I think they have found them, they just don't care about properly motivating them. John is just as good and charismatic as the best of season 1. I never thought Kwame was anything special (I think he should have been fired after the art challenge instead of Assorama, and if not at that time, then I think he should have been fired instead of Troy) and Nick was entertaining but not anything unforgettable. Even Bill was so likeable because he was so ordinary, so geeky, so like normal people. John is a normal person. Angie is a normal person. Tara, Audrey and Craig are normal people. But because of all the hoopla over Assorama, somewhere along the line the show began to think that you have to focus on "personalities" instead of strong players who have a narrative. That is when you started seeing such focus on toxic waste like the coven of Apex, or freak shows like Danny. Trump supposedly does not like the current cast, and the reason for that, to me, is obvious. He wants headcases, and he does not realize that season 2's headcases did, IMHO, near-irreprable damage to this franchise. I mean I don't need to rehash Stacie J, but when that happened, they threw so much credibility out the window. They told America and any future contestants, "hey, whatever you say or do is worthless, we'll boot your butt if it gets us shock value."

With a few exceptions, the first season of the show did have integrity and a theme. You could be happy with any of the final 5 winning, even if they were not your favorite. Then the show became this ugly Reality Deathmatch where we were supposed to root against, and hate, and jeer, and that led to a final group that nobody cared about, nobody wanted to support.

More critically, Trump has such an inflated view of himself and his company that his pomposity has begun to choke the lifeblood out of the show, when we see him presented as a diety on this show even as we hear in real life that his business are going bankrupt and that he's such a small man he has to gloat every time a competitor has a failed TV series. The first season was about a group of people, about a journey. Trump was the beginning and end of that journey, but nothing else. Now it's just "LOOK AT ME!!! I'M THE HAIR!!!" and the show seems to hide behind him and treat him like the father of spoiled brats.

I think this season could be something special but the editing cannot continue to treat these players like bad science experiments, or pawns, or afterthoughts. The gimmicks and the obvious manipulation have to stop. It seems to me like Burnett has already gotten bored with the show, and it's a shame, because there is so much potential left. Hopefully now that the loudmouths are fleeing at a rapid rate, the show will be forced to return to the days of character development and storytelling instead of just week after week of human pinball.

Well, even an otherwise useless task still does a great job of separating the leaders from the Kristens. It doesn't matter how practical the task is; if you can lead, that will be demonstrated.

Can anyone imagine how much better this show would be in the hands of The Amazing Editors from TAR?

And finally: Oh, Troy. You should have won it all, and this season you surely would have. But I'm conducting the John love train. All aboard.

Totally agree. I didn't much care for Todd when I saw Ep 1, but seeing his Today Show interview was impressive. He was funny and sweet (Maybe just because Katie brought out the best in him.) and not too hard to look at. Definitely not bitter or mean-spirited. And after the Dove fiasco, not training enough people to man the cash registers seems like such a pardonable offense!

That's the quote of the thread for me. The product placements are running the show and I'm sure the business community loves this form of advertising, but I could live without seeing an infomercial. The show is also a way for Melania to get some more gigs. Barely saw her first season....then way too much last season. I'm expecting more of the same this season. To me? She's not all of that and a bag of chips.

And honestly, the "real" commercial was just as craptastic as the newbies' commerical. I was like, huh? I wouldn't go buy the dove wash after seeing that commercial. Where was the all too hyped "edgy" thing that The Nipples was harping on? Looked like something any old body wash maker would put out. I was bored.

It's clear to me that Trump will hire this season's winner to run his lawncare divison. No way I see them even pretending to run something relatively high profile.

I have to disagree with you about Kwame, Tegan Jovanka, but otherwise I say word to your whole post.

Kwame displayed something rarely seen these days - manners and real style. He made mistakes on the tasks, but owned up to them. He managed himself in the boardroom with a grace under fire that few others have ever done. I don't think he or Troy are even remotely gay, but they took the teasing about them "loving each other" in stride, something men less secure in their masculinity couldn't do. This season's Chris could probably never in his lifetime manage to laugh off a joke about him and another man. Kwame was polite to his fellow competitors, and you got glimpses of his sense of humor between tasks. He also loaned Troy a tie - walking that fine line between friendship and competition with aplomb. These are some of the reasons I'm so glad to see him doing so brilliantly in business, and without Trump.

But we can agree to disagree about Kwame. I do agree that Trump's ego is very damaging to the show. I especially agree with this:



As long as they continue to focus as much as they do on Trump at the expense of telling a coherent story, and manufacturing controversial moments, the show will to continue to deteriorate, IMO. Of course, if they just want a freak show, they're going in the right direction.

Oh, I just wanted to add something about Erin's "family" speech in the boardroom. What's going to happen when the teams start getting mixed up towards the end? Will a Net Worth person suddenly become a part of Erin's family too, assuming she lasts that long? Or will TPTB manipulate things so that the teams remain fairly even in number?

I always think that, since they edit the hell out of the show anyway, they should lay the groundwork for some of the projects, and leave at least some of the final steps to pros while they go on to other tasks. From a business perspective, it would be more realistic to have them working on a dozen tasks at once, and then have them all come to a conclusion over the space of a couple of weeks. If they wanted something conclusive at the end of every episode, they could edit the 'bits' together, and tack on the firing. I mean, there's no reason you couldn't have a bored room based on how someone is performing on a variety of tasks.
It would make the production of the show more complex, I suppose.

With respect to the quality of the commercials, leaving the final touches to pros you would at least see the ways these might really come across without being diverted by crappy production values. As a lot of people are saying, the only saving grace of the real ad campaign was better production values.

Incidentally, in the real Dove ad I wished they'd included Ronald MacDonald. He wears tons of make up. Or perhaps a gay themed RM. Hee!

I'm sorry, I was yammering so much that I didn't want to take up even more room in the thread. Otherwise, I would've elaborated on Kwame. I think Kwame is a decent, honorable human being, and not that it makes or breaks a personality, but he's also one of the most gorgeous men I've ever seen. To sum up quickly since this is OT for the thread (I think), I'll just say that although I liked Kwame as a person, I was not fond of his task performances. He was so laid back to the point where he really didn't seem to have any idea how to stop a trainwreck even as it derailed right before his eyes. The art task in particular he didn't really get enough scrutiny for IMO. My feelings towards his performances were similar to my feelings on Kristi. I really hated to see her go, she was one of the nicer women that season, but she was just in over her head. So I totally feel what you're saying about Kwame, and the Kwame/Troy friendship (which was probably the only time I've ever seen pure unadulterated heterosexual male affection on TV -- I'm surprised that Mark Burnett let it through, given his own uber-machismo neuroses). I'm just saying that I don't think Kwame deserved final 2 over Amy and Troy. As a person, I heart Kwame, and I think he's much better off being away from Trump.

For me, having good business instincts, versatility, a team attitude, and being a friendly but stern person are musts for the final rungs of this show. That last season had "who can hide behind the fembots" or "who can yell the loudest at Andy" as the main qualification for final 4 status just ticked me off beyond the telling. That's why I'm sticking w/this season so far because there is a good chance of basically nice, decent adults advancing through to the final rounds. I just wish that we saw more of them and less of the phony gimmicks. They also desperately need to overhaul their preview teasers and their promos. Most of all they need to stop the idea that you can only get airtime if you're an asshole. Amy may have had her detractors but she generally behaved well enough during the season. Bill and Troy and Kwame got along well with most people. They all got airtime, and they all helped make the show a hit. So why Burnett continues to believe that the only way to make the show popular is "water cooler" faux-buzz/focus on screaming matches and dysfunction junction confounds me. You don't have to rely on that kind of endless electroshock therapy, week after week. The water cooler has long dried up and the last few residents are drinking their urine and circulating a petition to be extras on "Lost".

I really wish that Richard Branson or even Mark Cuban had been the host of the show instead of Trump. But I guess that's chicken and the egg, was the show a hit because of Trump or was Trump made popular again because of the quality of the show.

As for Erin, I think she was just playing up the family aspect because she didn't want to get fired. She is probably happy to turn against other players in the BR now that other tasks are ahead of her. The old "well, someone has to go, you're such a nice person, please turn around so I can plunge my pink parasol into your spine." I really don't see her lasting to the end anyway...I think she will probably go midseason.

The Apprentice is the only reality show I watch and I didn't start watching it until mid-way through the first season (I'm currently catching up via DVD) so I can't claim to be an expert. But, I understand that pretty much all reality television suffers from this syndrome: the first season is always the best because, lacking a road map, the contestants are forced to rely on their own inner resources to play the game.

I understand that Burnett's original plan was to use a different tycoon for each season and I think that might have worked better: it's pretty obvious to me that all of the season 2 and 3 contestants have seen enough of the first season to have formed some ideas of how to impress The Donald. I'll be interested to see how the dynamics of the boardroom change in the Martha Stewart version; it could very well be an entirely different show than the Trump version.

On a tangent, I wonder just how "popular" (as opposed to notorious) Donald Trump really is. I work in real estate and am reasonably familiar with a lot of developers. Take away the ego and the bad hair, and Trump isn't all that unusual (financial problems included). What makes him different is his ability to remain in the public eye year after year. The product he "sells" is Donald Trump and he's very good indeed at that.

It confounds me too, Tegan Jovanka. I'd have to guess that they looked at the number of articles written about and attention paid to Sam and Omarosa, and went by the old adage "all publicity is good publicity." In the wake of TA1's success, they started casting for the next Sam or the next Omarosa, missing the fact that their antics are not what made the show popular in the first place. After all, people didn't stop watching after those two were fired.



This would make a lot more sense, Nubbs. They don't expect the candidates to do all the actual renovations on some of the real estate tasks. Why should they have to actually direct the commercials? I'd rather see them spend more time fleshing out some ideas and leave it to the experts to complete the product, with appropriate input from the team. Although the commercial the two teams actually produced were entertaining enough in a trainwreck kind of way, I'd much rather see the best they could do under the right circumstances.

Few company heads know how to do everything required for their business, except in some cases where they worked their way up through the ranks, or founded the business and built it up themselves. Otherwise, they delegate responsibilities. I'd still like to see some individual tasks along the way.

If they must continue to use Deutsche, I'd love to see the following scenario. Each contestant has to come up with an idea for a commercial or an ad campaign. Deutsche & Co. rank the finished proposals from best to worst on each team. The two contestants ranked worst go head to head in the boardroom to defend their concept, and one gets fired. But since there is no project manager or immunity, I don't think that will happen.

I'd also like to see each team spend one day helping an actual department of a company (one of Trump's or another business). Magna could spend one day in the department, and Net Worth could spend the next day in the same department. The department head (with input from his team) could pick the team that performed the best.

Oh well, a girl can dream, but I won't hold my breath.

Wait...blocked writer....a task where everyone HAS to do something?

That's absurd!

Hehe.

And Tegan, I love the characterization "whoever could yell loudest at Andy." Soooo true. Gotta give this year credit, we haven't seen a firing with as ludicrous of a basis as that one yet - "They outdebated you!" Hahahah....oh lord was that lame.

People seem to agree that the actress was staged from our first look at her. By the list comments, she is despised for complaining, and, more strangely for a sophisticated list, there's an undertone of her being despised for being the cucumber girl. And a lot of sneering that she's merely an actress, while the Apprenti are Real Apprenti.

Makes me wonder- did she look at her role and argue, "If I'm a good sport and will have to wear being Cucumber Girl on national TV for years to come, I want equal time in a shot that shows me as reasonable and respectable." So the "I'm as valid as you guys" airtime was shown- and backfired. Which begs the question, did she miscalculate or was she scripted/edited/set up to come off as a bitch there?

It feels like the kind of deal I might have tried to make if I got to a job and reacted, "You want me to do What?" but there wasn't an alternative and I needed the work- and didn't like to leave people stuck without a player.

Would this happen in real life- an actress expected to show up for a semi-porn mystery role on national tv and no honorable way to refuse?

And what about Bren sweet-talking a woman into his cucumber fantasy?

At the end of the day I'm going to step up to the plate and think outside the box.

When they start talking about critical path and being tasked with actionable items is when I'm going to put a brick through the screen. Let's hope they don't start reading slate.com's CEO-English Phrasebook

I really don't understand the point of going edgy for bodywash. What's going to sell bodywash? IMO, it's images that evoke feelings of being clean and refreshed. Images that make me think of that wonderful I get when I'd come in after a day of yard work, shower all that ick of off me, and step out feeling deliciously clean and relaxed. With green tea and cucumber, you've got a natural "clean, cool" image with the color green. What other images make me "feel" clean, refreshed, relaxed? White sheer curtains blowing in the breeze. Crisp white linens on a bed. Water. Cascading, clear water that looks cool and refreshing. A glass of something cool, over ice, with beads of sweat on the glass. Bubbles. A calm sea lapping a white beach under a blue sky, with a tall green palm casting a cool shadow.

I don't understand the need to go edgy to sell bodywash. I'd be more "sold" if I saw a woman making her way home through noisy, crowded, dirty city streets. Once home, she head for the shower and her Dove bodywash. As soon as the cap is opened on the bodywash, she's seen shower under a waterfall. She's smiling. She obviously feels freed, reborn. When the water stops, she steps out of a shower stall, but the bathroom has been transformed into a spacious spa-like room done in gleaming white porceline and cool shades of green. She wraps herself in a thick, soft towel of white or green, and walks out into a transformed bedroom. Suddenly she's wearing a long, white gauzey outfit. She passes cool green walls, crisp white trim. White sheers blowing on a soft breeze. A view of the ocean outside the window. She walks past a white wicker table, picking up a tall glass of a cool, clear drink and light salad topped with freshly sliced cucumbers. Then she sinks down into either a huge, comfy chair or a bed made up with crips white linens, tons of pillows, and a spread in a cool, crisp green shade. If I connected a bodywash with that type of experience after a long day, I'd be buying it by the caseload.

I didn't take away that she had any problem whatsoever with the content of the commercial, that wasn't portrayed or implied as far as I saw, unless I missed something. The only thing she was shown to have a problem with was being kept waiting for an hour and 47 minutes. And granted, that was sucky but in the grand scheme of things, not at all worthy of the amount of attitude she pitched at it: "No one was here to receive me". Spare me, princess.

She could have refused to do the commercial because it was so sleazy, I imagine she's kicking herself now for not thinking of that! Would have gotten her tons of air time and created even more drama.

I know, Brian C, just ludicrous! Seriously, though, they need better tasks, IMO. I loved Season One, but even then I thought the tasks left something to be desired. A few of the tasks have been okay, but for the most part, I don't think at the end of the season they really prove that much about the business acumen of the last person standing.

Selling lemonade or ice cream on the streets of NYC might tell you something about a person's basic business smarts, but presumably these people have already demonstrated some business success to even get through the interview process.

As scary as some of the clothes in the fashion design task were in Season Two, I thought it was one of the better challenges. They were able to pick and work with a designer, and putting together the fashion show displayed more of the leadership and organizational abilities that a company head should have than some of the other tasks.

But a task like the celebrity auction from Season One wasn't that indicative of which team had more business savvy. No matter what either team did, there was a huge element of luck involved - which celebrities were more popular to that particular audience, how much people were willing to spend, etc.

I just think it's rich that both Magna and Net Worth are criticized by Trump & Co. for making bad commercials, while TPTB at TA have trotted out Deutsche for a third variation on the same theme. Talk about a lack of creativity! And the TA producers don't have the excuses of lack of experience or tight schedules that the contestants do. With all the resources of the Mark Burnett organization, they can't do any better than come up with the same kind of challenges? That's sad.

Season 1 had the problem of just having shlocky, almost random, tasks.

Season 2 cut back on the randomness of the first season.

Now, I think, we've perfected the whole randomness factor, in that luck really does not play much of a role in deciding the competitions (although luck almost decided the first task, where Magna did worse, but due to better traffic, had they had more registers available, they likely WOULD have beaten Net Worth, despite an incompetent marketing campaign). However, while eliminating the randomness factor, they also seem to have (and I do not know if the two are intertwined) eliminated the level of accountability for each task member.

Here's an interesting enough question...if you could put together for this season a hodgepodge of tasks from season 1 and 2 that you thought were fair, which ones would you use?

This question might be better in the "Requests and Changes" thread, since it really doesn't tie in with this episode. Personally, I'd rather see them come up with new and better tasks each season, not to see the same types of tasks repeated.

All of the last two pages belong in the "Requests and Changes" thread, because these posts have related only tangentially at best to the actual episode, which is the topic in here.

If you want to generalize about the show, do it in there; this is not the place. And if you're repeating the same points over and over...maybe it's time to drop it. You know who you are.

Topic, please.

Fity Ninth, ITA that the point of the show pretends to seek leaders. I don't think a leader can be found when the scope of the task is beyond the knowledge of any of The Apprenti. Directing is a very specialized career, as are most. DD and his execs don't shoot the commercials. They hire a production co. for that. A friend of mine was Deutch's account manager for Ikea. She never stood behind the camera or suggested shots. She was on set as a rep of the agency.

Kristen was criticized because she claimed familiarity with filmmaking. She must have thought she learned it through osmosis. Either way, nobody else on the team, from what the editors showed us, stepped up and they bought into the idea that she would know more because of her director/boyfriend.

blocked writer, I think you're idea is right on the mark. They should have had The Apprenti come up with the idea. That's what ad agencies creative teams do, unless they have in-house production, but even that is ordinarily limited to editing.

As an aside, any chance that Craig's hair was a reference to 70's porn? I guess we need to see if he wears his hair that way again, but I haven't seen that big an afro since the 70's.

ITA kittybidee. And your discourse made me ponder the whole thing again. Edgy, to me, is not the same thing as 'out of the box'. Furthermore, as Miss Alli and countless others have posted here and in forums of other shows, using said expression makes you seem as creative as iceberg lettuce. And out of the box can never mean using sex to sell a product, because that old gimmick has been around since the dawn of time. Just think of what could have happened if either of these teams had created a spot for toilet paper!

Edgy would have been going in a direction far from what's already out there for this market. But edgy also risks turning off people, and I don't think it's necessary when talking about an established brand pushing a product that's essentially their star product melted and pushed into a squeeze tube. Frankly, I wouldn't see the need to get all batshit creative for a product that has a good reputation and a very solid customer base, which, incidentally, is what annoys me with 80% of commercials on tv these days.

edited because Sars has a very valid point

Darn it should have checked a few days ago to see if the forums were back up. Could have used all the laughter you guys have been providing.

As for my take on the episode, it was pretty awesome. Always kind of wondered what would have happen if neither team did a good job on these subjective tasks.

As many of you mentioned Bren's little take back in the boardroom about how homosexuality goes against his morality, I wrote that off to him reading DT's reaction to the ad. Bren does have good people reading skills. He effectively(most likely?) got rid of Danny last week by putting him up for PM and then he calms the bitchy actress from hell down, allbeit in a very slimey way.

I remember reading an article late last year about how sexy commercials are not getting viewer responses any more and what viewers want is humour in their ads and therefore many of the brands are going for sexually based humour to keep people tuned into commercials. Maybe somebody in advertising can correct me on this. However, I thought that was what Magna was trying to achieve. I mean as sick as it was to watch Erin orgasm while washing the half naked dude, I couldn't help giggling at the actress from hell washing the cucumber. I think their commercial just was lamely produced and became too bomp chicka bomp bomp.

Furthermore, Nipples need to give specific directions regarding what he wants. Last season we knew he wanted an emotional tear jerker but this time all that the wannabes were told is to make a 30 sec movie that was out of the box?

If I was on the show, I would tie him to a chair and interrogate him about the box. Questions like: What is the definition of the box? Are there boundaries outside the box? If so, where are they drawn? Would you like me to be closer to those boundaries or closer to the box or a point that is equidistant between the box and the boundaries? What if I choose to stay inside the box and hide from all that surrounds it? Would you like me to stop asking you questions about the box? Will you do something about the nipples if I stop asking you about the box? And so on and so forth until he.just. DIES!!

As for Erin, there have been a few comments regarding her hair upthread. I don't think she can cut it or wear it any other way than she does. I mean, have you seen the shape of her head on those occasions where she does have it up? If she had the even the slightest tinge of green to her colouring, we'd all be calling her smeagol rather than Paris/Cher/Samara.


As for the BR, I honestly don't know where Chris is coming from. I wish we get to see more of him soon cause the outbursts have me just sitting there wondering WTF? And my oh my, isn't Audrey tenacious when it comes to defending herself in the BR. As for Erin, I too get the fliratious vibe from her. Its the cutsey routine she does when talking to guys that gets me. I hope Carolyn lays a smack down on her for that.

And finally did anyone else think that Kristen looked like the wicked witch of the west in that black coat when she exited to the taxi. Bye bye Kristen, we knew you wouldn't last long after episode 2, don't let the door hit you on the broom stick you have shoved up your ass on the way out cause that would be painful to you but then again it would be hilarious to me so hit away door hit away.

I don't know that no one else stepping up means that the team "bought into the idea". Frankly, give Kristen's overbearing, bitchy personality, I wouldn't have wanted to argue with her over who got to lead on a given task unless I had professional experience with the task at hand. After "crossing" her by taking leadership on a project she wanted, I think Kristen would have been a poor team member, and she would have been gunning for whomever stole her perceived opportunity to shine. She is the one who cited her boyfriend as a reason she had experience/credibility in the field, so I think she opened herself up to criticism relating to it.

I don't, however, think she was fired because she did a poor job on the production of the commercial. Both teams' commercials missed the target audience/product message by a mile. Both teams' commercials were pretty pooor in terms of production quality. Magna worked pretty well together, and NetWorth didn't.

Kristin was fired because she sucked as a leader, plain and simple. She said (and demonstrated) a number of times during the episode that her style of "leadership" was to do everything herself ,and we saw her give other (previously productive members of the team) busy work to do. Multi-tasking and doing everything yourself are signs of a good worker, but not of a good leader.

If Bren has such good people reading skills, than why didn't he realize that Douchebag would never want an ad which featured homosexuality?

I don't see these amazing manipulative skills...it didn't serve any valuable purpose for him to get rid of Danny, which was proven this week when he tried to move into a central position and could've been fired. I think he probably just honestly nominated Danny for PM and then the cards fell where they fell. The way he treated the actress was condescending and smarmy, and if she hadn't been a plant, or just so desperately needy, she probably would have been offended. And his sniveling BR argument would never have passed such muster if not for Net Worth offering Kristen up for sacrifice.

If Bren is trying to manipulate people, then he's failing. All he's done so far is open himself up to criticism, expose weaknesses, and probably shorten his lifespan as an Apprenti.

I agree, body wash should have some wider and more universal appeal.

What about this scenario: a woman sitting in a nice bright kitchen cutting fresh cucumbers, making some nice cucumber salad, drops of water glistening on cucumber slices. The woman seems happy; however, a look of longing appears on her face as she looks into the distance. Moving out of the window to the neighboring house–a man sitting in a similarly nice kitchen, enjoying a cup of green tea, fresh green tea leaves on the table (no teabags or such), in a cup some tea of deep green color. The man raises his head and gazes longingly into the distance, too. Next: the man and woman approach each other in a supermarket isle. Focus on their faces that gradually lighten up as they see each other for the first time, anticipation that they will connect. Suddenly, the eyes of both are fixated on the product on the shelf–Dove Cool Moisture Body Wash. Each grabs a bottle and they leave in opposite directions. Images of first the man, then the woman in the shower (separately, of course), happily enjoying the new product. More images of cukes, green tea, and body wash, with a slogan: Cucumbers and green tea–what a blissful combination! Subtle message: you don’t have to be a couple if the product is right. Everybody would love it.

Or look at Dove's website, where they expound at great length about the Campaign for Real Beauty. But it didn't seem that what Deutsch told them he wanted was necessarily in line with the ideals Dove espouses.

I had a question...

Was there a requirement that the ad feature cucumbers? Did they have a list that said cucumbers had to be included? I don't remember hearing about that, but Magna's ad had a cucumber, there were a few acid-trip style cutaways of cucumber slices in Net Worth's ad, and then there was a woman with cucumber slices over her eyes in the godawful Dove ad Carolyn introduced. I know that a lot of people put cucumber slices over their eyes during these types of things, but I've never seen such strong emphasis on a cucumber in any other ads for beauty products.

I thought cucumbers and green tea were the two main ingredients (but who knows...).

Thanks for the info, Insomniac. It's interesting to know that Deutsche's company and other ad agencies don't actually shoot the commercials themselves.

But we never saw any green tea in the ads, so I wonder why they had to include cucumber.

BTW, does anyone know what exactly Stephanie, Alex and Kendra did on the task this week?

I liked Bren's commercial. It was hilarious! But of course totally inappropriate for a mainstream product like bodywash.

It seemed to me that the actress had been instructed to pull a diva act and threaten to leave. I would have told her "see ya". I mean honestly they had head shots for other actresses any one of them would have come running. Plus weren't they getting paid from the time they were told to get there.

I didn't like Dove's professional commercial except for Miss Piggy. Go Miss Piggy!

I thought I glimpsed a pathetic tea bag in one of the ads, apparently standing in for the green tea part. Also on the bottle there is a cucumber slice and a green tea leaf.



Yeah, Miss Piggy made that ad enjoyable. And she cleaned up nicely!

All this Miss Piggy discussion made me think how much I'd like to see her in the boardroom, until I realized Donald Trump is Miss Piggy, up to and including their improbable hairstyles.

Okay, Miss Piggy dresses better. But that, and not having any fingers to point at the firee, are the only differences.

Ah, but we did! Well, sort of... there was the whole weird pointed tea bag -- which may very well have been green tea -- thing and inappropriate leaning with mug of tea in the cucumber porno, and during the acid trip cutaways in The Gootastic Race we got flashes of a steaming tea kettle (and also, sunflowers... a world of WTFBBQ...). And both teams came in with similar platters piled high with cukes and bodywash and ... actually, I think there may have been a silver tea kettle on one or both of the platters, but I could totally be misremembering that. (But there definitely were sunflowers on The Gootastic Race platter, so again, what the hell?)

Still, it seems like they were probably instructed to include the ingredients somehow... and come to think of it, were either told to create and cart in he nearly identical platters or were given preloaded platters -- but by who? And why? And why am I now obsessively wondering about this? Damn over the counter cold remedies and their strange after effects...

What was the deal with each team bringing in a tray with the product? Did they think they needed to remind Donny what they were promoting?

You weren't the only one wondering RocketMelee.

They didn't mention it in the show, but I'm certain that they would have been told to include the cucumber and green tea elements to the ad. Cosmetic companies are obsessed with marketing products 'unique' ingredients, and they spend huge amounts of money making sure that the public realise that their products are 'lemon-fresh' or 'pine-tastic' or whatever...

I remember working on a shampoo ad that had to reshoot a piece of lemongrass three times in order to make it look suitably moist and juicy. Apparently these things really. really matter.

One thing was successful about the Magna ad. Anyone who saw it will never be able to look at a pack of Dove body wash without immediately thinking about cucumbers.

However, they may feel intensely nauseated too. Which might not be such a good sales pitch.

Oh...NOW I remember the tea. I had blocked most of the scenes out, like a bad childhood trauma, or any scene with Smeagol. And I thought the teabag scene in Magna's ad was just a sick reference to teabagging in the porn style. Thanks, everyone.

Oh, please, please, please, PLEASE, can we have Miss Piggy take over for the Donald?

I can see it now... Sam the eagle sits in for George ("THAT does NOT LOOK SAFE!")and Kermit can take Carolyn's spot. The Apprenti can go the the Creature lab and build Muppets...

Maybe Miss Piggy can have her own spin-off?

I'd like to see Miss Piggy and Martha Stewart working together. Divaaas innn Prisonnnn! And I'd rather see the Swedish Chef sitting in for Carolyn.

I'd rather see Bert replace Carolyn. Nobody can work a devastating, cold stare the way Bert and Carolyn can. Miss Piggy can dye her hair black and be a dead ringer for Chyna/Kristen.

You shouldn't be so mean to Miss Piggy, Tegan Jovanka! After all, her fits are generally supposed to be amusing. And she has better legs.

If this past episode were to be re-enacted by muppets, I would like to see Rizzo playing Bren. Just because. That or Clyde. Also, I would like to see Erin replaced with one of the Yepyeps, and Chris replaced with Sweetums. You know, to make his whole "I am not a homoSEXual" even louder and scarier. Bert as Carolyn would rock, but only if he rocked a blonde wig. Oh yeah, and Prarie Dawn would have to be the cranky actress. And as for Michael, I envision him being replaced by the head pig from all of the Pigs in Space bits...

I think that Chris would be well-played by Beeker. Every time Bert & Ernie, or a refurbisher, comes by, his neck sticks out, his eyes bug, and he goes, "MEEP BEEP MEEP BEEP" in that terrified fashion of his. Or maybe Beeker can be Craig -- they have similar hairstyles and they're both mute.

Miss Piggy has some of Kristen's facial expressions and taste in makeup, so that was why I compared the two ladies. I can imagine Piggy using those karate chops on Audrey, AKA Prairie Dawn.

That blonde Muppet who was in the band (what was her name, Sunshine?) would be a classic ringer for Angie.

Fozzie would be a good sub for Brian.

What I would really love is to see Gonzo replace Trump, and you have one chicken in big glasses and the other chicken with poofy blonde hair. Then when Gonzo is about to say "YOU'RE FIRED!" the chickens drown him out with "BWAK BWAK-WAKED!!!"

Tegan, I think it was Janice you are thinking of. However, I think we're getting even more of topic, as this sounds like Creative Bookkeeping at this point. If we don't watch it, we're gonna get fired by Sars.

Thanks, I'm awful with names. I figured since we were mentioning season 3 people, it would be on topic, but I will defer to you since you probably know more about the site than I do. My apologies if I went OT.

Thank you kittybidee! That sums up what was wrong with the Magna commercial for me. It wasn't that there was cucumber porn or homosexuality or even the horrible production values, but at the end of the ad, I didn't feel clean and refreshed. Yeah, sure, I wanted to shower after it, but not with what they had advertised! The whole vibe of the ad was dirty, not refreshing.

Of course, knowing Bren and Erin were in the background may have tainted my feelings about the ad...

I really liked the idea for the marathon, but I imagined it a little differently.

Shoot the commercial outside, make it look like the final moments of an actual marathon, with commentators' voice over and the like. If they'd shown the other racers splash with water/keep running, then one racer splash with water, stop and use body wash, splash with water again, and poof, they turn into salon-fresh,, and maybe finish the marathon wrapped in a big poofy towel? Yeah. It was comedy gold. Why pruneface banished the originator of the joke for the execution of a joke, I'll never know.

Word to my esteemed colleague of many pages back who called out Kristen on her lack of humor. I bet she DOES pride herself on humor, too. Much like Brent on "The Office" calls himself a "comedian?"

"Yeah, well, you know, "Same shit, different day," that's mine."

If you think about it, if the Apprenti have been deemed photogenic to appear on prime-time TV, then who's to say one of them couldn't have jumped right into the ad themselves — in fact, that's what I thought they were going to do before they started hiring actors and whatnot. In retrospect I'm surprised that horndog Erin didn't bounce the actress so that she could be the one nuzzling up against the male model and giving Happy Ending to the cucumber.

The male model was the guy we only saw the back of (very nice back though) in the ad. The chef...at first I thought it was Ellen DeGeneres, I didn't realize it was a man. So...maybe not so appealing to a horndog like Erin.

By the by, the male model, Pete Gaeth was on one of the Average Joe seasons playing one of the beefcakes who was supposed to tempt the female. I think it was the one with the Romanian or Ukranian woman. The second season? He was bulkier then. I think he looks much better now.

I too thought the actress was told to pitch a fit to see how the Apprenti handled digrunteled "talent". Speaking of talent, I think that actress has a bright future in acting for crime show reiinactment scenes.
Thanks to those who answered my question about the phones.

leezard, your explanation of the commercial John had in mind was the same way I thought he meant it....water, water, water for everyone else in the race....water, body wash, water for the one guy and looking especially fresh & clean when he wins the race. Kinda the same concept at those Orbit Gum commercials, ya know.

If Kristen had ANY sense of humor and/or had gotten John's idea, it could have been a very cute commercial. Sadly, she was so selfish, she didn't want to let John work with her on the direction so she could at least see what he was going for. Buh bye, Kristen!

RE: pissy actress. TOTAL set-up. Hungry actors, models, dancers in NYC wait all the time for work to start and most aren't stupid enough to complain too much to the ppl who are paying them and giving them one more job to add to their resumes. If it was a set-up, she'd better be sure to tell everyone she interviews with for a while. If it wasn't, she needs to find another line of work. Either way, Bren handled her with perfect Southern Gentleman charm! We Southern Belles (and Yankee girls, too, obviously) just love it.