I agree with StarvingButStrong. In times past, Burnett et al didn’t shy away from highlighting moments of doubt and tension. Why should they do so this time? Why miss an opportunity for some TV drama?
If Kendra doesn’t win, it could hurt Burnett’s reputation. It will mean that he has carried the misleading edting waaaaaaay too far, into the territory of Deus ex Machina.
From what I’ve read, both the 4th season of The Apprentice and The Apprentice: Martha Stewart have already begun filming. The rumor is that Donald Trump was extremely displeased with this season’s crop of contestants (easy to believe) and that he handpicked the contestants for season 4 himself. I haven’t seen anything about TA:MS other than that it’s in production.
All right, eye candy here we come! Fear Factor in suits! 
Kendra is easily the best candidate from the last two seasons. I don’t agree that Kendra’s task was easier, she had multiple sponsors to deal with, a venue to set up. I think Tana’s looked harder because she made it a fustercluck. Kendra absolutely got it when she said that the key was keeping the sponsors happy. I don’t recall Tana one time saying anything like that about NYC2012. Tana ends up with a crappy team, yet one of the first things she tells them is they are free to make decisions on their own??? The Governor’s aide was asking for a timeline and Tana kept saying it wasn’t back from the printers? Couldn’t she have given him one that wasn’t a flyer? She was incompetent. Kendra had a couple of problems, but solved them. This is no contest, Kendra,not just in this task but in pretty much all tasks ahs proven herself.
BTW, did anyone get the impression that the videogame guy who sort of offered Kendra a job was hitting on her?
I do think that Tana’s task was more difficult. Kendra had only 1 ego to manage at the event and that was The Donald. Tana had to not only stroke The Donald’s ego, but the Govenor’s, The Govenor’s personal assistant, and all the atheletes (who we know from the glaring error on the printed piece that most are self absorbed) Also look at the scale of the event locations, not having any sense of how big the athletic facility at Chelsea Piers is but from the looks of it, Tana’s event was more spread out. I also get the impression that Kendra’s event was something that has been done before and that in her inital packet had more information to go by as far as what to do. The event Tana was given is not something that is a regular reoccuring thing, it was new.
I were to compare this season’s tasks with last season, Kendra had a task on par with what Kelly was assigned, and Tana had something on par with what Jennifer had. So who won? It was Kelly. Now look back at the first season with Bill and Kwame, Bill’s task similar to Kendra’s, and Kwame’s similar to Tana’s (similar in terms of Bill, Kelly, and Tana’s being event in a box with out big ego’s and Kwame, Jenifer, and Tana’s being new/dynamic events with egos like Jessica Simpson, NBA basketball stars, The governor and olympic atheletes) So with that corollary I also choose Kendra to win.
I also like how Tana was dressed down in the boardroom over her complaining to Carolyn in the limo and calling her team the three stooges. Carolyn was not her peer, Carolyn is a judge and advisor to the person that will make the decsion to hire or fire her, bad move Tana, you are not an executive yet you are not Carolyn’s equal.
If I was to have to choose one of these losers, and made the playing field level by assuming they both worked hard at making their events a success, I would choose Kendra, hands down. Up until this episode, I had a lot of respect for Tana’s moxie and ingenuity, but her treatment of her employees in this episode was unforgivable. Hiding inside and playing the “successful executive” was just a bullshit thing to do. Mocking them to others was assholish and shows a lack of loyalty.
Yeah, I’ve had bosses who I respected and who were definitely the boss who would offer me a ride home, chat about TV, whatever. That was a very insecure person’s idea of playing executive.
Rysler and I were chatting during the show last night, and I remarked that I’d liked Tana a lot until she walked out on the Dodge task. Then I remembered how put off I was by her first-naming customers in the motel task, and Rysler reminded me of how cocky she was during the first show.
And the cobwebbed womb stuff (as pokey so pithily described it) – was just nasty.
She’s a great schmoozer, but it’s now clear how surface that is – Kendra, who comes across as much less “nice” a person, actually did a better job of connecting with her team – and, in fact, actually making a working team out of them.
Plus – I’m in publishing, so obviously I’m going to think this – not proofing the program was mind-blowing in its stupidity. Even if you don’t have time to go over it line by line, at least glance through it – shit like the line that made it in does, in fact, jump right out at your eye on the most cursory of examinations.
I never, ever thought I’d be saying this, but: Go Kendra!
Certainly the editing made it appear that Kendra was doing MUCH better than Tana, and did MUCH better at getting her team on her side and working hard.
Over the entire season, though, it seems to me that Tana has been consistently superior - she’s gotten along better with her fellow consistents, and has shown a level of maturity that Kendra hasn’t quite reached. Tana could still win this, IMHO.
Was anyone else annoyed by all the NBC ads saying “Season Finale,” with no indication that it was just the first of a two-parter? Our local TV guide was similarly misleading. My wife and I were really surprised when it didn’t wrap up last night.
Man, I used to work as an event planner and couldn’t stop cringing whenever Tana’s event was shown. She was horrible. I also used to work for an elected official and wanted to scream when she started copping attitude to the governor’s assistant. These are smart ass comments you think to yourself, Tana. You don’t say them. You know that shit’s gonna get back from Trump and it’s totally inexcusable.
Tana’s ego is what lost her this competition. She made 3 major mistakes:
#1. Never blame your staff for mistakes. YOU are the big cheese. That means YOU take the heat for any mistakes made by your supporting staff. Your staffer made a stupid mistake? Well that speaks poorly for your management skills, doesn’t it? Take responsibility for the mistake and ream the staffer later, in private.
#2. Show respect for everyone. That goes from the Governor (and his staff) to the janitor. The secret of event planning is learning how to bite your tounge. You may want to tell multiple people where to shove it, but you don’t. It just makes you look unprofessonal. I couldn’t believe some of the stuff I heard coming out of Tana’s mouth to the governor’s assistant. The answer to “when can I get a timeline” is NOT “when it gets here”. For god’s sake woman, you’re not peddling make-up in Ohio anymore! There are some asses that just have to be kissed, no matter how badly you really wanna kick 'em.
#3. Proof EVERYTHING. You have a staff full of incompetent “stooges”? Why the hell are you giving them total control over something as important as the EVENT PROGRAM? Comon’! It takes about 5 minutes to sign off on the program. 5 minutes could’ve very well made the difference between winning and losing this competition. Again, YOU are the big cheese. Therefore YOU are responsible for everything. Delegate, yes. But never check out completely from ANY aspect of the event.
While I agree Tana’s event was much more difficult than Kendra’s, she made some unforgiveable mistakes, no matter how big of scale the event was. She was horrible, plain and simple. Between her ego and total lack of respect for her support staff, she’s dead in the water. I can’t wait to see her team rip her to shreds next week.
I disagree wholeheartedly. Kendra has behaved quite maturely throughout the whole season. She didn’t do everything perfectly, but her actions were quite mature.
Kendra has also gotten along quite well with her teammates, with the exceptions of Craig and Tana – and I think the blame rests primarily on those two, not Kendra.
Kendra also has a better track record in terms of team wins, wins as PM, and individual flashes of brilliance. Go Kendra!
Lezlers, I always like your analysis. You’ve often changed my mind. This might fall under your number 2, but the most distasteful thing Tana did last night — among a lot of distasteful things — was shooing her staff away so that they would arrive first, and she would make a grand entrance in her limousine. Absolutely the epitome of no-class-at-all.
Wow, thanks Liberal. That means a lot, coming from you. I missed the limo part. That’s ridiculous. Any event planner worth anything will be the first to arrive and the last to leave, anyway. Comes with the job.
Another thing that bugged me about Tana last night was using her family as leverage, in a way. You’ve got a husband and two great children? Good for you! That’s not going to get you the job, by the way. As a matter of fact, that’ll probably work more against you than for you. I’m 27 years old with no husband or children. So, why should you get a job over me, especially if I did a much better job than you in the final task, just because you have a husband and kids and I don’t? Now do you see what a stupid argument that is, Tana?
Trump wants an executive to oversee one of his projects. That event you just royally sucked at? That was a little taste of your future job. Not that condensed, of course, but those are the sorts of things you’ll be dealing with. Unhappy people coming to you with problems, not telling you how “pretty your blue eyes are.” :rolleyes:
She’s a salesperson. She’s not an executive.
I also have to admit, I lost a lot of respect for her when she said she quit college after 3 years because she got married. I’ve got very, very little respect for women who go to college to obtain their “M.R.S.” degrees. They make it that much harder for those of us pursuing advanced degrees to be taken seriously.
Among the other Tana problems last night was her being put out when the rest of the team slept - not on her schedule. Which was exactly what she did during the car challenge. (“I have nothing to lose, so I’m going to sleep” it was karmic)
I was also expecting it to wrap up last night. I was hoping for something that wouldn’t be a long, painful two parter like last year. Not that lucky, though.
It also really annoyed me when Trump said something along the lines of “Of course you should drop out of school to have kids. Having kids is so much more important. Why would anyone not quit school for that?” Yes, children are important. But kids/higher ed. is not an either/or proposition and they can be done sequentially.
You’re damn right, as the three women in my 2L classes that all just had children within the past 3 months could tell you. Not to mention the two people in my study group who just got married (not to each other). Remember, Tana quit because she got married, intially. With ONE year left. I didn’t realize being married meant your life has to come to a screetching halt.
:rolleyes:
Actually, believe it or not, it was after the event was over. She wanted to make her grand entrance at… the apartment, I guess. Here’s my transcript of that portion:
[Tana and her crew saying goodbye]
Tana Voiceover: We said our goodbyes. There’s no need in us all walking together.
[Tana on camera]
Tana: It’s best when the boss just lets her employees go on ahead of 'em, so they can feel like an employee, and I’ll just stay back here like an executive. Let them go get in their SUV. The reality is, I did this on my own. There was no love. That’s all. Bottom line. There was no love.
[Cut to elevator]
Tana: I got me a bucket of pretzels. I paid for these bitches. They’re comin’ home. [giggles]
[Cut to parking lot. Her crew walking away as she stays out of their view and watches. When they get in their SUV, she emerges and gets in her limousine, smiling broadly. Her long soliloquy of self-back-patting begins.]
I think there was more to the story – she started to say something about “and my husband was moving because…” when Trump interrupted to assure her that wife-and-motherhood was a legitimate career path.
Who else doesn’t think he believes it?
Uh, that was to lezlers and amarinth, obviously.
Since I already have the DVR going, here’s that portion:
Trump: Tana, do you think the fact that you’re not highly educated is a disadvantage to you working for me?
Tana: Absolutely not. I don’t think my education has anything to do with working for you. My education came from the street. I didn’t get it in a college. The street has been my bread and butter. And I know how to handle people on an everyday basis out there on the street, because that’s who I work with. That’s who I deal with. And that is my clientele. Being a wordly business owner, I feel like that’s an education in itself…
Trump: Kendra, do you think she’s at a liability that you have a big education, and she doesn’t?
Kendra: I absolutely think it is a liability because I think that, when you start college, or you start anything, you should finish what you start. And I…
Trump [to Tana]: Did you start?
Tana: Yes, I did.
Trump: But you didn’t finish… Ah…
Tana: No, I did not.
Trump: How far did you go?
Tana: Oh, I went three years.
Trump: And then you didn’t finish the fourth?
Tana: Well, no I did not. Um…
Trump: Why?
Tana: I got married, and my husband got a job offer that we had to leave the state, and, long story short, I…
Trump: That’s a fine… that’s a fine
Tana: …I decided…
Trump: …that’s okay… that’s a fine reason…
Tana: …I decided to have children.
Trump: …that’s a fine reason. That’s good.
Tana: Okay.