American Inventor: American Inventor (ABC) with American Idol's Simon Cowell

Could the hot new show of the spring also feature that smug, bitter judge on American Idol? You know who I'm talking about... Simon Cowell! Well Simon has taken his success with reality contests to ABC this season with American Inventor. While American Idol goes on Tuesday and Wednesdays... American Inventor rolls out March 16th on Thursdays. The reviews are mixed - but then again, so were American Idol's when that came out. I think the show will be enjoyable - and people should give it a chance. It won't achieve the same success that American Idol has seen because inventing simply doesn't relate to TV and mass audience the way that music does... Give it a shot. The below synopsis is from ABC / ABC.com. Enjoy!

"American Inventor, an exciting series from Simon Cowell and the producers of American Idol about the biggest search ever for America's best new invention, premieres with a two-hour special, THURSDAY, MARCH 16, from 8:00-10:00 p.m., ET, and moves to 9:00 p.m., ET on Thursdays thereafter.

American Inventor, the embodiment of the ultimate American dream, will uncover the hottest new product and make one struggling inventor's dream come true. With one million dollars at stake, American Inventor will celebrate the best in homespun American ingenuity.

National casting calls were held in seven major cities across the country, including Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, Denver, Chicago, Washington DC and Atlanta. Thousands of inventors, tinkerers and entrepreneurs of all ages applied. Viewers will see inventors all of all ages present their most prized inventions, featuring everything from the wacky to the heart warming.

American Inventor is the biggest search for the next great invention with wide consumer appeal… Envision the Cabbage Patch Kids®, George Foreman Grill®, Post-It® or Rubik's Cube®. A panel of expert judges will narrow down the initial entries to a group of finalists, who will each be given $50,000 to develop their product, refine it and take it to the next level. This is a show that's going to make the American dream come true for one person -- taking his/her idea, vision and creativity and helping to turn it into a mass produced product that will be in every American home -- but in the end it will be up to America to call in and vote on which invention is worthy of the one million dollar prize.

American Inventor's panel of expert judges include show co-creator Peter Jones, one of the UK's most successful entrepreneurs who has created a $500 Million Business empire; Doug Hall, an inventor, bestselling author and radio host, and also the founder and CEO of Eureka! Ranch, an inventing, training and research firm; Ed Evangelista, an executive creative director at the New York headquarters of JWT; and Mary Lou Quinlan, founder and CEO of Just Ask a Woman, one of the premiere women's marketing companies in the U.S.

Hosted by Matt Gallant, American Inventor is produced by Simon Cowell's Syco Television LLC and FremantleMedia North America, Inc in association with Peter Jones TV. The executive producers are Simon Cowell, Peter Jones, Liz Bronstein, Siobhan Greene, Nigel Hall and Cecile Frot-Coutaz. Co-executive producer is Daniel Soiseth."