The Apprentice: Celebrity Edition is fascinating.
The Apprentice was effectively canceled after last season, when the series was omitted from NBC's Fall schedule. Everyone assumed that
Donald Trump had fired his last faux subordinate on national television. But, new NBC President Ben Silverman decided to bring back the Donald come January 2008, this time with a revamped celebrity edition of
The Apprentice. This didn't make a whole lot of sense –
The Apprentice had been receiving consistently poor ratings for a couple seasons. Many a series had been canceled for less. When the cast list for
Celebrity Apprentice was recently revealed, however, NBC's true intentions came into clearer focus. Trump and Reilly would use
Celebrity Apprentice as an advertisement for NBC, thanks to some hopelessly shameless casting.
Not all of the casting was terribly shameless, but that doesn't take away from the fact that NBC has basically admitted they have no problem promoting their own programming within the guise of a reality show that is supposed to benefit charity. Even seemingly innocuous casting choices like
Stephen Baldwin are a bit suspicious. Consider that
Alec Baldwin, Stephen's older brother, is the star of
30 Rock. Could Alec have called in a favor to NBC, saving Stephen from another straight to video erotic-action-thriller bound for the doldrums of late night Cinemax airings? Perhaps. But, the most blatant casting decisions come down to these five “celebrities.”
Nadia Comaneci – former Olympic gold medalist in gymnastics. Guess which network is airing the summer Olympics in a few months? NBC, of course. I suspect NBC may groom Nadia to take an on-air commentating role this Summer, while simultaneously promoting gymnastics during her stint on
The Apprentice.
Jennie Finch – Trump's infatuation with Olympians continues with Finch, the tall/hot/dominant pitcher for the US Women's Softball team. Jennie will be competing in the Olympics this summer (airing on NBC!). Expect a lot of vaguely uncomfortable instances of Trump praising Finch and her heroic representation of the US via her underhanded pitching bad-assery.
Nely Galan – I don't even know what this person looks like, but I do know that she is undeserving of a spot on
The Apprentice. However, Nely works for Telemundo. Do you know who owns Telemundo? If you guessed CBS, you haven't been paying attention. NBC owns the Spanish-language network, and will be banking on Nely for some quality cross-promotion.
Omarosa – I can't believe that NBC cast a “celebrity” who is only kind of famous because she was a contestant on one of the original non-celebrity editions of the same reality series. Isn't it arrogant to say that your reality program is so popular that competing on it makes you a celebrity? No one really likes Omarosa, and that's not going to change.
Piers Morgan – NBC claims that the cast was hand-picked based on 125 applications that the network received. If you think Piers sent in an application, you're on crack. Piers is a judge on NBC's own
America's Got Talent. The finale of
The Apprentice: Celebrity Edition will segue rapidly into the premiere of
America's Got Talent. Clever, NBC.
-Oscar Dahl, BuddyTV Senior Writer
(Image Courtesy of NBC)
