Patent Bending

There's a new show on the Science Channel called Patent Bending. The premise of the show is they dig up old patents for outlandish devices and try and make them work.

I had high hopes for the show, although it was mitigated by the appearence that the show is an obvious attempt to capitalize on the Mythbusters' recipe for success. Unfortunately, those hopes were in vain as the first 10 minutes of the first show only served to illustrate that the producers of the show made horrible, horrible casting choices for the show's lead.

The show led off with a design for a golf club with a 12GA shotgun shell in the face so that you can get some extra drive in your game. The show took an immediate wrong turn when they started discussing using compressed air in lieu of the shotgun shell. What's the point of digging up a old patent if you're immediately going to disregard the basic design element of it?

During their exploration of compressed air as an alternative to the shotgun shell, they went to a paintball store and talked to the owner about the technology behind paintball guns. When the store owner discharged a shot of compressed air, the show's "star" that seems to wear nothing but sleeveless shirts dived under the table like a little girl. The rest of the people in the room immediately started laughing at him, but it really just struck me as sad. This was further compounded when the same guy fired a flare gun into the air to illustrate Newton's law, and reacted like a little girl shooting a canon.

I had Tivoed two episodes but only made it through the first few minutes of one before being disgusted by the apparent lack of manhood of one of the hosts and deleted both of them.

It's a shame, really...