You would think that Donald Trump announcing his run for president would finally mean the end of “Celebrity Apprentice.” You would be wrong.
“We will re-evaluate Trump’s role as host of ‘Celebrity Apprentice’ should it become necessary, as we are committed to this franchise,” NBC said last week after Trump’s speech.
You read that correctly: After 11 years, NBC still refuses to officially pull the plug on this show, even though its host is making a run for president. It’s incredible. Over the last decade, Trump’s “Apprentice” franchise has become the reality competition show with nine lives. The ratings plummet; it goes on a mysterious hiatus for a year; Trump threatens to quit. Somehow, the series always claws its way back on air, with Trump still at the helm.
The show’s strange endurance is fitting because, at one point — believe it or not — “The Apprentice” seemed unstoppable.
In spring 2003, Mark Burnett — the hottest reality TV producer around thanks to “Survivor” — pitched a competition show where young, business-savvy men and women vied for a job with Donald Trump, the infamous New York billionaire real estate mogul. According to “Desperate Networks,” a book by former New York Times reporter Bill Carter, three broadcast networks aggressively bid on the project, which had an $18 million price tag for a 15-episode season. NBC was the lucky winner
Such a risky move had to have a big payoff, and it did. “The Apprentice” was an enormous hit, averaging about 21 million viewers over its first season in January 2004, making stars out of unknowns including winner Bill Rancic and show villain Omarosa.
“Donald Trump was suddenly the hottest name in television — as he was pleased to point out to anyone who was listening,” Carter wrote. “His tag line — ‘You’re fired!’ — as he lowered the boom on the latest failed high-achiever, became one of the most awaited television moments of the week.”
NBC quickly ordered two more seasons to air that fall and in spring 2005. However, the third season had some missteps: Trump hated the cast that NBC assembled and blamed the network as ratings started to slide, Carter reported, as the show slipped to about 14 million viewers per episode. (It didn’t help that its lead-in was the abysmal “Joey” instead of the behemoth “Friends.”) NBC was still quite pleased by those numbers, though.
The drama got worse when Burnett tapped recently imprisoned Martha Stewart for her own version of “The Apprentice” that would air on NBC along with Trump’s fourth season in fall 2005, with the thinking that everyone would want to tune in to see America’s most famous celebrity inmate. It didn’t go well. Stewart’s edition flopped and Trump later complained that it damaged his flagship show.
Still: “The hit version with Donald Trump was already sliding, diminished by the wretched lead-ins and probably too much exposure,” Carter wrote, adding that some were surprised that Trump still wanted to star on the show himself after a few seasons.
But Trump couldn’t get enough of the primetime TV spotlight. While the show soldiered on for a fifth season, ratings really started to slide, especially when the sixth season moved production to Los Angeles. Then, at the NBC upfronts in May 2007, the show was mysteriously absent from the fall schedule. Trump didn’t take so kindly to that: Reuters reported that Trump released a statement that said he was “moving on from ‘The Apprentice’ to a major new TV venture,” seemingly quitting before he could get fired.
But Trump and NBC made up, to the surprise of many, and the network renewed the show again. “NBC put a stake in Donald Trump, but they forgot to pour holy water over ‘The Apprentice,’” one TV reporter wrote wryly of the show’s resurrection. The twist: The seventh season would feature only celebrities, officially becoming “Celebrity Apprentice.”
The all-Hollywood angle breathed some life back into the series. The network ordered another celebrity edition almost immediately after the first one debuted in January 2008, calling this new twist a “game changer.” After that, it was a quick succession of renewals each year, with celebrity winners including Piers Morgan, Joan Rivers, Bret Michaels and John Rich.
Now, as Trump continues his presidential campaign, the network is still determined to make the “Apprentice” franchise continue, even possibly without Trump. Do NBC executives need the show that badly? Or do they think Trump’s much-mocked presidential run won’t be much of an issue for long? Either way — it’s truly the show that will not die.
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