16 December 2005

Watching the 𝘈𝘱𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘦 finale.

I used to watch The Apprentice when it first came on. It was good TV. Still is, for the most part. Amazingly enough, it's managed to create Donald Trump fans. I don't think anyone would have imagined such a thing twenty years ago… but then again, nobody's guesses about the future ever turns out the way they expect.

This season, I didn't make time for it. When I did watch TV at 9 p.m. Thursdays, I watched CSI. There are very few shows I make time for; I could count them on one hand, and two of the fingers are shaky. So when I saw the promotions for this season's finale, I decided I could at least watch that. Plus, I didn't have much else going on.

I'm starting to come to the conclusion that it's best to ignore TV series when they're on television, then wait for the seasons to come out on DVD and get them from Blockbuster. You get to skip commercials, pause to go to the bathroom or make a sandwich, and you don't have to wait a week for the cliffhanger to be resolved. In the case of The Apprentice, you can get a feel for the entire season by watching the inevitable "catch-up" episode in which Donald explains all the important points of the season. I saw that over Thanksgiving; and I saw the finale. That was really all I needed to see.

The finale this season was much better than the finale last season, which went on much too long, and hired Regis Philbin for no good reason. The final candidates were very qualified. The show focused on that, which was much better than drawing out Donald's final decision, which anyone could have seen coming.

Donald actually wanted to hire both of them… and he would have, too, if the winner, Randall what's-his-last-name, hadn't suffered from a giant lack of magnanimity at the end. "There should be only one Apprentice," he said. As a result, his opponent Roberta don't-know-her-last-name-either, now has to go looking for employment, which sucks. Dude, you won. Shafting your opponent out of a great job doesn't mean you won any less. If it had been me, I'd have fired the guy right there and switched it over to Roberta. That was just petty of him. There are enough petty people in business. Hopefully Donald hires her on the side anyway, now that the cameras are off.

Enough ranting about TV. More important things are out there.