American Inventor (1 Viewer)

[Jason Harbaugh]

This whole show became about who can make their eyes squirt the most. Thank gad for DVR's. Of course I found myself fast forwarding through the entire show.

 

[TonyD]

hmm, did MikeM post in this thread?

i've been getting email replies to this thread all day with a post from him that starts out...

"Paul , I totally agree with you."

 

[MikeM]

The forum database seems to be really messed up right now.

 

[TonyD]

just got another email for the missing mikem post.

that makes 13 so far.

 

[Scott-S]

The first half of this week’s episode was all fluff. Why did they spend an hour showing us the same stuff again?

The second half was much better. I like this stage. It is good to see how an invention becomes a product.

I was really disappointed that that the Sackmaster didn’t go on. He had the best idea. But his refusal to make any changes did him in. Not using the money was really stupid.

The in-brella idea is good, but until she can actually make a working prototype she won't be able to go any further even if she had money.

The football-catching device looks like it might work but I am a little confused. When I was playing football, we were taught to catch the ball against our body. This thing does the opposite. I guess times have changed. My biggest peeve is that the world doesn’t really need any more primo-donna Terrell Owens type people out in the world. This is just an aid of making more of them :frowning: And how many of these could the world need? There is a much bigger market for the other two. This just proves that the personality of the inventor was more important than the invention.

They should have another show that is about the inventions based purely on the actual invention. That would be more interesting to me.

 

[Jason Harbaugh]

They did, and it was called Made in the USA on the USA Network. Some of those inventions were pretty cool like the quad zipper. But it was taken off the air before they got down to a winner.

The Inbrella seems like a good idea but it doesn't appear that practical when you start thinking about making it big enough to actually stop rain from falling on you. Even those 8-10" pocket umbrellas spread out bigger than that one appeared to. Lots of engineering left on it.

The sackmaster is one of those ideas that is just slick. Sure it has been done before but not at that size. But it is such a limiting market unless they can think of other uses for it such as that lady thinking of scooping up leaves. I think he can sell it on his own to that limited market. Put it in some ACE hardware's and Home Depots. He was quite stubborn on the design part and it was really stupid to have $28,000 left and come in with a makeshift strap made of wrapped paper/cloth and twine.

The football thing is interesting. We were taught to catch with our hands but immediately bring it into your body. It's true that if you try and just catch with your body it is easier for it to bounce out but again it just doesn't look like much of a market for it.

I think this show jumped the shark when it turned from American Inventor to American Crier. They ended up with some inventions that have no use to most of the american public and are all niche products just because the inventor squirted a few and made horrible life decisions like quitting their job.

 

[Scott-S]

Yes, it does seem like we are rewarding poor financial decisions.

 

[Hanson]

I find the reliance on waterworks and the crazy f*cked up/emotionally unstable people they've recruited have made this show unwatchable. I just don't understand how you lose your job and house because you had what was ostensibly a money making invention.

The other part is the sheer ludicrousness of voting off the Sackmaster, whose usefullness and market base made it a shoo-in for moving to the next round. And yet, due to the inventor's quirks, they let him walk out. It's like, I know it's called American Inventor, but I was under the impression that they were evaluating the merits of the inventions themselves. This sort of capricous nature of the voting is why I no longer watch The Apprentice. What's the point of sitting through the show, watching the obvious conclusion being shaped, and then getting blindsided in the end?