YOU ARE FIRED !. Review on The Apprentice - TV Serial NBC TV Channel

Of all the reality shows on TV ,there are two shows which I love ,the first one was the just concluded ''Apprentice'' and other one being ''American Idol'' (can vouch that William hung has been the most biggest entertainer of all the finalist selected !).There was virtually a primetime war between FOX v/s NBC with the above two shows.Even though one can rubbish all the reality shows (especially the gross makeover shows),I got to give credit for the innovative ideas that TV producers and channels ,keep throwing up every now and then ,which gets copied the world over.

Talking about this particular 15 episode mega-hit show, the concept was simple.Donald Trump a multi-multi-billionaire buisness real-estate tycoon (a casionva, show grabber et all) hiring one among 16 green horn candidates to bag a dream job of a lifetime in Trump organisation, with quarter million dollars salary plus lifestyle of a millionaire with all other perks to follow.The candidates all in the age group of 25 something, were chosen from all walks of life, from Harward MBA graduate to street smart college drop out to buisness executives etc.

Every episode two groups were formed and given an assignment to test their cunning intelligence, decision making capabilites and their strret smart savyness.While the winning team went jetsetting and partying, loosing team had to head to the Trumps boardroom where one candidate was eliminated, finally leaving two candidates to battle for the coveted position. The punchline used by Trump at the end of each episode ''You are fired '' has become so famous that he has applied for a patent for that sentence. Also every episode was sprinkled with an insight into the unimaginable lavish lifestyle of Trump, his keen business acumenship and his tongue in cheek attitude.

The assignments given to the two teams was as varied as from selling lemonade on the street of New York,to creating an advertisement for an airline to organising a pop concert, golf tournament and each episode was quite fun and quite smart. There was also a lesson or two to be learnt from each episode, when they analsyed of what went wrong with the loosing team and finally boiled down to the point of saying that, a single mistake can prove too costly in buisness, an oppurtunity knocks only once, either you grab it with both the hands or fret away your whole life for ruining it.

But even those who lost in the competition are no less than celebreties now ,with some like Kwane and Omarosa flooded with job offers from top corporation across US. However the winner of this show,Bill was finally offered a choice to decide between to oversee the construction of a spectacular 80+ storey new building, Trump International Hotel and Tower in downtown Chicago, or he could manage an incredible golf course on the edge of the ocean, Trump National Golf Club in Los Angeles. However the winner chose the former,as it was his hometown and the best part was when TRump asked him to take over the job in 15 minutes.

It would not be wrong to say that, 80% of the success of this show can be attributed to the charisma of Trump ,a man with Midas touch, who never feels ashamed to flaunt his wealth and proud to showoff his spend thrift lifestyle. However the brain behind this show is Mark Burnett, the same guy who produced ''The Survivor'' series,which was the first reality show to hit the small screen and capture the imagination of the audience world over. This show has been such a big sucess that, the second season of the Apprentice is coming up this fall.

Talking of the cons, the candidates were not so impressive, or to put it correctly did not seem not so smart enough, to handle tough buisness propositions, especially some dumb girls at the start ,who used their sexuality to win some intial assignments and sometimes were also invloved in silly catfights and brawls among themselves.

I am sure there were more worthy competitors than the final candidates chosen for this show, however at the end the final two candidates, Bill and Kwame were worthy enough to enter the finals, however the role of Omarosa in the final was quite suspicious, however added suffecient spice to keep the show alive and that what matters in the end, the entertainment value.

All along I had been thinking who would be worthy enough to take up the role of Trump, if it was shot in India, and I can come up with only one answer, Anil Ambani. Hope someone can come with an idea to bring this show on Indian screens.