10-1-15 Update: One (now not two) new invention tv offerings of late!
Make Me a Millionaire Inventor - CNBC
Episode 6 airs tonight, 10/9c:
CNBC has a six episode series currently wrapping up called "Make Me a Millionaire Inventor"...The show is dually hosted, by Deanne Bell and George Zaidan, both seasoned hosts of various former shows on various cable channels. The former, Deanne, has a mechanical engineering background and the latter, George, has a chemistry and science background. Each one meets with inventors who have been unable to take their invention to the next level and decide after reviewing the invention if they think they can help them. Once the inventor is given the thumbs up by the host, they are forwarded to the two main engineers at BlueFish Concepts (a product development company in El-Lay, CA) to flesh out a new prototype in a couple weeks (if the two weeks is true, we know that each prototype cost must be heavily subsidized by the show- I'd be happy to get some preliminary designs in that amount of time!). Armed with a working prototype with modern industrial design, the hosts prep and then arrange meetings for their inventor with potential investors..the end of each episode shows how that meeting went, and if the inventor was offered funding to help bring the product to market and how much they had to concede in equity for the funding. The show has borrowed heavily from earlier invention type tv, mainly "Everyday Edison's" but to some degree "The Shark Tank", History Channel's "Invention USA" and Food Network's "Invention Hunters"....maybe even the grand-daddy of them all, "American Inventor"....
Bazillion Dollar Club - SYFY (UPDATE 10-1-15 - CURRENTLY CANCELLED FROM SYFI!)
Series Premiere September 22 at 10/9c:
SYFY, known more for B science fiction movies like "Pirahnadile vs. Croco-dragon" or "Octopussnado" is entering the invention tv ring next week with "Bazillion Dollar Club"...Two silicon valley alpha males, Dave McClure and Brady Forrest, host this Psy Fi Gangnam style offering. Straight from their website, it states: "This is Dave and Brady. They are investors in a ton of tech companies, a few of which we'll follow. They'll guide and mentor these companies through an accelerator program (read: startup boot camp). It's all in preparation for a product demo day in front of potential investors, who are the key to taking the company to the next level...or not.." Sound somewhat familiar? Please re-read the first paragraph above if you suffer from severe short term memory!!
The main difference between the two shows is the word Million and Bazillion, one obviously trying to grandstand and outdo the other...I'm hoping an unnamed search engine company will throw some bucks from their petty cash drawer and come out with their own show "Who Wants to Be in the Googollinaire Club?" For those interested in making the real cash, a googollionaire would be equal to a $1 with 100 zeros after that...try to beat that paltry Millionaires or petty Bazillionaires!
Editor's Note: Merriam-Webster states that a Bazillion is a huge, unspecified number..and others refer to it as a very large exaggerated number....so, if I'm a Dreamer and I have a chance to make an invention that makes me a Googollionaire, which equals $1,000,0000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,
000,000,000,000,000 ,000,000,000,000,000,000
or a Bazillionaire which equals a huge, unspecified and exaggerated number ($?)...my accountant tells me I gotta go with Googollionaire!
Editor's Update: Oct. 1, 2015: Although it was obvious that an invention/technolgy type show was not a good fit with SyFi Channel, the viewers of the same said channel cast really their votes by not tuning into the first episode of "Bazillion Dollar Club"...This resulted in an early pulling of the show! So Dave and Brady, the tough ones on the show (who were cracking the whip on hopeful new tech companies seeking venture capital) ironically had the boom lowered on them! Now they are on the end of being at the mercy of another channel picking up this Silicon Valley misfit. REELZ TV, you saved Trump's damsels in distress, the Miss USA pageant, not too long ago. Have any interest in this lost puppy?
