Looks like they're shaking things up for the second season of ABC's American Inventor (after the first season, they'd almost have to, right?).

Former boxer and grill impresario George Foreman is going to be one of the judges for the contest this season. He joins Peter Jones (returning for another season), Pat Croce, a former NBA exec, and Sara Blakely, who is described as an "undergarments entrepreneur" and "creator of Spanx." That sounds like something that could have been invented on this show, yet really dirty. The second season will also see a new host, Nick Smith.

What, no Doug Hall this year? He was the Simon Cowell of the group! And no Mary Lou Quinlan? She was the...well, Paula Abdul of the group.

The show returns on June 6 at 9pm.

One of America's lamest reality shows has just announced the audition schedule for the second season of the show, which airs on ABC.

The first audition venue is in Los Angeles on March 18. The other dates and places are as follows: San Francisco, March 25; Chicago, March 31; New York City, April 4; Orlando, April 9; and Houston on April 13. Inventors have to be at the venue no later than 8am, so it's good that someone invented the alarm clock.

And I say this is one of the lamest show not because some of the inventions weren't good (the winner of the first season, who came up with a new baby car seat, is working with Evenflo, and that's great to hear), it's the fact that the judges are kind of hard to take, and some of the inventions they let get through to later rounds were...gah. Let's hope the second season is a little more satisfying (and please, editors, let's cut way down on all of the weepy stories and people talking about their DREAMS. Please?)

This past week just drove me over the edge. How can the woman with the doll and the guy with the word game be in the final twelve? I mean, these two inventions (and I use the term loosely) are better than 90 something percent of the inventions that these three judges saw in the cities where people pitched their ideas? Um, no. (And don't even get me started on the sweet lady who had the disposable paper. Was that an "invention" or a "store purchase"?).

And the way that the producers and ABC is packaging the show...gah. When you get right down to it, what does all this talk about DREAMS and PASSION have to do with how good the invention is? People are quitting their jobs and living out of cars and selling body organs? Well, that's their call. One of the rounds the other night was actually based on an emotional pitch to the judges. Why? And the awful, overdramatic montage at the end. God, this isn't a reality show, it's like a cross between Extreme Makeover and a Publisher's Clearinghouse commercial.

I'm going back to Survivor. At least over there I might see someone eat a bug.

(S01E05/S01E06) Finally we're getting somewhere. Though at first I thought two hours was way too much to go through these rounds, I actually think it's the previous four episodes that dragged on longer than necessary. It was a little confusing how the inventions were show to us in the previous weeks, as there were some I just don't remember seeing at all, though they moved on. The Mobile Family Plot? Flush Pure? Did they show us these before? Eh, no matter. Here's the list of those inventions they showed, the ones that made the first cut and the ones that make the final twelve.

Let's hope the contestants on American Inventor have read the fine print.

According to this L.A Times article from last month, contestants on the show not only don't get a million dollar "prize" (it's actually an advance against future royalties), but they actually have to give ABC and the producers "exclusive, perpetual, worldwide license." Seems like a foolproof contract for the network and the people behind the show.

Of course, I'm sure the inventors will gladfully sign the contract, as long as they get some money and get to express their DREAMS and their PASSION. (Kidneys not included.)

[via TV Tattle]

1. What exactly will happen in the next rounds? On the other AI, American Idol, the next rounds involve singing entirely different songs, maybe even an entirely different style of song, and the performances can be great, good, so-so, or bad. But on this show, it's the same invention, and even if they get money to improve and tweak the invention, it's still the same invention.