"American Inventor" already a reality.

• Author: Taylor, Mike
• Position: ON SMALL BIZ - Editorial

BILLED AS AN EXCITING NEW PRIME-TIME REALITY SHOW, "American Inventor" is scheduled to premiere on ABC early this spring. Auditions were held in November and December in eight major cities, including tryouts in Denver that attracted more than 250 inventors hoping ultimately to win $1 million for the invention voted best by TV viewers.

Maybe I'm missing something here, but don't we already have "American Inventor" shows?

We do. They're called infomercials. I've judged them for years with my TV remote control and, much less often, with my credit card. I've bought or changed the channel on the Miracle Mop, the George Foreman Grill, the Buttoneer (Why waste 20 minutes sewing a button back on when you can staple it to your shirt in seconds?), the Inflatable Guest Bed, and the Gazelle fitness device peddled by a stubby guy in a pony tail and a baseball cap named Tony Little.

"American Inventor" was conceived by Simon Cowell and his production company, the same people who brought us "American Idol." As I said, pitting one invention against another is not new. Most of us cast votes with our wallets and by word-of-mouth all the time--at Target, Home Depot, Circuit City, King Soopers, Ace Hardware and other venues.

Granted, this doesn't allow us to hear the compelling stories of perseverance and triumph by the inventors that we'll likely get from "American Inventor," but that's OK. I prefer to let unproven inventions wind their way through the trials of product creation, patent application, marketing, manufacturing and distribution before I invest in them emotionally. I'll check them out once they've made it to the big leagues of a retail-store shelf, or that Arena Football League of product competition--the TV infomercial.

I'm skeptical about a TV program that will rely on inventions--inanimate objects--to carry the show. But then, I'm not captivated in general by reality TV, a concept that took off about six years ago when the threat of an actors' strike prompted producers to come up with shows that wouldn't require actors. That's how we got "Survivor," a show in the mold of "Gilligan's Island" except with the motives inverted so that campers strive to stay on an island rather than find a way off it.

"Survivor" was a big hit, and it spawned a plethora of other reality shows like Donald Trump's "The Apprentice," the aforementioned "American Idol," and other shows dealing with everything from home-improvement contests to spouse swapping to ESPN...