Nice job on Leno last night Donald. At least you admitted that you hadn’t seen The Benefactor. But saying that it will fail. That’s a little much Donald, even from you.
Let’s get a couple things straight here. First, The Benefactor is a good show. It’s fun, it’s entertaining, it’s engaging and makes you think. How it will do in the ratings, is anyones guess. I don’t have the luxury of premiering after Friends. The good news is, if people watch it, they will like it. The better news is that ABC liked it so much that they have decided to not only run it in its Monday time slot, but also on Thursday as well. Opposite The Apprentice. How ironic will it be that people watching your show, and flipping through the channels in breaks, can and will sample The Benefactor and get excited about the show. Isn’t the TV business fun!
Speaking of business, I don’t think its dawned on you just how hard Mark Burnett threw you under the bus. Burnett is brilliant no doubt about it. You were right when you said he is one of the best in the business. He is.
Here’s the rub Donald, and I don’t think you have picked up on this, but your advertisers and placement partners surely will. You think The Apprentice, which really is a good show, is a positive reflection of your business acumen. That the show, as you put it, is a job interview to come work for you. So Donald, when the promos for this years show come on and one contestant says that “the women would eat their young”, or that the “men are all chauvinists”, is that a reflection of the people you interview for jobs in your companies?
How do you think Mattel and their employees feel knowing that’s how the contestants coming into their offices, the world of Ken and Barbie, are being described? I’m guessing Mattel employees are cringing at the possibility that the audience thinks that The Apprentice contestants are there because Mattel people weren’t smart enough to do the job themselves.
Burnett is brilliant at casting, he has proven it time again. He knows how to find people who will make for good TV. Including you Donald. I’m guessing, but I’m pretty sure he cares more about ratings than who can come up with toy ideas for Mattel, or manage an exhibition basketball game or handle any business task.
The Apprentice is a knockoff of Survivor. Pretty much all competitivereality shows, includingThe Benefactor,are knockoffs in some way or another of Survivor. As Survivor and all good reality shows have proven, success is about casting and storylines. Burnett is great at both.
I think our production team and the people at ABC are great at both as well. The Benefactor has great characters. It has great drama and intensity. It has great storylines. It also has a twist that I think is significant.
In every other reality show, everyone does the same thing. Everyone knows exactly what they are trying todo, and there is a set of rules and a winner is picked. That’s ok, but we did one better. On The Benefactor, all the challenges are open ended and there are no rules.
For each challenge in the game, the minute you hear it, your mind starts racing, like the contestants, trying to figure out what you would do if you were them. It’s one thing to open up intellectually and sell lemonade, it’s far more difficult to doand far more interesting to watch someone open intellectually andemotionally.
What would you do if, with 1millon dollars at stake, you were asked to showone thing that you thought was special about yourself, with the only criteria being that you push out of your comfort zone and do something you have never done before? I won’t give anything away, butI can tell you that what happened, as with all the tests onThe Benefactorwas great TV.
That’s what it comes down to. Great TV. I can go back and forth with Trump and anyone else about who copied who, who was here first, etc. Bottom line is that we all copied Survivor in one way or another. That it all comes down to whether or not the show hasgreat characters, great storylines and people want to watch. The Benefactor does
When it’s all said and done Donald,our producers, casts and timeslots have far more to do with the success of our shows than you and I. We each contribute in our own ways, but we are alongfor the ride. The Apprentice’s success depended far more on Sam being a goof and Omarosa being adrama queenthan anything you did. That’s why you kept on bringing them back. The Benefactor’s success will depend on how the audience responds to a 2nd grade teacher with satanic like tatoos, a black gay bartender who carries around a picture of Oprah and asks it what Oprah would do, a womens professional football player who wants to kick everyone’s ass, a super hot beauty queen, who is far from asinnocent as she tries to come across, and 12 others, who are incredibly competitive and realize that for a million dollars, the game is always on.