The Celebrity Apprentice-related stories
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 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 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 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....
Posted Apr 23rd 2009 12:50PM by Isabelle Carreau
Filed under: OpEd, The Apprentice, Vs., TV Squad Polls, Watercooler Talk, Celebrities
This season of
The Celebrity Apprentice may not have
Piers and Omarosa to spice things up. However, poker player Annie Duke and comedienne Joan Rivers are a close second.
In the first episodes of the season, we didn't see much of the rivalry between the two ladies but the past two or three episodes have shown them as enemies. The two of them have done and said pretty harsh things about the other. The war between the two is still ongoing so before one of them is fired, it's time we take a few minutes and make our predictions as to who will win the war: Annie or Joan?
Continue reading Celebrity Apprentice: Annie Vs. Joan
Posted Apr 13th 2009 12:02PM by Joel Keller
Filed under: OpEd, The Apprentice, Watercooler Talk, Celebrities
For months, the three people who still watch NBC have seen the promos for this season of
The Celebrity Apprentice; the big climactic scene was of Joan Rivers smashing down a glass out of some sense extreme frustration. Of course, it made the three of us wonder: did she get annoyed during a particularly tough task? Did one of her fellow celebs completely throw her under the bus? Was it Joan's way to finally lash out at Donald Trump's scattered and random management of the game?
It turns out that it was none of these things. In fact, when the scene came in this week's episode, it was so anticlimactic that you might have missed it if you had turned away to get some ice cream. In fact, this week's entire two-hour episode ambled along so slowly that I thought NBC expanded it to three hours to take
Kings' vacated timeslot.
Continue reading Everything about last night's Celebrity Apprentice was boring - VIDEO
Posted Apr 6th 2009 4:26PM by Isabelle Carreau
Filed under: OpEd, The Apprentice, Episode Reviews
I admit it, I've been watching
The Celebrity Apprentice and I have been entertained by every minute of it. Yes, it doesn't take much to amuse me on Sunday nights, as you can see, but those of you who do watch the show must agree that this season's crop brings the drama!
The cast may not include
Omarosa and Piers,
last season's winner, but
Dennis Rodman, Clint Black, Annie Duke, Joan and Melissa Rivers stepped up to the drama plate.
Warning! If you haven't watched last night's episode yet, stop reading this post now and come back once you've watched it because I know you'll want some place to discuss the boardroom drama.
Continue reading Did Trump go off his rocker on last night's Celebrity Apprentice?
Posted Jul 20th 2008 9:09AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Celebrities, Reality-Free, America's Got Talent
It would seem that sooner or later everyone in show business will get a shot at a talk show. After all, if Rachael Ray can win an Emmy as a talk show host, and a one-time respected anchorman like Maury Povich can have 20 years of syndicated talk success, why not give every Tom, Dick, and Megan Mullally a chance.
NBC reportedly thinks Piers Morgan could be the next big thing in talk. The bitter Brit, a personality as caustic as Simon Cowell, was the winner of
The Celebrity Apprentice and is the nastiest judge on
America's Got Talent. Morgan has a
two-year deal with ITV and is on the verge of inking a similar contract with NBC. The idea is that he could be the next David Frost.
Continue reading A talk show for Piers Morgan ... perhaps
Posted Apr 22nd 2008 11:04AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, Industry, OpEd, The Amazing Race, Survivor, Project Runway
Okay, I admit it. I like reality TV. Or maybe I should say unscripted TV. These days the parsing of the term "reality" has become as much a discussion as the genre itself. And don't kill me for calling it a genre. It is. It's here to stay. As long as producers can come up with ideas that make money and networks give them air time, reality/non-fiction/unscripted television is going to continue to proliferate the tube.
It's not with any great pride that I admit I'm hooked on reality shows -- some reality shows. My favorites include the high quality, classy shows, like
The Amazing Race and
Top Chef and
Project Runway, as well as trashy ones, i.e.
The Real Housewives of Orange County (and New York),
Hell's Kitchen and
Bridezillas. I like some of the competition-oriented shows, but that doesn't stop me from gazing in astonishment at the train wreck docu-series like
Hey Paula and
Being Bobby Brown. In fact, when I hear Kathy Griffin riffing on those shows -- her imitation of Whitney screaming "Bobby!" is classic -- I want to cry out, "Yes, yes, I watch that one, too."
Continue reading True confessions: I watch reality TV
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