‘Shark Tank’ preview: Wine Doctor, Fort Magic, Zoobean, and a Breathometer update
There is apparently opposite themes working on Friday night’s new episode of “Shark Tank.” On one side of the coin, you’ve got some products that are themed around children and allowing them to use their imagination and creativity. Then, you have something related to wine, and an update on a product that helps you figure out how drunk you are. Someone may have put this episode together while they were drunk.
Before we do anything else, let’s start with the basics. All the sharks pictured above are present save for Daymond John, and the synopsis when it comes to general information is below:
“Two Dallas entrepreneurs demonstrate their smart light bulb which can be programmed from a mobile phone for home or business, a father/son team from Las Vegas have a high-tech replacement for a cork that helps preserve wine and olive oil, parents from Washington, D.C. unveil their subscription service of carefully-curated children’s books, but they only have 85 subscribers to date, and a Sarasota, FL woman has a fort-building construction kit for kids that makes castles, pirate ships and cars. Plus, a follow-up on Breathometer, one of the show’s most popular deals—5 Sharks invested in it earlier this season. It’s a breathalyzer app that works with your smart phone to check if you are over the legal alcohol limit and if you are, can call a taxi for you, recommend a hotel and more.”
Does anyone else feel like this is a little nasty when it comes to Zoobean? Telling everyone that the product has a sales problem before even seeing it seems like a bad first impression for ABC to make. Still, it’s got its work cut out for it given our fondness for the “Reading Rainbow” app … or just “Reading Rainbow” in general. It still feels like a nice, well-intentioned product, though.
Meanwhile, Fort Magic is the name of the fort company, and that product looks really great. The problem? $199 is a lot of money for something that a kid may use for a few months, and it’s the sort of thing you only get him or her for a birthday or Christmas.
Now, onto the wine! Wine Doctor is the name of that “high-tech replacement,” and depending on how much of a vino you are, this has broad appeal. At $25 it is worth the price if you have a really expensive bottle of wine, and it serves a purpose. Still, though, the disadvantage is that you have to convince rich people that they can trust their $500 bottle with it, and that may not be easy right out of the gate.
We’ll be back tomorrow with a full review for this episode, which you will be able to see at the link here after it airs. Also, be sure to sign up to get news from beyond the “Shark Tank” courtesy our CarterMatt Newsletter.
Photo: ABC