I have been watching the ABC show American Inventor. It should have been call American Sob Story. I haven't seen so many tears since Lassie came home. This is the most touchy-feely piece of drivel since Love Story or Brian's Song.
Yet it could have been a great show. It had all the elements. A nation wide search for amateur inventors to compete against one another. Twelve of them getting $50,000 to develop their inventions and America votes for the final four. And a $1,000,000 prize. Wow!
But somebody decided the inventions were secondary and the show should be about the heartache and hardships of the inventors. Their emotions are integral to their sale pitches. We have to feel their devastation as they are eliminated. And the survivors of each round cry on cue because their dead daughter, gay girlfriend, sainted mother or ghetto raised siblings are still motivating them. Puh-lease.
Do you know what's great about most inventions? Unless you are a trivia nut - nobody knows who invented them. The occasional biographical book or movie are great for showing the obstacles overcome by great minds. But nobody cares until you are famous. Why does any worthwhile invention require the inventor's passion to convince people of its worth?
Good inventions should stand on their own. They should make you say WOW. They should make you wonder how we ever survived without them. We shouldn't have to watch a 40 year old black man break into tears to convince us of its worth.
Human interest, in a show like this, should be like seasoning in a stew. Just a pinch would make the point. By the time they show two episodes in a row each week I'm ready for an insulin shot.
They say that Necessity is the Mother of Invention. That must make TV Ratings the Worthless Brother-in-law.
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