Results tagged “markburnett”

A look at some noteworthy television this week:

This morning, the City Council's Black, Latino and Asian Caucus protested the upcoming season of CBS reality stalwart, Survivor, which has split its four tribes up by race - Asian, black, Hispanic, and white. City Councilman Robert Jackson, the caucus' chairman, said, "We are going to call on CBS to pull the plug on this... I'm hoping that the experiment fails so they know that the people of this great country are above this race-baiting-type situation." Fat chance CBS will take it off the air, as the gimmick controversy will only give them higher ratings and an even bigger lead-in for CSI on Thursday nights. Hell, we're even back to being interested in Survivor now. And City Councilman John "Media Minute" Liu said, "The idea of having a battle of the races is preposterous. How could anybody be so desperate for ratings?" Um, it's called "I Can't Believe Fox Has the Number 1 Reality Show," we think - that Mark Burnett is always out for blood!

The fifth "amazing bestest yet ever most ridiculous [insert other stupid and/or hyperbolic descriptor here]" season of the Apprentice premiered last night, and boy, do the contestants get dumber and dumber! Maybe not totally dumber, because Lord knows what Gothamist would be doing if we had to work with other people handpicked by Donald Trump and Mark Burnett, but you'd think that people who apply to be on the show would have seen previous episodes and learn from past fired Apprentices' mistakes. That said, The Donald displayed his usual weaknesses of being a sucker for anything that has to do with the Ivy League, brainiac organizations (Mensa), or accents (two new foreign-born contestants - it really is a global village) - and coming up with lame rewards (we think having a chat with Mayor Bloomberg at Gracie Mansion is better than the Wharton Club prize, but whatever!). The team captains were Tarek "Call Me Mensa" and Allie, a former U. Florida Gators cheerleader and Harvard Business School grad, and give them a Good Year Blimp challenge to drive memberships at a Sam's Club, they'll give you cruciating reality show drama!

And not any old gym: The minions in the fourth season of Donald Trump-Mark Burnett's rat race contest had to create a fitness program for Bally's Total Fitness! Yes, the Bally's that has admitted to using "high pressure sales techniques" and other unlawful practices to attract and retain customers! Ugh. They may be a cheap option month to month, but you'll need to go through about five circles of hell to break your membership. Anyway, this season of the Apprentice had the teams split up into the men and the women again, and thankfully, stupidity and insta-hate emerged immediately. This task also enabled the cameras to take a lot of gratuitous ass shots of people working out.

Gothamist hopes part of this Apprentice spin-off will take place at Martha's Bedford estate, while she's serving her house arrest. That would be the most awesome thing ever: "See who can do hospital corners with sheets!" "Who can pick the most eggs?" Empress Wu, one of Martha's Chow Chows, could be an advisor! And if you've got a background in picking stocks, you might have a leg up. Gothamist is unclear if the goal is to be a domestic doyenne or media mogul-turned-jailbird, but, whatever, 15 minutes of fame is worth it to some.

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The Post has the inside track on the city's hot The Apprentice finale watching parties, including Kwame's at BLVD. The Post's Linda Stasi also spent the day with The Donald: " I suspect he showers fully clothed in case he needs to run out to a meeting."

Of course Amy is denying all: "This claim is absolutely false and is so ridiculous it really does not warrant a response. I think Katrina is a beautiful, smart young woman and I'm sorry to see her use such a ploy as a PR measure." People say that had there been any hanky-panky, it would have ended up on the show, which Gothamist can believe, since Mark Burnett is such a ratings whore. That's why we think the "sleeping" probably happened in some alley, elevator, or taxicab. But, jeez, all the people on The Apprentice are such idiots. Except for Carolyn and George. Gothamist loved Carolyn Kepcher's interview with the Times yesterday. And Troy - we hated you less than Nick and Amy, so we'll miss you - just not your hat.

The Smoking Gun has the trademark applications for "You're Fired." Judges allowed Trump to trademark it for clothing, but not for games or his casinos. Gothamist worries when HR gives us a box and inside it's the "You're Fired" t-shirt that does their job for them. And the Post reports on the Apprentice tryouts. One applicant says, "Trump is the Madonna of the business world." We can't wait to see Trump at the Kabbalah Centre on East 48th!

The Times looks at the beautiful partnership that is reality TV guru Mark Burnett (a former nanny too!) and Donald Trump, what with the reality show, The Apprentice, about aspiring moguls vying for a job with the Donald on deck. The most amusing part was research that compared the Donald with celebrity entrpreneurs: "Mr. Trump was considered less appealing to see in a reality show than Oprah Winfrey or Ted Turner, but more engaging than P. Diddy or Martha Stewart."

Gothamist cannot wait to go to "Restaurant," the new restaurant/reality series from Rocco DiSpirito (Union Pacific), Mark Burnett (Survivor), and NBC (Channel 4 here in NY). There's nothing we like more than food and a little insanity. The Times Styles section looks what seems to be a hilarious casting/hiring process, as employees need to be competent but cute. But in a city of actors who work as watiers, Gothamist has to hand it to the genius of Mark Burnett to capitalize on it.

New that Survivor producer Mark Burnett is planning a reality show where people work for Donald Trump is something Gothamist would watch, but maybe it's because Jen is reminded of her first job: