The Apprentice

who is leaving tonight
Thursday night: Apprentice

According to the previews, the kid is going to be project manager. Will he lead his team to success?

Who do you want to leave tonight?

Does anybody else find the voice overs in the board room really really annoying?

Everything is going along smoothly and all of a sudden there is this voiced over Trump voice and the camera just starts showing peoples faces while the Donald tries to sound smart and savvy. I liked it a lot better when he just yelled at them.

I'm glad Elizabeth got kicked off... she was weak.

Elizabeth s*cked. That was an easy fire for Trump.

THE APPRENTICE
With respect, does anyone think that the apprentice, like other so called reality tv shows are used to portray negative stereotypes of people. The media can influence peoples minds in such a subtle way and ofcoarse no one would admit this frailty in themselves. The makers of the apprentice choose how to manipulate events and people in order to make better tv. And so its all rubbish. I have watched reality tv with intrigue like many people do and in some ways it makes great viewing, but there is a price to pay. Look at Stacey j for example, luckily she s handled things well, but with the unfair representation of her, and the bitchy girls who saw an opportunity and went for the kill , this would seem very much like real liife.
But the circumstances are even more unfair than real life. The hyped up contestants acting up for the camera s,using them to eventually win trump arses approoval, the producers or whoever editting the show in a way that makes it fiction, not reality, and its so subtly done, you wouldnt have to be a fool not to notice it. Stacey J did loose her cool a bit, but in this very unusual enviroment it s not surprising. She did well, shes got her integrity, and is a winner, not a sheep like a lot of the other unfortunate contestants unable to see through the illusion. As viewers we can just sit back and debate about who we like , dont like , and why etc and it keeps us watching. Were puppets, their puppets, and we are oblivious to the fact that a handfull of fatcats are holding the strings manipulating our decisions and getting results. Unfortunately there will be some people who suffer from the hysteria and intensified situations that occur in these unrealistic reality shows and it won t be long before someone does have a breakdown , but wouldnt it make great viewing and they are free guinea pigs also.

Of course susie. In order to get good ratings and make the show more interesting, why would they saw Stacy getting along with the others. It is much more interesting to see all the disagreements and when some one provides a really horrible idea than seeing everyone working together and showing all the insightful thoughts.

Elizabeth
Yipee! Elizabeth is GONE. Her emotional, whiney behind is OUT the door.

The Apex team NYPD recruitment ad campaign was HORRIBLE. They truly did turn NYC into a frightening "police state" where people watching the advertisement would be frightened and more inclined to lock themselves up in their homes rather than apply for a job with the NYPD.

Elizabeth didn't like the "military" campaign and whined about it, but as project manager, she failed to lead her team in a better direction. All she did was whine. She didn't contribute anything to the team oher than her whiney complaints. She could not articulate what she wanted instead and ended up talking in incoherent circles.

Poor Elizabeth--she hated the military campaign so bad that it "stifled her creativity" and she was about as effective as a pile of gelatin.

Andy, on the hand, did a fantastic job. As much as I like Kelly for his work ethic and focus--he came across as a control freak in this episode. Kelly wants to be in charge and wants to do things HIS way. I respect Andy for standing his ground and not allowing Kelly to intimidate him.

Good episode!

Re: THE APPRENTICE


I don't think that is true. Truth is stranger then fiction.

Sure they select people with different personalities that are going to clash, but this happens in real life all the time. I'm in a creative field but have to deal with engineers who are often more figure and fact oriented. You have to learn to come to a happy medium when dealing with different people. Stacie proved that she could not work with other people. It may have been unfair, but she made herself an easy target... the same thing would happen in real life.

hi

Hi Fancy... feel free to jump into the conversation if you want.

Regarding the horrid NYPD "Front Line" campaign:

Raj is one of two who really, really pressed for the marketing idea that threw their team to the losing side.

It was a lousy idea (militaristic approach) and completely against the explicit directions the teams were given ("we want an NYPD recruiting program that hits on heartfelt emotions"). And I thought "for once, the teams have been given really good directions about this task!"

Raj's idea was totally off the "emotional" side. It was not even good enough to be an Army recruitment commercial. Army ads being "self-improvement," "Making a difference" "Helping others" "Teamwork", "Achieving beyond ones own expectation," etc.

Elizabeth was the only person on her team who went for the emotional angle, and thus had a grip on <i>what</i> the task was. Kevin gets credit for attempting to work with her.

Her whole team was against her from minute one. They shot down everything she said and would not get off the "military" idea.

What got Elizabeth fired was that she said she would go with the military idea because everyone else wanted it.

She clearly stated her objection to the idea, but went with the team's wishes, because every single one wanted it that way.

Ironically, it was the exact opposite action that got Pamela booted. Recall that she went with her own instincts on pricing, against the wishes of all others on her team.

As leader, Trump thought Elizabeth should have gone with her own idea, and brought the team along.

So, based solely on the results of the task, she deserved to be fired. And I agree, she's not a strong leader. She was, however, the only person in the group with the right idea.

The team members, sans Kevin, need to be taught 1) respect for the team leader, whoever it is 2)put own ego aside and play the game 3) TEAMwork 4) grow up, you sorry bunch of whining babies!

In the boardroom, every one of the team members blamed Elizabeth for the loss. None admitted that every member wanted to do the military theme, and none mentioned that they had all gotten together behind Elizabeth's back and planned a coup.

Only Kevin had the decency to tell E. about the fact that she needed to get her act together because the team was totally against her.

To be fair, E. was not the best leader. However, her team was not there for her for one single minute. IMO, this has been apparent on past tasks, both where she was leader or team participant. She was not a person anyone liked for some reason.

As a team member, it is one's duty to provide input to the team, but then also give 100% toward the team's efforts once the decision is made--even if you don't like the decision.

This loss was an example of all the early losses of the women's team. They completely lacked the ability to work together and respect one another's views.


But, it's all just TV, isn't it?

AH!! So proud for Andy! (Love the underdog) He stood up to intense pressure from that that awful Maria and the bossy guy on his team. He was right about the project and forcefully, but not too forcefully, pressed on to his ideal commercial. So impressed!

E had the right idea, but couldn't articulate her vision to the team. Both team leaders faced mutiny-- it was neat to see how one succeeded and one failed.

Kevin made big points with me.

Maria shouldn't be there. Pam should.

Saw that Stacie (black) and some others are returning. Glad Stacie is getting another chance. (Probably a lawsuit or the threat of one...) Hope she gets it together this time.

Fun.

(Actually, I thought the military scenario might appeal to the type of gung-ho 18-24 demographic--but also thought it was too controversial... A toss up for me.)

next episode
Jen C., Stacie J., Bradford, and Rob will be on the next episode. I'm trying to figure out why they're coming back. Maybe they will comprise a third team and if they win the task, someone from both Mosaic and Apex will be fired. No matter why they are there, it will be fun to watch.

The Apex ad looked like it should be in a Robocop movie.

I feel bad for Elizabeth. I don't think the contest environment was at all good for her. I think she has good marketing instincts and would make a great employee, provided she didn't have to work under too much dealine pressure. The team did bully her, but that should probably be expected in this type of contest.

I don't like Andy very much, but that is just because of my own personal prejudices. He looks a lot like a young version of my 1st husband. I, too, was impressed by his ability to stand up for himself and get what he wanted done (a great ad, given the amount of time they had). He could win this.

Debra,
I like your idea for the next episode. What would be even more fun is if the 3rd team got to pick the people fired!

I had a feeling Elizabeth would go early on, BUT I will say that I think Kevin was a little out of line. I hope that's his name. The one who told her to SHUT UP.

She was not your equal. She was your leader in this, imo, and I believe you should speak up when you're heading in the wrong direction and even be direct, but he could have used a different approach.

Yep, me too.

Well, to each her own.

For some reason I need a 'stupid tv' fix a couple of times a week. I'm also watching 'Top Model', which is even worse (much worse, in fact).

Raj is gone... I really like him for entertainment value on the show.

He could have saved his butt last night. He should have attacked Kevin for picking the contractor and when Trump asked if he wanted to change his mind and bring in Chris for making those comments at the end... I was yelling YES YES and he said no. I think Chris would be gone fast if Raj took him in there.

How many times did things like that happen? Trump will give you a hint in the boardroom often, like the Chris thing and the project managers never take the bite. You would think they would learn by now.

Only Ivana has used the 'hints' to her advantage. And she has held on a mighty long time.

Held on is right... she seems worthless to me... all a lot of talk and not much substance.