick, and now we seem to have 4 of them on this show. A dose of reality for these inventors is a good thing, but again, with these "personalities," it seems completely manufactured.

Ttiberius

I agree it was pretty crappy but Its evident they are using the American Idol formula to the letter,so this is the crappy audition stage where they show all the idiots etc .I think when it gets to the final 12 it will be a lot more interesting & we'll see a lot of the better inventions
The One Judge from the UK is Cowell's Co-creator

DRG

The problem with the video lady is that there are hundreds of videos like that already out there. Character education curriculum is not some new "invention". I didn't really see any novel new twist from stuff I've already seen.

DRG

I agree, but my problem is in what the show will actually consist of each week once there's a final twelve or whatever. In Idol there are different performances each week, and the fluctuating quality of those helps determine the votes a bit each episode. But with this, we're just going to be seeing the same inventions each week, aren't we? So if I like 'solar powered cooler' the best, I'm probably going to keep liking it each week until it either wins or is voted off, at which point I go for my second favorite or just stop watching. It's not like 'gym in a bag' is going to have a bad week or 'branch trimmer' is going to forget their lyrics. I'm just wondering what the episodes are going to actually consist of content-wise, other than who gets voted off and whatever slight progress they're making each week.

innocentfreak

Yeah so far I hate the judges. I realize the show is the American Inventor, but I would rather see a good invention rather than nothing special with a good story.

Does anyone know if they have anywhere you can view more of the inventions they rejected?

Goldberg74

I caught the last 20 mins (branch trimmer from Oz and the hot dog in a car kid)... and I won't be watching it again.

Besides, next week I'll be TiVoing Survivor and Four Kings. No room for another Simon "invention."

HistoryProf

i agree it was pretty bad and way too heavy on the contrived emotion. they were ridiculously harsh on the woman who had the tizzy tubes or whatever....seemed pretty harmless to me. that woman judge bugs me. and I wanted to vomit with the effusive "you are a great american" crap - particularly the black dude that had the weight set thing. lame.

shaun3000

Agreed. WTF was with the crying? Seriously, it was an exercise machine.

And I don't get the judges, at all. For example, all but one told the kid his idea was great, but they said no. WHAT? It's good, but no?

And perhaps the best idea of the night, the sandbagger, was almost passed on. Someone filling sandbags the traditional way requires two people and generally several scoops of sand. It's hard on the back and horribly inefficient. The guy's sandbagger looked like you could fill a bag with one swipe, assuming you had a decent pile of sand to scoop from. And two judges said NO! WTF? Simon Cowel's buddy "changed his mind" when he realized the guy from New York, the one guy who knew what he was talking about was calling him a buffoon.

Brack

this show is not very good, it's like American Idol, but with these judges and their ambiguous bragging rights I felt like I was watching The Apprentice. The guy with the glasses was okay, but the others were pretty awful.

the whole "this is what it means to be a great American" was embarrassing to watch. OMG, weights in a bag, it will change the world!!!

dannybal_2000

Greatest invention ever: Space Beatle Utopia!!!

das Monkey

Fake, manipulative, annoying, silly. I was surprised how much I disliked this mess. I love how outraged they were at the Tizzy Tubes. Looked like more fun than a lot of the crap I did to amuse myself at that age. I also liked how the judge on the end complained that the cooler was too small -- "I can only put a sandwich and a drink in there" -- and then he instructed the guy to make it more compact. And that lady. Oh my. She's a great American! She is what this country is all about. *sheds tear*

das

Gil Jawetz

I thought the show was pretty badly done and the "bad" auditions were not nearly as entertaining as the ones on AI. I also think that all the time spent on the judges and interviewing people whose inventions we never saw were a waste.

That said, I did like seeing some of the inventions and inventors. The guy with the excersize set was great and his locking weights were very cool. And the sand-bag filling shovel was awesome.

Also, the woman with the "retarded" kid did not invent anything at all. Hell, I've made DVDs before. I didn't invent anything there. And the tizzy tubes should be marketed as toys and not as some sort of discipline item. I hated them but for the opposite reason as the judges. I don't see them as abusive but rather overly indulgent. It's another way of justifying tantrums as "expression." Stupid idea and stupid motivation.

ETA: das, I think the initial concern with the cooler was that the generator mechanics would take up so much of the interior of the cooler that it would limit the food storage. Then the guy said that all the electronics were in the lid, so the judge was convinced. He was challenging the inventor to see if he reacted.

Regarding the week-by-week aspect of it, I don't know how the show will work, but remember that a lot of these ideas are barely functioning prototypes that need to be refined a whole lot. There will be challenges along the way and in some cases the ideas won't work at all. Granted, something like the shovel is ready to go but that's not the case for all of them.

TOLEN

A few things...I loved that older black woman who spent 12k on that scam to get her invention created and it was already invented. What I thought was funny. Is that after she cursed them and said she was still right.

And I think we have a celeb look-a-like....My daughter and I thought the female judge looked just like the mom from Home Alone (Catherine O'Hara).