''American Inventor'' is a

reality television series Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring ordinary people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 1990s ...

based on a competition to be named America's best inventor. It was conceived by

Simon Cowell Simon Phillip Cowell (; born 7 October 1959) is an English television personality and businessman. He has judged on the British television talent competition shows ''Pop Idol'' (2001–2003), ''The X Factor (British TV series), The X Factor UK ...

and the producers of ''

American Idol ''American Idol'' is an American Music competition, singing competition television series created by Simon Fuller, produced by Fremantle (company), Fremantle North America and 19 Entertainment, and distributed by Fremantle North America. It a ...

'', and premiered on

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...

in March, 2006. It was organized as a competition between inventors nationally, resulting in one overall winner.

Premise

Season 1

Twelve inventors and their products are chosen from a pool of hundreds by four judges. 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 competes to become one of the four finalists. The finalists would then work with a dedicated prototype and design company who would help with expert advice and manufacturing assistance. Each group is assigned a judge who would judge their products that they have invented. Each of the four judges would then choose one inventor from their group to compete in the finals, for a total of 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 Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

Tampa Tampa ( ) is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. Tampa's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and t ...

and

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

, will each receive $50,000 and have one month to develop their inventions. The 6 finalists are 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.

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 Vest (aka Receiver Trainer Pole): 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) The "Niya Doll" appear again in The Toy Box. * 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 A Christmas tree is a decorated tree, usually an evergreen pinophyta, conifer, such as a spruce, pine or fir, associated with the celebration of Christmas. It may also consist of an artificial tree of similar appearance. The custom was deve ...

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 bra, short for brassiere or brassière (, ; ), is a type of form-fitting underwear that is primarily used to support and cover a woman's breasts. A typical bra consists of a chest band that wraps around the torso, supporting two breast cu ...

: 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 midsection and it can be worn with full wardrobe. The invention was later commercialized by

Maidenform Maidenform Brands is a manufacturer of women's bras, underwear, and shapewear founded in 1922. History The company was founded in Bayonne, New Jersey in 1922 and sought to appeal to the flapper subculture of the time. Maidenform converted ...

. (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 Global may refer to: General *Globe, a spherical model of celestial bodies *Earth, the third planet from the Sun Entertainment * ''Global'' (Paul van Dyk album), 2003 * ''Global'' (Bunji Garlin album), 2007 * ''Global'' (Humanoid album), 198 ...

in Canada.

Credits

''American Inventor'' was produced by Simon Cowell's Syco TV and

FremantleMedia Fremantle Limited (), formerly FremantleMedia, is a British multinational television production and distribution company based in London. The company was founded as Pearson Television in 1993 when publishing and education company Pearson ...

North America, Inc in association with Peter Jones TV. The executive producers were Simon Cowell, Liz Bronstein, Siobhan Greene, Nigel Hall, and Cecile Frot-Coutaz. Co-executive producer was Daniel Soiseth. The makers of the program were accused of modeling ''American Inventor'' on a similar program called ''Million Dollar Idea''.

References

External links

Official Website
* {{Syco 2006 American television series debuts 2007 American television series endings 2000s American reality television series American Broadcasting Company reality television shows Television series by Fremantle (company)