Okay, who's watching? I have never gotten caught up in any of the reality shows before, but this one is halarious. No idea who will win, but Sam is a load of TNT dancing over a fire.
The Apprentice
- Thread starter KGP
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Watched for the first time last week. It was alright but I don't think I will make it a regular view.
This is one of the first reality shows I have looked forward to watching. Sam is a mad man. The women seem to be doing very well but are using sexuality a little too much if you ask me. I love the way Trump is so concise when he fires people, direct to the point with no emotion.
If ya got it, use it.
I too admire that.
The first show was ok but then it got boring. All the women in that show do is use sex and it gets old real fast. The men are not that interesting and there's no character you can cheer on.
The interactive dynamics are great. Okay, go out on a limb and pick you winner. My money is on Kwame.
Sam was a total failure. Not that the dude won't be successful, because I think he will...just not running a Fortune 500.
Sam was a total failure. Not that the dude won't be successful, because I think he will...just not running a Fortune 500.
KGP said:
Sam just proposed to his fiance on national television several days ago. He talks before he thinks, but he is a real character.
I was informed that he is trying to have his own talk show. I can see the resemblence between him and Jay Leno (chin structure
).
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Sam is a space cadet. He's in his own world. You hear his 10 min football analogy when he was team leader? He wouldn't even listen to anyone else. Or his $1000 cup of lemonade. That aside i think he does have the potential to do well. As Trump said, he'll be a big success or total failure. He thinks out of the box unlike all the other guys which are way way too conservative... he has that going for him. The men's jet liner ad campaign was the most boring pos ever.
Don't get me started on the woman
Sex may help u sell a little in the real world, but basically all their wins have been based on using sex. They flirt with guys to sell lemonade, they make reference to the twig and berries for the private jet (that one was a inovative idea gotta admit), and dance around and show their bellies to bargain prices down. Hopefully Trump picks future competitions where sex won't help them. Maybe a weight lifting competition....something the guys can definitely win heh.
I think i'm way to into this...
Don't get me started on the woman
Sex may help u sell a little in the real world, but basically all their wins have been based on using sex. They flirt with guys to sell lemonade, they make reference to the twig and berries for the private jet (that one was a inovative idea gotta admit), and dance around and show their bellies to bargain prices down. Hopefully Trump picks future competitions where sex won't help them. Maybe a weight lifting competition....something the guys can definitely win heh.I think i'm way to into this...
I would imagine quite a bit. Like most of these 'reality shows'.
Made up? I look at it two ways:
1. Can you imagine what it might do for their carrer to be acting President for one of Donny's companies? Uhm they would kill each other for the opportunity.
2. Camera work, and more importantly the editing gives us what sells, the juicy stuff. Who knows what the cuts comprise.
1. Can you imagine what it might do for their carrer to be acting President for one of Donny's companies? Uhm they would kill each other for the opportunity.
2. Camera work, and more importantly the editing gives us what sells, the juicy stuff. Who knows what the cuts comprise.
I'm not saying that it is made up rather in the real world it probably isn't quite that dramatic. Then again, I don't live in the real world so what do I know.
Will the men ever win?
I have been unable to watch this and I am not afraid of reality television. It is like watching a train wreck, but you still have to look. I just can't stomach Trump who thinks he is God's gift to women and society. Can't stand all that arrogance, besides don't you think all that money could afford him some better hair than that terrible forward then back feathered comb-over. 
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JChoice said:
Come on! This is "THE DONALD" we're talking about. A man who never met a camera or microphone he didn't fall in love with.
And all this talk about the women plying their sexual wares to get their way? Duhhh...isn't this show partly produced by Trump himself? This is a man who once had his mug plastered on the front page of the N.Y. Post reading, "The best sex I've ever had".
Donald doesn't like using sex to sell, hence his ownership of the Miss America pageant.
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Actually, after reading the books out there that are by/on him ... as well as some other business books from people who have worked with him in the past, it seems he IS that "concise and direct." He is very egotistical, but that is a big part of developing on the scale he does, in a city like NY. Like it or not, he is very good at what he does, and deserves to be just as arrogant as any winning athlete or pop star that we seem to have to put up with... business people need heros too!
What I find interesting about this show is what it lacks - and to me, what it lacks is any kind of analysis of why one team beats the other one.
I'll give you an example. Let's take last week's negotiating show, in which each team must buy a bundle of ten items. The lesson here SHOULD have been to concentrate on the item(s) where there is lots of profit margin, and lots of room for negotiation. Your success or failure isn't going to depend on how much money you spend on the gold, where the profit margin is $5; it's going to depend on how much you spend on the golf clubs, where the profit margin is well over $100. The program showed the women finding a dealer where they saved $110 on the golf clubs, and the men finding only a dealer that stuck with full list price. But they never mentioned this lesson at all.
I think there are several reasons why the women are killing the men. One is that the women are somehow able to focus their efforts in the right areas, the ones that will pay off - on the profit from the golf clubs, on increasing liquor sales in the restaurant. The men fail to do this.
All of this is quite aside from the use of sex by the women, which would probably have given them these wins anyway, even if the men had been able to achieve the same focus. This week Donald pointed this out to them. However, what he didn't point out is that the problem with sex is that at some point it's going to contribute to failure, rather than success, because it is seen as inappropriate and tacky. I'm surprised this wasn't the case with the ad agency project.
Another reason why the women are killing the men is that they are working SOMEWHAT better as a team. Neither group is working great together, but the men have been a disaster in terms of teamwork and leadership/coordination. The negotiating project was the perfect example. That project should have had a couple of team members working the Internet to find out which products have a higher profit margin, and where all the various products are sold, and using this information to direct the team members in the field to specific vendors to make the purchases. This is where Sam fell down on the job. Not only did he do a poor job in lacking any insight into which products had profit potential to use in the negotiations, but he didn't even always send them to vendors that carried the product (sending them to a store that didn't even sell golf clubs!) and his communications leadership was appalling (refusing to provide phone numbers of the stores to the guys in the field). They never showed how the women came up with the right places to buy, but somehow they did.
One of the lessons you learn in business is the importance of teamwork. This SHOULD come through on the program, but doesn't. Sure, it's clear that both of the teams have interpersonal issues, but in the business world, you succeed by putting those issues aside and concentrating on the goal at hand. As a result, if the team wins, everyone wins. This is never shown or even alluded to. In fact, this past week, there was one person, Nick, actually working AGAINST the team's success, to avenge the loss of his buddy Sam. In this case, IMO it was the Donald's fault for failing to realize this when he fired Bowie instead of Nick.
All in all, I find it an interesting concept with an astounding lack of insight and analysis of the reasons for what is happening.
I'll give you an example. Let's take last week's negotiating show, in which each team must buy a bundle of ten items. The lesson here SHOULD have been to concentrate on the item(s) where there is lots of profit margin, and lots of room for negotiation. Your success or failure isn't going to depend on how much money you spend on the gold, where the profit margin is $5; it's going to depend on how much you spend on the golf clubs, where the profit margin is well over $100. The program showed the women finding a dealer where they saved $110 on the golf clubs, and the men finding only a dealer that stuck with full list price. But they never mentioned this lesson at all.
I think there are several reasons why the women are killing the men. One is that the women are somehow able to focus their efforts in the right areas, the ones that will pay off - on the profit from the golf clubs, on increasing liquor sales in the restaurant. The men fail to do this.
All of this is quite aside from the use of sex by the women, which would probably have given them these wins anyway, even if the men had been able to achieve the same focus. This week Donald pointed this out to them. However, what he didn't point out is that the problem with sex is that at some point it's going to contribute to failure, rather than success, because it is seen as inappropriate and tacky. I'm surprised this wasn't the case with the ad agency project.
Another reason why the women are killing the men is that they are working SOMEWHAT better as a team. Neither group is working great together, but the men have been a disaster in terms of teamwork and leadership/coordination. The negotiating project was the perfect example. That project should have had a couple of team members working the Internet to find out which products have a higher profit margin, and where all the various products are sold, and using this information to direct the team members in the field to specific vendors to make the purchases. This is where Sam fell down on the job. Not only did he do a poor job in lacking any insight into which products had profit potential to use in the negotiations, but he didn't even always send them to vendors that carried the product (sending them to a store that didn't even sell golf clubs!) and his communications leadership was appalling (refusing to provide phone numbers of the stores to the guys in the field). They never showed how the women came up with the right places to buy, but somehow they did.
One of the lessons you learn in business is the importance of teamwork. This SHOULD come through on the program, but doesn't. Sure, it's clear that both of the teams have interpersonal issues, but in the business world, you succeed by putting those issues aside and concentrating on the goal at hand. As a result, if the team wins, everyone wins. This is never shown or even alluded to. In fact, this past week, there was one person, Nick, actually working AGAINST the team's success, to avenge the loss of his buddy Sam. In this case, IMO it was the Donald's fault for failing to realize this when he fired Bowie instead of Nick.
All in all, I find it an interesting concept with an astounding lack of insight and analysis of the reasons for what is happening.
Great analysis Ken. I enjoyed reading it.
I also think the men that were picked were rather weak in general. I've worked and studied with guys who were much more team players and more intelligent, and most important of all, confident rather than scared.
In addition, rarely in the real world do you find men competing against women only head on. So the team split was totally unrealistic to begin with, thus we have really strange results of the 4 challenges.
I also think the men that were picked were rather weak in general. I've worked and studied with guys who were much more team players and more intelligent, and most important of all, confident rather than scared.
In addition, rarely in the real world do you find men competing against women only head on. So the team split was totally unrealistic to begin with, thus we have really strange results of the 4 challenges.
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Ken,
I agree with much of what you said ... however I have to wonder however, how much of the lack of analysis of why one team beat another is to create more of a stir around the show. I feel that when most people have a general idea told to them explaining why something is good/bad/indifferent, they do not think much further on the subject. Most people accept a critique as an answer, rather than another angle to review, such is the case in literary works, art, investing, and many other areas. I think if you want the kind of buzz around a program like this, you have to leave many things open to discussion ... then watching the show can be more of an emotional experience where people can discuss and debate it easily with no concise answer, and without having Donald's, the review board's, or some analyst's review to regurgitate.
<p>
Why don't we have our own points/reviews of the weekly show on this forum!
I agree with much of what you said ... however I have to wonder however, how much of the lack of analysis of why one team beat another is to create more of a stir around the show. I feel that when most people have a general idea told to them explaining why something is good/bad/indifferent, they do not think much further on the subject. Most people accept a critique as an answer, rather than another angle to review, such is the case in literary works, art, investing, and many other areas. I think if you want the kind of buzz around a program like this, you have to leave many things open to discussion ... then watching the show can be more of an emotional experience where people can discuss and debate it easily with no concise answer, and without having Donald's, the review board's, or some analyst's review to regurgitate.
<p>
Why don't we have our own points/reviews of the weekly show on this forum!
It also seems that there is a distinct lack of creativity, of "thinking outside the box" among the men. While that may not be the most common trait among businesspeople, I would have expected it to surface among at least one or two of the men (just like it did among the women), but it didn't.NSX_Dreamer said:
I agree, absolutely.NSX_Dreamer said:
Another excellent point. Thanks!JAM said:
I am going out on a limb and picking the winner now.
The country boy...
http://www.nbc.com/nbc/The_Apprentice/contestants/about_troy.shtml
This is who is going home next week...
http://www.nbc.com/nbc/The_Apprentice/contestants/about_kwame.shtml
The country boy...
http://www.nbc.com/nbc/The_Apprentice/contestants/about_troy.shtml
This is who is going home next week...
http://www.nbc.com/nbc/The_Apprentice/contestants/about_kwame.shtml
Interesting that the women kept winning when it was the all-female team against the all-male team, but since they decided to change to co-ed teams, the women keep getting fired. It's now down to four men and two women.
USA Today agrees with you.steveny said:
With our 20-20 hindsight, this prediction didn't happen.steveny said:
nsxtasy said:
Well the women have been making some really bad decisions(catty) ones at that. When it comes time for the PM to pick who goes into the board room the female PM's decide based on emotions and "friendships" rather than who was the poorest player. This has come back to bite them in the end. The men are sticking together until the women are no longer a threat, IMO.
Troy is still my pick. He reminds me of myself. I could sell ice cubes to Eskimos at top dollar in the middle of winter. In the end, no matter what type of business, if you are not good at sales it will be very difficult to be successful.
