We don’t really need to deify Donald Trump any more than he already is, and we don’t really need “The Apprentice” on our TV sets.
As Thursday night’s premiere showed, the Donald is a stiff guy with a big ego, and his Mark Burnett-produced NBC show offered precious little drama. The star, really, was New York City in some beautiful shots that made one long to visit. The only other reason to watch, then, is if you can’t take your eyes off Trump–you’re mesmerized by his debating skills or maybe his bad hair.
Two teams–eight men and eight women–compete in business tasks set up by Trump, and the losing team visits the boardroom, where one is sacrificed to the altar of Donald. What’s in it for the winner? A $250,000 salary and a year as an executive of a Trump company.
The first task was to make as much money as possible selling lemonade. But vending lemonade was boring with a bunch of businesspeople who felt it was beneath them. A scene with Trump in his helicopter looking down on the contestants couldn’t have felt more fake. Trump also showed off his apartment to the winning women, but that served only to celebrate his vast wealth.
The contestants seem like generic hucksters with various forms of business experience, but little personality. More important, there are no babes in skimpy clothing.
This lemon of a show makes terrible lemonade.
Shows to watch
– Jennifer Aniston hosts “Saturday Night Live,” at 10:30 p.m. on NBC.
– Vanilla Ice and Ron Jeremy star in “The Surreal Life,” which premieres at 8 p.m. Sunday on the WB.
– Former “Talk Soup” host John Henson debuts his “John Henson Project,” at 9 p.m. Sunday on Spike TV.
– A darling little reality show, “Airline,” airs at 9 p.m. Monday on A&E.
– Fox milks Paris Hilton–er, that came out wrong–with a “Simple Life” special of outtakes at 7 p.m. Tuesday, with the finale at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday.
– “America’s Next Top Model” premieres at 8 p.m.Tuesday on UPN.
– “Bachelorette” Meredith Phillips takes her first bow, at 8 p.m. Wednesday on ABC.
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WILLIAM P. BOHLEN, REDEYE’S TV COLUMNIST, CAN BE REACHED AT CHANNELINGTV@YAHOO.COM
Edited by Cara DiPasquale (cdipasquale@tribune.com) and Kris Karnopp (kkarnopp@tribune.com)
