I'll admit it upfront, I watched this week's premiere of NBC's Great American Road Trip. What can I say? I enjoy reality series, there was nothing else on TV, plus I had to tune in to NBC to watch and review America's Got Talent.

When the families were presented, I couldn't get over the feeling that I had seen Silvio DiSalvatore before on another reality show. Thanks to IMDb.com I quickly connected the dots ... DiSalvatore appeared on American Inventor, and it wasn't pretty. Considering the "invention" DiSalvatore presented and the response he got from the judges and viewers back then, it wouldn't surprise me if NBC actually asked him and his family to appear on Road Trip. Let's face it, DiSalvatore is quite a character and so was his "invention".

Don't recall what invention DiSalvatore created? Silly video and a link to his official web site after the jump!

Silvio DiSalvatore created a comic character named Black Cougar. The character is a superhero made for children and whose goal is to "cougarize" the planet. Yes, don't adjust your screen, "cougarize" the planet. What you're thinking right now is what the judges on American Inventor thought: What the.... ?

Want to know more about this mysterious superhero? Visit BlackCougar.com and watch the video below where we see the Black Cougar segment from American Inventor. Yet another contestant who thought he could win a competition by having no real talent/appeal to the masses/whatever you can think of.

On a side note, I must say that the Road Trip premiere wasn't bad at all. I enjoyed seeing the family members interact, clash, try to work things out, cooperate, etc. Plus the selected families are quite different, which adds a nice flavour to the show.

What did you think of the premiere? Will you watch the series over the summer? What do you think of Silvio, his family and Black Cougar? Do you think, as I do, that NBC surely asked him and his family to be on the show to add wackiness to the series? Share your thoughts in the comments below.