Posted Jan 4th 2010 4:02PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: The Apprentice, Celebrities, Casting
The cast for the next edition of
Celebrity Apprentice has been officially announced, and...what a weird show this is. I think I mean that in a good way, I'm not sure. It does seem like one of those "so crazy I have to watch it" things (though I won't). Cyndi Lauper going up against Darryl Strawberry? Rod Blagojevich? Sharon Osbourne vs. Bret Michaels? Selita Ebanks vs...wait, who's Selita Ebanks again?
But the name that sticks out to me is Carol Leifer. She's a writer, stand-up comic, and the inspiration for the Elaine Benes character on
Seinfeld. Doesn't she seem like the type of person who would dump on reality shows (especially celebrity reality shows) rather than be on one? Then again, even Jerry Seinfeld himself isn't immune from the lure of reality shows.
He's producing one that debuts later this year.
Celebrity Apprentice #3 launches on NBC March 14.
Posted Oct 19th 2009 1:22PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: The Apprentice, Celebrities
Danny told you last week that
Rod Blagojevich might be in the cast of the new
Celebrity Apprentice season. That's still up in the air because of his legal woes, but
The NY Post does have the entire
list of the new celebs even if NBC hasn't released it yet.
- Sharon Osbourne
- Bret Michaels
- Cyndi Lauper
- Carol Leifer
- Bill Goldberg
- Daryl Strawberry
- Curtis Stone
- Summer Sanders
- Sinbad
- Holly Robinson Peete
- Maria Canellis
Leifer is a stand-up comic and a writer for
Seinfeld. I was going to watch this just for her and then decided...no.
Posted Oct 9th 2009 7:07PM by Danny Gallagher
Filed under: The Apprentice, Celebrities, Casting
If you thought Rod Blagojevich was done with television after the I'm a Celebrity debacle, then you don't know Rod.
An unidentified source close to team Blago confirmed that the ousted Illinois governor will compete on the upcoming season of
The Celebrity Apprentice.
Of course, NBC wouldn't confirm the info until the network makes an official announcement or maybe it just didn't want to come to terms with the fact that are giving the human spotlight once more chance on TV. I'm sure it's the first one.
Posted Sep 10th 2009 3:02PM by Joel Keller
Filed under: TV Royalty, The Apprentice, Interviews, Celebrities, TCA Press Tour
Joan Rivers was in Pasadena in July to promote her show on TV Land,
How'd You Get So Rich?, but when I spoke to her after her presentation, I was more interested in a couple of issues. First, her longevity in a business that takes even older comedians and tosses them to the side (Cosby, for instance, is more community activist than comedian these days). Second, I wanted to ask her about her experience on
The Apprentice, which included her
feuds with wedding planners, Clint Black, and Annie Duke.
But, Joan being Joan, she also randomly let loose on Brooke Shields, Sarah Palin, and whoever else was in her mind during the ten minutes we spoke.
We start off by talking about longevity. She feels one of the reasons she stays relevant is that she doesn't live in the past. "I don't give a shit about Johnny Carson," she said.
Continue reading Joan Rivers on longevity, Brooke Shields, and not caring about Johnny Carson
Posted Sep 10th 2009 9:11AM by Joel Keller
Filed under: The Apprentice, Interviews, Celebrities, TCA Press Tour
I'm starting to slog through my backlog of TCA-related material, and I wanted to make sure this got out there before it gets lost. When I interviewed Joan Rivers while I was in Pasadena, I asked her about
the incident on The Celebrity Apprentice finale where David Tutera, whose firm was helping to plan both teams' parties, pulled out of the show completely after Joan requested changes to his plans.
After Tutera presented a panel introducing the second season of his WE show
My Fair Wedding, I caught up with him outside the ballroom to get his response to Joan. He knew the questions were coming, because I had mentioned them to his publicist, but I wanted to ease into things by asking him about the show and its upcoming season. Oh, and I asked him for suggestions on how to throw a relatively inexpensive wedding in New Jersey, but that was just for personal reasons.
But Tutera seemed ready. He answered Joan's charges calmly and without the same rancor she used.
Continue reading David Tutera gave up on The Apprentice, not just Joan Rivers
Posted Aug 18th 2009 7:27PM by Jonathan Toomey
Filed under: The Apprentice, Video, Celebrities
Great, now Omarosa has God on her side.
In what can only be construed as a last ditch attempt to somehow gain immortality, America's favorite reality TV villainess, Omarosa, has enrolled in seminary school, according to the Dayton Daily News.
The former star of The Apprentice, The Celebrity Apprentice, and The Surreal Life will be earning her doctorate of ministry at the United Theological Seminary. She'll be taking classes in Old Testament, New Testament, and History of Christianity. According to Omarosa, this is part of a "transformation" she's going through.
Continue reading The Reverend Omarosa?!?
Posted Aug 5th 2009 2:21PM by Joel Keller
Filed under: Industry, The Apprentice, Saturday Night Live, The Office, Heroes, 30 Rock, TCA Press Tour, Chuck, Reality-Free
We just got done with the NBC executive session, where primetime entertainment head Angela Bromstad and alternative programming (read: reality) chief Paul Telegdy took the reporters questions.
Of course, many of the questions had to do with
The Jay Leno Show and Ben Silverman's departure. What the gathered reporters got out of the two executives was evasiveness, referrals to other executives, and a general sense that the two of them either don't know or don't want to provide answers about their own network.
When the question of Leno and
CBS's Nina Tassler's assertion that NBC would declare victory no matter what numbers they got, Bromstad tried to pass us to the session for Leno's show later in the day. Telegdy did the same. But we wouldn't let them off the hook. An example exchange, for instance, went like this:
Continue reading NBC execs don't seem to know much about NBC - TCA Report
Posted Jul 30th 2009 7:29AM by Joel Keller
Filed under: TV Royalty, The Apprentice, Interviews, Celebrities, TCA Press Tour
I had the great honor of interviewing the legendary
Joan Rivers after her TCA panel promoting her new TV Land show
How'd You Get So Rich? While the panel was hilarious, Joan was in fine form during the interview, telling me a good story about why she doesn't dwell in the past, criticizing Sarah Palin and Brooke Shields, and giving her one-millionth rebuke of her
Apprentice rival, Annie Duke, or "Annie Douche" as she called the poker star during the panel.
But Rivers also took some vicious shots at
David Tutera, the party planner who left her
and Duke high and dry on
The Celebrity Apprentice's finale, quitting after Joan asked him to make some changes to his plan. Since Tutera is scheduled to do a panel on his show
My Fair Wedding on Friday, I wanted to post what she said about him here and then give Tutera a chance to respond.
Continue reading Joan Rivers takes her shots at David Tutera - TCA Report
Posted Jun 22nd 2009 8:01PM by Nick Zaino
Filed under: Sports, OpEd, The Apprentice
Never have a personality and an organization entered into a more appropriate marriage than Donald Trump and World Wrestling Entertainment. Pro wrestling has always been full of over-the-top, testosterone filled rants, colorful costumes, and over-sized props. And Trump, well, is famous for about the same sort of thing. Plus, we know pro wrestling is fake, and we're pretty sure about Trump's hair.
All weekend long, USA promoted tonight's
WWE Monday Night Raw event, on which Trump will appear. The "ruse" is that Trump bought the WWE, something
John Scott Lewinski reported last week didn't sit well with the company's stockholders. On tonight's show, Randy Orton defends his title against Triple H, as "decreed" by Trump. And he gave a
press conference today with the WWE Divas. What could be more fitting?
Continue reading WWE Monday Night Raw: Trumple H?
Posted Jun 16th 2009 1:02PM by John Scott Lewinski
Filed under: The Apprentice, Celebrities, News and Gossip
On a three-hour edition of World Wrestling Entertainment's
Monday Night Raw on USA, CEO Vince McMahon announced he had sold the show to Donald Trump.
Before a shock wave ripples through the sports entertainment and reality show worlds, it's safe to say this is "a work" -- as they say in grappling circles. Trump has his orange-topped mug back on TV as an on-screen performer with WWE. Behind the curtain, when the arena goes dark, McMahon is still in charge.
According to McMahon,
Trump will take over running the show in person next Monday night when a special, commercial-free
Raw originates from Green Bay, Wisc.
Continue reading Trump grapples with WWE as new 'owner' of RAW
Posted Jun 8th 2009 2:04PM by Michael Pascua
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, OpEd, The Apprentice, Celebrities, Big Brother (US), Dancing With The Stars, Ratings, Celebreality
I can't watch
I'm A Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here! The show is basically
Big Brother but with an unwillingness to compete. Why do celebrities sign up for physically and mentally demanding reality shows when they don't want to compete? I'm looking at you,
Dustin Diamond. To attempt to get some viewer sympathy, the celebrities are playing for charity. I feel bad for the charities that Heidi and Spencer have because I wouldn't want their douchebag antics associated with the charity's image.
Celebrity reality shows can succeed without having to play the charity card. It's all about maintaining the quality level.
Continue reading Charity doesn't make for better TV
Posted May 21st 2009 11:03AM by Michael Pascua
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, OpEd, The Amazing Race, American Idol, The Apprentice, Survivor, Dancing With The Stars, So You Think You Can Dance, America's Got Talent
With the latest seasons of
Survivor,
The Amazing Race, and
American Idol wrapping up, fans patiently have to wait until the fall or spring 2010 for their favorite shows to return. But why wait? Several reality TV shows debut in the summer both as lighter fare than fall shows and a way to test for target audiences.
If one recalls, several summer reality TV shows have eventually moved to prime real estate in the fall or spring. If rumors are true the summer favorite
So You Think You Can Dance will be the next to move, airing in the summer and fall.
Here are some alternatives for your favorite reality TV shows.
Continue reading Summer reality TV alternatives
Posted May 19th 2009 12:56PM by Kona Gallagher
Filed under: Industry, Programming, The Apprentice, Law and Order, Saturday Night Live, The Office, Heroes, Pickups and Renewals, Friday Night Lights, Upfronts, Chuck, Reality-Free, America's Got Talent, Parks and Recreation
NBC has been leaking like a sieve for weeks, so other than a few on-the-bubble cancellations, there aren't any huge surprises in their official upfront announcement. The big change is that they're doing two official seasons. A lot of the networks have been doing this unofficially, but NBC seems to be one of the few that is putting a label on it.
Returning: Heroes, The Biggest Loser, Law & Order: SVU, Saturday Night Live, SNL: Weekend Update Thursday, Parks and Recreation, The Office, Law & Order, Southland, Dateline NBC
Returning mid-season: Chuck, 30 Rock, The Celebrity ApprenticeGone: Life, Medium, My Name is Earl, Kath & Kim,
Kings,
Knight Rider
New: Trauma, The Jay Leno Show, Parenthood, Community.
New for mid-season: Day One, 100 Questions, Mercy, The Marriage Ref
Not reflected on the schedule, but will be returning in the summer: America's Got Talent,
Friday Night Lights (which will once again be aired first on Direct TV).
Watch this space for more details on the new shows...
More on the schedule and comments after the jump.
Continue reading The Upfronts: NBC
Posted May 13th 2009 7:04PM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Other Comedy Shows, Programming, OpEd, The Amazing Race, The Apprentice, CSI, House, Lost, Smallville, Grey's Anatomy, The Office, 30 Rock, Reality-Free, Fringe, The Big Bang Theory, Parks and Recreation
Do the American people really like watching their favorite shows this way? Assuming you have more than one or two shows you enjoy following, this week is daunting to say the least and beyond exhausting. Just last night I had a three-hour finale of
The Biggest Loser and that awesome
Fringe finale. In the past few days we've said goodbye to
The Amazing Race,
The Apprentice,
Cold Case,
The Unit,
Brothers & Sisters,
The Big Bang Theory,
House and
Castle. And that's just on the major networks.
Over the next two days we have
America's Next Top Model,
Lie to Me,
Lost,
Bones,
My Name Is Earl,
Smallville,
Parks & Recreation,
CSI,
Grey's Anatomy,
Hell's Kitchen,
The Office,
Supernatural and even
CSI: NY on a special night. And it goes on through the weekend. In an era where ratings are slipping, how can it make good business sense to put all of these finales on against one another all within a few days of each other. I know they've always done that, but I just don't think it makes sense anymore.
Continue reading We're barely halfway through and I've already got finale fatigue!
Posted May 11th 2009 10:01AM by Joel Keller
Filed under: OpEd, The Apprentice, Watercooler Talk, Celebrities, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
... a woman!
I took this post over from Isabelle, who fell ill while putting it together (no worries, she's OK), but I couldn't resist keeping her joke intact. Of course, the winner of this year's
Celebrity Apprentice was going to be a woman, given that the finalists were Joan Rivers and Annie Duke.
Last week, Isabelle
polled the TV Squad readers on who they thought
should win the show and on who they thought
would win the show. As of now, 52.8% said that Annie should win while 59.1% said that Annie would win. The poll results are rather close but Annie got the lead for both questions. Were your predictions right?
Continue reading And the winner of The Celebrity Apprentice is....
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