I swore that I was not going to tune in to watch what I was certain would be the car wreck titled Celebrity Apprentice on NBC. I wasn’t going to watch it or even mention it here on Screen Rant.

But my wife wanted to watch at least the first episode, and I’ll be damned if I wasn’t going to watch it if she was… and guess what?

It was far better than I expected.

Now I’m not saying it was great television, just that it looks like this twist may actually have made it worth watching again if you were a fan of earlier seasons of the show. What exactly made it worth watching? Not what, exactly, but who:

Gene Simmons.

I’ve been a fan of Donald Trump and NBC’s The Apprentice since the first season, but back in January I wrote that the show had jumped the shark by adding elements of Survivor, with the losing team having to live and sleep outside while the winning team lived in luxury. There were also other twists thrown in for the sake of trying to bolster the sagging ratings.

For the most part, it didn’t work, and now with the show is veering further off into “shark” territory, I predict that the next season will be the show’s last.

I’ve always been a big fan of The Apprentice and in preparing to write this was suprised to find that we’re already on the sixth season! Unfortunately I think that The Apprentice L.A. has jumped the shark this season.

I don’t follow ratings very much, but from what I’ve heard last season’s show slipped from previous years, so I suppose the producers thought it was time to throw some changes in the mix. In my opinion they’ve made the show at best silly and at worst just plain dumb.

Oh, the whole drama of trying to become the ultimate Type A personality is still there, but they’ve thrown some really odd stuff into the mix that really dilutes the core concept of the show, and unless they go back to basics next season (if there IS a next season) the ratings are only going to get worse.

Not much to say about the final battle between Lee and Sean in the finale for the 2006 season of The Apprentice… they were both awesome competitors and both qualified for the job (does Lee make anyone else over the age of 30 feel indadequate?).

Anyway, I would have been happy with either one of them winning.

I think Lee really tanked on his last task… the choice of people to work for him was perplexing and he let his friendship with Lenny blind him to Lenny’s inadequacies. In the meantime, Sean did indeed pick a “dream team”, his selection making him worthy to win the title.

Oh well, it’s not like Lee is gonna starve, right?

On a side note, I thought that Randal once again came off like a bonehead, with Trump introducing the guy and giving him props (no doubt due mainly to the fallout from last season’s finale), and Randall takes the opportunity primarily to pimp his website. Yeesh.

If ever there was a neck and neck finish on The Apprentice, it was this season (Season 4) between Randal, the uber-educated, calm and kind business owner and Rebecca, the cool as a cucumber, broken ankle trooper and business journalist.

When it came down to the final moments, I honestly didn’t know who Trump was going to select, and I almost thought it was going to be Rebecca, when he suddenly made his decision and selected Randal. I’d been pulling for Randal and have thought that he would win for weeks now, so I was pleased with the decision. I was impressed with the fact that someone could actually go through the process with their integrity intact and with no one holding a grudge against them and still win. This, as opposed to the animosity always generated against the finalists by the end of any season of Survivor.

Ah, the Fall TV season is on it’s way… being more of a TV than movie watcher I’ll have more to write about once again.

Season 4 of The Apprentice will soon be upon us, and in view of last seasons lower ratings, Donald Trump has decided to step up and act like a CEO in regards to production. Apparently last season Trump had made some suggestions as to who should be considered as candidates and ALL of his suggestions where disregarded. He ended up with a bunch of candidates that he wouldn’t want working for him.

Although the idea of college vs. non-degreed seemed like a good idea (and one I suggested a couple of years ago), in reality (no pun) it didn’t work out quite so well. In season 3 it seemed like part of the degree requirement at college was a course taught by “Miss Manners”. For the most part the non-degreed folks came across as childish and foul-mouthed, while the college grads came across as much more sophisticated.

So this season “The Donald” has decided to drop the hammer: He hand picked 17 out of the 18 contestants, including one woman who the producers told him was “too beautiful”, two ex-professional athletes, a Rhodes scholar with five degrees (I personally wouldn’t bet on that guy), and an ex-stripper.

After last season I thought that perhaps The Apprentice had peaked in it’s second season, but maybe there’s some life left in the show yet.

Source: NY Times

Can we be nearing the end of the Reality TV show era? Some recent newcomers have come and (thankfully) gone quickly, and even Mark Burnett’s golden touch can’t seem to give The Contender big numbers. In an attempt to lure back viewers who are burnt out on mean-spirited, backstabbing behavior, CBS has a bunch of “kinder, gentler” reality shows slated for next season no doubt spurred on by the success of ABC’s Extreme Home Makeover.

Using myself as a barometer of the average viewer (hey, it’s my website, I can do whatever I want), I would say the public has reached saturation as far as reality TV is concerned. I’m not a voracious viewer of reality TV… I don’t watch Fear Factor, America’s Next Top Model, or Big Brother. I have tuned in to one season of The Bachelor and The Bachelorette, but that was enough for me. Being a fitness buff and really annoyed at the state of obesity in the U.S., I did tune into The Biggest Loser. It was unnecessarily cheesy and the supposed drama too drawn out, but I loved seeing the changes these folks made to their lives. I even watched Wife Swap this season because it did my heart good to see the children in some of these families benefit from the exchange.

It should come as a surprise to no one that Omarosa from Season 1 of The Apprentice is not going away anytime soon. She still gets news coverage by doing and/or saying controversial things. Her latest comment was made during an NBC teleconference for another reality show. She made the comment that the way The Apprentice was produced and edited caused black male contestants to appear lazy and timid, while black female contestants were perceived as being on the opposite extreme.

Finally got around to watching last week’s premiere of season 3 of The Apprentice (Hey, my DVR got twitchy, thank goodness for the rebroadcast on CNBC!).

I’m really glad that they’ve gotten rid of that STUPID men vs. women premise and instead have gone to what they should have done since the first season: College grads vs. self made non-grads. Being in the latter category, I am, of course rooting for the “street smarts” gang to win. Having said that, I have absolutely no doubt that a non-college grad will not win the title of “The Apprentice”.

I believe that no matter how well the street smart side does Donald will defer to the college grad side for a VP position in one of his companies. He can’t help himself. Of course that may not be entirely a bad call, since if you want a corporate lackey you should select someone trained for the job.

We’ll have to see how it goes, but the first episode showed that those high school folks aren’t fools, and the project leader for the first task will go far in the show.

If TV ratings are any indication, the reality TV genre seems to be losing some steam. Just about two years ago right now, Joe Millionaire was one of the top shows on TV, but these days it seems like any reality show that doesn’t have Mark Burnett’s name on it is headed straight for the history books. Latest case in point: The Will, which has already been canceled by CBS after just one show.

The concept of The Will sounded sleazy on paper. Friends and family of an elderly rancher had to compete with each other for the deed to his ranch. That meant two things. First, the show technically should have been called The Deed, and second, we had yet another opportunity to watch a family destroy itself in the name of reality TV. The overwhelming majority of Americans wisely decided to pass. (The fact that The Will was competing against an NFL playoff game and Battlestar Galactica couldn’t have helped.)

First, I have to say that the finale of Apprentice 2 had to be the most dragged out episode of a reality show I’ve ever seen. It made the extra 30 minutes tacked on to the end of every episode of The Biggest Loser look like a commercial break. Thank God I have a DVR and watched the thing time delayed so I could skip over much of the junk, like Trump asking regular members of the audience (as opposed to professional acquaintences) for their opinion on who should win.

Ok, so I didn’t pick the actual winner way back before the season started, but I did select Kelly as one of the top two finalists way back in August. Once my other selection for top two got booted on the very first episode I’ve never wavered from my remaining prediction. I must admit that Jennifer M. was on my short list of folks to go first, but after skating through the first half of the season she toughed it out to second place.

I couldn’t believe what I saw last night on The Apprentice. Bradford was on the losing team, but he received immunity from The Donald ™. (Is this show looking more like Survivor or what?) He was so confident in his performance that he gave up his immunity and made himself vulnerable to being called into the boardroom. Ivana chose to bring him into the boardroom, at which point Trump fired him. I was shocked. I knew Trump was a better entertainer than a businessman, but to fire the best guy on the team?! That was insanity. Let me get this straight — mediocrity is okay, as long as you play it safe? What a great message to send. Ivana and Stacie J. were so entrenched in “catfight” mode that they might as well have begged Trump to fire them, but he chose to fire the guy who brought in most of the business for the team?! What a disappointment. I just lost most of my interest in that show. Trump has no interest in choosing the best business mind. He doesn’t want someone who will take risks and stand behind his performance. He wants people who will play it safe and blame other people for their mistakes. What a letdown…

Brian

First off, one of my predictions (albeit based on just what I read online) was WAY off as one of my top two picks was the first to get the axe (Rob). Overall, I’m sticking to my predictions though.

The topic of this particular rant is that the show seems to be headed for another racsim controversy.

It seems to me that the producers were so happy with the buzz generated during last season’s accusations by Omarosa of racism, that they’ve put in another ringer. This season they’ve included yet another apparently wacky black woman: Stacie J.

Anyone ready for round 2 of The Apprentice?

Here are the new contestants according to E! Online:

The women:
Pamela, 32, an investment firm partner from San Francisco
Jennifer C., a 31-year-old horse-loving real-estate agent from New York
Stacie J., 35, a Harlem Subway franchise owner and former model
Lawyers Jennifer M. (a 29-year-old from San Francisco) and Stacy R. (a 26-year-old from New York)
Business owners Sandy, 28, who hails from Rockville, Maryland, Elizabeth, 31, from Marina Del Ray, California
Virginia Beach-based marketing exec Maria, 31
Ivana, a Subway franchise owner

The men:
Raj, 28, a bow-tie wearing real-estate developer with homes in Philly and Vail, Colorado, who claims not to watch TV
Bradford, a 32-year-old lawyer from Fort Lauderdale
Chris, a 30-year-old stockbroker hailing from Long Island
Andy, 23, a newly minted Harvard grad from Boca Raton, Florida
John, 24, a marketing director from San Francisco
Wes, 27, an Atlanta-based wealth manager
Kevin, 29, a law student in Chicago
Rob, 32, a Texas branding salesman
Kelly, 37, a software exec from Carlsbad, California.

Here are my early predictions…

It’s funny how the entertainment world works. First, William Hung is singled out on American Idol as one of the worst singers of the past season. Then everybody starts tripping over themselves about his sincerity, his determination and his laid-back, “can-do” attitude. Next thing you know, he’s appearing on just about every talk show you can imagine. I can almost swear I saw footage of him on The Arsenio Hall Show, and that show was cancelled 12 years ago. To say the guy is ubiquitous would be an understatement. Well, lately his TV exposure has dropped to only two or three appearances every day, so it seems his 15 minutes are drawing to a close. Except…

It’s not over yet. People are still reeling about the fact that William was signed to a record deal, despite the fact that many of the people who made it into the American Idol finals weren’t even afforded that luxury. Not only that, but the album has actually sold more than 300,000 copies worldwide. The guy has been lucky, to say the least, but it’s not stopping there. This year, prepare yourself for William’s sophomore effort — a Christmas album. It seems to be an immutable law of nature that every single musical artist must record a Christmas album at some point. I’m still in therapy for the time I accidentally saw one of Mariah Carey’s Christmas videos on MTV.

As soon as I heard that the theme on Tuesday’s American Idol was going to be big band, I feared that George was going to choke on that musical style and end up going home. The good news is that he actually did much better than I thought he would. The bad news is that he received the fewest votes Wednesday, helping me to maintain my reputation as the worst oddsmaker on the planet. Vic has been calling them right, while I have been… well, let’s just say it’s a good thing I still have a day job.

Ironically, if John Stevens had lasted another week (heaven forbid), he might have actually shown some genuine musical talent with his big band performances. But compared to LaToya…? No contest.

I was disappointed to see George go, not just because he failed to step up and show us what he could do, but also because there aren’t any guys left in the competition. It feels like the battle of the divas now, and I think I speak for almost everybody when I say that The Apprentice had enough diva nonsense for one lifetime.

I don’t see how Diana or Jasmine will win this. For one thing, Jasmine is not very good. She was the worst singer on Tuesday, hands down. Paula likes her, but the other two judges have lukewarm things at best to say about her. Diana is more talented than Jasmine, but Simon doesn’t want her to win. He thinks she’s too young (she’s 16), and on Tuesday he called her a 16-year-old who sounds like a 50-year-old. He wants Fantasia or LaToya to win this, and I think he will get his wish.

Just for once, I want to see America vote for someone totally off the wall, just to stick it to the judges and let them know who’s in charge. (Actually, that sort of happened two years ago when tone-deaf Nikki McKibbin made it to #3). Sadly, I don’t think that will happen this year. It’s looking like LaToya will win this. Fantasia is just too creepy and annoying in my book, and Diana and Jasmine aren’t good enough. We shall see…

Brian

It’s not exactly a secret that The Apprentice winner Bill Rancic was almost the third Bachelor (Andrew Firestone ended up being chosen), but I think the public’s perception of reality TV (sorry, unscripted drama) deserves a rant.

Everybody keeps talking about what a coincidence it is that Firestone’s former fianc?e, whom he chose from The Bachelor, is now dating Bill. Yeah… coincidence. Anyone who believes that a single contestant on The Apprentice went on that show for the love of the job, as opposed to seeking their own 15 minutes of fame, raise your hand.

The original season of The Bachelor featured Alex Michel, who was some kind of management consultant, as I recall. He was looking strictly for love, right? Nope, he was looking for 15 minutes too, because he tried out for Survivor Marquesas. The worst part is that he was rejected for appearing “too effeminate.” D’oh!

Former Apprentice wannabe Omarosa Manigault-Stallworth is just not feeling the love from the American public. These days, even the media thinks it’s trendy to snub Omarosa, but it’s a two-way street.

Not long after she ended up on the cutting room floor of Clairol’s latest commercial amid howls of protest that she was even considered for the job, she made a last-minute departure from Jimmy Kimmel Live because she thought she was going to be hooked up to a polygraph machine. I’m sure it can’t be much fun to be stood up by one of your guests on a live show.

Kimmel’s response was good enough to be a “Quote of the Day” in my book:

“Apparently her 15 minutes ended the second before I introduced her. I felt like Jessica Simpson standing alone at the airport.”

Source: E! Online

Now that Bill has been chosen as The Apprentice and he has chosen to oversee the construction of a building in Chicago, one question has been going through my mind. When exactly does this project start?

Apparently, not anytime soon.

What The Donald ? didn’t bother to tell his TV audience during the finale was that his Chicago construction project has yet to secure financing. The spinmeister swears up and down the project will happen, and that he has money people lining up outside his door waiting to get started.

In addition to the little detail about the project not getting off the ground, it is extremely unlikely that Bill, who has no real estate experience, will be given any significant responsibility. He had better hope his purported $250,000 annual salary is written down in a contract somewhere. Otherwise, that trademark smile of his may be diminishing over the next few months.

I’m starting to become more interested in Mark Burnett’s other show, The Restaurant. How can you go wrong with a reality show (oops… unscripted drama) about a business that’s being run straight into the ground? As the recent success of William Hung proves, Americans will take screw-ups over success stories any day of the week. For now.

Source: E! Online

Brian

I have to say I really enjoyed the season finale of The Apprentice. Thank goodness I have a DVR because my wife and I were “pausing” the episode every 5 minutes to add some comment.

I can see that “The Donald” and I have the same thought processes when it comes to reading people. So why is he a billionare and I’m running this website?

Selecting Bill was a very good call…

He has a combination of street smarts, education, and business experience that’s hard to beat. I was rooting for Troy early on, but Troy, I know Bill, and you’re no Bill. (Sorry, don’t know where THAT came from)

My comments yesterday reflected part of Kwame’s downfall: His selection and handling of Omarosa. Those two items definitely made him a questionable leader. I hate to say it, but it felt great to see Omarosa get her just desserts at the live gathering. Trump asks her a straightforward question about getting caught lying, and she immediately starts to tap dance around it… whereupon Trump says “Excuses, excuses. Enough with the excuses.”

One shining moment was the (in my mind) complete vindication of Ereka Vetrini concerning the slander suit against her by Omarosa. Erika positively glowed as she sat right next to “The Diva” and stated that Omarosa is a liar, and has been a liar throughout the entire series run. You go!!!!

As a testament to the selection process, I have to say that given the building project that Bill selected, I would run screaming from the room in terror at the prospect of managing that. Supervision or not.

On a final note I have to say I was VERY disappointed to see Omarosa shown as a returning person for next season. Fine, she adds tons of drama and she’s “the person we love to hate”, but I just thing it’s plain wrong to reward her hideous behavior by keeping her in the limelight.

It’s the same issue I have with athletes who act like complete asses, but because of their skill (and the controversy they generate), they continue to be rewarded.

P.S. Sam slays me. $250K to Trump for the opportunity to work for him? Brilliant.

Vic

Yes, I realize it’s “unscripted drama” and not really “reality TV”, but MAN… I just canNOT believe the behavior of Omarosa (aka “The Diva”). Please, someone tell me how she is close to completing a what, PHd? How in God’s name has she achieved the (apparant) level of success in her life with her attitude and complete lack of work ethic????

There are a couple of things from last week’s episode that left me slack-jawed:

1. Kwame’s selection of her for his team. And not even as his last pick!

2. Omarosa’s continual absolution of responsibility or fault when both are hers!

I honestly don’t know which is bugging me more:

1. Omarosa’s refusal to tell the group what the call at dinner was about.

or

2. The fact that Kwame did not press her to tell them what the call was about.

or

3. The fact that she completely lied about the phone call the next day. (Ok, this one was probably the topper)

or

4. The fact that Omarosa could state with a straight face that there was a “complete logisitics breakdown” when she was in charge of logistics!!!!!

Truly, a stunner of an episode.

Kwame is toast, at least as far as becoming “The Apprentice” but of course he has Plan B all sewed up in his back pocket already.

I’ve always said than I’ll step up and admit when I’m wrong, and in this case there’s just no better way to say it. I was wrong. I thought Amy would win The Apprentice, and the fact that she and Nick were fired Thursday kind of shot that theory right out the window. Vic wrote on this board back on April 1 that Bill would win this, and I am sure that he will turn out to be right.

Actually, what surprised me most was the fact that it took Trump this long to figure out that Amy has been riding somewhat on people’s coattails and has an abrasive personality. I can’t remember which of Trump’s managers said this, but he said something like, “She would drive me insane after about three days.”

There were three reasons I thought Amy would win:

- Good ideas — she was to the women what Troy was to the men, and many of her ideas directly helped her team win. It wasn’t until the final few weeks that the dents in the armor started to show.

- Her cutthroat nature — while people such as Kristi were willing to fall on their swords, Amy had no trouble taking credit for other people’s efforts, and she never accepted blame for her own mistakes. Whether you agree with that approach or not, the fact remains that it’s hard to succeed in a high-level business position without a cutthroat nature.

- Lots and lots of good old-fashioned luck — other than her firing session, she only had to defend herself in front of The Donald once. No other contestant could make that claim.

Now that it’s down to Kwame and Bill, there’s no doubt in my mind that Bill will win this. Kwame has made it much farther than he deserved, and he is no match for Bill’s level head and action-oriented business sense. It was embarassing to watch Kwame just sit there while Omarosa ran his task (the Jessica Simpson concert) straight into the ground. Apparently he does not learn much from past experience.

Overall, I think it was a mistake for Trump to narrow it down to these two. If it had been between Amy and Bill, I think it would have been harder to call, but if Trump ends up choosing Kwame over Bill, he will prove the critics right — he’s a much better TV personality than he is a businessman.

The two-hour finale airs April 15 on NBC. Having to wait five months to find out if you won… how’s that for torture?

I’m totally bummed about Troy getting fired from The Apprentice by Donald Trump. Truly bummed. I wanted him to be the guy that proves the you don’t need no stinking degree to make it in the business world.

Unfortunately, he kind of showed *why* you should have a degree. Wait a minute, back up the truck… didn’t psycho Sam have a degree? So much for THAT logic.

Anyway, it was a risk taking Kwame into the boardroom, but IMO it was the right one, as Troy would have gotten creamed if he went up against Bill. Speaking of which, here is my prediction:

Bill is going to be “The Apprentice”.

Don’t forget where you read it.

Also, what the hell is up with bringin Omarosa back? I can only assume that it’s some sort of flashback thing and that the preview is totally misleading.

Please, God, make it so….