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: