Here’s how I imagine Simon Cowell invented his ABC reality show, American Inventor 2: He thought to himself, “You know what’s missing from American Idol? Long, tedious periods of silence, awkward pauses, and time-wasting moments that stretch 10 minutes of content into 44. Also, more sappy videos. And judges who make you realize just how… continue reading
American Inventor
Last Comic Standing 5 debuts tonight; American Inventor 2, continue
This is the summer of reality talent competitions; there are at least six American Idol rip-offs currently airing, and six Project Runway-style series will air by the end of the summer. You’d think that producers and networks had run out of ideas. Two of the stage/judges/audience series debuted on ABC last week: The Next Best… continue reading
American Inventor host, judges fired; George Foreman will judge second season
Following an often dull and drama-less first season, one that lost viewers as it progressed, American Inventor 2 will look significantly different. First, all of the show’s judges–Ed Evangelista, Doug Hall, Mary Lou Quinlan–are all out, except for Peter Jones, who Variety notes is “also one of the show’s exec producers.” Stepping in as a… continue reading
American Inventor 2 begins casting Sunday
ABC and Simon Cowell’s American Inventor begins casting this weekend for its second season. The show will visit six cities between now and the middle of April. The show is looking for “a new and useful consumer product that can be marketed and sold directly to consumers through retail outlets” and “manufactured and distributed in… continue reading
Janusz Liberkowski wins American Inventor
Janusz Liberkowski won American Inventor last night, taking the $1 million prize for his spherical safety seat named after his daughter, Anecia. But everyone else didn’t go away crushed. Representatives from product-placed companies showed up to offer to help develop the products of the runners-up–except for Erik Thompson. Apparently no company thought The Catch was… continue reading
American Inventor opens phones for voting and is even more boring than usual
American Inventor aired its “finale” episode tonight, and the phone lines opened so viewers could vote for the four finalists: Ed Hall, with Word Ace; Janusz Liberkowski, with Anecia, the spherical safety seat; Francisco Patino, with the Double Traction Bike, and Erik Thompson, with The Catch, the receiver’s training pole. Thankfully, this Simon Cowell-produced disaster… continue reading
Unan1mous, American Inventor both losing large numbers of viewers
Two new reality series that started strong have lost significant numbers of viewers as the weeks pass. FOX’s Unan1mous, which has the cushy post-American Idol timeslot, lost 54 percent of its lead-in last Wednesday. While the show did come in “No. 2 in its timeslot among viewers 18-49 and No. 3 among total viewers,” as… continue reading
American Inventor loses 30 percent of viewers 18-49
Facing a new episode of CBS’ CSI for the first time last Thursday, ABC’s American Inventor lost almost a third of its viewers from the week before. The show had “a 3.7 overnight rating among viewers 18-49 in the 9 p.m. timeslot last night, down 30 percent from the 5.3 it averaged over its first… continue reading
American Inventor debut draws 14.2 million viewers, gives ABC a win among 18- to 49-year-olds
The first two-hour episode of American Inventor may have been slow, but it pulled in record audiences for ABC. Of course, it’s ABC, so the records aren’t exactly that spectacular, but the show gave ABC “its first in-season primetime ratings victory on the night (excluding sports) in more than three years,” Variety reports. The debut… continue reading
Evan and Jaron show up to whore themselves on American Inventor’s premiere
If American Inventor is going to become the next American Idol, it needs to take some speed. Because while the first episode had plenty of drama and invention presentations, it also had the pacing of a legless burro. Seriously, like every person to appear before the judges had a sad story, and we had to… continue reading
ABC’s American Inventor debuts tonight
ABC’s American Inventor, which will either be the next American Idol or the next copycat failure, debuts tonight at 8 p.m. ET. After 12 finalists are selected by judges, America will vote for the winner, who will receive $1 million and have his or her product sold on Amazon.com. And the show’s first five hours… continue reading
Two shows looking for inventors
A new ABC series and a History Channel special are each looking for people who have the next big idea. Simon Cowell is expanding his reality empire with a new ABC series American Inventor, which will award $1 million to the person with the best idea. Like American Idol, judges will narrow the field and… continue reading