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NBC rehires the original 'Apprentice'
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Donald Trump said in a recent conference call that he's often asked when he might do a non-celebrity version of "The Apprentice" again. He now has an answer: later this year.NBC announced Wednesday (March 17) that it's bringing back the original version of "The Apprentice," in which contestants will compete for a job working for Trump. The new version of the show will have a recessionary twist, as the contestants will all be either unemployed, stuck in jobs they don't like or recent college graduates facing a weak job market.
"The Celebrity Apprentice" will continue as well, meaning that NBC will likely go back to two cycles of the show per season.
"I am very excited to return to the original premise of 'The Apprentice,'" Trump says. "We've got to do something about the economy, and this is a terrific way to provide jobs as well as business lessons along the way. NBC, [executive producer] Mark Burnett and I hope this economic downturn can begin a turnaround, and we'll do our best with 'The Apprentice' to see that it starts happening."
The new "Apprentice" is likely to premiere in the fall; casting calls will be announced in the near future. As with past versions of the show, the winner will get a job with one of Trump's businesses. The others will have to settle for "Donald Trump's personal advice to help them find their dream jobs," as Burnett puts it.
The last non-celebrity "Apprentice" aired in the spring of 2007 and was retired after a several seasons of diminishing returns in the ratings. The 2007 season, the show's sixth, averaged 7.5 million viewers per week (which wouldn't look so bad to NBC these days), down from a peak 20 million-plus in its first season.
"The Celebrity Apprentice" has done somewhat better in the ratings; the show drew 9 million viewers a week last year, and the new season opened to 8.3 million viewers on Sunday (March 14).
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Wow, now I'll have to rearrange my "practical" fall schedule, which had several promising new shows, with this stuff. So where will any new comedies go? How many new dramas will be ordered? NBC only has 15 hours to fill for the fall (Mon-Fri) And they should strive for the most attractive shows possible. Doing two Trumps per season makes me nervous.
Well, at least the original "Apprentice" is of more interest to me than the "Marriage Ref".
I watched the first couple of seasons of the original show, but it really became run of the mill and not really interesting and was better off cancelled the celeb version is better due to the charity aspect. Seems like NBC is just trying anything... They should just concentrate on quality shows, a has been reality show doesn't seem like the best route to get there, imho
I hope its the Martha version! Or at least a tradeoff. That was a bit of a train wreck.
Very happy to see the original come back. But, please... no tents. That was the stupidest twists ever. I like the recessionary twist.
I too, would like to see a non-celeb version again. The celebrity ones always end up boiling down to who has the richest friends in their Rolodex, and that gets boring after a while. Bring back the regular people who have to scramble and use their own creativity to win tasks!
Congratulations to bret! that was a very well deserved victory.