At first I was surprised that Rebecca wasn’t fired for ignoring his not-so-subtle hint to bring in Toral (I hate when these shows make me yell at my TV). Had she been a man, she would have been fired. But as we know, The Donald has a thing for purty wimmin. At least that was my first thought when he gave her a pass on this one.
Yeah, she could have bedazzled[sup]TM[/sup] them!
Where’s Mullinator? Where are the Raj Ratings? [/whine]
Chris wasn’t fired for not listening to Trump. He was fired because, of the two people in the boardroom, he was the one most responsible for his team losing the task (remember, he took responsibility for the dumb graphics mistakes made by Mark which caused the loss.) On the other hand, while Rebecca didn’t bring in the person Trump suggested, she did bring in someone who bore most of the responsibility for their failure. Had she brought only Jennifer M. into the boardroom, she would have been fired, but since she brought in Jennifer W., who was clearly the one who screwed up, she gave Trump a reasonable alternate target.
I think Trump’s firings have been right on the money this year, and I’m particularly impressed since I saw my first episode of the Martha version and really didn’t like how she handled the dismissal on her show.
Was anyone else as disgusted as I was at Toral’s incessant interviews about how her and Rebecca are just so much better than everyone else? I know you have to be confident in business, but there’s a fine line between confidence and arrogance. Toral honest to god think she’s better than all the other women. A snob of the highest order. You have to respect the people you work with in order to work well as a team and Toral and Rebecca clearly don’t respect any of these women. Mostly because none of the other women are bankers. She may be a very intelligent banker but girlfriend obviously doesn’t know how to work a freakin’ remote. People have intelligence in different areas. Lack of intelligence in one specialized area doesn’t render a person unintelligent. You don’t see Marshawn interviewing about how all of these women are idiots because they don’t have a background in law. It’s ridiculous. Was it Toral who gave that disgusting little speech about how she’d hire any of the women if she had a secretarial position open up? Mr. Lezlers and I just looked at each other with gaping mouths when she said that.
And Rebecca’s refusal to bring Toral into the boardroom speaks more of her lack of confidence in her, than her confidence. If Toral is really as unstoppable and brilliant as she constantly declares, she should’ve broght her in the boardroom, confident in the knowledge that Trump would see her value and not fire her.
The two of them have completely alientated themselves from the rest of the team and have only hurt their chances of winning this thing. I, for one, cannot wait to see them both get canned.
In the past 33 hours, I have been working for 28 of them, a rate which is likely to continue until late tonight. Clearly, I should have applied for the show just to get a break. So, no Raj Ratings until I watch the show which will probably be tomorrow afternoon. Then, I’ll post a hopelessly outdated analysis in a thread long since dropped to the third page. But, much like Principal Skinner kept his Cal Ripken-like streak of school opennage going, I will keep the Raj Ratings rolling along.
Even if I am starting to really dislike the show. There, I said it. At this point, I’m pretty much watching the show because I enjoy this post each week and not because the show is good. In fact, I may throw out a couple of vast, Apprentice altering ideas once I put together the ratings tomorrow. With a shocking twist! Maybe that will be enough to get at least a couple of people to remember to check this thread in a couple of days.
Hah. Well, seriously, I’m watching the Apprentice mostly because of this thread, too. I do rather like this season better than last, but last season had candidates that were so mind-numbingly awful that it’s hard to recover.
So make sure to post the Raj Ratings, damn you! (::shakes fist:
Otherwise I’ll have invested an hour of Thursday night with nothing to show for it.
Isn’t that the truth? Bringing them all back in? Instead of firing the idiot who didn’t bring the “correct” people in to start with?
Pish-tush, my dear. You know I’m your #1 groupie. I’m going to be gone this weekend, though, so if I don’t respond immediately, don’t cry yourself to sleep, 'kay? (Leave that to the Mullinette. 
)
Here’s my Apprentice-altering idea: have Trump ask each of the teams if the PM deserves exemption before announcing the winner. This way, you get the unbiased version of whether the PM was effective without the issue of win vs loss getting in the way. It would make it interesting just because people would have to be consistant with their praise/criticism of the PM after finding out whether they won or lost.
I agree - that’s a really good idea.
Better late than never and worn out from projects with major deadlines, I humbly present the Raj Ratings. This was a faily entertaining episode. Minimal product placement, obvious people that screwed up, some decent work by decent people, and watching George stuff his face. Here’s my issue with the show (and by extension, Martha). It’s formulaic. If this were a sitcom, we’d have a cutesy little girl, one dog appearance per episode, a wacky neighbor, and a blowhard boss. This show needs some shaking up, so, why not combine Martha and Donald into one show. She leads a team of 8 potential apprentices, he leads his team of 8. 2 prizes are up for grabs, one to the leader (Donald/Martha) of the team that wins the most (to keep them involved and active as leaders) and one to the winner of the apprenticeship. I wouldn’t mind watching titans of business match wits a little more. Anyway, on to this group of mostly overmatched individuals.
** Looking for Love: Bachelorettes in Alaska** - Or, these people are in a cold, lonely place with no hope for love or revival
Melissa, Chris - You are as forgotten as the 12th man on the 1988 Detroit Pistons.
Jennifer W (N:N&J)- Toral is an idiot, Rebecca is mean, but even if you were up against them in the boardroom I think you should have been fired. You were so hopelessly outmatched on this show. It’s like you went to a taping of The Price is Right and ended up here. You deserved to go. Crying and wailing, poor argument skills, a poor job running your portion of a task. If you weren’t fired now, it would have been in a week or two.
Boot Camp - Or, in major need of a butt-kicking, but actual physical contact isn’t allowed
Kristi (BB)- Dropping back down. Have you said one nice thing about anybody so far? Bitter, angry people don’t fare well on this show. Get a better attitude or sink like a stone.
Toral (N:N&J)- Wow, I can’t even think of the words to convey your idiocy. Baseless arrogance, lack of self-awareness, not knowing what you don’t know all add up to an imminent firee. I still don’t know what point you were trying to make in the boardroom with anything you said. Much like Sean Penn, this is just a dead man walking.
Markus (BC)- A good week, but I still think you have no shot so I can’t exactly bump you up. But, you clearly learned some lessons which is a good thing.
Big Brother - Or, beginning the downward spiral into ultimately being canceled
Mark (BC)- A quiet and hidden week which you needed. Have another 2 of these (or lead a winning task) and your week 2 debacle can be cast aside.
Rebecca (N:N&J)- Hitching your wagon to only one person is dangerous. When that person is as good as fired by Trump, it’s suicidal. You aren’t exactly huggable, but that doesn’t really matter in this show. But, you do need some flexibility and blindly standing by Toral is not a winning move. Plus, I don’t get the Toral love. Unless they aren’t showing us scenes involving vaseline, strap-ons, and lots of tongue play. You could do well, but not getting your priorities in order will cost you.
Newlyweds: Nick & Jessica - Or, ultimately harmless and forgettable fluff in need of a shot in the arm
Adam (N:N&J)- Still nothing which is probably better than a bad something.
** Brian ** (N:N&J)- This is the shrimp right? I just keep overlooking him. See Adam.
Felisha (N:N&J)- She has to have something sort of on the ball since her team has had a couple of horrid weeks and she still has little airtime. She’s either really solid or really forgettable. She might move up just because so many on her team are moving down.
James (N:N&J)- I have nothing to say other than he looks like someone I work with.
Clay (N:N&J)- He holds this spot, but about as poorly as possible. I wouldn’t necessarily drop someone just because a teammate bad mouths them, could just be a personality conflict. But, next week’s previews don’t augur well for you.
American Idol - Or, mostly positive so far but still in major danger of falling apart when a tough theme night comes around
Alla (AI)- Still seems solid, but I’m a little worried that “jazzed” is some sort of nebulous management concept you are hooked on like “outside the box”, “rubber meets the road”, or “murder for hire.”
Jennifer M (AI)- Another solid week, nothing bad at all. Taking you into the boardroom was pretty idiotic, especially Rebecca’s reasoning. All it managed to do was make Trump pump you up so you know you have some wiggle room. Final 4 candidate.
Survivor - Or, when they’re good, they are really good. But, there are enough rough spots to keep them from the top spot
Josh (S)- Again, no histrionics on the task, people use you as a sounding board, and you seem decent. I see big things here, unless you turn into a control freak as PM. Final 4.
Marshawn (AI)- Pretty withering critique of Toral and I think I really like you and your chances. Final 4 here.
The Amazing Race - Or, the king of the hill. A well oiled machine that shows no signs of slowing down unless a taxi gets in the way
Randal (AI)- A clear leader of the show. We didn’t get to see in task performance, but the results speak for themselves as does your exemption next week. Trump likes you, your team likes you, and you have a very positive edit. This guy may be a merge of Bill and Kwame which would be tough to beat.
The Rancic-Perdew Corollary - Markus, Toral, and Kristi are too damaged to win at this point. Mark is still teetering but another good week clears him. The first 3 stay on this list until the boot.
Seasonal Rankings Tough to beat the overall effectiveness of season 1. But, I see this one as blowing 3 out of the water and at least matching 2 in interest. So, 1,4,2,3.