Right now the teams are Magna (I always want to type magma) 6 and NetWorth 8, right?
In the past DT has always evened up the teams whenever one had two fewer members. Will he do it this time? Or will he let the ‘Book Smarts’ fight the odds?
This feels like an odd week for the Raj Ratings. Maybe it’s the cut from 90 minutes down to 60 (which is a good thing). Maybe it’s the task. I despise the subjectively judged tasks. But, this one did bring the whole “Michael = Chevy Chase in Caddyshack 2” experience (really, read below). Oddly, I completely agree with the firing. Through 3 shows, Danny showed us nothing. Heck, he was the anti-matter of something. I like that Trump didn’t fire the total loser just to be dramatic. Season 2 and he would’ve. I know it. You know it. The American people know it. Anyway, on to the people, as inhuman as some of them may be. You’ll see the person’s name, current team (BS or SS), and prior week’s ranking.
Verna - Bye. Your last appearance in my ratings. Quitters get none of my time. You don’t have a clue I am dropping your name, but I have my standards.
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 – Ah, sweet dustbin of reality show history, we embrace your suffocating grip.
Danny (BS) (Middle School) – Deserved it really. You weren’t quite odd enough to be lovable. The guitar got old quick. I think you inflicted that “Unbelievable” crap on us. And, if your best hope at staying around is trying to convince Trump to fire the exempt guy, you have big problems. And, you had big problems.
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.
Kristen (SS) (Elem. School) - No time this week, which is good. But your past transgressions are so bad that you don’t get to move to a new school without something positive.
Chris (SS) (Elem. School) – Random, angry boardroom yelling last week. Loud, giveaway yelling this week. Plus, you look like a total tool. No love from me.
Michael (BS) (High School) – Way to nosedive there. Ever work in a real business? Ever not get your way? You were like the kid that took his ball home because everyone else wanted to play dodgeball but you only wanted to play 4 square. Way to kill your chances. Non-winner right here. How are you like Chevy Chase in Caddyshack 2? Based on the previous version’s success, we knew there would be another go at it. But, Chevy went through the motions, knew he was doing it for a paycheck, clearly cared not one bit, and detracted from our previous happy memories. You did pretty much the same. And now, we can pretend both you and that movie don’t exist.
Erin (BS) (Elem. School) – I still don’t have the words. I’m not sure if it’s your hyperactive reactions of disgust and horror, your continual "Sir"ring in the boardroom, or your all-knowing legal perspective. I’ve been to your website. Near as I can figure you worked about nine months and then quit to become a model or TV personality. That’s like me speaking from an agrarian perspective because I eat Wheat Chex in the morning.
Middle School - A group that might be growing up but still prone to wild swings based on playground fights, name calling, and puberty.
Audrey (SS) (Middle School) – I look forward to learning anything about you.
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) – Another quiet week, so the errors of week 1 are pretty much gone at this point. Upward mobility.
Tana (SS) (High School) – Sweet blissful quiet. I thank the book smarts team for the drama if only because it kept Tana from vocally erupting. Sure, I know she is lurking in the background like Mt. St. Helens, but if I just wish the problem away, maybe it will go away.
Craig (SS) (High School) – If a tree fell in the forest, and no one was around to see it squish Craig, would any of us realize he was missing from the show?
Tara (SS) (High School) – I think you seem level headed, but it takes more than 15 seconds of screen time a week to make any determination. Still, for some reason you smell of final 4 material.
Angie (SS) (Middle School) – A good, if somewhat undefined win. Was it because of your efforts? The other teams errors? Your team seemed a little bemused at your energy level. Kind of in a way where it would rub people the wrong way the second things went downhill. Something to watch for.
College - Older and wiser, things are looking up. Maybe not ready to enter the real world yet, but getting close.
Kendra (BS) (College) – No screen time to speak of, so I can’t ding you for anything.
Stephanie (BS) (High School) –
Bren (BS) (High School) – I don’t have any real basis for this, but you seem solid. I would give you final 4 props as well. The question becomes: Are you a Kansas Jayhawk (always getting there, but always missing), or a UCLA Bruin (when you get there, you win). I like your chances.
Grad School - These people have a clue, have some seasoning, and have a chance to make an impact.
PhD - Ready for tweed jackets, big paydays, and the job of helping Melania fit into her dresses.
John (SS) (PhD) – See Kendra. You do seem to have a big, giant head though. So, even if you screw up, you still have giant hat modeling to fall back on.
Godspeed, little Apprentices. You have managed to outdo season 2 for the third week in a row. Granted, that’s like saying I did a solid job outrebounding Stephen Hawking, but take a compliment anywhere you can get it. Until I see otherwise, the final 4 is Bran, Tara, John, and Kendra. We’ll see how this prediction plays out.
Not always. Both previous seasons, he waited four tasks in to reshuffle the teams. In Season One, that meant that the guys got down to 8-4 before getting any help. In one boardroom, I think it was the last one before the shuffle, the guys were offering reduced manpower as an explanation for the women just totally kicking their asses before pulling down their pants and giving them a spanking. Donald’s response was, essentially, “Tough titty, boys, if there are fewer of you, you’ll just each have to work harder.”
When two of the guys were playing basketball last night, I got an eerie sense of deja vu, remembering Pamela playing alone during her last stand.
Does anyone else think its weird that they stay in the same penthouse, team after team?
It was awful, wasn’t it? You’re right about Verna’s departure getting too much screen time – maybe that was part of the problem.
We don’t know any more about these people than we did before.
Michael was a jerk, but at least he did toss out a marketing idea, and he shilled for the coffee. Not his fault that he had nothing to draw people in, because his team never came up with a theme.
My Iowa Girl (Tana) got some screen time, and she didn’t use it to bitch about her team – she was upbeat and friendly-sounding. I’m looking forward to her stint as PM.
A fun episode. Trump was right not to play fast and loose with the rules on exemptions. Even a reality show has to have a certain amount of consistency. There are certain core rules that Trump (or Burnett for that matter) has never monkeyed with. Hell. Who wouldn’t have rather given Rupert immunity over Jenna in Survivor: All-Star? But immunity is immunity! Danny really had no exit strategy. In the end, he was the one Trump should have fired. Sadly, because I was enjoying him in week 2 and 3!
A few random thoughts:
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Was Danny’s team setting him up a bit? Pushing him to take on Michael because they knew that this would make it a Michael or Danny choice? I’m sure they really wanted to see Michael go, but did any of them believe it would happen?
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Erin may have been a true-believer if there was one. I think she hurt herself by trying to argue the case for overturning the exemption.
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I loved that Stephanie kept quiet once told that she was not going to be fired. That MAY be the first time ever that someone hasn’t put themselves BACK in the Lion’s Den! Trump must have been SOOOOOOO disappointed.
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When Criag popped up at the end of the winner annoucement, I thought “I forgot about him!” Did he even get a camera pointed in his face during the episode?
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Looks like Kristin toned down the eyeshadow a bit this week. Looked nice.
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Speaking of Kristin, did anyone else notice that neither she nor Angie had any booze in their class? Could be tee-totalers, but I am calling “alks!”
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I think Alex is a solid player. He seems, however, to being a supporting player. If he gets lucky as PM, he could go to the final four.
And, finally, this is the first week I’ve looked at the Raj rankings and thought “Oh, no! The wee mullinatrix is draining our great columnist of his much needed energy!”
First- I loved Caddyshack 2. Funnzenoons. Is there any money in it for me? Randy Quaid’s lawyering skills. AND his goalie skills! Of course, I swear by Star Trek 5…
Second- I strongly disagree about the placement of Angie. She may have been over the top, but in her little rant, which I believe George and Carolyn BOTH witnessed, she really single handedly fleshed out the entire campaign. And it was her high concept that the good people at Nestle (ADVERTISEMENT: Need a little energy? Have a Nestle Crunch Bar. The only bar that screams NESTLE!) thought distinguished the two.
Third- How does Kendra get the college peg, while equally unknown candidates Craig and Audrey fall in the next two categories? I’d move Kendra down one, and Audrey up one. None of them has done anything of note. Audrey AT LEAST tried to quiet Kristin down last week. Plus, I think she’s really hot!
Of course, what do I know? I liked Caddyshack 2 and Star Trek 5!
She also didn’t seem to snark at being brought into the boardroom in the first place. She knew exactly why she was there, accepted it, and made her case. She’s one to watch.
I did, and thought the same thing. 
Knowing you like Caddyshack 2 does mean you are dead in my eyes, but I’ll try to move past it. It wasn’t so much the Mullibaby draining my energy on this one, but the show did. It was an odd one. I would have been fine, if they had shown 5 seconds of Verna saying she would leave and then just dropping her. We saw basically nothing of the street smarts team and what we saw of book smarts was pretty disjointed. I think the editors must have been high this week.
As for Angie, I did move her up a notch. I probably could have done another, but I don’t like to give too much credit for someone making a call that I’d like to think most people would make. But, she did do well and this will help her in the long run.
Finally, Kendra is up at college because, while she has been essentially non-existent, her one moment of glory was in the boardroom in week 1 going after Todd as the true problem rather than scapegoating Danny like everyone else did. She impressed Trump (as his response indicated) but, even greater, she seemed to stem the tide of targeting someone for a pointless reason and helped steer things back to the idea of targeting the person with ultimate responsibility. That helps us avoid the unsatisfying feeling of Apprentice 2. At this point, I’d have to give Trump credit. All 3 firings were the correct ones. And, some may complaing that it’s unfairly weighted towards firing PMs. But, if a PM is the obvious problem, then they should be the ones to go. Heavy is the head that wears the crown. And so far, the 3 bootees have managed to drop the crown repeatedly, step on it, and then flush it down the toilet. Once a vaguely effective PM loses, one of the minions will go home.
The man on the Taster’s Choice package recently won 15 million dollars or so in a lawsuit against Nestle,, as he didn’t realize he wasn’t the man on the coffee until 2002 and they weren’t supposed to make him the man on the coffee. Apparently, Nestle just changed models. If Mr. Christoff was the man on the coffee at the time this episode was produced, do you think he’ll ask for more money?
I actually disagree with this. There was really nobody else who was going to get fired except for Danny,so he played the long-shot wildcard, bringing in the only person who deserved to be fired besides himself. I think he should have said something like, “Mr. Trump, I know it is a longshot and probably not a good idea, but I am bringing Michael into the boardroom becasue nobody else on my team deserves to be there over him. He needs to be held accountable, whether he can be fired or not.”
Also, wasn’t it strange how they picked Danny to be PM because it was a marketing task when they saw firsthand how poorly he marketed during the BK task?
How did they pick him? I’m not sure whether my attention wandered for a minute or if this is one of the many, many things related to the task that we didn’t see. Mullinator is right (as usual – swoon) – the editors must have been on some serious hallucinogens this week, this was the most disjointed episode ever.
Bren told him to do it, because he was “so good at marketing,” and Danny accepted. I don’t think it was a set-up. I think everyone genuinely hates Michael after the hotel debacle.
I was trying to be polite. and not re-open any nasty arguments that might have gone on before
My point was that even the guy who was head & shoulders better than most, if not all, of his opponents coasted a little. Most of them did, to one degree or another. I agree with you about John, BTW. Did more than he had to, or tried anyway. And did it the right way.
I just wish that they never had any opportunity to feel safe. If you won as PM the week before, fine, let them take that into account if you show up in the boardroom the next week. If you won because someone else on your team pulled the idea for a party out of his ass to cover for the fact that your rooms were filled with paint fumes, then you should damn well feel nervous the next week. It could even be argued that She Who Will Henceforth Be Nameless really contributed more to that win than Mike did.
Yeah, but it was a brand-new toilet.
I think that this is exactly why they chose him. They knew that if the team lost, chances were that he’d be fired–not just because the PM is so often fired, but also because they knew that it would make him a 2-time loser in his claimed area of expertise. By choosing him for PM, they practically guaranteed themselves another week on the show.
Some general thoughts:
–Danny’s “support circle” of Verna? I wanted to bash in my TV set. I just loved how he made the whole speech about how they would all support her, and how she could stay back home if she wanted, etc., except that he hadn’t checked with the other team members! Did you see their faces? But most of all, did you see the creepy way Danny had his hand on her shoulder? Yurgh. He so reminds me of certain guys I knew in college who would make a big deal of being “sensitive,” but it was all a ploy to get in your pants. Ew.
–It was kind of sad how they tried to manufacture an issue about Angie’s performance… Tana said that she was too intense, or whatever. And then I waited to see how this would affect her performance. Oops, it didn’t. And the idea for a political rally was really good. It looked like fun, and I liked the way the fake candidates’ speeches used the same language as real candidates’ speeches. I’d like to know if the team provided them with ideas for that stuff.
–Trump had no reason to change the exemption rule. Michael was the most deserving, but Danny was also deserving. So why screw around with the rules? He has plenty of time to fire Michael later. Plus, imagine the drama when Michael has to work with these people again!
–Speaking of Michael: What a raging asshole. “Beautiful models…beautiful models…” How old is he? 13? Plus, I loved his comment about how “people with money don’t walk. They drive.” Umm, welcome to New York City, junior. Everybody walks.
–Overall, Net Worth is shaping up to be a much stronger team. Their loss in week 2 can be attributed to two flukey factors: an unbelievably bad project manager who overwhelmed all efforts to succeed in spite of him, and a lucky breakfor the other team with the successful party. Other than Kristen, most of the team members seem pretty strong in one way or another.
And my own groupings of the remaining contestants, in terms of their chances at the final 4:
No chance at the final 4:
Michael—No explanation necessary
Kristen—Well, no explanation necessary here, either.
Erin—Her “legal justification” in the boardroom was so asinine. (Anybody have a quote?) She’s dead meat.
Chris—Watch out! Major freak-out on the horizon
Unlikely to be in the final 4:
Kendra—Just seems like she doesn’t have what it takes
Tana—Her annoying personality and overconfidence take her out of the running.
Alex—whiny and annoying.
Don’t know enough yet to say:
Tara—seems solid. We haven’t seen enough of her to know.
Craig—A wild card. He’s either so dull they have no footage for him (like Wes) or he’s craftily staying in the background, showing competence, and waiting for the early-game dramatics to die down a bit before he shows his hand. If he built a successful shoeshine business, then I’d wager he’s not dull, so I’m guessing it’s the latter.
Stephanie—She bugs me, but she did impress me with her conduct in the boardroom. I want to see how she is in a PM role.
Wouldn’t surprise me to see them in the Final 4
Bren—I just love this guy. He called Danny & Michael “silly.”
Audrey—I like her plain talkin’ ways. She’s disadvantaged by her youth.
Angie—She rocks. ‘Nuff said.
John—He won as PM, he tried to deal with Brian…a very strong candidate.
My way too early prediction: Final 4 is Craig, Bren, Stephanie, and John.
That’s terrible! Why do we go back to my room for awhile and you can tell me all about it.
Seriously though, I don’t think Danny’s team was setting him up because one would assume that someone who owns a “marketing tech” (IOW web design) company would have an aptitude for marketing.
I’m convinced more than ever that Trump has balanced out teams by taking small business owners (the high school grads) and piting them against the stupidest MBAs and lawyers he could find.
For the tasks they do, it’s not like those fancy degrees help anyhow. It’s not like they are being asked to perform a valuation on a company, model an M&A deal, put together a product demand forecast, develop a supply chain strategy or any other number of tasks that actually take place in the business world.
Pfft. Amateur. (If you had ever actually pulled this one, you’d know that you’re supposed to get her back to her room.)
I couldn’t agree more. So many of these tasks are just marketing/promotion stuff. They’re not even asked to do high-level marketing stuff, like brand strategy and analyzing market trends. If they’re supposed to be CEO level, they shouldn’t be out celebrating toothpaste on the street. They should be figuring out how to position the brand and promote it so the target customer will buy it. We don’t know if any of these people even know the difference between an asset and an expense.
Count me as another one who agrees about the tasks. I guess you could agrue that they test creativity (which may be something inate you just can’t teach at business school), but it would still be a bit of a stretch.
That said, I’m still liking this season more than the last one. I can’t make any predictions about the final four because there are still so many candidates I haven’t seen at all. But I’m back to enjoying the show.
Some random thoughts:
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What is the deal with all the people saying “at least I kept my integrity” in their cab rides to loser-ville? Danny sang it this episode, and we heard a lot of that in previous seasons. When are people asked to give up their integrity? Maybe they’re talking about the whole boardroom strategy thing. Even so, playing a game to win isn’t exactly giving up your integrity.
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What’s with all the swearing this time around? It’s not like I’m offended or anything. It’s just unusual to see it in a business show. I guess I’m used to my own workplace where that kind of language would get you a write up in no time.
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You can argue that Kelly coasted last time around and you’d have some basis for that (personally. I think he didn’t give it his all but he wasn’t total dead weight–but YMMV and I don’t feel all that strongly about it). However, Mike was in another league. He wasn’t just slacking off–he was outright disruptive. I agree with George that Danny should have just sent him away. That would involve Danny making a decision though–something he seems incapable of.
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Angie’s hair looked less offensive this episode. It still wasn’t great, but it was much less Cindy Lauper-like. Maybe it’s the lighting?
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I wish they’d spent less time on she-who-will-remain-nameless and more time on the task. I couldn’t figure out what was going on. I don’t really mind her leaving. If she can’t hack it, why not get out now? I don’t think she’s great stuff for doing so, but I’m glad she’s gone if she can’t cut it anyway.
I totally agree. Michael was not only not working, he almost seemed like he was trying to sabotage his team.
Someone here mentioned that they noticed two of the “Street Smarts” gals weren’t drinking and perhaps they had, um, issues? My theory is that it’s a suck up to Donald. Last year on Dateline, he made a big deal about how he has never had a drop of alcohol in his entire life and how his own adult children would lose his approval if they chose to drink.
'Course, they might just be former boozers or health nuts too…
/Ms Cyros