On last night‘s finale of ABC‘s American Inventor, firefighter Greg Chavez was named the winner for his Guardian Angel invention.  His idea for the Guardian Angel Christmas Tree fire suppression system first came to him fifteen years ago after seeing on the news that a christmas tree fire had claimed the life of a young child.  Chavez said he could never get the image of the father carrying his child out of the burning home and vowed to make sure nothing like that ever happened again.

Episode Overview: We‘re in the home stretch on American Inventor; the last leg of auditions in Tampa and Houston are coming to an end.  After last episode‘s slim pickings, will the judges be able to find enough promising inventions to round out each city‘s finals?  This episode is mecifully lighter on the totally wacky ideas, but even some of the reasonable ideas - delivered with heartfelt conviction - might not be good enough to make it.

Episode Overview: American Inventor heads to the South for a final round of auditions in Tampa, FL and Houston, TX. The judges might ostensibly be looking for the next great American invention, but the producers and the editors of the program seem pretty disinterested in the successes. Let‘s face it: they know on which side their bread is buttered, and that‘s a side called “Loons and Tragic Delusions.” So once again, they have served up another heaping helping of those, while seeming to leave the actual viable inventions as mere garnish.

Originally aired on Wednesday, 06/27/2007 Episode Rating: ***(3 stars out of 5) Episode Overview: American Inventor continues its search for Chicago and New York City inventors and names each city‘s winner.

Originally aired on Wednesday, 06/20/2007 Episode Rating:  ***(3 stars out of 5) Episode Overview:  American Inventor heads to New York and Chicago to look for the next two city finalists.

American Inventor returns tonight and, weirdly, I‘m looking forward to it.  I had never seen this show before this season, and the thing is, it‘s full of weird, weird people.  There is a certain kind of drama to people putting all their eggs in one basket when it comes to their invention.  It‘s bizarre to see relatively sane people who‘ve spent thousands of dollars developing a product that is totally worthless.  It‘s great summer TV.  What follows are my live thoughts while watching the episode.

American Inventor kicked off its second season tonight, with auditions split between Los Angeles and San Francisco.  In the initial round, each inventor needs three votes to move on that city‘s finals.  From there, the judges will choose a city winner, and that person will receive $50,000 to go further with their invention.  Tonight, though, we only see the initial auditions.

American Inventor returns to ABC on Wednesday, June 6 at 9 pm EST, moving from last season’s Thursday night time slot. Apparently the exact format of this season may still be up in the air; according to some sources, shooting has just begun on the semi-finals, although auditions finished a month ago.

Ex-boxing champ George Foreman, possibly as well known for his marketing of the George Foreman Lean Mean Grilling Machine as for his boxing career, has joined ABC’s

American Inventor is a reality series that attempts to become the epitome of the American dream, which will unearth the hottest and most up-to-date creations while fulfilling the dreams of one struggling inventor for a chance to win one million dollars. The show features the idea of the inventor and helps the inventor turn his product into a mass-produced item that will be an infamous household item. Encompassing thousands of inventors and entrepreneurial minds from all over the United States, the show attempts to present an assortment of most noteworthy inventions, from the most uplifting tool to the bizarre and out of the ordinary gadgets.