January 8, 2007

"I thought is was important for me to get up on that rock and supervise."

We hear Martin saying that, in voice-over on "The Apprentice," right after Frank says, everyone but Martin dug in and helped. Earlier, introducing himself, Martin offered to give Donald Trump a hug if he'd "let him go to the bathroom." Eee-yikes! To be fair, Trump had, a moment before, given a hug to another contestant, a woman who was a three time Olympian, with a gold, silver, and bronze medal. But, still... Martin... what are you thinking? Does it ever work on "The Apprentice" to play the fool? But at this point -- yeah, I guess I'm simulblogging -- Frank is way more annoying than Martin. He thinks he's showing leadership, but he's bossing everyone around so much that he causes Trump to lean out the window of his mansion and tell him to pipe down. Trump, you should know, has a mansion that overlooks the building that houses the Apprenti.....

Teams are chosen by the two leaders who emerged in the first segment (which was about erecting a tent). The leaders are the incredibly annoying Frank and the not-yet-really -noticed Heidi. Now, they're sent out to wash cars, and Heidi starts to gel as a character. She says: "We're here in West Hollywood, which is a homosexual area... so we hired two guys to stand on the street and hold signs...." The signs look like hell. Who would trust them to do a deluxe "hand wash" on their car?....

"You're going to have to wash your teeth and face and whatever the hell you do. I have no idea nor do I give a damn, okay? Whatever you do, it's going to be outside," says Trump as he lets the losing team know they have to live in a tent until they win....

We see the winners going to dinner with Trump at Spago, and the food looks less than glorious. Meanwhile, the losers are camping out and eating together outdoors overlooking LA. It's beautiful, and they have each other. Why don't they revel? They're acting like it's "Survivor." But they're in LA! And they've got a spectacular view. And they don't have that gasbag Trump interrogating them. I know it's all in the editing, but I despise them for not loving life.

Martin figures out that he needs to direct all the negativity at Frank. Martin -- who's a lawyer and a professor -- does a damned good job of identifying one bad thing about Frank and making it stick in everyone's head. (It's the dreaded failure to establish a "price point.")...

"Are you a lawyer?" "I am an attorney, sir." Mmmm... doesn't that make you want Mr. Attorney to go home? This is a lengthy boardroom struggle, with Frank fighting desperately for his life, and Martin -- Mr. Attorney-- sitting back and hoping Frank will implode. Much as I found Frank annoying as hell in the first half hour (of this 2 hour show), I'm rooting for Frank now.

And Frank wins! The man on the rock goes home.

ADDED: Tung Yin is following the new season. Jacob at TWOP is recapping but not happy.

5 comments:

Ruth Anne Adams said...

Hey! Shouldn't you be podcasting?

Tom T. said...

I can't help but think that Trump leaning out the window and yelling at Frank was added later; it fit too neatly with the narrative that was gelling around Frank.

Good observation on Spago's food. I wanted to see something special there, and I was disappointed!

I'm glad to see the fool ejected early this year. Every year there's been one pain in the neck who has hung on long after it became clear that he was a horrible fit for Trump, usually by convincing Trump each week that someone else was even worse. Trump did right to nip that in the bud this year.

hdhouse said...

I watched for about 10 minutes and figured that the backyard campers were the winners and those who had to dine with Trump got the shaft.

It is odd to consider that if he weren't rich NO ONE would give a damn about him...just like he doesn't give a damn about anyone who isn't rich.

MadisonMan said...

I note that only 3 of the contestants -- Aimee, Heidi, and Nicole -- hail from somewhere other than the east or west coast.

They need more Iowans on this show. Rock-solid midwestern values.

Finn Alexander Kristiansen said...

Is it me or do the biographies of this group seem rather mundane? There are few if any contestants with degrees from high end schools. Why is that? Midrange schools are well represented: Rutgers, Penn State, ASU, Adephi, UC Riverside.

Also, it seems like when it comes to black males on reality shows, they are usually gay, angry, odd or annoying.

When they finally did get two decent black male candidates on The Apprentice, the one (who won) was expected to be gracious and set a prcedent by sharing his win with the more attractive, younger, female LOSER. The other was bumped off one season because he had "too many degrees" and lacked career focus in real life. (Which, they probably could have told him BEFORE he went on the show).