American Inventor - Houston, We Have A Problem
Episode 5 Recap by Gayl Killough
June 28, 2007
This episode was part 1 of part 2 for the southern audition cities of Houston and Tampa. This is the last set of two out of the six audition cities to determine the finalists representing each audition city. Each audition city had one winner that received $50,000 to develop his or her ideas further. The truly final winner will receive a million dollar advance on his or her invention. However, the final audition city winners for Houston and Tampa will be announced next week, this week was about showing as many wacky inventions as possible. The inventions do seem to get wackier with each episode.
From Houston, the first victim was Charles Amyx, 61, a school bus driver with what he called a cooler top. He does demonstrate some inventive concepts with his variations on the hat. He realizes it looks weird, but his rationale is that weird is when only a few people do something and that something is not weird if everyone does something. Many kids have failed to convince their parents of that argument and the argument does not quite work for me either although I understand where he is coming from. He gets 4 no's including George. Forgive me for being immature, but I just want to say, "Houston, we have a problem" at this point of watching the show.
Evan Balasuriya, 65, a personal chef, with a roller device to eliminate a double chin, which he claims, has also reversed how old he looks. I actually think the exercises that he does with face does more to tightened his muscles than his invention. Variations of this invention have been around my entire life and they just don't seem to work. He also gets 4 no's.
Jeff Miller, 57, a writer with a squirrel circus idea. I could see how a writer would have time and the inspiration to watch the squirrels outside his window. I am jealous that he can support himself as a writer and has a nice window view to watch squirrels. He gets no's as well. I wonder why he did not audition in New York since that would have been closer for him. I assume that maybe he had a conflict with that date, but he wanted to tryout so badly that he traveled across country. He gets no's from the judges.
I think this is where the show switched to Tampa. The shows switches back and forth between the audition cities throughout the episode and it is not worth it to me try to keep track after a while. Marsia Tucci, 37, dean of students, with bedding support for larger chest women. The camera makes sure to go really close-up on her assets several times so that even I am forced to notice them. Actually, I don't think her idea is all that bad. She gets yes's from George and Sara, and no's from Peter and Pat. I think that it is easier for Peter and Pat to understand the concept of a bra rather than what she describes. Plus, a really well made backless bra would be bought by a wide variety of women. I can understand that. The problem for Tucci's idea is that I think a lot more people will actually buy the bra compared to her invention, but I do think there is a small niche market for idea if it really does what she claims. While I was trying to sleep last night, I was thinking about her invention idea. I have been suffering from a sore back the last few days and therefore have been sleeping in a facing down type direction, just as she described, and I would have absolutely bought her invention last night because I was not at all comfortable. I don't think Peter especially had a clue what it would feel like based on his smart aleck comments.
Rodney Skinner, 41, a USAF plumber with a portable mouth cleaning device that relies on having a brush attach to the tongue to allow the tongue to act as the holder for a mini toothbrush. Sara votes no because it would be too easy to swallow the min-toothbrush. He gets all no's. I personally am happy enough with my toothbrush.
Benjamin Hausbach, 26, a waiter who brags that he is in the top 1% for an IQ test. He has over 70 invention ideas and chooses to present a color changing pill idea based on the concept that eating enough carrots can change the appearance of the color of one's skin and that the color of a carrot can be altered genetically. I don't know even know where to start with commenting on his idea. I think maybe he should have presented a different one of his ideas. Also, I suspect that he is trying to come up with as many ideas as possible instead of picking a few ideas to develop through several stages in order to become an actual invention. He did not present a finished idea of his color changing pills, not even a prototype. He has taken a few random concepts, really stretched them, and combined them together. I will admit that I think like this when I first have a potential invention idea, but I eventually reject almost all of my imaginative ideas because they don't stand up to reality. It is a great thing to use imagination and then wonder if something is possible and look for concepts to support the idea, but at some point the idea needs to be reviewed from much more practical angles in the process of developing an invention. He says that people just don't understand him. I am more worried that I might understand him.
Furney Eubanks, 80, an upholsterer, who has been coming up with invention ideas for over 50 years. He has been married for 58 years and still likes to flirt with the woman. His youngest son accompanied him and believed in his dad enough to drive him from North Carolina to Tampa. He was very charming and made the judges laugh with him instead of at him. So little was shown on his actual invention, something about a movable bridge on his easy mower lawnmower invention. He also looked really great for his age and if he could bottle his energy, he could sell that as well. I want to know his secrets for staying young. I suspect that a lot of the staying young for him is that he still enjoys life. Peter says no, but he gets 3 yes's from the other judges and becomes a finalist within Tampa.
Mike Kelly, 38, a process operator with an exercise machine.....
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