Salon.com > the apprentice

Donald Trump’s camp says “Apprentice” isn’t cancelled; no word from NBC

Mon, 13 May 2013 17:30:00 +0000

As NBC put on their "upfront" presentation highlighting next fall's programming to advertisers, they shone a spotlight on renewed programs like "Parks and Recreation," "Parenthood," and "The Voice."

One long-running series, though, went unmentioned, according to journalists in attendance: Donald Trump's "Celebrity Apprentice."

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The reality competition show was also left off a grid depicting NBC's schedule in fall 2013 and spring 2014, suggesting that it would not be returning for another season next year.

Donald Trump had previously tweeted that the show had been renewed.

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A representative for Trump, special counsel Michael Cohen, emailed Salon: "You need to do just a little research to learn quickly that you are absolutely wrong. Celebrity Apprentice has been renewed again." Reached by phone to ask about the disconnect between Trump's claims on Twitter and the upfront presentation, Cohen said: "There's no disconnect. It's been picked up." He cited a Huffington Post piece saying the show had been renewed. That piece was an aggregation of a Hollywood Reporter story -- one that cited Trump himself as its source.

Trump, rejoice! “Celebrity Apprentice” ratings slightly up

Mon, 18 Mar 2013 21:20:00 +0000

After Donald Trump's "All-Star Celebrity Apprentice" got off to a weaker-than-usual start this season, we speculated that his political advocacy might have damaged the series (on which he doesn't appear, much, but for the very beginning and the end of each two-hour episode).

Instead, after Trump's speech at CPAC at the end of last week, in which the real-estate magnate took Mitt Romney to task for not talking enough about his success, "Celebrity Apprentice" improved from the previous week both overall and in the prized 18-49 demographic. Indeed, the series won the 10 p.m. hour among that demographic by the largest margin of the season against "The Mentalist."

With just about everything else at NBC flatlining, Donald Trump -- and competitors including Dennis Rodman and Gary Busey -- shall stay employed for weeks to come.

Did Trump’s birtherism stain “Apprentice”?

Mon, 04 Mar 2013 18:02:00 +0000

Donald Trump's "All-Star Celebrity Apprentice," the spring reality show uniting past contestants like Dennis Rodman, Gary Busey and La Toya Jackson, won its second hour last night among adults aged 18-49. But overall the news was mixed: Viewership was down from previous "Celebrity Apprentice" debuts, to 5.1 million people over the two-hour season premiere. (Last year's premiere got 7.4 million viewers; in 2011, that number was 7.93 million.)

"We're very happy with the 10 o'clock hour," Trump told Salon in an interview on Monday. "And after four episodes, it goes to 10 o'clock. So it's really the 10 o'clock hour."

"We beat everybody. We beat every other network," Trump said. "That's our hour. We serve as our own lead-in." (Last night on NBC, the first hour of "Apprentice" followed the newsmagazine "Dateline.")

Trump refused to brook questioning as to whether NBC -- which has collapsed in the ratings so far in 2013, slipping to fifth place after Univision in the February sweeps -- might not be the ideal home for a TV show.

NBC chief: We might whack Trump if he goes too far

Mon, 07 Jan 2013 01:20:00 +0000

Donald Trump has called for revolution and advocated ridiculous birther nonsense. But none of that seems too outrageous to NBC chief Bob Greenblatt.

At the Television Critics Association conference on Sunday, Greenblatt was asked if NBC asked the host of "The Apprentice" to dial back his clownish politics. The answer appeared to be no.

Donald Trump has a new Twitter enemy

Tue, 11 Dec 2012 19:15:00 +0000

Donald Trump returned to his well-worn bully pulpit, this time to attack U.K. business mogul Alan Sugar, Trump's counterpart on the U.K.'s version of "The Apprentice." The verbal battle began when Donald Trump tweeted, "How can George Osborne reduce UK debt while spending billions to subsidize Scotland’s garbage wind turbines that are destroying the country?" Sugar disagreed with Trump's criticism of the politician, earning him a barrage of insults from Trump. As of yesterday, the battle rages on (Sugar's responses, seen here, don't appear on his Twitter feed):

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While many might be tired of Trump's constant barrage of whiny tweets, at least CNN's Piers Morgan is amused:

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