October 14, 2005 Reality Television keeps reinventing itself and this time it has a format that’s certain to interest Gizmag’s readership - AMERICAN INVENTOR is an exciting new primetime reality show for ABC from Simon Cowell and the producers of American Idol . Set to premiere in early 2006, the show will undertake the search for America's best new invention and aims to turn one person's idea into the next big thing. AMERICAN INVENTOR will visit Los Angeles, San Francisco, Denver, Chicago, New York, Washington, Atlanta andAustin between November 14 and December 14 to meet inventors from all over the country. The competition is open to individuals or teams of inventors that 100% own the idea, the product must be something that can be sold in a retail outlet and you can take a sketch, a prototype or even just an idea to the casting call. There’s a list of FAQs here and the winner gets US$1,000,000.

Only certain kinds of inventions qualify for the show – eligible inventions must be a new and useful consumer product or service that can be produced, marketed and sold in high volume directly to consumers through retail outlets. Specifically excluded from the competition are drugs (now that would make an interesting reality TV show), medical devices, plants, adult entertainment products (another potential winning reality TV show formula), Firearms and explosive devices, hazardous chemicals or materials, computer software and any product or service that might impact national security.

Each inventor will have approximately two minutes to pitch their idea.