Coming August 24...

http://irev.net/aatrek/B0002CX1WA.01.LZZZZZZZ[1].jpg

Audition Tapes! Donald-isms! Career Advice from George and Carolyn!

Amazon

Mine arrived today, continuing Chapters.ca's excellent record as far as getting me DVDs before the actual release date. Anywho, I watched several of the extras, they really aren't that impressive. The new candidates don't really jump out at me yet, they all seem kinda bland and interchangable. One thing that I've noticed that's actually annoying me is that they've changed the theme song for the episodes. I don't know if it's because they didn't have the rights to use it on DVD, only TV, or if someone thought this works better, but it's kinda jarring and it really doesn't fit what's happening on the screen very well.

Thanks for the initial impressions, Hoopernatorial.

My impressions of the impressions...rats, different theme...I imagine we can buy an OJays greatest hits CD and play it and mute the DVD or something.

Amazon sent me a message saying my order was shipped today(hooray for free shipping) and I'm looking forward to it. I was also looking forward to maybe seeing what George and Carolyn had to say in some extras...did you see any of those yet? I guess I'll be seeing enough of the season 2 people in just 2 1/2 more weeks anyway!

As far as I can tell there's only the one extra that has a lot of George and Caroline, and it's them talking for a few minutes about how to approach a job interview. Mainly what they look for on a resume and tips on how to impress people when you meet them. The only extras I haven't looked at too much yet are the profiles of the contestants, the general show recap, the deleted scenes, and the taxi/exit interviews.

I'm also not sure if there's supposed to be a booklet in it that I didn't get. In the case when everything's unfolded there's six pages/sections, five have the DVDs and the one on the far left is a sleeve that's like the ones in the West Wing DVDs where the booklet with episode information is, but it's empty.

The first episode doesn't have a chapter break after the credits, so it's a bit annoying, but I seem to remember the episode airing without a commercial there, so maybe they have breaks only where there were originally breaks. I'll have to check whenever I watch more.

Something I "learned" from watching the DVD (although this isn't outright stated, you can observe it on your own)...

The Boardroom is actually a part of the same general space as the apartment. They took 10,000 square feet of office space and turned it into the entire Apprentice operation (technical, living area, and boardroom).

I'm not sure how the elevators tied into all of this. They may have strictly been staging that didn't move at all.

That info (about the suite / boardroom setup) was revealed in some of the stories near the end of the series, tonypitt. It seems to have been a completely usable and livable suite for the apprentices, though.

Yeah, I'm glad I was forewarned about the theme music before I fired up my DVD (which unexpectedly hit my doorstep 2 hours after Amazon sent me the "your order has shipped" notice). I thought TV series these days always negotiated the eventual music rights beforehand these days (I know the inability to clear music after the fact has messed up some DVD releases like Profiler and SCTV, but those both predated the DVD phenomenon). I guess nobody expected The Apprentice to take off to this extent; or else the "Money, money" song felt so right, it was worth having for telecast even if it would have to be dropped for home release. A great shame in any case, because (as Miss Alli said in the Tubey Awards thread) it made for one of the great title sequences as a totality.

Hoopernatorial, I got a booklet in mine, but it's just a three-page fold-out ad for other Universal TV on DVD releases. Name a non-Warner Brothers NBC show, and also Northern Exposure, Sliders and Dream On, they're bringing it out. There's also a coupon for TVG. The information on the flaps and the cover is all they wrote.

Yeah, I bought mine. I planned to leave Shopko with just blank videotapes, but wow, I should have known better than to go on a Tuesday. Honestly, I had no intention of buying it. I guess The Donald is just too sexy for me to resist. Yup, that must be it.

Aw man, I joined up just to complain!

What is this crapfest music during the opening credits? That and the lousy menu selection menus is driving me nuts. I loved this show and have always felt like "The Boardroom" was a short MBA seminar every week. That's why this was a must own for me.

I'm already launching a letter writing campaign to Universal about this. This isn't what I thought that I was purchasing.

Other than that, the extras, as stated before, are nothign to write home about. You can actually find these clips online at msnbc.com and other places.

Great show, great hair, nice DVD's.

I was thinking about sending a letter to Trump asking how he could allow his image to be used on a DVD set with such cheesy, un-original, non-classy music. And then I had a lucid moment -- the man has got to know about it already. I can't imagine that he wouldn't have pre-approved every detail of this personally.

I'll bet he's the one that made the decision to stiff the O Jays.

Another thing this set should have -- an easter egg of the "Donald Trump's House of Wings" sketch from Saturday Night Live.

It wasn't necessarily a "decision to stiff" the O Jays. Some owners of music rights just flat-out refuse to release their music for certain commercial uses, or set preposterously high usage fees. I consider it likely that they had no choice; nobody likes to go back into already-complete episodes and re-synch new music.

Wait, so if "For the Love of Money" isn't playing over the opening credits, just what IS?

Man, that sucks. And does this mean that season 2 won't have the song?

(Still waiting for my copy to arrive from Amazon.)

Actually, Trump probably has no idea that this has happened. Mark Burnett (creator of The Apprentice) has final say on DVD and productions. Even before Trump fired anyone, he had to discuss it with Mark Burnett and NBC, although Trump's firing decision was all his own.

I suggest that we start a letter writing campaign to Burnett productions, I'll even say it in true "Apprentice" tradition, I'm willing to step up and be project manager on this one. I suggest that we gather all fan groups of The APprentice and explain that part of the power of The Apprentice was the opening segment with "For the Love of Money" as the opening theme. Most of us paid anywhere bewteen $35 and $50 for these DVD's when we coudl have traded them around for free or *gasp*... DOWNLOADED THEM ONLINE!!!

I say we unite and show what the voice of the consumer can do. We just need to organize and be direct. What do you say?

I say the site doesn't host letter-writing campaigns where you talk proudly about your willingness to do illegal things. You can email each other if you want to discuss this, but we're not fanning it here.

Miss Allie,

I believe that you are the administrator so allow me to introduce myself as one of your newest members and say hello.

Tape swapping has never been illegal and you can download clips at CNBC.com and at NBC.com for free. You could even see the entire ending to the finale online at a Universal hosted website a few months back. I was wondering if you could tell me by what you meant that "the site doesn't host letter-writing campaigns where you talk proudly about your willingness to do illegal things."

I didn't see the harm in engaging other members to stand up for what they believe in and writing letters or emails to Burnett's office saying that we wanted the song back in place. I'm sorry if your site feels that orgganizing something that has clearly annoyed all of us who purchased the DVD is illegal and/or wrong.

Apologies to all concerned if warranted.

It's not a matter of protecting influence, but yes, it is a matter of the fact that downloading episodes is of questionable legality at best. We don't allow the tape swap threads to get into download sites for exactly this reason.

It's not a big deal, it's just not a direction we want to go in. I don't want any part of a letter-writing campaign that's going to brag about the ease of illegal downloading of episodes. Not because it's a huge moral issue, but because the site doesn't go there.

I hope that helps explain.

I remember when the movie Heavy Metal was first released on VHS and then shown on cable. It was then removed from cable rotation and videos stores and didn't reappear until the issue of royalty payments to the various rock bands whose music was featured on the soundtrack was resolved.

The movie Blood Simple had a sountrack that featured music by the Temptations but the soundtrack on the video had music written by the Monkees and performed by a Monkee soundalike band.

My point is that royalty payments on videos and DVDs take a big bite out of the revenue these items generate. Much bigger percentage wise then do the royalty payments from the TV show because the TV show generates so much more commercial revenue. Believe me, the OJays For Love of Money will be back next season. It's a great(albeit ironic) theme song. Trump/Burnette have hit on a sure fire successful formula and they wont monkey with it in any way.

NBC has a cash cow on it's hands and they plan on milking it till it's dry which I figure will probably be in a couple more seasons.

[/QUOTE]What is this crapfest music during the opening credits? That and the lousy menu selection menus is driving me nuts. I loved this show and have always felt like "The Boardroom" was a short MBA seminar every week. That's why this was a must own for me.[QUOTE]

Eh, call me crazy, but the song they used on the DVD isn't really that bad. Now I'll be more than a little annoyed if they don't bring the O'Jays song back for Season 2, but in its absence I'm kind of glad they didn't have some ridiculous, faux-SURVIVOR electronic music instead.

The use of the O'Jays song kind of reminds me that the NFL used Edwin Starr's version of "War" for some of its coverage. The NFL either didn't know or much care (probably the latter) that Starr's song is blisteringly ANTI-war, just like the O'Jays song is scathing about what the pursuit of money does to people. Never underestimate some fun, nasty irony on a reality show.

Is there anything interesting on the DVD-ROM features? I have about four different programs on my computer that can play DVDs, but none of them will bring up anything besides the "may include" blah di blah screen. I need to sell these things (damn impulse purchases), but I want to know if I'll be missing anything.

The replaced theme song has actually grown on me. It'll be interesting to see which song they'll use on Thursday. And this has eased me into Dawson's Creek changing their theme on the S3 DVDs.

I found the extras to be very disappointing. I would have loved some episode commentaries or more bonus footage (as it is, the bonus footage is trivial). Of all the TV show DVD sets I've purchased--and I have quite a few--The Apprentice is the most disappointing. My recommendation to others is buy it only if you're interested in the episodes. The extras aren't worth much at all.

[delurk] The Entertainment Weekly with The Donald on the cover implies this first-season DVD was "rushed out", which suggests to me that there's going to be one of those annoying "Special Edition" versions later. I actually kind of hope that's the case, despite how evil that is, since I really wanted to hear episode commentaries or something with Donald, Carolyn, and George giving feedback throughout. Isn't there somewhere we can write to explain to them how disappointing this DVD set is?

On another note, watching with the DVD subtitles is the first time I noticed that during the Celebrity Negotiations portion, where Omarosa mispronounces Isaac Mizrahi's name, she also clearly calls Robin, "Helen." She answers the phone and Robin says, "This is Robin, from Trump's office..." and then Omarosa hangs up by saying, "Thanks, Helen." [/relurk]

I noticed that as well! What I can't decide is if Omarosa truly made an error, or if Robin is dubbed in and there actually was someone named Helen calling originally.

I just watched the "Creating The Apprentice" special feature on the DVDs, and I'll add some info to this fact.

Indeed, Mark Burnett converted 10,000 square feet of office space on one floor of Trump Tower into a) the apprentices' living area, b) the control room and behind-the-scenes staff areas and c) the boardroom.

One revealing thing I saw on the DVD feature was when Donald Trump walks through the show's set before production started while the entire floor was under construction/renovation. He walks up to the elevators and talks about how important they will be to every episode -- in that the fired apprentice will head down the elevator on their way out of Trump Tower.

There is an upward-looking shot of the elevator that shows the LED display reading: "4 [down arrow]". This suggests to me that the "Apprentice" set was on the fourth floor of Trump Tower.

Regardless, I am positive that the elevators on the set are working elevators in Trump Tower. The only illusions are that the surviving apprentices don't "go up to the suite"...they walk two doors over to the suite, and the fired apprentice doesn't have much of a long elevator ride down to the street (Trump Tower being a high-rise building with lots of office space, I think the implied location of the board room, considering it's supposed to belong to Trump himself, is at least 20 floors up).

Damn, there are a bunch of freaks in season one! I just got the DVD set because I didn't watch most of that season, until near the end.

Bowie Hogg? That's really that guy's name?! Jesus. He must have been a fugly baby, for his parents to name him such a thing.

Also hilarious: in the first episode, AssAroma is reading the letter from Trump. It clearly says, "I hope you enjoy your stay". She says out loud, "I hope your stay is enjoyable". Because, you know, her wording is much more important than whatever Trump said. Tool!

Just realized that Trumpy can see my apartment from his living room windows. So at least he's in touch with how the poor people live.

WTF was wrong with Sam? Was he mental?

These girls in Season 1 were possibly even more disgraceful than the current crop. At least the Season 2 chicks aren't blatantly whoring it up in front of random citizens; they keep their heinous-ness in reserve for secret meetings, at least. Shooters Girls?! Good God. The ad guy was right, these ho's set the women's movement back about 70 years.

I'm still debating about buying the DVDs for Season 1. I missed 3 of the first 5 episodes. Maybe I'll just wait until they show up in garage sales for 99 cents.

I got them for $39 at Tower. I enjoyed them that much, but wouldn't have spent $60 for them.

NYCynthia - If you think that Bowie's name was weird, you should know that the Hogg family in Texas is fairly wealthy (although Bowie may not be from that branch) and that two if its heiresses were named (and this is the truth) Ima Hogg and her sister, Ura - imagine going around in life with those names. They may or may not have been ugly babies, but their parents, the Hoggs, did them no favors with those first names.

Hee, I had heard that before (I lived in TX for three years) but honestly I just assumed it was an urban legend.
I wonder if they looked as...hoggish as Bowie?

For anyone who still wants to buy the DVD--I noticed Amazon and Coconuts and other online places jacked their price up from the preordering and promotional prices(~$40 to $45-55.)

I'm surprised half.com and ebay and Amazon/used have such low prices for used DVD's already although some are potentially 'hot.' (Tim Burton given as the director in an auction? If they thought season 1 had some Tim Burton-y types, boy oh boy.) From what I see, some iron-clad reputable sellers with big fancy flying eBay stars should have discounted copies($30 or so) pretty soon.

If season 2's DVD has so few added features I think I'll wait to buy it used. But I did enjoy Sam's and Troy's(whose last name is misspelled McLain at one point. Shame--Troy helped MAKE this show fun!) extended cab rides and for about the reasons I suspected I would. Then there are the audition tape clips being for pretty much everyone being contradicted by actual show footage and it's harsh for certain people, and you can probably guess who.

I do recommend the DVD to latecomers who want to see all the episodes, and following along with the recaps here on a computer(DVD player in one window, recap in another) is especially enjoyable, too. But on its own merits, it's far behind the Dukes of Hazzard DVD I got a week ago, which has oodles of extras. Maybe Trump wanted to be sure to come in under budget and putting extras in would have jeopardized that.

ETA: $40 at ShopNBC.com, and if you have a $10 item you like on top of that you get free shipping.

I bought the S1 DVDs since there's no way I'll be able to watch it on TV over here (6 pm, what were they thinking?) and even though Amazon says that you won't be able to watch it on a multi-region DVD if you're not in zone 1, it worked on mine just fine. Maybe they're obligated to say that.

That show? AWESOME. I went on a weekend binge and watched the whole damn thing.

What is the exact meaning and origin of "yooge"? I am sorry if this is the wrong thread but its not explained in the Show FAQ. TIA.

It's the generally accepted interpretation of how Trumpy says the word huge. It's a gag.

It's how the Donald insists on pronouncing "huge." I believe it started in Miss Alli's recaps last season.

Is this where I discuss stuff I'm watching on Season I? Or should I take my comments to specific people's threads?

Not sure, flirtycatherine, but you'd probably want to go to the original show threads or the apprentice-wannabe threads. Unless you want to comment on the S1 DVDs specifically.

Delurking to say I watched the DVD's last weekend to try and remember why I love this show, and a few things jumped out:

First, if you watch with the subtitles on, sometimes Amy's laugh is described as "braying," which is very humorous to me. Not that I have anything against people with weird laughs, but with Amy's grating personality, it seemed appropriate.

Second, a scene in one of the extras (I think it was the behind the scenes thing) -Trump, standing in front of the Boardroom mirror fussing with the Trump National Coif. The can of aerosol hairspray in his hand? Yooge!

Maybe it wasn't hairspray - maybe it was industrial-strength spray glue. Or possibly spray paint, which in addition to having excellent hold, also helps him get those weird stripes in the the Trump National Coif just so.

Sigh...is it very pathetic and sad to admit that watching the DVD's made me nostalgic for Katrina, Ereka, Nick, and (gulp) Amy and Heidi? Every now and then, I found myself looking at one of the more odious S1 contestants and muttering, "She/He wasn't THAT bad...relatively speaking."

So, um. Any news on S2 DVDs? I would really love to have constant access to Andy and Wes on my television screen.

Man oh man, should I have read this thread before I asked for the DVDs for Christmas. I still would have wanted to have them (only got hooked about three quarters of the way through Season 1, after reading Miss Alli's fabulous recaps), but the change of music wouldn't have been such a terrible surprise!

Who wrote that crappy "Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is" song? I agree that whatever they used to replace "For the Love of Money" is only terrible in comparison to the excellent original credit sequence, but the one playing over the main menu is just horrible! Especially the Trump sound-byte samples they keep splicing into it. For the love of God, people! I do not need to hear Trump rap!

Yeesh, the music is a yoooge disappointment. It's awesome to get to see the whole season, though. Oh, Troy... *sigh*

ITA Black Cat:



I watched the dvd this weekend, and I felt myself saying "Why, these contestants were NICE (well, Assy was not that nice, but relatively speaking...), whatever did we see wrong with them? Boy, I miss them..." Amazing to think that now. I just didn't see the petty squabbling on such a large (yooge?) scale last season.

I have to say that I was all prepared to hate the theme song, and while I certainly missed the OJays, the theme song was not perfectly horrible. You can really tell that the opening was edited just for the OJays song, though.

I got my Appretice DVDs for chrstmas, the only thing I was really hoping for was more boardroom, I thought they would show extra scenes in the episodes.
(sigh) I miss the season one cast, I don't think they will ever be able to duplicate the chemistry that the S1 cast had. Loved the extra scene with the girls drunken bar dancing.

Has anyone heard anything about season 2 being released on DVD? I would buy it. It would be nice to have a complete collection of the apprentice.

I'd buy it just for the laugh factor. Having a bad day? Pop in a DVD to see what Maria was wearing. Hello Mr. Flower.

Hell yeah, aiwop ! And if there's a deleted scene with Maria walking past a giant magnet while wearing her metal-studded jacket (the one that looks like it was made by a drunken shipbuilder who got a little too crazy with the rivets) and getting stuck, that disc would never leave my DVD player. Even without that, I'd still buy it just to be able to watch those asshats get fired over and over again. The repeat button on my remote tingles with anticipation.

Just checked tvshowsondvd.com and they don't have any info yet. I'm thinking, though, that when a release date is announced, we'll know. Trump will tell us every time someone sticks a microphone in his face. Maybe even do some of those horrid voice-overs for the boardroom scenes: "Aspiring Corporate Death Weasel (tm Miss Alli), you're fired. Go home and watch The Apprentice: The Complete Second Season, now available on DVD and featuring amazing bonus features like 'Scapegoating 101: The art of finger-pointing,' 'Fashion tips from Raj and Maria,' and 'Carolyn's most disgusted expressions,' a video montage featuring looks of pure loathing on Carolyn's face whenever one of the contestants pissed her off."

I'm hoping that they'll release season 2 soon (and season 3 eventually). Despite the fact that season 2 sucked, I'm a collector. I bought the first season (and the two Survivor DVD sets) so now I have to get them all.

BTW: Does anyone know the song for the Series One DVD version (not the O'Jays song).

The lyrics were: you want to have a jet plan/your face on the big screen/you wanna TV show/the next big thing/the next big thing

It's called "Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is". The DVDs don't have a credit for who's performing it.

I hate that song soooo much...and it's been in my head all day. Stupid Netflix for letting me check out the S1 DVDs.

Also, when the DVD comes on, have you noticed how Trump chants "harder - faster - harder - faster" before the main menu appears on the screen? That haunts me too.

Are any of the other series going to be availible on DVD?

I also have to disagree about the song that played over the credits (not the DVD menu song but the other song) I think it was much better than the TV version. It had energy and a beat - I can't really understand what a depressing 60s soul song about the corrupting effects of money (most of which was censored anyway) had to do with a series encouraging people to be leaders and entrepreneurs.

I heard some rumour about an Apprentice video game. Has anyone heard about anything about it?

Widened the scope of thread since apparently now there are video games.

SkippyUpwood, there is in fact a video game that is coming out.



I'm not sure what to think about this.