I think it’s consistent with past firings. Trump hates to see people cut their own throats or throw away advantages. He also didn’t like the phony kiss-ass stuff.
I do think he just couldn’t stand Michael anyway, though. He’s been a dead man walking since week 2. No sense in delaying the inevitable.
I just had to rewind and watch that pathetic “If you’re ever in Boston give me a call” embarassing attempt to save face.
Trump’s face so clearly said “get this IDIOT out of my boardroom.”
“They pretend to be your friends and they’re really not.”
Um…no…weren’t they pretty much constantly telling you they hated you?
Apprentice in the hizzouse!
Anyone else get the uncomfortably pitying vibe that Michael was projecting his own moronicness into his assessment of his environment?
I’m so sure The Donald is on his way to Boston right now…to park in Michael’s parking lot. :rolleyes: What was that?
But I do want to point out that transacting business at or in random trailers and buses isn’t unheard of on the streets of NYC. They have mobile post offices and medical clinics, and of course, the Lubavitcher Hasidim have their famous Mitzvah Tank, where they invite likely looking men to come in and daven. So it wouldn’t really surprise me to find a casting call going on in a trailer.
Spa services on the other hand…ick. If someone’s going to be rubbing me all over or nipping at me with sharp implements, I want some assurance that they’re legit. I just don’t see how spa services make sense for a trailer business, especially in a place like New York, which is very well supplied by salons.
And that was the best reward ever. I love pearls. I barely bother with other jewelry. Pearls pearls pearls. Wow. I’ve gotta stop by Mikimoto sometime and just do a little drooling. (Did you see Erin’s face when she heard what the other team was getting? Hee hee!)
And when Chris was encouraging Craig to try on the tiara–I was so waiting for Craig to say “I. AM. NOT. A. HOMOSEXUAL, MR. CHRIS!”
I have never said this before, but I think it needs to be said now.
Call the repairman, my irony meter just busted!
“I hate that phony kiss-ass stuff”
“Yes, Mr Trump.”
What do the contestants on The Apprentice and my freezer full of breast milk have in common? Both involve a lot of sucking and leave an unpleasant aftertaste in my throat. Welcome to week something-or other of the Raj Ratings . I liked this weeks task. Give them very little to start with and let their ideas drive them as opposed to a free commercial plug for some yooge corporation. Some people continue to dig their own graves and save, a couple others step up, and we all get to shudder at the thought of George getting a massage. On to the rankings. You’ll see the person’s name, current team (BS or SS), and prior week’s ranking.
Nursery School - Full of crying, childish people that could use either a potty break or a nap. These folks deserve to be watched by the crooked daycares profiled on “60 Minutes”.
Todd, Brian, Danny, Kristen – During the finale, when Trump mentions “The best and brightest” and choosing the cream of the crop from over 200,000 applicants remember these people and realize that you are watching high comedy at it’s finest during his little puffery speech.
Michael (BS) (Middle School) – Not exactly shocking due to his past inadequacies, but it was interesting to see that he basically did it to himself because I really think Stephanie was going. Either was probably acceptable, but Michael’s past history made this much deserved. This was the first non-PM firing, but this was absolutely the correct one. He was a bigger waste of space than Tom Arnold in polite society. Michael reminded me of a smarmier, greasier, less appealing John Belushi. And, I’m pretty sure I mean Belushi circa 2004, not 1979.
Elementary School - Some growth, but in the end it’s a place rife with playground fights, name calling, and a trip to the Principal’s office.
Chris (SS) (Elem. School) – I’m sad when your team wins because that means you don’t get to explode in the boardroom. “I DON’T LIKE KETCHUP ON MY HOT DOGS!!!”
Erin (BS) (Elem. School) – You still annoy me. Also, I think the German soldiers that shot the nose off the Sphinx (yeah, I know) must have had a couple of spare rounds for what used to be your chin. Also, I dream of the day I play against you in poker.
Audrey (SS) (Elem. School) – Like Homer said about Lisa “Eye of the tiger, mouth of a teamster!” Still, she has yet to show any ability beyond cussing or ragging on a teammate. She is probably one bad week from falling prey to the Rancic-Perdew corollary.
Middle School - A group that might be growing up but still prone to wild swings based on playground fights, name calling, and puberty.
Stephanie (BS) (College) – Biggest fall of the week. You really are sour. And, you have the greatest ability to frown to frightening depths I have ever seen. You desperately need a giraffe to jump on your mouth (I’ll be happy if one person gets that.) You really kind of threw dirt on yourself this week by being so overt in finding fault with someone else to cover your apparently worthless behind. And, Trump knows it.
Angie (SS) (High School) – You are an odd duck. You seem OK, but then you sort of fail to deliver. The idea was nice, but your role was minimized due to flailing phone efforts. Remember people, if you brag about being able to do something, be sure you can pull it off.
High School - Not quite a child, not quite an adult. Frankly, I still don’t know what to make of these folks.
Alex (BS) (High School) – Again, eh. I guess your character development comes later, but at this point you are pretty much a blank slate.
Tara (SS) (High School) – Well, you have a future as one of the puppets on Crank Yankers if this week is any indication. And, I’d say you would hold the record for least said per episode of reality TV, except…
Craig (SS) (High School) – for the existence of Craig. Well, I think he exists. Maybe if I go into the bathroom, stare in the mirror, and say his name 3 times he will magically appear on the show and do something (killing Erin is a start.)
Kendra (BS) (High School) – Again with the who. You fall further off the radar each week. We really could end up with a final 4 of people who have yet to speak 2 sentences in a row on this show.
Tana (SS) (Middle School) – A good, and necessary win. Solid if unspectacular. I think you have enough personality to step out in Trump’s mind (both good and bad) so you just need consistency in performance to have a shot.
College - Older and wiser, things are looking up. Maybe not ready to enter the real world yet, but getting close.
Bren (BS) (Middle School) – Yeah, he belongs here and I won’t hear otherwise. They lost, but he made the correct choices. But, he belongs here for 3 simple reasons. A). Finally, someone nutted up and called out another person for playing the scapegoat game rather than playing on their abilities. And he did it to her face and in front of Trump. As Bill Raftery would say “He’s got onions.” B). He knows what he knows and he knows what he doesn’t. That’s a good thing all too lacking in most of the rest of these people. 3). He owns his decisions. I need help from NYC dopers. Was the food request that outlandish. Was there some space time warp making that request logistically impossible? And, when will complainers learn that food is necessary for performance?
Grad School - These people have a clue, have some seasoning, and have a chance to make an impact.
John (SS) (PhD) – He moves down mainly due to lack of action. I still like him a lot, he just hasn’t done much.
PhD - Ready for tweed jackets, big paydays, and the job of massaging a sweaty, naked George.
None, but I would like to point out the breastmilk is for the 2 month old baby and not for me.
The Rancic/Perdew corollary update. Chris, Erin, and Audrey are joined by Stephanie as clearly out of it do to editing as buffoons. No matter what they do, they are too tainted. Tana and Angie are on the edge. Bren moves back to safe land Everyone else is still very much alive. Still, I’ll stick with last week’s final 4: Bren, Tara, John, and Kendra.
In the voice-over of the previews for next week, does Alex say that Erin looks like a Cooter’s girl?! I rewound it and listened to it a few times and it sure sounds like he says Cooter’s, rather than Hooter’s. Hee hee! I wonder if it was on purpose.
Mullinator, thanks as always for the Ratings. My daughter would have a word or two with you about comparing her favorite food to these craptastic folks, but she’s asleep. I do think you have to bump up Erin though. A compliment from Trump in the boardroom is good stuff.
The famous Uma Thurma! Hahahaha.
It’s not logistically impossible. It just doesn’t make any sense. I wasn’t paying really close attention, but it was that he asked them to bring some cheesburgers from Manhattan to Queens, right? If so, then it really was an outlandish request. It can take a long time to get around NY, and even longer if you have to go between Manhattan and one of the outer boroughs. Why didn’t they just call up some local place and get the food delivered cheaply and quickly? New Yorkers get food delivered all the time, so a place that delivered would likely have been easy to find, no matter where they were.
Well, that was obviously an incomplete quote. The entire quote was, “I hate that phony kiss-ass stuff when it’s directed at anyone other than myself.”
Mike was just so horribly, pitiably deluded. Whereas Brian (Trump’s other secret twin, as Twicks pointed out) just came across as abrasive and obnoxious and you could really enjoy watching him go down, Mike came across as such a pitiful schlub that it was hard to really revel in his cab ride to L’Hotel de Loser. Oh, he had plenty of irritating traits that made his firing quite satisfying on many levels, don’t get me wrong, but overall he was just sort of sad.
I can’t imagine what he was thinking with his insistence on calling it Massage A-Go-Go. On one hand, it’s a cute play on words, but as Bren pointed out, it kind of makes the place sound like one of those massage parlors with optional “tension release.” He was already bitching about how hard it was for him to talk women into getting a massage in a trailer–did he honestly think a name like that would have helped? The only thing I can figure is it was like his insistence on models for the coffee thing–he was thinking purely about appealing to the horny man demographic, to the point of not caring whether he alienated the entire rest of his customer base.
And his constant interruptions in the boardroom. Oy, the stupidity. I can only guess that he thought he’d earn points with Trump for having the balls to step up and defend Stephanie. But any fool who’s watched even the first half of the first season knows that in the boardroom you sit down and shut up unless The Hair or a Viceroy asks you a direct question. When your opinion is solicited, then you make your stand. Until then, you keep it zipped. Standing up for someone being unfairly maligned when Trump asks for your opinion will earn you points. Shoving your two cents in where they’re not wanted just gets your ass dumped into the hot seat.
As for his comparing himself to Trump…well, the taste in women seems to be as deep as it goes. While a whole lot of people have said a whole lot of unflattering things about Donald Trump over the years, I’ve never heard anyone call him lazy. It seems horribly unlikely to me that his business partners have ever had to tell him to put his ass in gear and start pulling his weight.
To that I’d like to add “Be proactive”. I cringe whenever I hear that at work.
Man, I hate getting to these threads late. Everything good has been said!
As for the show, wow!. I’m a college grad, and yet somehow, I can’t bring myself to not detest team Magna. I know a lot of people love the guy, but I never liked Bren much from the start, and I like him less and less with each passing week. Yes, he’s an effective leader and a good politician, but there’s something a bit too smarmy and patronizing about him. The bow-ties and bad hair don’t help, but the greasy feeling would be there without those particular trappings. He reminds me of a snake-oil salesman.
As for Erin, I still don’t like her, and I never will. Just because she’s funny when she’s ripping apart others doesn’t make it okay, at least not to me. We haven’t heard a genuine constructive word out of her mouth since day 1. She’s either slinging well-said BS in the boardroom or making snide, bitchy (albeit funny) comments in her confessionals. She’s like Eva from America’s Next Top Model, except Eva at least learned from her experiences on reality TV. Honestly, between the derisive, vicious comments and the ceaseless mugging and inappropriate facial expressions in the Boardroom, I get a serious Ivana-vibe from Erin.
I get that vibe (of arrogant, venomous vipers) from all of Magna, actually. It just seems like they’re all a hell of a lot more subtle about it than Erin.
That said, I loved loved loved the task this week! Finally, a task that actually has something to do with starting and managing a business, rather than just marketing the product-of-the-week. I thought Magna’s idea was pretty blah. Efficient, and presumably sufficient to bring in a high volume of customers, but rather pedestrian. Net Worth’s casting call idea got a raised eyebrow from me, with crossed fingers that they would beat Magna because if they lost, there was a very real chance that Angie or Tana would get the axe. And I like Angie and Tana.
And of course, it was nice to see Craig and Tara onscreen, even if they get fewer lines than the black dude on Enterprise.
That’s brilliant. I just wish Bren was a bit more direct with his leadership style. Not micro-managing can be dangerous.
Lily, Erin will sit at the bottom of Mully’s ratings until she wins. 
I think Tara and John have a good dynamic. I pray they are the next Bill/Kwame, and not the next Ivana/Kevin. And that isn’t intended to have racial overtones, it just, for some reason, does. :dubious:
I really didn’t like Bren this episode. First off, I thought it was pretty nervy of him to assume that just because Trump handed him the key, that meant he was project leader. That’s not a good reason, dude. Just cuz Trump knows your name doesn’t mean you’re hot shit on a platter.
The comment he made about Stephanie and her negativity annoyed me. The woman was being negative, no doubt. And I think she deserved to be in the boardroom. But would it have really made a difference if she had chewed him out on the phone versus saving it for later, when they were in the warehouse? I don’t think so.
He is kinda patronizing. Perhaps it’s because he’s older and the most educated.
Mike reminds me of one of those mischievous boys in your sixth grade class who snap girls’ bra straps and make farting sounds using their armpits and generally play the class clown, but who somehow manages to escape serious trouble from authority figures. I think he’s so used to playing that role–and getting away with it–that he doesn’t know how to be serious and “good”.
Tana is the most awesome person on this show. I want her to win!
And Craig looked kinda cute with the tiara. I just had to say that.
Nice ratings, Mullinator, though I’m going to highly disagree with Bren’s placement. I thought he was, in Donald’s words “a complete disaster” this week, if JUST for the trip to Queens, which seemed like a monumental waste of time. The team’s idea was poor to begin with (I thought the casting call idea was innovative, fresh and full of opportunity), but Bren really tanked.
I wouldn’t be surprised to see him gone in the next two or three weeks. But please, can we get rid of Erin first?
This was a GREAT task. As Trump said, they started with $5000 and made nearly 20% back on day one (forget that they had a FREE trailer and someone doing all the legal paperwork…this IS television!) But at least it required some level of business skills. Next week, we are following up with the oh, so required CEO skill of street graffitti. Instead of saying “You’re Fired!” Trump should just busta cap in that ass!
A few random thoughts:
I think Bren was never in danger because it wasn’t a bad loss. He had a headcase problem and he dealt with it instead of letting it fester. How many times have we seen Trump sack someone for not taking care of business? Bren put a nice product together and made a good return. It was a narrow defeat (and not a “tie!”) He can rally.
A good win for Tana. She was seen as daring, positive and well liked. She even had some nice direct interplay with Trump after her win.
The Mullinator ratings are just about DEAD ON this week (except Erin, she should be higher, but I respect and appreciate your raw hatred SO much, that I agree with your editorial choice.).
Audrey. Why are the pretty ones always so crazy? When even Angie is shocked at your language, you know it’s Sailor time.
My wife pointed out that Michael was ALWAYS eating. Ironic that he gets mad at someone sending him for food. Seems like he’d welcome the opportunity. But it seemed like they were done with the banner and their copy work. Why shouldn’t they have come to Queens? Anything else could be done there. They should be around the rest of the team. I think it was an ego bruising.
Doesn’t “You claimed to be like me” coming from Trump confirm that he watches footage prior to the boardroom?
Craig’s Queen wave stole the show. I loved how the camera focused on Chris.
**Chris Internal Monologue:**I want to wear that tiara SOOOOO bad. I like pretty things! But I can’t. They’d think I_WAS_A_HOMOSEXUAL! They’re all looking at me! Wait. I know! I’ll put it on the negro! Boy. Good thinking, Chris. Say, I wish they’d bring back Amos and Andy! NOW_THERE_WAS_A_GOOD_SHOW!
Was that Miss Universe the Australian one whose dress ripped and accidentally revealed a WONDERFUL tushie with a dental floss red thong?
I think Trump was looking for a tiebreaker in the boardroom. He could have gone either way. Michael just violated one of Trump’s biggest rules. It didn’t hurt that the girl was attractive. That always helps with Trump.
*Does Trump EVER park his car?
And why does he stand so far away from the group when he’s giving them the task? Move a few feet closer and he wouldn’t have to yell at them.
Nice reward this week. Tana’s comment about Angie, when she was choosing her pearls – “It’s all about Angie, isn’t she cute?” sounded honest rather than snarky.
I’d have to disagree. I’m a bit like Bren in that I’m from the South and have very little knowledge of the workings and layout of NYC. Knowing full well that food is needed both for the group (to keep energy up) and the Airstream builders (to win favor) I can guarantee that I (or just about any good project manager) would request the team that is already out to bring food when they come in. That just makes logistical sense on the face of it. Since it appears that the request really would lead to a lot of excess travel, I can understand why the initial request is a bad one. But, Bren didn’t know that. To him, it’s simply “You’re out, grab food as you come in.” Until they inform him of the out of the way nature, the fault lies with the people he made the request to. If they simply sit back and grouse about it without trying to affect a change, then they are the ones that screwed up.
Yup, although if she managed to off any of the people in my OP from this thread I would also have to give her more credit.