American Inventor
ABC | Release Date: March 16, 2006
CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
29
METASCORE
Generally unfavorable reviews based on 15 Critic Reviews
Positive:
2
Mixed:
3
Negative:
10

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
75
New York PostAdam Buckman
Season 1 Review: The audition segments are mostly hilarious. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesRobert Lloyd
Season 1 Review: I was often moved by the dedication and heart on display. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeMatthew Gilbert
Season 1 Review: Despite all its contrived reality melodrama, ''American Inventor" features a steady stream of entertainingly kooky and cool creations. Read full review
40
Orlando SentinelHal Boedeker
Season 1 Review: The results suggest that everyone involved looked at American Idol too closely. And this time around, everyone is startlingly off-key. Read full review
40
Pittsburgh Post-GazetteRob Owen
Season 1 Review: Tonight's premiere is often a huge time-waster, but when it's not boring viewers with the umpteenth meet-the-judges segment and sticks to introducing wacky inventors, it's kind of a hoot. Read full review
38
New York Daily NewsDavid Hinckley
Season 1 Review: How un-innovative is this series about innovation? Let me count the ways. Read full review
30
Philadelphia InquirerJonathan Storm
Season 1 Review: [Its] intolerable length helps to illuminate the cynicism of these competition shows. Read full review
25
Detroit Free PressMike Duffy
Season 1 Review: [A] cheesy carnival of reality TV. Read full review
25
Houston ChronicleMike McDaniel
Season 1 Review: A bloated disappointment that spends more time on the judges than the inventors and their inventions. Read full review
20
VarietyBrian Lowry
Season 1 Review: At almost every level, "American Inventor" is over-produced. Read full review
10
Seattle Post-IntelligencerMelanie McFarland
Season 1 Review: The joke goes from bad to grim within minutes. Read full review
10
Washington PostTom Shales
Season 1 Review: An appalling amalgam of humiliating ridicule, primitive humor and heartbreaking pathos, "American Inventor" flies in on wings of sap. Read full review
0
Chicago Sun-TimesDoug Elfman
Season 1 Review: A low-rent "American Idol" ripoff. Read full review
0
Chicago TribuneMaureen Ryan
Season 1 Review: The worst unscripted outing to hit the airwaves in many a moon. Read full review
0
NewsdayVerne Gay
Season 1 Review: "American Inventor," ... is unspeakably awful, and makes not just a travesty of the type of television that "American Idol" so dramatically popularized, but an unintentional parody of it as well. Read full review
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