Can’t speak for anyone else, but I soured on Tana the second she had her first confessional interview. I can’t even describe why. I just knew it the second I saw it.
On a personal level, I can’t disagree with you. But, I have to keep in mind what Alex now represents in Trump’s eyes. And after the boardroom, it ain’t much. If Alex follows up with a good to great week, he’s likely A-OK.
I’m not anti-Tana about the dogs, but I do think it’s telling how she went on about not trusting people who don’t have storefronts in a big city. Given that, you know, she seems to have not checked the agency out at all. I’d think the fact that he was there until should have been a fairly big tipoff that he wasn’t in a storefront. Maybe it’s just my naivete showing and that’s the normal time for New Yorkers to be popping in to discuss travel plans, but it seems pretty damn late for a travel agency to be open on a weeknight. Anyway, if she’s so leery of getting taken advantage of in the big city, oughtn’t she to have done a bit of research to make sure she was dealing with a reputable company? I mean, rip-off artists can get storefronts, too.
Okay, this bit is a little bit about the dogs, but not really. What’s with her bitching about smelling bad later that night? The dog pissed on her leg, fercrissakes, and those are exceedingly washable. Five minutes in the ladies room washing her leg and rinsing out her hose, and she should have been to go. What kind of freak just walks around with dog piss on 'em when they could wash it off?
Yeah, we were calling her Paris Simpson.
According to CNBC’s schedule, they’ll be re-running episodes multiple times Fridays and Mondays. It’s only an hour, though, so it will be cut down.
Just a nit-pick but it’s not free advertising if no one makes the association between the name and the company.
Basically Trump has evened the playing field by pitting a bunch of McDonalds managers against the most retarded MBAs and lawyers he could find.
I agree that the right person was fired.
Not having enough staff on the registers was inexcusable. He should have known they’d be slammed at lunch. Did he not ask the current manager how heavy the lunch rush was and how much staffing he should have on the registers? I somehow doubt that Danny’s bizzaro promotion led to an exceptional amount of traffic. Even if he wasn’t given the opportunity to get information from the existing staff, he should have realized that 2 people on the registers could easily be overwhelmed and have a backup on hand (like, say, getting himself trained–it wouldn’t have taken that long from his important note writing).
Yeah, Danny’s promotion was awful. Really awful. However, from what I saw (and I did miss a few minutes when the phone rang), Todd didn’t really do much to oversee what Danny and Whatshername were doing. Delegating is fine. But it seemed like Todd just abdicated all marketing responsibility.
That said, what was with all the discussion about Danny’s clothing? I thought when Trump asked the question he was going to move into a discussion of Danny’s general appearance and demeaner on the street during the task. However, the conversation instead focused on his general style of dressing. The way he dressed in the boardroom wasn’t all that outrageous. He looked more like a creative type than a corporate leader, but he wasn’t shocking or inappropriate.
I haven’t decided whether I like or hate Tana yet. She could be a strong, assertive, outgoing person or she could be an obnoxious twit. I don’t know enough to decide which just yet. Same with Kristen. She seemed incredibly snarky and negative, but it could be just the snips they showed this time. It was just one day. Streak-in-hair girl frightened me. I think I may start hating viking hat guy. I hate it when people try to get a free, useless thing just to see if they can. It would have been different if he had tried to get a discount or something free that the team could use. Plus, what was the deal with all the swearing at the reward dinner?
I didn’t see enough of the book smarts team to get an opinion on anyone besides Todd, Danny, Erin, and Alex. Hated Erin’s breakdown on the bed. Did she not know people would be leaving every week? Not sure what to think about Alex. I think he dodged a bullet because Todd was weaker. He was not a good kitchen manager (for the reason of the lack of register staffing), but what the heck is a kitchen manager anyway? Do they have that at BK?
I don’t mind the “street smarts” vs. “book smarts” thing (though I have a feeling it’s going to get old pretty quickly). What I don’t like is when it gets projected into questions like “do you need a college education.” I doubt these people are your typical high school graduates.
I hated her from the first moment she opened her mouth. She was bitchy and annoying. I learned her name quickly. It may have even been during the waiting-in-Trump’s-lobby confessionals, since I picked her out of the credits. The dog thing happened much later. She was right, the dog guy was very sketchy and unprofessional and bad, and she gets respect points for not freaking out and leaving or screaming/kicking the dog (I think she just stood there and smiled and put up with it). But I still don’t like her.
I seem to be Erin’s only fan, but that made me laugh.
Alex, was he the one who went up to Todd in the BK and asked him to get trained, and then was at a loss when Todd rejected him? He at least tried to get the right thing done, which shows foresight and planning.
Mullinator, brilliance!
Oh, one thing about Carolyn ripping Danny a new one… She growled because he was advertising himself, and not the new sandwich. Same argument she gave to Ivana. Which makes me think Carolyn’s consistent and has a strong grasp of marketing. Did anyone else notice that?
Based on only this one episode, I would have fired them all and hired John on the spot. This guy gets things done, cuts through bullshit without alienating everyone, has superior task recognition and management skills, and follows up. What’s not to like?
Danny is (temporary) comic relief. Changing his clothing is not going to make a difference. Trump would have to be crazy or stupid (he’s neither) to ever consider hiring someone like this to run a New York company. Anyone who may reflect poorly on Trump ain’t gonna work for Trump.
One trait that (so far) seems to define the college team is that they seem to focus much more on theory and models than on hands-on practicalities. They seemed to waste time on defining roles (kitchen manager?) than on accomplishing the task. For example, the high school team really worked on suggestive selling–did you notice that they told every customer about the sandwich they were selling and they concentrated on POS service.
And anyone who thinks Danny paid any attention to Trump’s criticism is high. It was obvious that Danny was dismissing what he was being told. Expect no changes from him.
My thoughts on this season’s Apprentice.
Someone already brought this up, but my first impression of Erin was “Ashlee Simpson in her first acting role!”
Danny’s promotion looked like it was put together by a thrid-grader or a crazy street person who thought he was somehow affiliated with Burger King. Had I been a passerby, I would have assumed he was insane and that no real BK connection existed.
I actually did sing Kumbayah in college - when I was singing along to Guadalcanal Diary’s album “Walking in the Shadow of the Big Man.” :o
Jen is definitely my choice. She’s a savvy lawyer, smart as hell, balsy, ambitious, curvvy, and, um–oh yeah. That was last season. Sorry. 
I pray Danny survives many episodes. Sure, he’s an annoying, clueless, talentless Bohemianesque poser, but that makes him perfectly suited for the melodrama that is The Apprentice. He’s there to incite and divide, to roll eyes, to grate on people’s last friggin’ nerves all while Seriously Overestimating his talent.
I hope his next get-up finds him wearing a psychedelic Nehru jacket, John Lennon shades, flipflops, and bong with a Greenpeace sticker on it. I want to see him prod and poke and provoke his teammates until someone finally snaps and hurls him into a passing bus. The bespeckled fool is way out of his element and has as much chance of landing a corporate positon with Trump as Che Guevara would on George Bush’s National Security Council. When he finally flames out, he will dwarf the Hindenberg. Leno and Letterman will love him.
I thought Net Worth’s name was odd. I’m no finance major, but isn’t net worth how much you have, not how much you make? They were pretty proud of their name, and I was hoping Trump would call 'em on it.
Magna struck me as odd as well (perhaps even unbelievable). Sure, Magna is good, but what about Summa? The Yahoo footage revealed that they picked Magna because they were second to the one Summa, Mr. Trump. Please. The ass kissing started early this year. “I’ll sue who you want me to sue haw haw haw!”
Danny is definitely Michael Moore sans a few trips to Burger King. Artistic, weird, and bugging people on the street. Of course, he displayed a cunning sense of creativity so far:
“We’re going to sell the triple cheese angus steak burger.”
“What are you going to call it?”
“The uh… triple cheese angus steak burger.”
Erin stole the bath mat from The Amazing Race and wore it for the interviews. Maybe Phil can make a guest appearance and phileminate her.
Overall I enjoyed it though. When the show started I was teetering on the brink of downgrading the show’s status in the Slacker house from “watch in the living room with the wife” to “watch while playing Warcraft,” but they’ve got me for at least another week.
Hey guys…
I was going to bring this up in here, but someone has already started a thread about it in general questions.
During the reward challenge, one of the guys asked Trump about a story he heard about the broken-down limo, and paying off the guy’s mortgage. Trump said that yes, it was true. Apparently Snopes says it is false. Did The Donald get caught in a lie? I honestly have no idea. I wouldn’t put it past him to do that, or to lie about it… I just wanted to point out the GQ thread in case anyone missed it and wants to chime in.
hee, I heard it as “cut by the juggler” and I immediately pictured a shifty-eyed evil clown type slinking off into the night with his bloody knife.
Man. Almost every pop culture reference I was planning to make has been taken! Like *av8rmike, I was singing “I gave my love a cherry…BANG!”
And like interface2x and slacker, I was calling Erin Paris Simpson. The only one I have left is the moment when Magna went back to the suite. They had been all “cum ba ya” and “united” before. But when things went bad, Danny was bummed that the claws came out. All I could picture in my head was Homer Simpson kicking him in the stomach and yelling "Welcome to the real world, Hippie!
Overall, a promising cast.
A few Random Thoughts:
Danny is NOT entertaining. Simply being different does not make good television. I kept rolling my eyes at his forced catchphrase. Good buzz words are naturally occuring. Not practiced in advance. As for his wardrobe, I think it IS a big deal. To borrow ScubaBen’s bit, I offer this lesson: know your audience. Trump expects men to be dressed conservatively. Danny is scruffy, wrinkled and hipster. Sir, the role of KRAMER has already been cast.
I am rooting for Networth. I have a college degree and JD, and appreciate education. However, I have never liked people who think that having that education makes them better than someone who does not. That is the role that Magna (likely being forced/played up by Burnett) have assumed. They seem to be smug. It probably doesn’t reflect their real beliefs, but in the world of “reality” TV, this MUST be truth. (plus, who ever thought Trump would be cast in the populist role?!)
I like John. I liked his speech. I think the BK regulars were genuinely inspired. They had that skeptical look at first, but I think they worked harder for him because of his speech. Brian on the other hand reminds me of Chris last year. He was obnoxious at dinner. Trump gave him one of those, “What’s with this asshole?” looks. Tana was kind of over the top annoying, but she’s not to HATE yet. I also agree with “Michael, who?” When Trump was naming everyone who could leave I had NO IDEA who he was! And did someone say Kristen was on “Murder in Small Town X” or was that some inside joke? The only thing I know about that show was that the winner was a firefighter who died on 9/11.
I think the right thing happened last night. Though he sucked (shouldn’t someone like Danny be at least capable? He seemed like a flake AND an idiot!), the loss was not Danny’s fault. He got people in the door. It was a management issue. I don’t really think Alex is in trouble. I assume in the cut footage, Alex said he tried to get Todd to train as a backup. And for those who have complained that past candidates have shirked responsibility when things go bad, (a pet Peeve of Carolyn’s as well) I give you last night’s episode. There is NEVER any reason to do the right thing in the boardroom. The best you can do is downplay your negatives and never blame someone else for them.
George should get some more run. Carolyn is awesome, but I really think George had some great comments that get ignored by Trump.
And looking at next week’s preview…well let’s put it in a spoiler box, because we haven’t re-established last season’s policies on spoilers:
Who do you think walks off? Do you think they’ll come back? Carolyn following the person looks like GREAT television! I’m betting on Paris Simpson!
Well, I planned on reserving judgment until a couple episodes had passed. Based on my past experience with the show, I was assuming we’d see an assload of really annoying people, and I’m going to pick my team based on the distribution of those people. However, I’d like to point out that one of the few things I find more annoying than bragging about one’s education is bragging about one’s…ah…net worth. So any sympathetic leaning I would have had for the street smarts group is suddenly cancelled out.
Yeah, I really wish that had been explained. It just looked like they spent as much money as they wanted to on promotion. Was there any limit? Hey, I’ve got an idea! Let’s give customers a free ten-dollar bill with every burger purchase! The task as shown in the show made no sense. A ten-second explanation of the limits on promotion would have helped.
And why did the street smarts team get to spend so much more money? ronincyberpunk’s statement (that the BK exec might have had to OK the promotion) sounds plausible; but, if true, that means Daddy really screwed up – why wasn’t that mentioned in the Boardroom?
Kudos to Trump for not firing Danny, though – and also for hammering that other guy (Alex?) in the Boardroom. In this case, it would have been completely legit to fire Danny, but hopefully Trump’s show of not going along with the sacrificial offering from the group will curtail some of the pre-emptive finger-pointing we saw last season.
There are numerous economic studies that show the value of a college degree. I don’t doubt that there is a high correlation between motivation and the desire to go to college to a large degree, but ther reality is that in general a college degree is one of the most importnat determinants in how mych a person makes over their lifetime.
And I guess we just have to disagree about the speech.
One thing I see different about the two teams is that I think the High School grads are more accomplished, in general. It seems to me that the college rgrads are a lot of middle management types and lawyers while the Street Smarts team is more “executive” in the sense that htey have built and managed. That is my perception it may be totally wrong, of course.
On a different note, was it no accident that the fired guy got into a cab that was carrying advertising for Yahoo! Hot Jobs?
OK. I’m totally pulling for the team that actually works. I think the college team has shown no backbone and no leadership at all. They do have a great ability to sit around and discuss things to death, so that’s nice, but I don’t see anyone who is going to step up to the plate. I hope I’m wrong–otherwise these teams will be “re-assigned” in two more episodes.
I don’t care if Danny loves polyester, but holy crap, just shave. I wouldn’t let that guy come anywhere near my hamburger, and I certainly wouldn’t play the quasi-levitra game he created while he stands around like some class-skipping, angst-ridden college student begging for change in Boulder. If he isn’t the product of intentional selection process to create controversy, I don’t what would be. (and yes I know he has quite a successful resume including 4 national composition awards, but, come on, is there anyway Trump would ever hire that guy?)
Although he’s going to flame out because he’s loud and abrasive, the heavier guy who sounded like he was buzzed at the victory dinner on the high school team cracked me up. Telling the Donald that paying off that guy’s house was “fucking awesome” cracked me up.
The college girl who broke into tears… just go home. now. before it actually gets a little tough.
Mullinator, great ratings! I thought they were…
UNBELIEVABLE!
Yeah, the vibe I’m getting from her is wide-eyed enthusiasm. She’s definitely not shy, and she’ll put her whole self out there.
Maybe it’s my Iowa bias, but I’d be surprised to see her doing any backstabbing. I think she might be vulnerable though, because she won’t question motives. People who act against their own best interests tend to surprise us. Maybe we just aren’t deep thinkers.
