Season 2 • Episode 8
LatestIn the season finale, the audience votes are in and counted and one of the three finalists will win the $1,000,000 grand prize, crowning him or her as the next American Inventor.
American Inventor was a reality television series based on a competition to be named America's best inventor. It was conceived by UK entrepreneur Peter Jones, who appears on the British version of the somewhat similar programme Dragons' Den, a format originated in Japan where it is owned by Sony. It was produced by Jones alongside Simon Cowell and the producers of American Idol. It premiered on ABC on March 16, 2006. It was organized as a competition between the various Inventors resulting in one overall winner. Janusz Liberkowski, who invented a new type of child safety seat based on the human womb called the Anecia Safety Capsule, was declared the first season's winner in a live episode on May 18, 2006. The second season premiered on June 6, 2007. Firefighter Greg Chavez, who invented a fire suppression system for Christmas Trees called the Guardian Angel, was the winner of the second season, on August 1, 2007. On March 20, 2008, the show's official website was removed, and the series was not included on the 2008 fall schedule, therefore the series was cancelled.
Production
American Idol producers applying their formula to crying inventors.
Creator
Peter Jones
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
This was Simon Cowell's failed attempt to replicate American Idol's success in the invention space. It lasted 22 episodes. He moved on to judging singing dogs.
The show embodied mid-2000s reality TV's obsession with 'ordinary people with extraordinary dreams'—a format that peaked here and collapsed under its own earnestness.
US
