'Dancing With The Stars' Season 14 Dream Casting
What To Watch On TV This Week
American Inventor: Open casting calls
Tonight was the premiere of Simon Cowell's newest invention,
American Invention, and so far I'm liking the possibilities. I like the judges and I like their reasoning. The
one question I have is, why are we seeing British judges on these "American" shows? Must be a buddy of
Simon's.Tonight's open casting calls includes New York and Los Angeles, where things got off to a pretty bleak start, complete with a public peeing tent and a "space beetle utopia" (i.e., a blastic bubble with a bunch of roaches running around in it.)
There were a few gems, and even some inspiring stories to accompany them. Here's what we saw make it tonight:
Sack Buddy -- Judge Mary Lou is a huge sucker for a sap story, and this one dragged her in with ease. Actually, it
dragged me in as well, because this is a really great invention. This guy sold his house to make the prototype of a
one-man sand sack filling shovel that fills a sand bag in one swoop, useful for filling dam sacks during floods. Best
idea of the night.
Handle-bar-seat-pedal Bike -- I agree with the judges' initial feeling, that this is an
idea that will take a lot of work, not only in materials but also marketing. And good luck with clearing safety issues.
However, I won't say it wasn't a cool idea!
Edible snow globes -- I cannot believe that this got four yes votes. First of all, if this lady is the one
selling these things, I'd walk away before she showed me what she was selling. Later in the show, Judge Mary Lou
no-votes on a child learning DVD because the inventor was clearly using the show only to boost sales of an already
existing product. Um, and what was this? I get that there are women who'd buy these, but I would be hugely bummed if
this won the show.
Pit and shell hiding bowl -- Now this is an interesting twist. The two main brothers from
the band Evan and Jaron are going forward with an idea for a bowl with slots on the side for placing nut shells and
olive/cherry pits underneath the bowl. An OK idea, but I agree that I think these guys are a cocky bunch that're
gaming the judges. "We're gonna be famous again, " one of them says. Said like a one-hit wonder.
Gym in a bag -- Mary Lou and just about everyone else on the panel gets taken by this guy's presentation for a gym
that fits in a backpack-sized bag. My feeling is that there are just too many fitness ideas on the market, and this
guy's idea could very easily get swept into that big pit of unused workout equipment. However, since he's being shown
on television, for free ... that could just be what makes him stand out enough to be a success.
Solar-powered cooler -- I'm not sure I'm convinced that this thing could store enough solar energy to power what they have in mind. A car stereo and cellphone charger? With no other power source? Hell, if I'm wrong about how much this thing can store and power, I'd love to see more of it.
Easy branch cutter -- I swaet I've seen these before. In fact, I think I have one in my basement, left behind by the last person who lived here. Maybe he was this inventor. Anyway, this isn't a big idea. At least not one I'd see winning the show.The approvals didn't end there. We briefly saw the Anti-messy
diaper bag, "Chess on steroids" and a few other unnamed products, one involving some basketballs. Casting
calls continue next week!
Quote of the episode: "As desperate as I might be to go to the toilet, I will
not choose a clothing carrier to do it in."
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