September 22, 2005

The Apprentice, the Donald.

"I'm going to divide the teams into men versus women. The reason I like doing it this way is sometimes it's hard telling you apart. This way it's a lot easier." [So said Donald Trump setting up the competition in the first episode of Season 4.]

Huh? What the hell??

Chris: "I think it's the best way."

Me, blogging: "Let me quote you. Why do you think it's the best way?"

Chris: "You said it's the best way!"

Oh, yeah. Right. It is the most distinctive difference between people, and the interaction among women and among men is more nuanced and fascinating than the way men relate to women and women to men, which is more stereotypical.

Hey, wait. The first test, after they are divided into a male team and a female team, is a running test. Totally unfair! Of course, the men win. It's a shoe thing! Now, I'm pissed.

Now the show's over, and I must say, it was excellent -- much better than Martha Stewart's version last night. Chris and I agreed that the whole style of the production -- the suspenseful editing, the music, the attitude -- were much more absorbing and exciting. The boardroom scene was far superior. We laughed a lot at how Melissa behaved, richly deserving the ouster she got. All the other women hated her, and she proclaimed that women do all hate her, because of her beauty (though she was no more beautiful than the other women), and that, in fact, she could not work with women. Ha!

Well, we had a great time watching this show, and it made Martha's show seemed crabbed and small by comparison. Sorry, Martha! And I like Martha more than Donald. But it's just so fun not liking Trump. We often laugh just to see him walking onto the set, making his idiotically stern little faces.

UPDATE: By the way, I instantly loved Alla, the Russian immigrant. And when she was the first to speak up about Melissa, just as everyone was focusing on the project manager, and she laid it right out why Melissa should be the target, my bond became permanent. I want Alla to win.

14 comments:

vbspurs said...

Victoria: Do I watch a lot of TV?

:)

Cheers,
Victoria

Honus said...

Carolyn is the best.

The girl that wasn't Melissa was smart - didn't talk herself into a hole like Melissa did.

And Melissa was not even remotely as "beautiful" as she thought she was.

tiggeril said...

I just hope we're back to season 1 levels of competence. It was a good premiere, since I find myself looking forward to the rest of the season.

Ruth Anne Adams said...

If anyone is spilling their guts to Carolyn Kepcher [or George, for that matter] in the *4th* season, they've failed already.

Ann Althouse said...

Yeah, Carolyn is the show's secret ingredient. Don't you just love the shots of her watching them, now that you know the kinds of things she'll be saying later?

Glenn Howes said...

As an avid Apprentice watcher, I like to start the season by watching the opening credits before seeing any of the contestants, and guessing who will win based solely on the 1.5 seconds of grinning each player is given in the credits. Last season, I guessed Alex (who finished fairly high), while my wife guessed the guy who lost in the first week. I take into account my own impressions of Mr. Trumps preferences and prejudices.

This is based on a news story about teacher evaluations, where students who judge a teacher based on ten second's footage of the teacher teaching give practically the same evaluation as students who had the teacher for an entire semester.

I bet if Trump did this, he'd be right most seasons. Look how hard he works justifying keeping people for whom he's had good initial impressions.

Troy said...

Carolyn was great. Asking Melissa mid-task what she thought of the program manager was brilliant TV and a tiger trap for Melissa a mile wide and which she readily entered con su boca (since she is Hispanic -- and hence the only one who can speak to her people). The ethnic card at the very beginning of the task was what really ripped it. Too bad that wasn't referenced in the boardroom. Luckily for the women there was plenty of other evidence of her disruptiveness.

Ann Althouse said...

Troy: Yes, it's one thing to claim special knowledge because of your ethnicity, quite another to say it twelve times and to disqualify everyone else's opinion about everything.

Laura Reynolds said...

By far the easiest first week firing yet. "I worked hard, everyone said so" err. "No they all said you should go home" As you said to your colleague yesterday - Duh!

Freeman Hunt said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Ann Althouse said...

Freeman: MSNBC replayed the Martha show last night.

Laura Reynolds said...

Freeman: Its CNBC that shows the replays, usually the next night.

Aaargh that blogger identity word verification thing is slow these days.

Freeman Hunt said...

Thanks, I will catch it tonight.

d-day said...

I didn't watch, but according to the smoking gun, Alla has quite a bit more life experience that probably makes her one of the shrewdest businesspeople ever to be on the show.

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/0912051alla1.html