This was unexpected.  NBC announced today that The Celebrity Apprentice has been picked up for a second season, and that this second season will premiere in January of 2009.  Notice I didn't say The Apprentice was picked up for an additional season - it's going to for sure be another celebrity edition.  The Celebrity Apprentice has been a surprise success since it's premiere earlier this month, though it has to be said that some of this success should be attributed to a lack of worthy competition.  This will change Thursday when The Celebrity Apprentice competes against the season four premiere of Lost.  The Apprentice was effectively canceled by former NBC president Kevin Reilly last summer after a succession of lackluster-in-the-ratings seasons, but when hotshot new president Ben Silverman was hired to replace Reilly one of his first orders of business was resurrecting the franchise with the celebrity twist.  Good decision, it appears. 


Concurrent with the announcement was the extension of Celebrity Apprentice's live finale, which will now be two hours instead of one, and will air on Thursday, March 27.  Now, I'm no network president, but this decision feels a little hasty, especially given the timing.  Shouldn't NBC wait and see how The Celebrity Apprentice fares against tough competition over the next couple of weeks?  January 2009 is a long ways away – it's not like the decision couldn't be made a month from now.  

The Celebrity Apprentice has been a guilty pleasure of mine this season, and it's an altogether different beast than any previous season of The Apprentice.  They are two very different shows.  Celebrity Apprentice relies much more heavily on the celebrities personalities than the competition of the whole thing.  The extended boardroom negotiations that were a staple of previous seasons have been reduced to five minute afterthoughts at the end of episodes, with Donald Trump arbitrarily firing people who, while perhaps not showing the potential for overall victory, did very little to deserve their dismissal.  Also, the winners of each task have been almost completely decided by who called in the most lucrative favor from rich friends or acquaintances.  For next season, to make the competition at least somewhat fair, they need to put some restrictions on how many favors the stars are allowed to call in.  For instance, last episode Piers Morgan had Richard Branson's phone number and that was the only reason his team won.  But, again, I suppose you can't argue with ratings.  If viewers are still tuning in, then maybe they don't need to change anything.  

No celebrities have signed up for the second season as of yet, though NBC has stated that numerous stars have contacted NBC wanting to be involved in the second Celebrity Apprentice.  The caliber of said celebrities is a mystery, though I'm guessing they're B-/C+ level stars.  Just a hunch.


-Oscar Dahl, BuddyTV Senior Writer
Source and Image Courtesy of NBC