It’s week two of the new season of The Celebrity Apprentice, and already the “celebrities” are beginning to wear on one another … and on us. I enjoy the clash of personalities on the men’s team a lot more than the bickering that’s taking place on the women’s. At the same time, the clearing out of only one or two of them would probably solve that problem.
This week’s task was to author a children’s book, and then to perform it as a play for a group of kids. Meat Loaf volunteered to lead the men, while Lisa Rinna found herself nominated to lead the women … I’m not sure why children’s book author Marlee Matlin or mom Niki Taylor didn’t take this one on, but okay.
The men’s concept was cute, though I might have gone with someone else as the main character of the book; imagine a caricature of Jose Canseco with a scrawny body and a giant Jose head. It’s also a pretty funny visual double entendre. Plus I’m not sure how many kids — or adults, for that matter — have ever heard of Lil Jon.
The men’s actual implementation of their idea was a mixed bag. For every plus they got, like having two song writers pen the book, they had minuses, like everything that Meat Loaf did. As an organizer and a delegator he was kind of a disaster.
The women, meanwhile, went with a rip-off of many books, including the ever-popular Are You My Mother? And I’m not really sure that either book had a satisfying moral … the women would have been much better off going with Marlee’s idea and not La Toya the Lion.
But it was the women’s bickering that drove me nuts. Lisa was right to say that no one supported her; most of the team just sat there in silence as she battled with first one person and then another. Dionne Warwick was awful to Marlee, and I can’t believe that she and Star Jones seriously demanded to have their names credited on the cover of the book. La Toya crying as the team was fighting was hilarious.
I agree that the women put on a better show, but there’s no question that the men had the better book. And in a competition where one product has longevity and the other does not, it’s a given that the book should win out. That being said, a part of me was wishing for the women to win, just so we wouldn’t have to endure the boardroom that we eventually had to.
It’s very tiresome watching Donald Trump create reasons to fire people. I honestly don’t see why Lisa should have been expected to “fight like a dog” against Star and Dionne; the truth is that the work should speak for itself. If the project manager is already guiltier for a loss even before discussing the particulars, then the people who created the two parts of the task that lost it for the team should have to prove why they shouldn’t be fired. Lisa should have been able to sit back and relax in that final boardroom.
And Star was way wrong in saying that Lisa should have come prepared with her skill set for this show. These are “celebrities,” and all they’re meant to come prepared with is a healthy rolodex. No one’s booking them on the show for their abilities as business people. The fact that Star falls short in the necessary category is probably why she would make such a ludicrous statement.
But in the end the Trumps seemed determined to see Lisa go. Eric (the clown!) wasted one of his rare appearances on the show agreeing with Papa. At least Don Don gets more chances to shine. Once again the wrong person got fired.
Clacked by Aryeh S.
on Mar 14, 2011 @ 12:30 EST5EDT
Lisa should have fought for herself. She had the high ground but made no use of it. She should have made hay out of Dionne’s treatment of Matlin, which was awful. She should have made the case that Dionne is an out of touch diva and can’t work on a team. Star is too strong to have taken her out, but wow, does she play ugly.
In the end, I was kind of disgusted with the Apprentice for putting on someone so weak as Lisa. She could have been right as rain on every topic, but without leadership skills it’s worthless.
*POST AUTHOR*
I suppose you’re right about Lisa being out of her depth here, but in general do any of these players necessarily need leadership skills? I feel like on the “celebrity” version fund raising trumps (zing!) all.