About a month ago, the eighth season of The Celebrity Apprentice began. As many may already know, this season is very different from previous seasons due to the main star of the show, Donald J. Trump, now being The President of the United States. In fact, the new season has even been rebranded as The 'New' Celebrity Apprentice. Why? Because once again, there are several "new" aspects that have been adjusted to the franchise. Some are minor, while others are pretty major and obvious. In addition from the show moving from fast-paced New York City to laid-back Los Angeles, Arnold Schwarzennegar is now in charge of the boardroom.
The franchise began back in 2004, wherein it was originally known as plainly The Apprentice. The series followed 16-18 "candidates" each season, pursuing a job in Trump's organization. Each week, the candidates would compete in a business related task, wherein the person who performed the weakest would be eliminated from the interview process. From this, the now trademarked slogan was formed:
When the first few seasons of The Apprentice aired, ratings were soaring. As years went on, however, ratings began to decline and the franchise did what every other reality competition series does when they are losing viewers: create a celebrity edition. With this came the birth of The Celebrity Apprentice, which was no longer about landing a job in the Trump Organization, but raising money for charities across the country.
The Celebrity Apprentice began to see the amazing ratings that The Apprentice had once seen and during its first few seasons, Executive Producer Mark Burnett and his team were really able to land some "A-List" celebrities. I'm talking Piers Morgan, Khloé Kardashian, Arsenio Hall, Cyndi Lauper, Sharon Osbourne, La Toya Jackson, and of course, the late and great Joan Rivers.
There's just something about watching celebrities get pushed to the limits outside of their comfort zones while competing against other celebrities, leading to altercations and drama. What made it even better was that millions of dollars were being raised for charities in the process. The Celebrity Apprentice provides us viewers will all of this great content....or at least it used to.
Towards the end of Trump's reign over the series, the celebrities started becoming less and less recognizable. It started to feel like the show was less about top-notch celebs bringing in money for charities and doing some good for the world, and more about washed up "D-List" celebrities just trying to re-create a name for themselves and wanting an extra five minutes of fame. The cast was being consumed by "Real Housewives" that wanted a different platform to annoy all of us on, and other former reality stars that we are already tired of seeing on our television screens once a week.
When Trump announced his bid for President, I had a feeling that The Apprentice and The Celebrity Apprentice would be no more. As a long-time avid viewer, I was fine with the show coming to a close, as I felt that they were essentially "quitting while they were ahead". The show had a positive legacy and it would have been nice for it to be kept that way. Unfortunately, the franchise decided to add a new boss, Schwarzennegar.
The cast of the "new" season seems to be more "washed up" more than ever, including celebrities such as Matt Iseman, Chael Sonnen, Kyle Richards, Eric Dickerson, and Porsha Williams (Yes, I know you don't know who any of them are, that's the point).
In essence, The Apprentice isn't The Apprentice without Donald Trump. I gave it a chance, and I will even end up finishing the season, but I feel that NBC needs to put The Apprentice out of its misery and make this season the final installment. They clearly cannot get any legitimate celebrities to do the show, and I'm not even sure what qualifies Schwarzennegar to take on this new role. So I ask, Mark Burnett and the rest of the producers behind the once great show, quit while you're ahead.
