Thursday, January 03, 2008

Please Just Say 'You're Fired' Already

It's almost become mandatory that reality shows must produce a so-called "celebrity" edition.

Tonight, "The Apprentice" (NBC, 9 p.m.) is no exception.

Of course, there are no celebrities people might want to see, no Brad Pitt, no George Clooney, hell, no Lindsay Lohan (who'd at least keep things interesting).

Instead, we get country artist Trace Adkins; rocker Gene Simmons; actors Stephen Baldwin and Marilu Henner; model-actress Carol Alt; boxer Lennox Lewis; and reality figures Omarosa and Piers Morgan, among others.

"The Apprentice" has really been on the decline for the past few years. Starting with Donald Trump making his kids his sidekicks, and introducing gimmicks like having the losing team sleep in tents and not replacing project managers, this show really fails to live up to earlier editions.

And with celebrities playing for charity rather than a job with Trump, how much motivation will there be among the contestants, especially since none of them have a business background.

And before anyone blames the writers' strike, this show has been on the books for months.

Time for NBC to tell Trump he's fired.

THURSDAY'S BEST BETS: For old school "ER" (NBC, 10 p.m.) fans, tonight's episode marks a return to the old days, as Gloria Reuben reprises her role as HIV-positive physician's assistant Jeannie Boulet.

Tonight marks what should be another thrilling bowl, as Virginia Tech battles Kansas in the Orange Bowl (Fox, 8 p.m.) C'mon, guys, let's have at least one interesting and close BCS game.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Phillip, considering that Kansas shouldn't even be IN a BCS Game after the worst non conference schedule in the history of Division I football, why should you suddenly expect a great game?

And frankly, since I find the BCS to be a lying, phony hoax, that screws over teams like Georgia, I hope the final score is 55-3. Serves the BCS right for creating all these pathetic match-ups.

If Georgia had played (as they should have) in the BCS title game or even the Rose Bowl against USC - and instead - they had paired Illinois with Hawaii (two teams that were outclasses but against one another, might have been a great game) then at least the BCS would have given us better match-ups.

I am happy for Gloria Ruben but I stopped watching "er" about 87 years ago when it was still relevant. "The Apprentice" - also irrelevant.

Anonymous said...
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Anonymous said...

The BCS selections were rubbish. I could have drawn up a better list of games. Does anyone think that Hawaai would not have lost at least 4 or 5 games in the SEC.

Re Trump he has "jumped the shark" and sould quit.

Jonathan said...

My wife and I were in San Francisco when the worst storm they had had in the past five years hit, so we got stuck in our hotel watching "The Apprentice." It was as terrible as I expected, and Stephen Baldwin was called an Entrpreneur of all things; who knew?

As for Georgia; give me a break. They are a great team, but to be in the Championship Bowl Game I think you should at least win your conference, or at the very least play in the conference chamiponship game.

The BCS is a joke, though. I think putting Hawaii in at least proved a point when they got their asses handed to them. And every conference should have a freaking championship game. Some of these teams don't even have to play each other in the regular season which is even more ridiculous.

Phillip Ramati said...

Big surprise - Trump didn't fire Omarosa, even though she clearly deserved it. I'm sure the producers have rigged it to keep her around as long as possible, so she can stir things up. Maybe the biggest crime Trump ever did was foisting Omarosa on the public to begin with.

As for the BCS, an 8-team tournament would not only settle who should be in the title game and end all arguments, but would also fill up the dead weekends in December.