Newly-Reviewed Programs
TV on DVD
All Shows: A-Z Index
Advanced Search

2008 Summer Season
2007-08 Midseason
2007 Fall Season
2007 Summer Season
2006-07 Midseason
2006 Fall Season
2006 Summer Season
2005-06 Midseason
2005 Fall Season
Best Of 2007
Best Of 2006
Best Of 2005
How Metascores Are Calculated
Discuss TV In Our Forums

American Inventor
SERIES: ABC, Thursday 9:00p (60 minutes)

5.0 based on 15 reviews read critic reviews how did we calculate this? based on 20 votes read user comments rate this tv show

Get more information on this show at TV.com.

• Official Show Site

Starring Matt Gallant (host)

This American Idol-like competition (not surprisingly, from the producers of American Idol) pits amateur "inventors" and their creations against one another in a multi-week competition. At least there's no singing.

GENRE(S):	Reality (Competitive)
CREATED BY:	Simon Cowell Peter Jones
FIRST AIR DATE:	March 16, 2006

The 3/16 premiere airs for two hours.

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

75

New York Post Adam Buckman

The audition segments are mostly hilarious.

70

Los Angeles Times Robert Lloyd

I was often moved by the dedication and heart on display.

50

Boston Globe Matthew Gilbert

Despite all its contrived reality melodrama, ''American Inventor" features a steady stream of entertainingly kooky and cool creations.

40

Orlando Sentinel Hal Boedeker

The results suggest that everyone involved looked at American Idol too closely. And this time around, everyone is startlingly off-key.

40

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Rob Owen

Tonight's premiere is often a huge time-waster, but when it's not boring viewers with the umpteenth meet-the-judges segment and sticks to introducing wacky inventors, it's kind of a hoot.

38

New York Daily News David Hinckley

How un-innovative is this series about innovation? Let me count the ways.

30

Philadelphia Inquirer Jonathan Storm

[Its] intolerable length helps to illuminate the cynicism of these competition shows.

25

Houston Chronicle Mike McDaniel

A bloated disappointment that spends more time on the judges than the inventors and their inventions.

25

Detroit Free Press Mike Duffy

[A] cheesy carnival of reality TV.

20

Variety Brian Lowry

At almost every level, "American Inventor" is over-produced.

10

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Melanie McFarland

The joke goes from bad to grim within minutes.

10

Washington Post Tom Shales

An appalling amalgam of humiliating ridicule, primitive humor and heartbreaking pathos, "American Inventor" flies in on wings of sap.

0

Chicago Sun-Times Doug Elfman

A low-rent "American Idol" ripoff.

0

Chicago Tribune Maureen Ryan

The worst unscripted outing to hit the airwaves in many a moon.

0

Newsday Verne Gay

"American Inventor," ... is unspeakably awful, and makes not just a travesty of the type of television that "American Idol" so dramatically popularized, but an unintentional parody of it as well.

The average user rating for this tv show is 5.0 (out of 10) based on 20 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Larry gave it an8:
I honestly do not see why it is so underrated, i mean isn't watching people introduce cruddy inventions funny?

rob d gave it a6:
wrap dispenser..mom had one just like it in the 70's tea...need I say anything...bike hanger...buy a hook for a couple of bucks...bra looks like a good sell even if not picked.racer may be a flop.... I'm voting for the angle even with fake tree looks like a great idea too me!!!!

Matt C gave it a3:
I have a hard time trying to watch this show. I understand that these judges are entrepreneurs but they seem to laugh at every unworthy invention. Many of the early inventions that come through are brilliant in my opinion but they still laugh at them because they don't fully understand them. In my eyes, it only makes them look like jerks and it drags the show around tremendously. This is the reason I dislike this show and It's likely that I'll never watch a full season. I would also like to say that George Foreman is the most brilliant judge out of the 4 of them because he understands most of the inventions. While the others laugh at the less worthy inventions for whatever reason George Foreman does not. He walks children out to their parents and he seems like a caring individual. I understand that they can only let so many inventors into the competition but it seems silly to laugh and grief the ones they don't accept.

brenda f gave it a10:
the next under-rated show to come out on top!

Hallie gave it a10:
My really good friend was on this show.She did not win the money but had a great time anyways. I think she waas on the show earlier this month. This was when I first got started in this show and now that I have watched it a few times, I really do like it a lot!!!o that is why I rated it a 10!!!!

[Anonymous] gave it a10:
i love this show!!!!!....it is realy awesome!!!

alfred c gave it a9:
it's ientertaining, but has very bad timing, it's facing off with smaville or supernatural, the show can't possibley believe it can beat smallville or supernatural , it's not even in the running if it tries to compare itself to those 2 shows. people have history with those shows.

Read more user comments...

Discuss this tv show in our forums