She explains to Carolyn why she and Randal are in the video and says "I made the decision to put Randal and
I in the video". Oops, Rebecca, it would be "Randal and ME".[/quote]
I like Rebecca. She’s smart and funny and cute, but if we posted for every grammatical error she has made, TWOP would need a new server.
I've been a fan of R and also R from way back, so I was glad to see them make the final two. For the last two tasks, I've also really enjoyed the (non-romantic) chemistry between them. They are really happy to be working together.[/quote]
It will be interesting to see how they handle being on opposite sides in a winner-takes-all competition.
I hope TPTB don't resort to the now-tired plot device of setting them up with the troublemakers and incompetents. I'd like to see how they do running a real team. Although, I understand the malcontents make better television and do offer a chance to see how the candidates handle difficult people in pressure situations.
RainbowRat
Dec 5, 2005 @ 6:11 pm
I've been a fan of R and also R from way back, so I was glad to see them make the final two. For the last two tasks, I've also really enjoyed the (non-romantic) chemistry between them. They are really happy to be working together.
It wasn't so much that R&R's video was good. Frankly, theirs looked like a well-intentioned youth group video skit. Rebecca's voiceover at the end is what saved it. Totally professional. And I've taken voiceover classes--it's harder than you might think. I was initially terrified for them when I heard about this task. I was thinking "Oh no! Alla and Felisha are creative wonders! They'll wipe the floor with Randal and Rebecca!" And then they got into it and I realized, "Duh, Rebecca's *had* professional camera jobs (see her bio on the Apprentice site). She has this under control."
It seemed to me that Rebecca was already not satisfied with the actor they had hired. Given her past work experience, I can't see how she would be. When Randal said the actor wasn't working, she pounced on agreement with utter relief, so I'm guessing she was already debating internally whether to junk all his footage before Randal said anything.
Alla and Felisha's video, on the other hand, had Felisha's crappy "I have no idea how cheesy I sound" voiceover at the end, plus Alla's horrific graphic salad (tm Jacob in the now-gone-forever recaplet), PLUS the intro part, which while very good in terms of transmitting emotion, sent the wrong message. It looked like an ad for a post-natal depression drug (was also said upthread). It implied "You need to buy this software because you can't handle yourself in business otherwise." Who is going to admit that sort of thing?
And okay, maybe I'm totally manipulated by the editing, but I am now really rooting for Felisha in life after not caring about her one way or the other for weeks. She's nice, she's smart, she's creative, she's enthusiastic, she relates to people as people rather than as tools or threats, she's honest and she's not manipulative. I would totally want to be her friend. I would totally want to start a business with her. You could argue that these traits are what got her booted, but on the other hand, they're what made her successful enough in her real life to get her on the show to begin with. And in real estate, especially in buying and selling homes (is that what she does?), which is a deeply personal and emotional thing to the clients, those traits are the best ones to have. Her main fault is that she didn't recognize that Alla did not relate to her the same way.
I have not yet seen the E!B!F!, but from the show it looked like Trump was ready to fire Alla from the git-go. Practically the first thing out of his mouth when he walked into the Boardroom was "do you think Alla is hard to manage?" And he kept coming back to that. I kind of thought it was a railroad, and it crossed my mind that he was "threatened by the strong woman", but on the other hand, as has been said upthread, you can't tell when you're sitting down with Alla whether you're the co-diner or the dish. While we all worship the total business shark in the abstract, how many of us would invite one into our own aquarium if we had the option of keeping her out? She's not a "strong woman" of the Pamela type, she's flat-out ruthless.
Booklord
Dec 5, 2005 @ 7:47 pm
I have not yet seen the E!B!F!, but from the show it looked like Trump was ready to fire Alla from the git-go. Practically the first thing out of his mouth when he walked into the Boardroom was "do you think Alla is hard to manage?" And he kept coming back to that. I kind of thought it was a railroad[/quote]
I suspect that Felicia had no chance whatsoever at that point. Trump had already mentally fired her so what was the point of going after her. She'd have folded like a napkin and it would be over too quickly. But he probably already knew that Alla had played a large part of the loss so he decided to bait her to test how she'd react. Alla took the bait and then some.
Trump may have have provided the shovel but Alla dug her own grave.
LoneHaranguer
Dec 5, 2005 @ 7:59 pm
But make no mistake, I don't see that there is anyway that Trump jut continually hands out COO jobs to let the winner simply run amok in making key strategic decisions on a day to day and long term basis.[/quote]
Immediately after Bill was hired, Trump told him there would be lots of people around him to "help". IMHO, the implication was clear and the comment torpedoed the victory a bit, although we all know where the winners really stand, regardless of any salary or title they may get.
marylou
Dec 5, 2005 @ 9:48 pm
Someone upthread was wondering how the Apprentii go out for dinner since they are not allowed to have their own money. Seems to me that those meals would need to be prearranged, what with the camera crews and all of the extra people in the restaurant associated with the production, plus there's free advertising for the restaurant--I'm thinking in any case the money thing's not an issue. The dinner outings can't be as spontaneous as they appear.
Great ep this week, so many interesting things to laugh at.
PS. Alexis says don't dress for the beach for a presentation in a Manhattan high-rise, and she sends her regards. To the Ponderosa. BWAH!
growsonwalls
Dec 5, 2005 @ 11:18 pm
Ok, for those who havent seen the Extra Boardroom Footage, I'll kind of summarize how it differs from what was shown on the show:
On the show, Felisha is in tears, and Carolyn appears to be smiling, and Trump says "Felisha, you think you're tough enough to work in NY?"
In the EBF you see that Trump and Carolyn are clearly extremely sympathetic to Felisha. Trump, ignoring his oft-stated principle that there's no crying in business, is like "I think we all need a Kleenex." Cut to Carolyn smiling, except it's not a gleeful smile, it's sort of sad and sympathetic, kind of like "chin, up, Felisha." And Carolyn's eyes are glazed over, like she's on the verge of tears herself. It's clear that no one enjoys seeing the Stripper With a Heart of Cold berate Felisha to tears.
theBadge
Dec 6, 2005 @ 1:40 am
Randal has shown he can lead, he can follow; he can take low blows and rebound without resorting to similar low blows (not sure I wouldn't have cut the ground out from under Rebecca for her statements that she was "disappointed" and "wished" Randal had "stepped" up more. Good grief, the man has saved her hide a few times over, yet TD takes a couple of words rolling off her tongue as pure gold. Hear what I say, not what you see.
Randal could have saved the world from nuclear devastation, but ya know, Rebecca would have wished he had just stepped it up a few minutes sooner. Man, what are you gonna do: Call Ghost Busters?[/quote]
Don't forget that the extra footage from that task (from the recap episode) showed Randal making a pretty horrible choice in terms of what photo he chose for the poster (really, I think it was a worse mistake than getting the channel number wrong). Rebecca told Clay to fix it, and he did. Rebecca's comments seemed "out of the blue" during the episode in which she made them, but the extra context provided by the recap episode made them seem reasonable.
stopeslite
Dec 6, 2005 @ 11:22 am
It didn't seem important enough to post about, and I see no one else has, but I just can't get this irritant off my mind. During the Alla/Felisha video, the voice-over part that really jumped out at me, that seemed to be the point of the biggest focus, was "Just log in with your username and password!"
Whaaa?????
You mean, like you do to every freakin' Microsoft program and application already? Who the fuck would need that information? Who would think it's a selling point worthy of inclusion on the commercial????? I thought they both should have been fired on the spot just for including that asinine sentence at all.
proudtvaddict
Dec 6, 2005 @ 11:43 am
Someone upthread was wondering how the Apprentii go out for dinner since they are not allowed to have their own money. Seems to me that those meals would need to be prearranged, what with the camera crews and all of the extra people in the restaurant associated with the production, plus there's free advertising for the restaurant--I'm thinking in any case the money thing's not an issue. The dinner outings can't be as spontaneous as they appear, and the money thing seems like not such a big issue.
[/quote]
Not to stray too far off topic, but I'm betting on the pre-arranged, considering the restaurant Alla and Felisha were in was empty except for the two of them. And I think it's a fairly high-profile place.
radish042
Dec 6, 2005 @ 12:23 pm
It didn't seem important enough to post about, and I see no one else has, but I just can't get this irritant off my mind. During the Alla/Felisha video, the voice-over part that really jumped out at me, that seemed to be the point of the biggest focus, was "Just log in with your username and password!"
Whaaa?????
You mean, like you do to every freakin' Microsoft program and application already? Who the fuck would need that information? Who would think it's a selling point worthy of inclusion on the commercial????? I thought they both should have been fired on the spot just for including that asinine sentence at all.[/quote]
Word. I hadn't posted sooner because I truly couldn't believe I heard it in their finished commercial. That would be the first thing out of their 2.5 minutes of mediocrity to be cut in my world. Although, in my world, it never would have been said in the first place because ... duh.
ConanGrammarian
Dec 6, 2005 @ 1:26 pm
Don't forget that the extra footage from that task (from the recap episode) showed Randal making a pretty horrible choice in terms of what photo he chose for the poster (really, I think it was a worse mistake than getting the channel number wrong). Rebecca told Clay to fix it, and he did. Rebecca's comments seemed "out of the blue" during the episode in which she made them, but the extra context provided by the recap episode made them seem reasonable.[/quote]
Despite all his gifts and strengths, Randal does seem a little lacking in the marketing creativity department. That won't hurt him in the final task as long as he recognizes that and utilizes creative people for those elements of a task.
Chicagoland
Dec 6, 2005 @ 2:29 pm
One reason Bill is on is that he is a "celebrity winner". Also, Kendra had not been hired yet when this season was being filmed.
And Kendra doesn't suck.
Booklord
Dec 6, 2005 @ 2:55 pm
Don't forget that the extra footage from that task (from the recap episode) showed Randal making a pretty horrible choice in terms of what photo he chose for the poster (really, I think it was a worse mistake than getting the channel number wrong). [/quote]
I'd also mark him down as the Star Wars expert who created a rather unimpressive Star Wars display. (even if you ignore the part of them not knowing to put Darth Vader front and center) Fortunately his display was overshadowed by the glaring mistakes made by Brian and Marshawn.
blocked writer
Dec 6, 2005 @ 5:11 pm
Despite all his gifts and strengths, Randal does seem a little lacking in the marketing creativity department. That won't hurt him in the final task as long as he recognizes that and utilizes creative people for those elements of a task.
[/quote]
Randal may well be one of the less creative people, but I agree that he seems to have enough insight to realize how to use other people's strengths.
But I'm not sure just how lacking in creativity he really is. He did do a poor job on the poster for the XM radio task. But I'm beginning to wonder how much of the killer fatigue is at play, and how much is the fault of the players. Alla looked pretty strong until the wrapping task for Shania Twain. And then in this episode, from the presentation outfits to the choices for the video, she looked much less savvy than before.
Whatever the truth, no one comes out of these seasons unscathed. Every one of the final four or even six each season showed some strengths and some weaknesses by the end. It was interesting to see how calm Randal seemed in this task, and how he was able to steady Rebecca's nerves. As others have noted, he could have held back, in case they lost, and he wasn't likely to be fired unless he did something glaringly bad. I was glad to see that he didn't do that, despite the fact that she was arguably unnecessarily harsh to him in the boardroom in the past.
sesstr
Dec 7, 2005 @ 3:03 pm
Still can't believe Alla got fired! It would have been so awesome to have a Randal or Rebecca vs Alla.
I totally loved how Alla walked out of the Boardroom after being fired without saying anything, as well as her parting comment about being able to follow the right leader.
MartyBru01
Dec 7, 2005 @ 8:21 pm
I'm surprised Alla, Felisha, Trump, etc. forgot how successful Alla can be at following, especially during the XM task. Alla stepped aside and let Felisha shine. During this task, even I was getting confused about what Felisha was expecting from Alla. "Here Alla, you direct, but not too much so that Bill thinks I'm a bad leader, blahblahblah insecurecakes." During the Crazy Taxi, when Alla mentions being led by the right leader, I don't think she was counting out the old Felisha (around XM task and before). I think she meant weak, indecisive Felisha from that particular task.
Sure, the video was a disaster, and Alla was equally at fault (if not more), but I think that if Alla had just stayed quiet, supported her decisions and Felisha without complementing her too much, she would have survived another week. Many candidates have been fired for not reading the room well, and Alla is no exception.
canuck31003
Dec 8, 2005 @ 2:26 pm
parting comment about being able to follow the right leader[/quote]
As soon as Alla said that, my first thought was, that's just a way of saying Alla can't/won't follow any leader. I mean, just as PMs have to deal with different types of workers, workers have to deal with different types of PMs. If Alla is only able to follow [to success] a certain type of PM, then that would restrict Alla's usefullness as a Trump employee, IMO, and Trump made the right decision in firing Alla for being pretty much unmanageable.
tricksi
Dec 8, 2005 @ 6:21 pm
If Alla is only able to follow [to success] a certain type of PM, then that would restrict Alla's usefullness as a Trump employee, IMO, and Trump made the right decision in firing Alla for being pretty much unmanageable.[/quote]
I agree. It's as if she'll follow or be managed just fine as long as the process is going the way she thinks it ought to.
The winner will probably manage the work of others and make decisions, but their primary focus is not to lead and teach but to learn and follow. Otherwise, the show would be called "The Mentor". And I'm sure Trump realized for all Alla's strengths, she wouldn't be as easy to direct as Randal or Rebecca.
karenk
Dec 8, 2005 @ 7:40 pm
So... all the TrumpFnuring about "back up to the suite" and "enjoy the spectacular view from the top of my penis" is refering to... the fourth floor?
Volumes. That. Speaks. Volumes. [/quote]
LadyKenobi, I will await delivery of the new keyboard you owe me, because this cheap merlot I just spewed all over this one will surely be the death of it. Reminded me of Spy magazine's oft-used description of Trump as a "short-fingered vulgarian."
Please, bring George back. His expressions when the Apprenti are doing something stupid are priceless and Bill's corpspeak is a sad substitute for George's sharp, no-nonsense attitude.
Rebecca's smart and cute, but this is Randal's to lose. And aren't there two shows left? So we must have a two-parter or a nonelimination task coming up.
Figaro1
Dec 10, 2005 @ 12:56 am
Just got back from seeing the Narnia movie. The Big Baddie is the Winter Queen, who has a confrontation about 2/3 of the way through the movie with the big Good Guy. He growls at her, and all of us Figaros (all 4 of us), in unison, said, "Alla. Sit." hee. Yes, she has long blonde hair, and a sort of dominatrix aura. Very Alla. I think we have been watching too much TA.
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