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The Invention Revolution and the Battle for Fame and Fortune Through Reality TV

bcarmen | 16 February, 2006 14:49

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American Inventor is an exciting new ABC primetime reality TV show from Simon Cowell and the producers of American Idol.

Set to premiere in early 2006, American Inventor will undertake the biggest search ever for the nation’s best new invention. An embodiment of the ultimate American dream, the show will uncover the hottest new product and make a struggling inventor's dream come true. It will celebrate the best in homespun American ingenuity, and turn one person's idea into the next big thing. Or so the ABC.com web site says

Despite the network’s boasts, will American Inventor be “primetime reality” or just another Hollywood scripted show fabricated by marketing hype and wannabe actors, like its American Idol predecessor? Hopefully, ABC will attempt to keep it real and not engineer it in such a way that it is out of touch with true inventors.

Cowell’s claims to the creative conceptualizing of the program are suspicious. The original idea for the show was, in fact, registered with the Writers Guild of America and pitched to an NBC producer by the parent company of this magazine. Cowell maintains that he had a vision for the show while driving in his car. But hey… You can’t fight players as successful as ABC or Simon Cowell so we won’t go there. Since it is a show that promotes inventions and gives recognition to them we must bite our tongues and happily play along. Perhaps Cowell will appreciate our vigor and toss us a bone someday!

But will the show, as they have claimed, make an inventor’s dream come true? Or will it simply make an actor’s dream come true? We hope for the first scenario of course and we’re pretty sure the show’s consumer audience will agree. The last thing we need is for the glory of inventing to be made a mockery of in the name of profits for ABC and Simon Cowell. And that’s not because we dislike Cowell. We actually like him a lot. After all, he is an accomplished and deserving inventor in his own right.


If American Inventor is a legitimate search for “the best in homespun American ingenuity,” we’re all for it. Hopefully, the show will discover and challenge inventors in an interesting way, rather than milk the audience for weeks on end just to sell products produced by corporate conglomerates. Of course we also hope that it is not just a show designed to be an advertising vehicle for the likes of Walmart or other types of retailers that commonly rip off inventors or destroy true ingenuity.

With any luck, ABC and Cowell will realize that inventors are not like actors and that it is impossible to fake a successful product! All the voting, hype and glorification of an idea are not going to make it sell better, at least not in the long run. They could, though, easily make for an interesting creation of one hit wonder collectibles to be sold on eBay. But this would unlikely please a true inventor who would hardly benefit from his/her items ending up listed in eBAY’s salvage-clearance categories.

So Mr. Cowell and the execs at ABC, please do try to produce a worthwhile inventors’ show. Inventors and the world they live in deserve a genuine form of acknowledgement and glorification. Being a true inventor is no easy task, especially in light of the way most retailers squirm when faced with a new invention. It is sort of like being Rodney Dangerfield. Inventors often get no respect!

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