If you are a fan of The Celebrity Apprentice, you should have watched Sunday's two-hour episode by now and know that Joan Rivers and Annie Duke will face off in the ultimate task.
On April 23, I asked TV Squad readers to vote in an Annie Vs Joan poll. The question was simple "Who should win the war?" At the time I write this line, 43.3% voted for Joan, 35.4% said Annie, while 21.1% opted for Trump to fire them both. That means 21.1% of you are disappointed this week, as Trump decided to make Joan and Annie the two finalists.
No matter if you like or hate Annie and/or Joan, you have to admit that out of the four contestants that were left at the beginning of the episode, those two will offer the most entertaining finale. Now that we know it's officially Joan Vs. Annie, who do you think should be hired?
It's an exciting time to be a B-, ,C- or D-List celebrity. NBC has just renewed the Celebrity Apprentice for another season set for next spring. Ratings have been pretty good for the current run, airing on Sundays with such A-List celebrities as Khloe Kardashian, Tom Green and the Dice Man. It's surprisingly entertaining television, and it's fun seeing Donald Trump interacting with these big names. Of course what it really is is just more of that celebreality voyeurism crap on which VH1 built an empire.
I'll admit that The Celebrity Apprentice is a guilty pleasure of mine. Why? Two words: Nutty celebrities! Just like any other reality show, seeing people get along and be friends just doesn't cut it. There needs to be an agitator, someone who's going to make everyone roll their eyes and bitch and moan that they have to work or live with such a loose cannon/nutjob/free spirit. The fact that those people are celebrities is a plus in my book.
It amazes me that these reality shows consistently cut their most interesting players because everyone is annoyed by them. And this year's Celeb Apprentice just committed that cardinal sin.
I watched The Celebrity Apprentice last night. Did you? While I thought the last non-celeb season of The Apprentice was a dismal grasping-at-straws season and the show should be put out of its misery, I once again got hooked during the first celebrity season.
I have my reasons I must watch. Yes, I wondered if Joan Rivers' face can actually show any signs of movement after all of her plastic surgery (it doesn't). Her mouth smiles, but that's about it. Nonetheless, Joan can be so outrageous and spontaneous that she'll crack me up anyway (and my face actually can move with expressions). Having her, Dennis Rodman, Andrew Dice Clay, Clint Black, and some of the others is enough to get me hooked on the show even before the season started. Oh, that doesn't mean I like them all. But I do like my just desserts and Clay got his cupcakes last night.
Yesterday, NBC revealed the cast for the second edition of Celebrity Apprentice, an announcement that had been made in October but somehow kept under wraps by the press until now. How did that happen? Well, my guess is that the press got a look at the names of the "celebrities" on the list and determined that they weren't leak-worthy.
I mean, really ... Dennis Rodman? Dice Clay? Tom Green? Joan and Melissa Rivers? A Kardashian sister that isn't Kim? No wonder why the only people who leaked the news were Letterman and Conan; they cast is barely even worthy of late-night monologue scorn.
In case you forgot, yes, The Celebrity Apprentice got picked up for a second season. I must admit that I was entertained by the first season (mostly thanks to winner Piers Morgan and his antics). If they follow about the same schedule as last year, NBC will announce the second season's cast in about a month. What does this mean to us? That it's time to play, "Will these celebrities be part of the next Celebrity Apprentice?" game!
This whole thing seemed fishy from the get-go. On Howard Stern's radio show last year, Trump mentioned how he distanced himself from O.J. (scroll down to 'Donald Trump Calls In' at 9:25 AM) and made it pretty clear he had doubts about his innocence, even though O.J. attended his wedding. Now Trump is having meetings with the guy, even after that whole show-down in Vegas over memorabilia (trial still pending). So what's changed?
One has to wonder if the "leaked info" regarding O.J.'s interest in Celebrity Apprentice was merely a publicity stunt to drum up interest in the show, even just by making more people aware that it exists.
O.J. Simpson is interested in appearing on television again, though for a much different sort of reality show than the interior of a courtroom. Namely, The Donald's boardroom.
O.J. reportedly is interested in appearing in the next season of Celebrity Apprentice (there's going to be another season?) and has even asked Trump to allow him to participate. From the Page Six article: "Simpson really wants to do it. Trump and NBC are thinking about it, but are being very cautious," their source said. "There's a certain amount of heat associated with Simpson." Ya think?
I'm betting Simpson's appearance on the show will boost ratings in some circles, while others will cry for a boycott of the show. I'm not sure where O.J.'s going to have time to finish tasks for The Apprentice when he's so busy scouring golf courses all over America in search of his late wife's killer. Maybe that will be the final Apprentice task.
When NBC aired Chuck's Christmas-themed episode early in December, people were wondering if the show had any other pre-strike episodes left. The good news was that there were two episodes left to air, but NBC wanted to hold on to them until the strike was settled and air them with the remaining season's order of episodes.
Of course, it looks like that's a long way from happening. So NBC has shifted gears and decided to air both of the remaining episodes on a single night. But, according to SCI FI Wire, they won't air in the show's usual Monday night slot; they'll air on Thursday, January 24, at 8 and 10 PM. In between the Chuck episodes will be an episode of Celebrity Apprentice. Well, that makes perfect sense, because the two shows have very similar fan bases. What's that? They have completely opposite fan bases? Who knew?
Looks like a lot more celebs are lining up to be on Donald Trump's Celebrity Apprentice than I thought.
So far, the Donald has signed Joan Rivers, Carmen Electra, Jim Cramer of CNBC, Naomi Judd, George Foreman, Pete Rose, Tony Hawk, Danica Patrick, and Jeff Gordon. That's quite a mixture of sports figures, comics, and really loud financial analysts. I wonder if Foreman will try to punch Trump if he tries to tell him how to sell things.
Trump says that there are over one hundred celebrities who wanted to be on the show (guess they'll have to wait until Celebrity Apprentice 2). Trump also reveals that Britney Spears and Paris Hilton have some interest in being on the show, and he's going to try to get Lindsay Lohan too. Oh, that would be great if they could be on the same team, wouldn't it? What could their team name be?