Apprentices

First, I have to confess that the plural form of "apprentice" just trips my tongue up. I feel the urge to drop a few letters and use "apprenti." However, I have no real authority to go screwing around with the English language. The plural form, therefore, remains as is.

I turned my nose up at the first season of Trump's Apprentice. I'm not quite sure why. Perhaps I had my fill of reality TV at that point. Perhaps I was just full of the business world. Or perhaps I couldn't imagine staring at that bad hair throughout an hour each week.

The second season, however, I broke down and climbed up on the bandwagon. I was quickly addicted. In truth, I think the appeal for me is that I feel some sort of familiarity with the show content. Not that my work week includes putting together large scale, important projects on ridiculously short timelines and budgets for a Type-A, driven, high-maintenance wealthy man....or wait...that actually does describe my job. You think I jest?

I watch the show and I see people I work with in the 'applicants.' Bruce and I sit before our TV and we trade notes on who is like who. "Oh, that one! She reminds me of that chick in accounting." "You think he's bad, you ought to see the guy I work with in sales!" "Speaking of sales, that guy looks like one of our reps!"

Ever since Trump selected his last apprentice, my Thursday nights were blah. I wanted the bad hair and the cheesey tagline back. Then they handed me Martha on Wednesdays as an appetizer. I was apprehensive. Perhaps having two shows would water it down. Over kill maybe.

But two weeks in, and I'm having fun. It's similar and yet different. Its familiar - the pace of the show. The basic premise. The format. Yet it's a new creature. And it leaves me giggling.

- There is one contestant that seems to think dropping the phrase "It's a good thing" through each task will brainwash Martha into thinking she's found the second coming.

- Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't Ms. Stuart get community service as part of her sentence. Tonight's winning team got to help a community center in NYC build a beautiful garden. One girl was raving about how fulfilling it was and commented on how Martha did a lot of community service herself. I'm sure she did/does on her own accord, but all I could think at the moment was "Well sure, it's court ordered."

- I'm sort of wondering who thought it was a good idea to define teams of "creative" and "business" when the business folk include people that work in creative atmospheres. The creative team operates in total chaos. If there's one of them left standing at the end, I'll have to nibble on Megan's "So Big" Crayolas.

- When they did decide to seperate themselves as such, I began to wonder which group I'd have identified myself as. Still pondering. . .