Dispatches From the Couch: The Long, Slow Death Of A Franchise
February 21st, 2008
Let’s face facts: The last time THE APPRENTICE actually captured our attention was when NBC canceled the show in 2007 and Donald Trump basically responded with, “You can’t fire me! I quit!”
That was probably the smartest thing the walking combover had done since hiring reality-star-in-the-making Omarosa several seasons earlier. But the moment NBC came back to Trump and asked that he return to the boardroom, Trump folded like a cheap suit. In a desperate attempt to revive the failing franchise, it was announced that the new edition would feature the Trumpmeister firing celebs.
And that’s when things went tragically awry.
Already, the series had been showing a serious lack of creativity during the previous season, in which it was decided that the show could “re-invent” itself by relocating from New York City to Southern California. The only other major twist involved having each week’s losing team sleep in tents outside the mansion in which their winning rivals were living it up. Worse, the weekly tasks began to feel both repetitive and more like commercials than challenges.
The season was a bomb, the show was canceled and then, mysteriously, brought back to life and returned to Trump’s home base, New York City.
Did we mention this season has celebrities?














