The Apprentice

[OneeyedJohn]

What do u think of the Apprentice the tv show with Donald Trump??.

I’ve just watched in the last week all the series 2 episodes and the dvd went skewiff on he very last part where the winner is announced, ‘kin frustrating so I don’t know the winner and I also don’t know the developments of series 3 & 4. But nonetheless it would be interesting to know members views on the show and the people on it.

Personally speaking I found none of the contestants in S2 appealing, given that these are the best group of applicants from 1 million.

Is it an American thing to idolise people such as singers ( tony bennet ) & sports stars in such a way that one has to treat them like gods?

Don’t get me wrong ..i think DT is super clever, quick witted and generous in his decision making.

I used to have celebs of various and sometimes dubious quality come to my restaurant and the last thing they wanted was to have people disturb their evening with sycophantic solicitations to their status.

So back to The Apprentice… is it good , is it representative, is it America?

[Diablo Bob]

John,

Well as an American, I personally find DT to be a pompus ass, who inherited his claim stake and has never really produced anything.

That aside, I don't like the unrealistic reality shows, nor much of what commercial TV and Hollywood produce.

Does it represent America, No..... it represents a segment of the American population though.

[elkangorito]

John,

Well as an American, I personally find DT to be a pompus ass, who inherited his claim stake and has never really produced anything.

That aside, I don't like the unrealistic reality shows, nor much of what commercial TV and Hollywood produce.

Does it represent America, No..... it represents a segment of the American population though.

I fully agree Bob. I also think that the show was crap. I think I watched it for a total of 10 minutes before placing it the 'moron viewer' basket.

Unfortunately Australia is now becoming very americanised with 'reality' television & these idiot shows are drawing record ratings. My concern with this is that the people who love these shows also vote.

(No offence intended toward OneeyedJohn).

Edited May 28, 2006 by elkangorito

[OneeyedJohn]

None taken

I do hate myself sometimes for watching this stuff, perhaps i have a personality disorder that allows me to become addicted. There again i luv The Sopranos so i can't be that bad eh?

[Diablo Bob]

My concern with this is that the people who love these shows also vote.

I totally overlooked this scary aspect

[chingching]

My concern with this is that the people who love these shows also vote.

I totally overlooked this scary aspect

Nothing to worry about, as whomever they vote for is a politician anyway

[tc101]

So back to The Apprentice… is it good , is it representative, is it America?

It is representative of one very shallow materialistic status conscious side of America. I am American and I hate this side of our society.

[Jeff1]

As an American , I have to say , I have never watched it .

[slackula]

I think it is crap. Overly melodramatic to try and hold viewers attention, and the contestants come across in the most part as self obsessed narcissists.

The again, I think that 99% of television is utter garbage so my low opinion of TA pretty much applies to almost everything on the box.

[elkangorito]

The again, I think that 99% of television is utter garbage so my low opinion of TA pretty much applies to almost everything on the box.

Right on, slackula (great nic BTW). I know I'm a little off topic but;

I hardly watch any telly (maybe 6 hours per week)...it's all mind numbing crap. If I do watch telly, it's documentries or an old movie. In Australia, I generally watch the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation), which is government owned & controlled but believe it or not, it is VERY diverse with it's excellent unbiased content. Also, SBS (Special Broadcasting Service) in Australia, which started out as a television station to help immigrants, now has some of the best (& truest) news coverage services in the world. Both of these stations are available on the web. As a matter of fact, the few American friends that I have, refuse to be fed the crap spewed forth by the US news services & instead, get their info from SBS & ABC via the web. They tell me that most of the stuff they see on these channels, totally disagrees with the US news crap.

Between these 2 television stations, there is hardly any manipulation of the news & current affairs, which the other commercial stations seem to totally distort & otherwise 'sensationalise'.

[Jai Yen Yen]

...is it America?

Or even, in any shape or form, Thai related??

(Or did you buy the knock-off DVDs here?)

[Chang_paarp]

Between these 2 television stations, there is hardly any manipulation of the news & current affairs, which the other commercial stations seem to totally distort & otherwise 'sensationalise'.

You get a very different opion from the politicians. They are all convinced that the ABC is out to get them, probably a good sign.

SBS is a part of the ABC now, has been for 5 or so years. It is run indipendantly but is funded as part of the ABC, this is why you see the faces change from one station to the other regularly.

Getting back to the origional topic. Mr Trump is very good at getting his face on TV as a promotional tool. The show lacks several human qualities such as ethics and humility, but it is about business. Some of the excersizes are interesting if you remove the hype and overblown presentation.

Who was it who said "There is no such thing as bad publicity, just publicity. "

[The Dan Sai Kid]

In the UK we have the show with a guy called Alan Sugar - he is basically a rich, succesful ######.

Where he gets his money from is a bit of a mystery - his company, Amstrad are synonmous with crappy electronics. I don't know about the American one - but I find that 80% of the contestents are completely insufferable.

During the show they have clips of the City of London (financial heart of the UK) and it sort of suggests that is where his company is based - but in reality they are based in Sussex or somewhere equally bland!

[NovaBlue05]

John,

Well as an American, I personally find DT to be a pompus ass, who inherited his claim stake and has never really produced anything.

That aside, I don't like the unrealistic reality shows, nor much of what commercial TV and Hollywood produce.

Does it represent America, No..... it represents a segment of the American population though.

Good assessment of DT and television in general. About all I use the TV for anymore is news, NFL football and the History Channel. Most of the rest is tripe. And yes...there are segments of America....and certainly any western country that idolizes celebrities, sports figures, etc.

[Totster]

I watched a fantastic series recently called My Big Fat Obnoxious Boss. Same kind of thing as the apprentice, but it's all a wind up. Some of the tasks these hopefuls did were just bloody hilarious.

totster

[thaibebop]

I don't watch it. I almost never watch TV and when I do it's educational (National Geographic, Science or Discovery, Lime, History, I like some of the shows on CCTV as well) I use TV to learn, which is why I don't watch much.

[OneeyedJohn]

[Posted Yesterday, 2006-05-28 23:16:01

I watched a fantastic series recently called My Big Fat Obnoxious Boss. Same kind of thing as the apprentice, but it's all a wind up. Some of the tasks these hopefuls did were just bloody hilarious.

is that available on quality Dvd ??

[Totster]

Posted Yesterday, 2006-05-28 23:16:01]

I watched a fantastic series recently called My Big Fat Obnoxious Boss. Same kind of thing as the apprentice, but it's all a wind up. Some of the tasks these hopefuls did were just bloody hilarious.

is that available on quality Dvd ??

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Big_Fat_Obnoxious_Boss

Not sure if you can get the DVD though...

totster

[Tippaporn]

. . . I use TV to learn, which is why I don't watch much.

Somehow that doesn't quite come out right, Bops.

[thaibebop]

. . . I use TV to learn, which is why I don't watch much.

Somehow that doesn't quite come out right, Bops.

I guess if you look at it like that. Thanks for pointing that out Tip.

[elkangorito]

There is one TV show that I really detest (actually, my 'detest' list is huge)...the David Letterman Show. Most Australians whom I've known to have watched the show (not many), are amazed at why the audience seems to be unaware of the fact that they are quite often belittled by Letterman, on national TV. Or are they paid to put up with this?

Then of course, there are his guest 'celebs', who generally seem to do nothing but lick Lettermans bum followed by he licking theirs. And that twit who leads the band?...not funny at all. Downright moronic.

I think shows like his give the rest of the world the wrong impression of the American public. His show is a complete waste of electricity & fresh air.

[oopapasan]

I think it is crap. Overly melodramatic to try and hold viewers attention, and the contestants come across in the most part as self obsessed narcissists.

The again, I think that 99% of television is utter garbage so my low opinion of TA pretty much applies to almost everything on the box.

Just proves they are starving for entertainment in the states.If they had a Nana Plaza they wouldn't

have to watch that crapola.

[t.s]

There is one TV show that I really detest (actually, my 'detest' list is huge)...the David Letterman Show. Most Australians whom I've known to have watched the show (not many), are amazed at why the audience seems to be unaware of the fact that they are quite often belittled by Letterman, on national TV. Or are they paid to put up with this?

Then of course, there are his guest 'celebs', who generally seem to do nothing but lick Lettermans bum followed by he licking theirs. And that twit who leads the band?...not funny at all. Downright moronic.

I think shows like his give the rest of the world the wrong impression of the American public. His show is a complete waste of electricity & fresh air.

I think the problem here is that you just don't "get" Letterman, who introduced a new type of humour to the American people called sarcasm. Letterman’s sardonic sense of humour, irreverence and sarcastic disrespect of his guests and audience alike spawned an entire new era of television, that later developed into shows like Seinfeld, and on top south park and Howard Stern. Simply put, they pushed the boundaries of what was acceptable and defined an American arrogance that was refreshing for its time.

If you see letterman as the antithesis of 1950's and 60’s happy happy as personified by Johnny Carson, you may get the point..

I must add that I have not seen Letterman in at least 10 years, so he may have lost his edge entirely, but his original mix of cruelty and humour won over college students across the country for years on end.

Perhaps the most amusing thing about this thread however is the number of posters who deny that they watch tv at all, or limit their involvement to Discovery and Animal Planet.

If this is indeed the case, why bother posting at all as you admittedly have no idea what you are talking about?

As for the Apprentice, Trump is indeed a pri_ck with ears, however to say he inherited his claim and has created nothing is simply idiotic. In multiple cities across America you can stand in, on, and beside the vast amounts of nothing he created, lost and rebuilt and or regained. It is fairly nonsensical to deny he has developed a hel_l of a lot of property. He has left a hel_l of a mark on urban American geography and created a hel_l of a lot of jobs and revenue while he was doing it.

I enjoy watching the “contestants cover their asses and lie and deny, simply because they believe they are right. In a manner much like the Office (uk) it can be deliciously painful to watch them demean themselves for a shot at the “big” time.

But I only watch Bloomberg, so what would I know?

[OneeyedJohn]

At last ,,,someone has owned up to watching TA. Maybe i should stick to History and Sports.

[ROFL]

Hate to break it to you who dig this for what it "says" about it Americans....but The Apprentice was created by..............................................................................

..................

A BRIT!

Mark Burnett was born on July 17, 1960 in the east end of London, England. He was the only child of two Ford Motors factory workers. He was raised in London, and later moved in Dagenham, a small town in Essex. At the age of seventeen, he enlisted in the British Army. He later became a Section Commander of the infamous Parachute Regiment and fought in Northern Ireland and Falkland Islands, where...

Edited May 31, 2006 by ROFL

[britmaveric]

Watched it first season, but got boring like most reality tv does after the novelty wears off.

[bendix]

I watch it, and like it.

But it's kinda like watching a car crash . . . . it's painful waiting for the next DT shameless self-promotion antic, and when they come, they rarely disappoint.

But best of all is watching these creme de la creme people humiliating them for the sake to work as a sycophant for some crappy $100,000 a year job in one of the most expensive cities in the world.

I mean. .<deleted>?