In what is being dubbed as a preemptive strike, real estate mogul turned reality TV star Donald Trump is not giving network executives at NBC the chance to fire him because—-he quit.
Within hours of discovering his low-rated reality show “The Apprentice” was left off NBC’s new prime-time schedule Trump issued a statement that said he intended to “move on from ‘The Apprentice’ to a major new TV venture,” though he declined to elaborate.
Frankly, I find the entire situation rather hilarious. Here you have a network unveiling its new TV line up, Trump sees it, realizes his show didn’t make the cut, and almost instantaneously he fires off a memo that basically says you can’t fire me because I quit. You’d think that the big wigs at NBC would have at least informed Trump that his show was getting the boot well ahead of the schedule reveal—that way Trump could have graciously (if that’s possible for him) thanked NBC for the giving him the opportunity to transform himself from a self-styled tycoon into a television star and each could part ways amicably. But, that didn’t happen.
I think part of the problem was that NBC executives refused to absolutely rule out a reprieve of the show once rival networks ABC, CBS and Fox had laid out their schedules for next season. Perhaps Trump read the writing on the wall. And being the egomaniac he is… ahem… I mean not being one who is of little pride, Trump likely didn’t want to wait around to hear the catch phrase he made famous: “You’re fired!”
I guess when your ratings stink and you are banished from the airwaves professional courtesy flies out the window. Personally I think “The Apprentice” had a pretty good run. It debuted as a hit in 2004; averaging nearly 21 million viewers and ranking as the top-rated new U.S. TV show its first season. But in successive years, the series dropped steadily in the ratings. According to one report, the show lost nearly two-thirds of its original audience by the time it wrapped up its sixth installment last month.
I wonder if Trump’s ongoing high profile feuds with Rosie O’Donnell, Barbara Walters and Martha Stewart contributed to his dip in ratings?
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