# American Inventor

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-inventor/439378>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [February 27, 2008, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-inventor/439378 "2008-02-27T15:34:21Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\
**Post date:** [February 27, 2008, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-inventor/439378/1 "2008-02-27T15:34:21Z")

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This show is a joke, right? It’s a cunning spoof of Dragon’s Den… right? Or it’s a Candid Camera style show intended to encourage nutcases to come out of the woodwork. Right?

I mean, a weird blue plush toy that says “Everything is going to be aaaaaallll riiiiight!”. A paper piss-target (You know - for kids).

Please tell me it’s not serious.

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**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\
**Post date:** [February 27, 2008, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-inventor/439378/2 "2008-02-27T15:50:42Z")

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Actually, I was quite impressed with the pizza box that came with perforations so you could easily break it up into individual plates.

Or perhaps that was on a different, similar-themed show.

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**Author:** ![Atrael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Atrael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atrael)\
**Post date:** [February 27, 2008, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-inventor/439378/3 "2008-02-27T16:02:15Z")

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I watched the first time this was on, haven’t caught the additional seasons. I liked the first one…it’s no different from American Idol. I mean…some of those people just really can’t sing. Same thing with inventors. There were some very nifty ideas amoung all the drek. I can’t remember which invention won the first time around, but all 3 of the finalists were good ideas.

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**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\
**Post date:** [February 27, 2008, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-inventor/439378/4 "2008-02-27T19:21:01Z")

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[QUOTE=Atrael]  
I watched the first time this was on, haven’t caught the additional seasons. I liked the first one…it’s no different from American Idol. I mean…some of those people just really can’t sing. Same thing with inventors. There were some very nifty ideas amoung all the drek. I can’t remember which invention won the first time around, but all 3 of the finalists were good ideas.  
[/QUOTE]

Maybe I just caught a really horrible bit of it - and perhaps it’s not fair to compare it to Dragon’s Den - as that show vets/filters the applicants so that they usually have to at least have a fledgling business built around their invention.