[getreal]

So the "Guardian Angel" fireman won the $1m prize, the bra lady came in second, and the toy cars teacher came in third.

Lots of weeping and sentimental video clips of family members saying how much they loved their parent, and supportive spouses. The host was just asking for more feedback after watching each emotional clip and I thought that was all milked a bit too much.

The Guardian Angel (both the name and the design) was shown on this TiVO forum to have been previously invented and patented many decades ago, but since nothing was done about it, it was apparently up for grabs. I wonder if the fireman was a descendant of the original creator of the name and design? They claimed to have been working on it for about 16 years, although his original presentation was a crayon drawing on an easel pad, along with a video clip of a Xmas tree catching fire and burning.

Each of the three finalists got opportunities (not an actual contract) to present their pitches to interested companies in those fields. First Alert congratulated the fireman, Maidenform offered to fly the bra lady and her family to their offices in NY, and a toy company offered to fly the teacher and his family to Toronto to discuss his toy cars.

Congrats to each of them. This season went by pretty quickly, or else I must've missed some episodes, as it seemed that they were still auditioning hopefuls just a week or two ago, and suddenly had the finalists and the decision.

Last season I seem to recall that the show had a different format whereby four finalists were followed for several weeks as they went to industrial design firms to actually build prototypes, and then went to graphic design agencies to come up with packaging, and finally to ad agencies to come up with 30-second commercials for their product before a winner was selected. And I've already forgotten who won and for what product.

I guess we'll see if these products actually hit the market.

 

[DancnDude]

The winning idea was a good idea, but still needs to be proven.....and affordable for the average person. Nobody's gonna buy it if it costs too much.

And the cougar thing was just bizarre and unnecessary. This could have easily been a half-hour.

 

[Knives of Ice]

i have no idea how anyone could have watched that season finale LIVE. man, what a horrible finale so much wasted time.

this show could be amazing, but it is so flawed. having to pick a finalist from each city is really stupid considering there could be 3-4 better inventions in each city than others.

 

[newsposter]

i just ff'd thru the recap parts..i can remember what happened like less than 2 months ago.

it's ABC so everyone must cry. how uncomfortable all the pauses are.

oh well hopefully therapy buddy or bladder buddy will win next near

 

[Neenahboy]

oh well hopefully therapy buddy or bladder buddy will win next near

If that steak cooking guy can increase the power of the machine, I see no reason why he can't win in a landslide next year.

 

[Mikeyis4dcats]

the best invention I saw the whole season was the SWAT door opener.

the Guardian Angel won on sentimentality.

 

[danterner]

If that steak cooking guy can increase the power of the machine, I see no reason why he can't win in a landslide next year.

In my opinion, he could easily have progressed by saying something like: "Unlike many other people, I came here today not with a posterboard and an unproven idea but with a working prototype. I know 40 minutes to cook a steak is ridiculous. But you've now seen that the idea works. By becoming a finalist I'll have the opportunity to look at ways to improve my design and increase the power of the machine, to improve the cooking time."

Also, he never should have waivered and said it would cook it "not medium rare... just rare." It did, in fact, come out medium rare as intended. He lost faith in his product.

Finally, George Foreman should have recused himself from judging it. It's a product that, if successful, would compete with his George Foreman Grill. Instead, it became one of the few products he actually gave a "no" to.

 

[omnibus]

My guess is that the guardian angel would have to retail for upwards of $100, remember it needs a pressurized tank to send the water to the top of the tree. A little due diligence at preventing a fire once a year at Christmas time is a lot cheaper and will surely limit sales.

The wrap dispenser earlier in the season has been on the market for at least 40 years, I remember my parents having one in the '50's And the guys who "invented" it this season got one of the $50,000 checks.

The American Inventor producers apparently spent much more time rounding up advertisers for the mini-series than they did researching the "inventions"

 

[ElJay]

Thank goodness for the fast forward button.

Finally, George Foreman should have recused himself from judging it. It's a product that, if successful, would compete with his George Foreman Grill. Instead, it became one of the few products he actually gave a "no" to.

Yeah, I thought it was hilarious that Foreman decided to give this a "no" after all the previous things he decided to green light. You do have a point that the guy did a poor job at defending himself. They also decided to edit his presentation in the most childish way possible, which I thought was pretty low.

 

[Rkkeller]

I was very disappointed in the invention choices for the final this season and
doubt I will watch in the future, if its even on again.

I would not buy any of the top three products.