TV Week
By Michele Greppi

On the fourth night of the 2005-06 season, UPN’s “Everybody Hates Chris” slipped past NBC’s “Joey” in total viewers and the 18 to 49 demographic to finish second for the half-hour to “Survivor: Guatemala.”

It was just the start of a bad night for NBC, which got compelling evidence that the bubble has burst for the Donald Trump version of “The Apprentice.”

According to preliminary national data from Nielsen Media Research, “Chris,” the autobiographical comedy from Chris Rock, averaged 7.58 million viewers and a 3.2 rating in the demo. “Joey,” in its third-worst outing ever, averaged 7.57 million viewers and a 3.0 rating in the demo.

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Trump starts off the new Apprentice in the same way. He’s picked these 18 people and they all meet him on a golf course. He does his intro and then tells them that their task is to sell classes in a Ballys and whoever makes the most money wins. He divides the teams into men and women. Everything is the same as a typical Apprentice.

This time though, he tells them that his helicopter is on the golf course somewhere and the first team to reach it will have two of their members fly back to the city for a head start on the selection of which Ballys to use. The women jump in golf carts, but the buys sprint out and win by a few feet. They pick the upscale location. The women get stuck with the one in the less affluent area.

The guys figure out the pricing, decide to target the people in the club and get to work. Markus has some good ideas, so they all ask him to be the PM. He backs off and says he’ll do it only if they all agree that he should, which they do, so, dude, shut up and do what you’re asked to do. He was not graceful at all about it. In the midst of talking about what to do and how to do it, he asks if he could be doing anything better. Everyone stares at him. He also talks way too much. Trump notices this and comments on it. Markus is not a good communicator or a good leader. He needs to go home.

The girls argue about pricing, mostly with Melissa. She’s Latino and knows her people while all of the others know nothing. She cause all kinds of grief. Kristy is the PM and makes some bad decisions on the advertising that says “Triple XXX Threat”, which seems a little sleazy.

The guys name will be “Excel”, naming themselves after the popular spreadsheet. The women name themselves “Capitol Edge” because they are on the financial fringe. In the boardroom, the totals are much closer than I expected. Girls - $516, Boys - $527, an $11 spread. The guys should have crushed them with the better location. Kristy gets to pick two people to bring back into the boardroom. She only brings Melissa. All of the women bash Melissa in the boardroom for being negative. It’s like watching sharks attacking a baby seal. They all, everyone of them, rip her to shreds.

During the final boardroom, Melissa says that she can’t work with women because all women are intimidated by her because she is beautiful and smart. She must not be watching the same show I was, because she was the least beautiful of all of them and definitely not the smartest. The truth is that she can’t work with women because she’s bossy, loud, abrasive, emotional, stupid, and not pretty.

Melissa is fired. It wasn’t even close.

What did you think? Discuss it in the forums.

A Rhodes Scholar, NFL player and an inventor are among Donald Trump’s “hand-picked” cast of eighteen young entrepreneurs on the fourth season of NBC’s “The Apprentice” (September 22, 9-10 pm ET/PT). “For the first time, I hand-picked an Apprentice cast and I’m thrilled with the results,” said Donald Trump, executive producer. “This is the best reality show cast I’ve ever encountered. They have it all: beauty, brains, and big bucks.”

Ranging in age from 22-41, these candidates boast degrees from Oxford, Wharton, MIT, and Georgetown and several of the candidates are already millionaires. A wide range of applicants will greet Trump including an NFL player-turned ad sales executive, an inventor, a salon and spa chain owner, a financial journalist and a risk manager.

THE 18 CANDIDATES ON NBC’S “THE APPRENTICE”

· Josh (New York, N.Y.) Beauty Company Owner
Josh, 30, a successful entrepreneur and self-made multi-millionaire by the age of 24, has become a driving force in the cosmetics and beauty industry. Josh is co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer of GoSMILE, Inc. (www.GoSMILE.com). In less than three years, he and his partners in the company have effectively established GoSMILE as the innovative pioneer and leader of the newest category in prestige retail, called Smile Beauty. Prior to this venture, he had successfully helped build and run a multi-media marketing services company, Student Advantage Inc., valued at over a billion dollars at its peak in the stock market. Over a nine-year period, Josh built and managed various aspects of the company, driving the growth of the company from 12 people, generating $400,000 in annual revenue, to nearly 500 people generating over $85 million in revenue. He received his B.S. in marketing and finance from the University of Albany. He married his high school sweetheart four years ago, and they are expecting their first child this January. More… »

TV Squad

Of course, when you’re a producer and your name is on the product, it’s easy to say that the next show is “the best by far, the best show we’ve done,” so that hype isn’t surprising. But it’s a little surprising that Donald Trump himself hated the “street smarts vs. book smarts” Apprentice from last season. He didn’t get to pick the contestants he wanted, and he was ticked off the whole time. This season, he had more say into who was cast.

And who is included in the cast? A “tough as nails” ex-stripper, an owner of one of those teeth-whitening companies, and an ex-NFL star. Which is odd, because Survivor: Guatemala also has an ex-NFL star in it’s cast.

Apprentice 4 starts on September 22, the day after The Apprentice: Martha Stewart debuts. It’s going to be hard to keep track of all these people…