The Apprentice

I think the worst part of the Apprentice is that it takes an excellent concept (finding the next Apprentice by putting the contestants in real-world situations where they have to show project management skills and business acumen to survive) and places the dumbest contestants where intelligent, ambitious people should be. It particularly angers me that the women on the show are always chosen solely for their looks and lose their tasks because they are vapid, engage in cat fights and have air in the space where their brains should be. Of course, this has to be contrasted with the male contestants who are (usually) immature and have superegos, but at least have some sort of brain power. The blatant sexism on this show is obvious. But at least the concept of a reality show for the business world is engaging and you can feel slightly better about watching reality TV when it isn't about TV romanticism or really bad singers. Let's just hope that eventually they can find competent contestants to fit the bill on the show. Now wouldn't that be interesting?

Even the tagline says it, "It's nothing personal, its just business" Finally there's a reality TV show that shows contestants the true meaning of a dollar. Not by falling off a bridge, eating worms, taking off your clothes, but by learning the ways in business. Donald Trump is the host and also producer of the show, he puts these young kids(over 20) into tasks that they must complete if they want to succeed into the next level. If they make it, they stay for upcoming episodes while Donald tells the others, "You're fired!" I love the fact that there can be a reality show without hurting anybody's feelings, and that Donald Trump gets to the point. I love the fact that its a success and it can teach other people about the business world. This beats the hell out of watching 'Friends', 'Frasier', 'Will & Grace' and others.

I've only watched 3 or 4 episodes. Here's what I've learned: 1. If you used to be a Miss Universe, you won't be fired because Donald Trump can't fire his actual employees on TV.

2. If you won't drop your sponsors like Michael Andretti to promote one of the Trump friendly companies you will be fired. You see Michael Andretti was fired for not putting his name on the Cadillac brand for $20,000 for his charity and thus he didn't loose his endorsements with whoever he is currently endorsing. But if you refuse to whore yourself out for Trump so that he can get millions instead of you, You're Fired.

What a joke of a show.

How can Donald Trump be so clouded in his judgment? He expects, when putting a new leader in a group of bickering women with little backbone, that she should immediately know what their expertise is and to be able to assign them in the tasks instead of her asking them what they each felt their best skills were and that she was going to hold them accountable for that. I thought she did a great job of taking that group and making three times the sales as the men. At the end of their tasks, they were all working as a team and for a minute they forgot about stabbing each other in the back. But when it was time to get ready to go to the boardroom, no one had a clue as to what integrity was, or what a good leader they had. She tried to explain her strategy to Donald but he never seemed to want to really LISTEN to her. I have noticed this in other shows. He likes to interrupt and in my estimation acts as a bully. Yeah, he can do that with the money he has. But does that say anything about his character? People can make money and make themselves powerful that way, but that does not make them a big person. And thats what really counts. After seeing this last episode, I was not sure what to do - - - laugh at the farce that this show has now become or to be ashamed for the women, and ashamed for Trump.

needs to retire. At first this was a good concept, as another reviewer mentioned. Now it is lame, overly scripted, and makes "America's Next Top Model" look creative. If you have cable, and get MSNBC you will notice in certain markets that Donny Deutsch follows this show. He typically (at least last year) re-hashes the entire show, with one of the lame no-talent losers, hoping for Omarosa-like fame. How sad is this?.

The earlier shows at least had educated contestants; I believe the show with Jennifer Massey going against (forgot his name) the male who won, was interesting in that she at least had class, a legal background, and attempted to participate in a mature, rational manner.

At this point, it is a sad commentary on American culture that Burnett continues to thrive with trash-TV; it is calculated tripe, like visiting Ringling Bros. Circus; where the animals are abused and tormented for fun. How much lower will entertainment get? Maybe next we can have Trump pretend to be Emperor Nero- and everyone can watch people being mauled by lions- imagine the ratings with all that blood.