Althouse: "The Apprentice."

December 8, 2005

"The Apprentice."

I found tonight's episode kind of boring. Event planning? Yawn. It was interesting to see Rebecca choose to bring back Toral, but then it made some sense: Toral had been deeply embarrassed by her performance on the show and is also a very proud person, so she should be motivated to do a good job for Rebecca. And it was mildly funny when all four of the Randal team players went shopping in a party store and heavy-handed they're-idiots music played. Oh, and the sheer horror of Joe Piscopo being deferred to as an important celebrity: That was sort of funny. But to slog through all that task-doing and not get to see any boardroomage? Very unsatisfying. Next week will be good though.

UPDATE: Over at Television Without Pity, they're all observing that the show seemed to have a "winner's edit" for Rebecca.

7 comments:

reader_iam said...: A let-down, about which I can't complain, because that's the tunnel into which this train decided to head--why, oh why?--a couple or so episodes back.

What's the emoticon for tears of frustration?; 12/8/05, 11:27 PM
Ruth Anne Adams said...: I really liked that Randal and Rebecca got to choose their bring-back team this time rather than having the misfits and losers thrust upon them. Do you think that Tana's event sucked so badly that Trump couldn't risk setting anyone up for failure? These are high-profile events with VIPs and it is stupid for Trump to make the tasks harder. Although I was sort of hoping to see Marcus brought back....just for the fun of it.; 12/9/05, 3:55 AM
Finn Alexander Kristiansen said...: Okay, I have to think that they let us see Randal looking sooo bad in order to create some drama. There is no possible way you can plan an outdoor event, and not have backup (meaning, tents and entertainment under those tents).

Also, they failed to show us elements of Randal's planning--like I believe they mentioned food at one point. So there could be more than meets the eye.

As someone suggested on the other website, these events are not exactly equal in difficulty, given that one is an indoor event in Manhattan and the other an outdoor event in Brooklyn.; 12/9/05, 4:44 AM
Pete said...: Ann, thanks for the Apprentice blogging.

I still think Randall will pull this one out, despite the foreboding omens of rain. (When, oh when will the Apprenti plan for such things? How many other events have been disatrous because of the weather? Um, one that I can remember. But there's more. I think.) And, even if he doesn't, Trump can choose to ignore it if he wants. Sure, I like Rebecca, and she'd be a good enough choice, but there's no way Trump could not choose Randall.

(Cure foreboding music.); 12/9/05, 6:06 AM
Pete said...: Whoops. That should be "Cue foreboding music," not "Cure. . ."

(Although what I wrote is kinda intriguing.; 12/9/05, 9:15 AM
BJK said...: I think that Rebecca went a long way towards being Trump's apprentice during dinner with George and Carolyn. She had obviously thought about who she wanted on her team, and who Randall would want. She dominated the head-to-head negotiation (with the help of a coin flip). I think she knew the whole time that she was going to pick Toral (turning her potential weakness into a strength), but threw out three other names hoping to get two of them.

The Piscopo thing isn't even that much of a conflict; they made it sound as though Rebecca just had to get some papers signed with the Union. Completely artificial and a created plot point. Does anyone really think he really won't emcee the event?

I'm actually a bit more surprised that the focus hasn't been on the other comedians; I can't think of anything that would shoot down an event faster than a comic whose material is too explicit for the VIPs. (Think Clay's attempts at humor during the Learning Annex task.); 12/9/05, 2:33 PM
palysa said...: Sour grapes or what! Does Randal feel so insecure that he can't share the spotlight with Rebecca and concede that maybe Trump should hire both as his apprentice. Given the sorry results of Randal's final task (mind you his previous tasks were excellent), I would think he'd want to be magnanamous and share in the glory... it would only make him look that much better. Who knows, maybe Trump will hire Rebecca anyway without the so-called title of "Apprentice".; 12/16/05, 5:33 PM