The Apprentice, Los Angeles

Donald Trump attempts to breathe some new life into his ailing Apprentice show by taking it out to the west coast in The Apprentice, Los Angeles. For this sixth season, gone are the venerable George, and the opinionated Caroline as the Donald's deputies and advisors. They get replaced by his daughter, Ivanka, that made cameo appearances in previous seasons. The new twists this season are that the losing team sleeps outside in a tent, the winning project manager goes to the boardroom as an advisor, and if the project manager wins, they keep the position.

While this all gets billed as a 16 week job interview, it's all really Survivor for the urban corporate jungle. Unfortunately, time and again, we see young professionals scrounge and flub their way through basic business tasks. Seriously, if you can't run a car wash for a day, how can you ever hope to do anything more complicated in business?

Detracting from the experience are the fluff scenes of life around LA that get repeated way too often, the endless commercial breaks, and Donald's overly large ego constantly coming out as he shouts on about how many companies he owns, or how much real estate he owns. He's the biggest real estate developer ever...I get it, and just move on. At times I feel like I'm watching an infomercial for Trump!

Even with all the annoyances, I still enjoy the show, and it's one of the only reality shows I've watched for more than a season or two. Check The Apprentice, Los Angeles out on Sundays at 9 pm on NBC.

Overall Grade: B

Digg This
Del.icio.us