The Apprentice (US TV Series)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| The Apprentice | |
|---|---|
 The Apprentice title card |
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| Genre | Reality |
| Creator(s) | Mark Burnett |
| Starring | Donald Trump (Season 1–present) Ivanka Trump (Season 6–present) Carolyn Kepcher (Season 1–Season 5) George H. Ross (Season 1–Season 5) Martha Stewart (The Apprentice: Martha Stewart) |
| Country of origin |  United States |
| No. of episodes | 97 (including spin-off) |
| Production | |
| Running time | 60 minutes |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | NBC |
| Original run | January 8, 2004 – Present |
| Links | |
| Official website | |
| IMDb profile | |
| TV.com summary | |
The Apprentice is a reality television show that originated in the United States on NBC. Billed as "The Ultimate Job Interview", the show depicts a group of 15-18 businessmen and businesswomen competing in an elimination-style competition for a one-year, $250,000 job of running one of host and executive producer Donald Trump's companies.
Contents |
[edit] Premise
Each season begins with a group of contestants with backgrounds in various enterprises, typically including real estate, restaurant management, political consulting, sales, and marketing. During the show, these contestants live in a communal house, allowing their relationships to build. They are placed into teams, and each week are assigned a task and required to select a project manager for the task. The winning team receives a reward, while the losing team faces a boardroom showdown in order to determine which team member should be fired (eliminated from the show).
Elimination proceeds in two stages. In the first stage, all of the losing team's members are confronted. The project manager is asked to select up to three (one, two, or three) of the team members who are believed to be most responsible for the loss. In the second stage, the rest of the team is dismissed, and the project manager and the selected members face a final confrontation in which at least one of the two-to-four is fired. However, if one or two candidates do especially badly on the task, then Donald will fire that candidate right on the spot, which has happened to only eleven people so far: Elizabeth in Season 2, Brian in Season 3, Toral in Season 4, and Brent, Lenny, Andrea, Charmaine, Tarek, Tammy, Roxanne, and Allie all in Season 5. If all candidates in the final boardroom confrontation did badly, all of them will be fired, which has happened twice in season 4, and once in season 5.
When the final candidates are left, an interview process begins, involving executives from various companies who interview each of the finalists and report their assessments of them to the host. After that, a firing takes place. In the event four are left, a double firing occurs. Seasons 4 and 5 were the only exceptions to this rule. In Season 3, interviews were used to eliminate one from a final pool of three; in Seasons 4 and 5, there were no final interviews, as Alla and Felisha from season 4 and Allie and Roxanne from season 5 were fired together, cutting the final four down to the final two and eliminating the need for interviews.
The final two are then assigned different tasks, along with support teams comprised of previously fired candidates. After the tasks are done, a final boardroom occurs, with testimonials from the team members and a last chance for the final two candidates to prove themselves to the target CEO. Finally, the CEO hires one of the two candidates to become his/her new apprentice.
The opening theme music used on the show is "For The Love of Money" by the O'Jays
[edit] American version
The first season aired during the winter and the spring of 2004. The Apprentice is produced by Mark Burnett and real estate magnate Donald Trump, with Trump as the host. The premise of the show, which bills itself as the "ultimate job interview" in the "ultimate jungle," is to conduct a job talent search for a person to head one of Trump's companies. The position starts with an introductory 1-year contract with a starting yearly salary at six figures ($250,000 USD to be exact, roughly about $4807.70 USD per week assuming a 52-week work-year). The show led Trump to become known for his fateful catch phrase, "You're fired!" The contestants live communally in a suite at Trump Tower in Manhattan and the boardroom showdown is with Trump and two of his associates (usually Carolyn Kepcher, Former Chief Operating Officer and General Manager for the Trump National Golf Club, and George H. Ross, Executive Vice President and Senior Counsel, The Trump Organization). Season 6 saw the show move to Los Angeles, and it is rumored that Season 7 will originate from another city where Trump does considerable business.[citation needed] Other rumors state that there may not be a seventh season at all due to the relatively poor ratings of the current season.
In late August, 2006, Donald Trump released Carolyn Kepcher from her duties at the Trump organization saying only that he "wishes her the best." No official reason has been given for her being fired from the company, but Kepcher was quoted as saying "After 11 years with the Trump Organization, Donald and I had different visions for my future role in the company." Her future role on the Apprentice TV show has not been confirmed, although Kepcher has appeared on tape for the 6th season one or two times. It has been announced that Ivanka Trump will appear in a similar role on the show as Kepcher's, but will not be an official replacement.[1]
Known for his tendency to surround himself with beautiful women, Trump's on-screen (and real-life) assistants have each grown in personal fame. Two assistants appeared jointly for the first five seasons: Rhona Graff and Robin Himmler. In the sixth season, Trump elected to have his newest executive assistant, Andi Rowntree, star in the LA-based show. Reports (verified by her personal blog) indicate that Rowntree left Trump's service immediately following the end of LA filming.
A spin-off, The Apprentice: Martha Stewart followed the same concept, with Martha Stewart as the host and eventual employer. It debuted in September 21, 2005, following Stewart's release from prison and home detention. The last episode aired December 21, 2005 and it was not renewed for a second season.
[edit] U.S. Television Ratings
Seasonal rankings (based on average total viewers per episode) of The Apprentice on NBC.
Note: Each U.S. network television season starts in late September and ends in late May, which coincides with the completion of May sweeps.
| Season | Timeslot | Season Premiere | Season Finale | TV Season | Ranking | Viewers (in millions) |
Finale Viewers (in millions) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Thursday 9:00PM | January 8, 2004 | April 15, 2004 | 2003-2004 | #7 | 20.70 [1] | 28.05 [2] |
| 2nd | Thursday 9:00PM | September 9, 2004 | December 16, 2004 | 2004-2005 | #11 | 16.14 [3] | 16.93 [4] |
| 3rd | Thursday 9:00PM | January 20, 2005 | May 19, 2005 | 2004-2005 | #15 | 13.96 [3] | 14.02 [5] |
| 4th | Thursday 9:00PM | September 22, 2005 | December 15, 2005 | 2005-2006 | #38 | 11.01 [6] | 12.81[7] |
| 5th | Monday 9:00PM | February 27, 2006 | June 5, 2006 | 2005-2006 | #51 | 9.73 [6] | 11.25 [8] |
| 6th | Sunday 9:00PM, later moved to Sundays 10:00 PM | January 7, 2007 | April 22, 2007 | 2006-2007 |
The Apprentice was the breakout rookie hit of the 2003-2004 U.S. television season and helped NBC at a time when the network's two long-running successful comedies, Friends and Frasier, were ending their series' runs. The Apprentice filled the void on Thursday nights as NBC held on to the tagline Must See TV, even though CBS was quickly becoming the most-watched network on Thursday night.
Although the series is still one of the most-watched programs on NBC in the advertiser-friendly 18-49 age demographic, the franchise's total audience gradually dissolved, starting in late 2004, when it aired its second season that culminated in, what most Apprentice fans deem, an "overextended"[9] 3-hour season finale on December 16, 2004.
The audience numbers (11.25 million viewers)[10] for the June 5, 2006 fifth season finale were not factored in the fifth season average because it aired after the official television season ended.
The audience numbers for the show have still remained on the decline since its rookie season. Originally, NBC aired the sixth season of The Apprentice, competing against both immensely-popular series, Desperate Housewives and Cold Case, just a few weeks before competing against Brothers & Sisters and Cold Case. A seventh season has been ordered for the 2007-08 television season. [2]
[edit] CNBC
Reruns of The Apprentice air on CNBC Mondays and Fridays at 9:00 PM and 12:00 AM ET.
[edit] Criticism
The chief criticism of the U.S. version of The Apprentice is that the challenges often amount to nothing more than commercials and product placements. This became more evident starting from the second season. The companies that have supplied challenges to the show include Planet Hollywood, Lamborghini, Domino's Pizza, Staples, Burger King, Yahoo!, Nestle, Visa, Sony, Home Depot, Walmart, Microsoft, Lexus, and many others. These companies pay NBC to showcase their brands on the show, and usually the challenges revolve around the teams marketing existing or new products for the sponsors[11]. The show also, of course, provides massive publicity for Donald Trump and the Trump Organization, and the carefully-edited portrayal of Trump is flattering. The second half of the show is usually set entirely in the boardroom, which typically degenerates into finger-pointing and name calling amongst the contestants.
There is also controversy regarding the jobs given to the hired Apprentices. Instead of becoming the CEO of one of Trump's companies, the winners of the show are hired as PR spokesmen for Trump and his brand due to the need to learn the trade. For example, Kelly Perdew, winner of the second season and Bill Rancic, the first season's winner, were given the title of 'owner's representative', and were also named executive vice presidents. On Perdew's first day, his boss introduced him to Florida developers working on a Trump-branded condo in Tampa. "Mr. Trump said, 'OK, Kelly, you're going to go help promote sales of the building'," Perdew recalls.[3]
Another controversy revolves around age discrimination. In January 2007, a class action lawsuit was filed against Trump on behalf of those who did not make the cut for the show due to what they contend was their age. [4]
It is also criticized for Trump often still saying that it is the number one rated show on television which it is not and never was.
[edit] Video game
Legacy Interactive created a video game version of The Apprentice for the PC. It features Donald Trump and his advisors, as well as past candidates, and is currently available on Yahoo! Games.
[edit] Martha Stewart
On February 2, 2005, NBC announced that they would broadcast the first spin-off from The Apprentice, called The Apprentice: Martha Stewart. The show, which premiered on September 21, 2005 was hosted by Martha Stewart, who was the first woman in the world to become a self-made billionaire. It kept the format of the original series but changed a few elements to fit Stewart's personality. Trump was one of the executive producers of the show and castings were held in 27 cities across the United States.
The fourth season of The Apprentice earned less than spectacular ratings, while The Apprentice: Martha Stewart struggled. Trump claimed that there was "confusion" between the two shows. There has also been talk that Trump did not want Stewart to host the spin-off show. NBC announced that it would not bring back the show for a second season, although the network stressed that the show was initially planned to air only for one season. The show averaged between six and seven million viewers.
[edit] Similar programs
- The Assistant, with Andy Dick, an MTV-produced parody.
- The Benefactor, with Mark Cuban of the NBA Dallas Mavericks
- The Cut with Tommy Hilfiger
- Fire Me... Please/The Sack Race, where contestants try to get fired from their job
- Hell's Kitchen with Gordon Ramsay
- The Law Firm with Roy Black
- My Big Fat Obnoxious Boss, a parody and hoax
- The Rebel Billionaire, with Richard Branson of the Virgin Group
- Project Runway, with Heidi Klum
- Top Chef, with Katie Lee Joel (season 1) and Padma Lakshmi (season 2)
- Ultimate Hustler, with Damon Dash This new series will be shown on 8 March 2006, which starts from 8pm to 9pm.
[edit] References
- ^ Viewership numbers of primetime programs during the 2003-04 television season
- ^ Viewership numbers of primetime programs for the week of April 12-18, 2004
- ^ a b Viewership numbers of primetime programs during the 2004-05 television season
- ^ Viewership numbers of primetime programs for the week of December 13-19, 2004
- ^ Viewership numbers of primetime programs for the week of May 16-22, 2005
- ^ a b Viewership numbers of primetime programs during the 2005-06 television season
- ^ Viewership numbers of primetime programs for the week of December 12-18, 2005
- ^ Viewership numbers of primetime programs for the week of June 5-11, 2006
- ^ "reality blurred + 16.9 million watch Apprentice 2 finale, fewer than last season’s clip show.", December 20, 2004.
- ^ "Mediaweek.com: The Programming Insider", June 14, 2006.
- ^ Rebecca Lieb (2005). "Apprentice" Advertisers Share Their Numbers Retrieved Feb. 24 2006
[edit] External links
- The Apprentice Official Podcast and Blog Site
- The Apprentice Official Site on Yahoo!
- NBC.com: The Apprentice season 1, season 2, season 3, season 4 , season 5, season 6
- NBC.com: The Apprentice: Martha Stewart
- The site for the UK version on the BBC
- The Apprentice UK Blog at Blogger
- The site for the South African version on SABC3
- The site for the German version on RTL
- The site for the Colombian version on Canal Caracol
- O Aprendiz - The Brazilian version of The Apprentice (Portuguese language)
- The site for the Finnish version on MTV3
- The site for the Indonesian version
- NBCUniversalStore.com - NBC's The Apprentice Store
- "Who's the Boss," a theory on how Donald Trump and Martha Stewart were picked to host the two Apprentice shows
- Kendra Todd Season 3 Winner interviewed by Nubricks.com
- All seasons of The Apprentice on Yahoo! TV
- Interview with Casey Sherrel of The Apprentice: LA
- The Apprentice at the Internet Movie Database
- The Apprentice at TV.com
| The Apprentice UK | ||
| Series:1 | 2 | 3 | ||
| Paul Torrisi | Ruth Badger | Saira Khan | Timothy Campbell | Michelle Dewberry | ||
| Sir Alan Sugar | Dru Masters | Mark Burnett | Adrian Chiles | ||
| Amstrad | "You're fired!" | The candidates | ||
| The Apprentice | Comic Relief Does The Apprentice | The Apprentice USA | ||
| Trump family and businesses | |
|---|---|
| Trump Entertainment Resorts (casinos) Trump Organization (real estate and other ventures) |
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| Family | |
| 1st Generation: Fred Trump • Mary MacLeod Trump | |
| 2nd Generation: Donald Trump • Maryanne Trump Barry • Robert Trump • Fred Trump, Jr. • Elizabeth Trump Grau | |
| 3rd Generation: (Ivana Trump) - Donald Trump, Jr. • Ivanka Trump • Eric Trump | (Marla Maples) - Tiffany Trump | (Melania Knauss) - Barron William Trump | |
| Media | |
| The Apprentice (Seasons: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, MS) • Trumped! • Trump Magazine • Books | |
| Notable Properties | |
| Trump International Hotel and Tower (New York, Las Vegas, Fort Lauderdale, Chicago, Toronto, SoHo, Honolulu, Dubai, Panama City, New Orleans, Phoenix)
Trump Tower (New York City, Tampa, Philadelphia, White Plains, Denver, Atlanta) • Trump Tower Variations (Trump World Tower, Trump Elite Tower Trump Towers by the Sea) Trump Plaza (Atlantic City, Palm Beach, New York City, New Rochelle, Trump Plaza Tower) Atlantic City Casinos: Trump Taj Mahal, Trump Plaza, Trump Marina Other Properties: Mar-A-Lago, Trump Grande, The Trump Building at 40 Wall Street, Trump Palace, Trump Parc, Trump Park Avenue, Grand Hyatt, Daewoo Trump World, Riverside South/Trump Place, North Baja Trump Golf: The Estates at Trump National, Trump International Golf Links |
|
| Various Enterprises | |
| Miss Universe • Trump Ice • Trump Mortgage • Trump Shuttle • Trump University | |
Annual Revenue: $26.5 million USD (FY 2005) | Employees: NA | Stock Symbol: NASDAQ: TRMP | Website: The Trump Organization |
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| The Apprentice | |
|---|---|
| Starring Donald Trump • Ivanka Trump • Donald Trump, Jr • Carolyn Kepcher • George H. Ross Mark Burnett, creator • Bill Rancic, frequent recurring character |
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| Current and future seasons | |
| Season 6 (January 7, 2007): Season 7 (Dates to be determined during 2007-08 television season) |
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| Past seasons | |
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Season 1 (January 8–April 15, 2004): Bill Rancic, winner • Season 2 (September 9–December 16, 2004): Kelly Perdew, winner |
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