Photos
Video
RSS'The Celebrity Apprentice': Rodman's meltdown
We all saw the promos, NBC spent a lot of time pushing tonight's episode of "The Celebrity Apprentice" as the one where Dennis Rodman has a meltdown. I was hoping for some massive fireworks. Did we get them? Not really, a few sparklers, but no fireworks.
The night started off with Dennis explaining to us that after last week's firing there were now three teams -- the women, the men, and Dennis. Clint Black, the other guy we saw in the promo, instantly got into it with Dennis, trying to explain to him that maybe, just maybe, Dennis ought to have had proof of his "eye problem." Black wasn't wrong, but picking a fight with Dennis Rodman just doesn't seem like a good idea, not because of the fear that Dennis might mangle him, but because it has to be like talking to a brick wall.
From the start of this week's task (which revolved around helping launch a videophone before sales reps), Dennis was separate from the rest of the group, as the men chose their PM, Brian McKnight, Dennis just sort of wandered around. Then, when the men and women had to negotiate for a timeslot to make their presentations, Dennis just sat off in the corner, he was invited over to join the guys but opted not to do so.
It fell to Clint Black and Annie Duke to talk to one another about who was going to present the videophone in which order. They both wanted to go second and so ended up flipping a coin. To me, that sounded like a perfectly fair way to go about it, the men won, and that was when Dennis had his little meltdown.
I watched the scene a couple of times, and I'm still not quite sure why Dennis lost it (in the boardroom later no one on the men's side could say why Dennis flipped). All I know is that Dennis started yelling and cursing at Clint, he talked about how it was a "team game" (which Clint had kind of pointed out to Dennis the night before) and stormed off. I wish I could tell you more specifically why he flipped out and got in Clint's face, but I can't. There was no immediate cause for it. The men opted to not call him and invite him back.
However, as the men started to plan their product launch, they still failed to act like a team. Clint didn't seem enthused with the leadership and clearly wanted to be allowed to sing either instead of or in addition to Brian McKnight, and McKnight was just not interested in going down that road.
As for Dennis, he did eventually show back up, hours later, explaining that Dennis doesn't quit. I guess he just takes lots and lots of time off without telling anyone where he's going, why he's going, or what he plans on doing.
The women, led this week by Claudia Jordan, had a lot of great ideas, but absolutely no order to their plans. They wanted Joan to do their opening comedy bit, but Joan was off gallivanting again this week (she'd be back in time for the presentation). Claudia explained that without Joan her team was like the Patriots at the Super Bowl without Tom Brady -- they didn't have their leader. I don't know about you, but I didn't have the heart to tell Claudia that as the PM she was kind of the leader. The poor lady may not have understood what I was talking about.
Melissa ended up taking control of the women's squad because she felt like producing events was her bread and butter. Claudia, correctly, figured that if Joan wasn't a star Melissa never would have been one and that Melissa should just sit down and not hog the show. Melissa may have quieted, but she still produced the presentation.
Joan was definitely the highlight of the women's lackluster presentation. The men, with their stars & stripes video and Brian McKnight's song were much more enjoyable. And, I have to give credit to Clint Black, who didn't seem enthused about the presentation behind the scenes, he gave it his all on stage even if he didn't get to sing.
After watching the men, it shouldn't be surprising that their team garnered more votes from the sales folks (about 85% preferred the men). In the boardroom, even before it was announced that the women lost, they started falling apart. And, not surprisingly, when Claudia went after Melissa, Joan (at her daughter's request), came to Melissa's aid. I know that Joan thinks that she's helping her daughter by fending off anyone who might hurt Melissa, but she's really not doing the girl any favors.
It was actually the men, sitting upstairs, who had the nub of the issue that Claudia wasn't smart enough to come up with -- if Melissa was so great at producing events why wasn't she the project manager? Had Claudia said that she may not have gotten fired tonight. She didn't bring it up, so she did go home.
Questions, questions:
- Quite honestly, you tell me, you're Brian McKnight, you have to make a split-second decision between taking Dennis Rodman's help and spending more money than you probably should on equipment for the show. Would you have taken Dennis's help? Would he have come through?
- How did Joan get to bail again? She was gone for a day on last week's task and she was gone for a day again on this week's. I understand that the show wanted her name, but if she couldn't commit the time should she have been on?
Post a comment
Zap2it Twitter Talk 
Clint Black has not been my favorite person so far on the show, but I must say I really enjoyed his performance last night. He really kept his cool with Dennis (which I admire). I didn't get the impression that he thought he should be singing instead and/or with Brian. I just thought Clint felt he had more to offer and Brian should listen to his opinion. But he didn't throw a fit and he worked hard. I'm wondering if he listened to the comments made about his attitude a couple shows before and has tried to tone it down.
Clint also had some of the best lines tonight. "Today I had to rise to the level of bonehead" and "I'm kinda enjoying my great lack of responsibilities."
My take on the Dennis blowup was that he wanted to pick a fight with Clint. If Clint lost the coin toss, Dennis was going to use that as an excuse to get in his face. Then when Clint won, Dennis decided to get in his face anyway.
It was actually pretty cool to see Claudia mock Melissa and to state that she'd be nothing if not for her famous mom. Perhaps this wasn't the nicest thing, but I'm so tired of these people all acting as if they really like and respect one another (like the useless, stupid, pointless Dennis does).
The women's presentation was idiotic. What the heck was that "proposal" about? I could see if the proposal had been over the phone, but instead the entire phone portion of that scenario was the guy calling the girl and asking her to meet him. Ummm, you need a video phone for that? You'd think the fact that they're supposed to be selling a vidphone would have clued them in that stage scenarios really weren't necessary, and the scenarios themselves were in no way compelling.
Does anyone else get tired of the Hair Monster's constant kissing up to the contestants? Yeah, I'm sure Trump listens to all their music, watches all their sports, and is generally a p***ionate fan of them all. Ugh. So tiresome and unctuous. (Though it should be noted he gave Tom NOOO love at all when his dismissed him.)
Oh, and surely the funniest part of the evening was the "Lessons from the Apprentice" commercial where each of his kids is asked what they've learned from him. I so much wanted the daughter to say, "Always have a rich daddy, and get implants as soon as you can" and Jr. to say, "A distinctive hairstyle is always a sign of cl***". For pity's sake, does NBC think this show really has any educational value?
This show was taped maybe last year.There's no way viewer's comments would changed their demeanor. In reality, nobody would hire Dennis. He's not a team player and was never be. When you go back and watch how he played in the NBA, he wasn't doing the hard work. He was good in stealing ball and p*** it to Jordan. Taht was it.
Since this is a scripted show, nobody would believe their confontration. In reality, Dennis would have been fired or not even hired in the first place. What is he doing now? No team in the NBA wanted him anyway. He was suspended and later fired. It's his attitude and big ego.
There are more better players and young ones than him. He's not the best player ever. He's just a rebounder that played well w/ Jordan caput.
Poor Claudia, she didn't have a chance with the Joan-Melissa double team.
Best scene of the show: During the board room, the camera showed us a shot of the men watching. In the one corner, we saw Jesse James pick up a plate, smell the food then put it back down. That is a real man and not a celebrity for you!!!
I think the furniture that is seen on the show is more useful than Rodman.
Dennis Rodman reminds me of the employee who flakes off, doesn't follow the rules but is generally annoying. . . yet doesn't really do any damage other than be a distraction. And he survives because he is a pet of the CEO. Once the CEO wakes up (Maybe next week), the flake is gone! In the meantime, the producers probably think he makes good television. They would be wrong!
Claudia was a snipey lightweight who was rightfully fired.
My pick for the win: Jesse James. I'm mad for the man!
i wish trump would have fired khloe---i want more confrontation between claudia and melissa---i don't see any of the other women besides maybe annie having enough guts to go after her. i'll bet anything that if trump fires melissa before joan, joan will quit and go home with her daughter---those two are almost bullies on that team.
Very smart of Jesse to realize it was worth it to go the extra mile and head to West Point for the video. I don't know how much that particular part of the task paid off for them, but since they had the time, they had to make the effort.