DAVID BIANCULLI

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THE NEW CELEBRITY APPRENTICE
January 2, 2017  | By David Bianculli

NBC, 8:00 p.m. ET

 

SERIES RETURN: This is a warning, not a recommendation. This reboot of NBC’s The Apprentice was filmed early last year, when the chances of former host Donald Trump actually becoming President of the United States seemed absurdly slim. Now it arrives to launch the New Year, with Trump, as President-Elect, continuing to be associated with this show and reportedly maintaining his salaried credit as one of its executive producers. The new host is another show business personality turned politician, former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who presides over a new gaggle of semi-celebrity contestants fawning for approval. This time out, they include Nicole Polizzi, better known (sadly) as Snooki on MTV’s Jersey Shore. There are others, including Jon Lovitz and Boy George and Carson Kressley, all of whom have long outlived their pop-culture use-by dates – but the threatened combo of Schwarzenegger and Snooki should be enough to make The New Celebrity Apprentice a critical mass to be avoided at all costs. Trump’s dismissive catch phrase was “You’re fired!”; I don’t know what Schwarzenegger’s will be, though “Hasta la vista, baby!” seems probable. Mine, though, I hope soon will be the following: “You’re canceled!”

 
 
 
 
 
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