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Last night, the producers of The Apprentice tried to mix business with one of the most non-business forms in NYC - graffiti. The two teams were supposed to promote Sony Playstation's Gran Turismo 4 by painting a mural on a Harlem wall that would appeal to an urban, hip demographic (Sony Playstation was mentioned throughout the show, ensuring that Nintendo executives are gnashing their teeth). The team leaders were Alex for Magna (aka "Book smart, but not that smart smart") and Tara for Net Worth (aka "Street smart, yet not that smart smart"). Now, Gothamist won't mention spoilers in the post for all your Tivo freaks (why aren't you at home on a Thursday night like us?), but we would like to point out that any candidate who says "I expect to win" type things usually royally screws up. For those of you who did see the show, what did you think of the murals? Which had better graffiti? Which was more on message? And did you laugh at Alex's fear of being in Harlem?
And Gothamist also thinks it's hilarious that The Donald never mentions the brand's executives by names (they only get mentioned if they are like C-level types) and that he claims they are in the world headquarters of various brands. For instance, as a reader pointed out, last night The Donald claimed they were at the world headquarters of Sony, which we would think is in Japan, but they were in the offices of ad agency Chiat/Day; a few weeks ago, the challenge was supposed at Nestle, but really at ad agency Publicis. Donny Deutsch must have the secret to The Donald's hair or something.
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Two favorite moments:
1. Alex saying his mini-focus group insisted that there be "mad props" in the mural. Alex may not know what the hell Mad Props are, but damned if he isn't going to find a way to put them in there.
2. Tara insisting she will make a mural respectful to the community. Cut to: community member saying her mural is a "stereotypical view of Harlem".
Both murals were hideous! But only one remembered to be an advertisement, so there really was no choice. (Winner) didn't win as much as (Loser) blew it.
I look forward to a forthcoming Apprentice article where Mayor Bloomberg arrests the entire cast and crew for messing with his anti-graffiti stance. THAT would be Must See TV.
I just read about the prior night's episode on their website. It's getting on my nerves as much as that Wednesday night American Idol show. I'm just going to watch the competition nights from now on and skip the show on who gets dumped and just read that on Idol's website. I just can't believe either group on The Apprentice is stupider as a whole than individually.
Both murals were horrid. And if you notice, the discussion between Donnie and the "Playstation execs" was completely done in secret. Methinks it was a case of lesser of two evils. Because both of those murals sucked hard.
And Sir Donald Trump, personally I want to thank you for honoring Black History month by not only having your teams compete in a contest that makes them draw graffiti on a wall in Harlem--Harlem was actually never a solid home for graffiti--but also ends up with the two African-American contestants going at each others throats.
Auggh. Reality Smality TV. I'm tired of all its hideous renditions and stupidity. The lack of intelligent network programming in the last 5 years has been disappointing at best.
I was up late last night and saw good ole' reruns of Hee Haw. It left me wondering what happened to unpretentious TV as I laughed my ass off.
Why does this season suck so much? The majority of the people on the previous seasons are much more qualified than most of the people on this season. It seemed like they rushed this into production too quickly and didn't have a big enough field of candidates to get really qualified ones.
Also, what's the big "blow up" next week that they hinted in the previews? It sounded like one of the candidates were caught doing something illegal. My prediction is Audrey gets caught snorting blow...
My last name is Graf. I'm not ethnically German though, well, at least we can't trace it back that far.
I think one of the contestants will get caught smoking a cigarette in front of the children at whatever clown carnival it appears they have to work at in the next episode. That's my bet.
Both of the murals wore rediculous; way to cartoonish. I would have done the same thing the Donster had done in the lotion mission, they all should have lost.
I think Donnie Boy actualy said they were in the Playstation world headquarters or he may have been refering to the American headquarters:
Sony Corporation of America
(212) 833-6800
550 Madison Ave
New York, NY 10022
I'm continually amazed at the poor quality of contestants that they get on The Apprentice. Do they intentionally pick people who are just inept and therefore easy to fire? This season is especially full of people who just can't seem to hack it.
As bad as the murals are on TV imagine living by one. The "winning" one is painted on the side of my building and everyday I am confronted with that horror.