On Television

Real estate developer and mogul Donald Trump is listing a West Palm Beach home for $125 million, considered to be the highest listing price ever for a single-family home in the United States. The price is likely the highest ever for a single-family home in the U.S.

But my free time is a tad bit more flexible these days, so when Donald Trump came on at the conclusion of last week's episode and announced that they were currently casting for next season's show, I decided that I would go for it. I downloaded the application from NBC's website and noticed that they were having an open casting call in NY on Friday. The audtions were going to be held at Trump Tower beginning at 9 a.m.--apparently wrist bands would be distributed to people about one hour before, and they asked that no one appear in line until after 6 a.m. I recalled seeing news reports from the first few seasons of thousands of people lined up around several blocks, so I figured that arriving there early was my only shot.

“The IT Crowd”? Not a hope. “Shameless”? Better. But the hands down winner has got to be “The Apprentice”. Thank god for Sky+ so I could keep pausing to catch my breath after collapsing in gales of laughter.

Last autumn, we had simultaneous seasons of The Apprentice with Donald Trump and a one-off season with Martha Stewart. Right now, we have back to back runthroughs of season 2 for The UK Apprentice and season 5 of The US Apprentice, a far better combination of styles and approaches for the same show to compare and contrast.

I’ll admit it…I have an unhealthy obsession with The Apprentice. And after seeing Martha Stewart’s two-bit copy of the original, I was glad to hear that Donald Trump recently called her a moron.

I started thinking about this today because American Idol is all over the news, again. I’m almost embarrassed to admit I have never seen it. Survivor? Nope. The Apprentice? Nope. I moved back to the US in 1999, but after 9/11 I decided I didn’t want to watch television anymore. If they had the audacity to replay the scene of those planes hitting the World Trade Center over and over again, with no respect to the poor people whose friends and family had been on those planes, well then I thought television had sunk to a level of disassociation from humanity I didn’t want to be a part of anymore. So i turned it off. And I kept it off.

I can’t remember exactly when this was, but some time around September/October when the latest season of Survivor was just getting underway, I was driving to Celest’s house and noticed a billboard for Global. Global is a channel on TV like ABC or what have you. So the ad is up, and it’s say the catch phrase “Global’s Got It” and it has a two of their shows listed: The Apprentice and Survivor. Well, next to the Apprentice it has Donald Trump and next to Survivor it has Danni Boatwright.

Apprentice-esque business methods are being imbued with reality television gossip, alliances and back-stabbing. Unfortunately when business and entertainment are merged in a context like this, ethics aren't sexy enough to make their way into the equation. Capital Edge should have known that their megaphone order could potentially be stolen, and Excel should have known better than to do it. However being in Trump's TV microcosom, anything goes - and this message that "anything goes" is the message that us young entrepreneurs and students are taking away from this show.

Don’t believe it’s real? Check out The Apprentice 4 : Star Wars Special now! (Premieres this thursday, if I am not mistaken)

OK - it may not be a fight but 4 great ads the for "The Apprentice". Gotta love the Chewbacca one. You need Quicktime to view these 4 clips:

The Apprentice on Yahoo TV includes deleted scenes from each episode.

I stayed in Friday night and relaxed. I watched my shows from Thursday night that I missed. I didn’t realize that Joey and Will and Grace were reruns, so that kind of made me happy that I didn’t miss anything, but still sad that I didn’t get to see anything new. I was SHOCKED at The Apprentice. I wonder if they are going to rearrange the teams again, and how they are going to play out the full season with 3 less people to fire. I guess were going to get another one of those recap and extras shows.

Television is still proving to be the new "movies." Movies are proving to be . . . well, just plain bad. TELEVSION makes life pretty: Nip/Tuck, Lost, Arrested Development, Rome, EXTRAS. Last season I watched the following: The OC, The Apprentice, Amazing Race. ALL OF WHICH ARE UNWATCHABLE this season. I can't wait to watch the tragedy that is THE L WORD. 3rd season should be a charm.

I was reading the comments of a Volokh Conpiracy post when I saw a name I recognized, a girl I knew from a summer program during high school. Didn’t really date her, more like a middle school pseudo-going-steady thing that went south quickly. So, curious whether she had become a lawyer, I hit Google… Where I found out that she’s on The Apprentice.

Isn’t that great? Trump sent that moron Toral home last night (yes, I watch the Apprentice) and I was so glad.

So now it’s down to watching downloaded commercial-free episodes of The Apprentice, Curb Your Enthusiasm, or maybe Kitchen Confidential. Even the usually solid Office hasn’t been doing it for me this year. Basically what I’m getting at is that TV brings me nothing but feelings of disappointment when I watch it live. So I won’t do it anymore.

Not much has happened in these 8 days, tho. Oh, I got REALLY sick. I mean REALLY sick. So sick I wanted to die. I was going to blog on Thurs. but I couldn’t move my fingers fast enough to type. So I ended up skipping school yesterday and lying on the couch for five hours at a time, watching “The Apprentice” and “ER” and “Third Watch” on TiVo. Speaking of “The Apprentice,” who watched “The Apprentice: Martha Stewart” and felt completely violated afterwards? I did. Donald’s still got his mojo working, though.

I’ve been trying to avoid the reality tv bandwagon. I’ve successfully done it for a couple of years, it took me three seasons to really get into American Idol , but now I’m truely and well hooked (I was so pissed when Bo didn’t get it by the by.) I’ve managed to watch a season of Survivor but it didn’t do the trick for me, and I watched a season of The Apprentice, and while I enjoyed it I didn’t get that..gaga over it I guess.

As a fan of some recent American TV shows (such as Lost, 24 and pretty much everything involving that Joss Whedon), I also agree with Johnson’s argument that TV drama has gotten overwhelmingly more complex over the years in terms of the complexity of the social networks that the viewer has to parse to make sense of the story (compare Dallas with The Sopranos). This is not because Hollywood has gotten any smarter — it’s the fact that the business model has changed. What actually generates most of the income associated to a given TV show are DVD sales and syndication. A show with enough depth to allow multiple viewings and interpretations will be more successful in the long run than more disposable entertainment. (Which, of course, makes it all the more puzzling why Firefly was murdered in its crib, waah.) Johnson even manages to fit reality TV into this model, suggesting that Big Brother and its ilk should not be compared to sophisticated TV drama but past shows such as The Price is Right: compared to them, The Apprentice suddenly seems like the work of intellectual giants.

Sure to make each episode as laborious as Trump's The Apprentice, Buick, Delta, Song, Random House, Westin Hotels and others have signed with Mark Burnett to be part of the new Apprentice: Martha Stewart. While the blatant intrusiveness of these full episode sponsorship may grate on the nerves, they bring in millions. The aggravation may be offset by Martha herself who, we venture to say, will be far more interesting than Trump.

Now if that isn’t short-sighted thinking, then I’m not sure what is. We’re talking about a ready-made consumer base that could be influenced to purchase DVDs and other merchandise, and how do the studios react to the trailer leaking to the net? Like spoiled children, of course. “We can’t adapt to new models of advertising, so you’re not getting anything decent from us. Now, go watch Survivor and The Apprentice before we raise your cable rates again!”

With revenues reaching the $25 billion mark just two years ago, the cruise line industry is ripe for frivolous lawsuits. According to The Washington Post, one passenger sued after slipping on a grape dropped by someone impersonating Carmen Miranda. But after a massive wave hit the Norwegian Dawn this April, the passengers were making a much different claim — namely that their captain put them in harm’s way for The Apprentice.

Hello… welcome back to the cruel and boring reality after I spent around 1 and a half months long holiday. This could be my final holiday throughout my life as a student, and I just did not utilise it, damn! I spent most of my times watching tv, though there are really my favourites tv programmes, such as American Idol (Carrie rocks yeah yeah), The Apprentice, C.S.I., and more… For a sport freak like me, of course I did not miss out those live shows - EPL surviving Sunday, English FA Cup Final, UEFA Cup Final and the biggest turn-around UEFA Champions League Final.

Howard Stern's Donald Trump interview just aired on E! last week. Looks like Jeannette Walls at MSNBC just transcribed something she heard in a 3-month old interview and published it in her gossip column.

The contestants are the usual assortment of muppets and dilettantes – the main difference is that the production of the US version just comes across as really cheesy and juvenile – like at one point the male team were “brainstorming” and whenever they came up with a lame idea there was a comedy “boinngggg!” noise on the soundtrack. Hello, are we watching Rainbow here or something? Also, the editing is a lot more soapy, i.e. in the title sequence the Apprentices are all named and there is a shot of eacjh of them smiling or answering the phone or pointing at a flow chart or something. It is like the beginning of “Dallas”!

Stewart has two TV shows planned for the fall season — a one-hour daytime talk show “Martha” and a version of the NBC reality show “The Apprentice.”

Undies month is all about Underachievers making a whopping, astronomical, impressive, and hard earned $1. Yep, One Dollar. Screw the Apprentice tryouts, why the heck would I want to work that hard? The last thing I need is a Donald Trump pushing me to promote some lame Domino’s pizza bullshit. I wanna sit on my ass in my lazy boy while I achieve a much more credible fame, that of a underachiever.

While I don't watch Reality TV, it has got to stop now. Why? Because it is now cutting into my television shows. Don't you remember television shows? They're the half-hour segaments of comedy that help you escape reality. And they're the hour long dramas that educate us about society without us even realizing it.

The cruise ship rocked by a 70-foot wave in April was put into harm’s way when its owners ordered it to race back to New York for a photo shoot with “The Apprentice,” according to a $100 million lawsuit filed on passengers’ behalf yesterday.

Then it's off to audition for the next season of 'The Apprentice.' (Just kidding, of course). Anyone that thinks they can learn business skills by watching The Apprentice probably also thinks they can learn to pilot an F-14 by watching the movie Top Gun. You don't have to own a business to learn important business skills, but that's probably the best way (and certainly better than watching TV).

During the Fall of 2004, a number of high profile reality TV flops had the mass media declaring the death of reality television. Now, due to a resurgence of interest in reality TV thanks to the success of shows like American Idol, Survivor, The Apprentice and The Amazing Race, the reports of reality TV’s demise appear to have been greatly exaggerated.

I had been trying to wean myself from the NBC hit show, The Apprentice, and hadn't tuned in all season. But I snuck a peek last week. Glad I did.

We have enjoyed watching the recent series of ‘The Apprentice’ on BBC2. 14 candidates have been set weekly tasks to prove themselves as the perfect person for Alan Sugar to hire as his ‘Apprentice’. One by one each candidate has been fired until we are down to two who are left to battle between each other for the prize job. One thing is for sure, whoever wins will undoubtedly deserve to, as a reward for his/her hard work and determination in each weekly task.

Whatever happens on Thursday night’s season finale of The Apprentice , one thing is guaranteed: Donald Trump’s new right-hand man will definitely be a woman.

Well, my stint at “The Apprentice” is over. After serving two weeks in office, the people elected to give me a second term. But now it’s over, and it’s time to write my memoirs. There are so many interesting stories, starting with…

… oh yeah, there were those non-disclosure agreements. The ones that make sure that if I divulge even the tiniest details of my weeks Inside, I can be stripped of all my possessions, including several vital organs.

But still, I can let you in on a little of the journey, so long as I have my lawyers vet it before I post. So here, then, is my story.

After the first episode of The Apprentice, I sort of liked Donald Trump more than before the show. Of course, when he took the cameras into his home, it was obvious that The Donald had really extraordinarily tacky taste. I forgive him for that, all the money in the world can't buy someone good taste. But last night's episode took the cake in the tacky department when he promoted Romero Britto's art on the show.

The Apprentice is interesting because it is at least vaguely similar to life-like situations where you have a project to run and a team of coworkers. Of course it's also very unrealistic because you are given lots of support on the one hand and on the other you may have no background in a given task (nor anyone on your team). Also, you don't normally get what might be called an impossibly brief timeframe to get a project done, and then when your sales are a whopping $10 less then your competitor, you are deemed the "loser" and one of your teammates must be let go! But still, it is about making business decisions that I think most people can kind of understand based on common sense and it's interesting to come up with what you would have done differently in order to make the project work better.

Ok, this I have to admit; reality TV is addictive. Possibly, it also dumbs down your senses. I know because I was watching The Apprentice while tremors were felt all over Malaysia from the quake in Sumatra the other night. And frankly, if it wasn't for the informative write up that were available in the newspapers the following day, I would have been as clueless as an American who asks "Isn't tsunami over already?"

The show actually inspires people to further embed themselves in the rat race and do what it takes to climb up the pyramid. At least, I was. I mean, what's the other option? Become a hippie or a bohemian artist? [Btw, please watch the Southpark episode on hippies. Being someone from the Arts stream, I felt deeply confronted, ahem]. In other words, The Apprentice is a kick ass capitalist campaign that has deep and far reaching capacities.

So it's all come down to Tana and Craig (street smarts) versus Kendra and Alex (book smarts). I'm guessing that Alex will be the next to go. The only reason he didn't get the boot last night is that he argued more skillfully than Bren. The Donald seemed particularly impressed by the fact that Alex had studied in Israel. I felt kind of bad for Bren. But it seemed like he had enough of the Apprentice. He said as much in the cab ride confession.

Craig? Fail? I beg to differ.

If the makers of The Apprentice had brought in a fat goat in a top hat and a monocle to fire people, the show would still be the best thing on TV. In fact, it'd be the best thing ever in the universe.

She already is working on a Martha version of The Apprentice and a syndicated how-to show, although she’s still under house arrest. She has returned to her magazine’s cover and is writing a new column.

Without a doubt, I would hire Kendra as the apprentice. Her ability to strategize and execute is second to none. While Stephanie was the project manager during the golf task, her (Kendra's)idea to market to surrounding vendors in the area was instrumental to Magna winning. In fact, whether she has been project manager or not she has been instrumental in many of Magna's wins. When Magna was faltered on the Burger King task she could have jump on the bandwagon and gone with everyone and said Danny deserved to be fired. But she didn't, she went ahead...

I work at a Pontiac dealership and the brochure that Kendra put together is outstanding. If Kendra does not get to bet the Apprentice, GM should hire her to do all of their promotional pieces.

So who would conquer the interviews? Kendra besides for having a real estate business, was on a weekly talk radio show. She's excellent at marketing and is methodical and intelligent in her approach. She is mature (there is a deleted scene that is on the Apprentice website this week where she approached Craig to try and work their challenges out).

Every time she leads in a task, it almost seems like that team is guaranteed a win. She just crushes the competition. Time and time again as a team player she has crafted ways for her team to win. When she is the project manager she drives them home to victory. As a team player and project manager her ideas seem to never be challenged because she articulates the information to her teammates in such a manner that they have no other alternative but to implement the idea (most times they cannot think of a better idea). Its a no brainer Kendra is...

In addition to Rancic's existing responsibilities overseeing the construction of Trump Tower in Chicago, his expanded duties will include strategic development of other Trump properties across the country and in Mexico. Trump also confirmed that Rancic would return to the boardroom during season four of "The Apprentice," filling in for George Ross and Carolyn Kepcher when they are on business trips.

So perhaps it comes as no surprise that an organization of this pedigree would shame the other Apprentice sponsors – Domino’s Pizza, Unilever (Dove), Burger King and Nestle (Taster’s Choice) among them – by being the only one to completely recognize, and act upon, the juicy brand-building opportunities presented by the show. With thoughtful preparation, Home Depot became the sole sponsor to fully integrate the actual happenings on its episode with an in-store promotion that squarely aligned with and promoted the crystal-clear HD brand promise and tagline of “You Can Do It. We Can Help.”

UCLA JD/MBA Association is pleased to announce a speaking engagement of famed UCLA JD/MBA recipient Kelly Perdew ('95), the recent winner of Donald Trump's reality TV show "The Apprentice." Mr. Perdew will speak about his extraordinary experience on the hit show, his experiences a founder of three start-up ventures, how his UCLA Anderson and Law School background helped him land the job of a lifetime, and what it's like to work with Donald Trump.

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Shocking, positively shocking. "The Apprentice"'s Chris has been arrested for disorderly conduct, after having lost his temper! Does this sound like the Chris we've seen on TV?:

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On the heels of the controversial "firing" of "Street Smarts" Project Manager Kristen Kirchner on NBC's hit reality series, The Apprentice 3, an alleged copycat of the commercial produced by her losing team is being used by L'Oreal to promote Mennen Sport, their bodywash for men sold in France. According to Kirchner, the characteristics of the thirty second spots are too similar for coincidence, including the storyline of a marathon runner lathering-up with bodywash mid- race and crossing the finish line first and the funky music soundtrack. This is the first time in the show's history that such a bold, unauthorized duplication of an idea originated by the cast has surfaced.

when i was in florida back in february my grand father coined a new nickname for me. while channel surfing we stumbled upon a rerun of the apprentice, my grandpa joked that someday i was going to be rich and famous just like donald trump (which incidentally i have 0 aspirations for), and that i’d be looking down on gr from chris towers. i laughed and said i should probably start telling people to call me “the chris” now so that when that happened there wouldn’t need to be any awkward transition to my new trumpesque moniker.