National Post (National Edition)
SHOWMAN EXPOSED
EARLY APPRENTICE REVIEWS SAW THROUGH TRUMP'S FAILURES, WRITES EMILY YAHR, BUT THAT DIDN'T STOP THE SHOW FROM BEING A HIT.
By now, everyone knows Donald Trump probably could not have become U.S. president without The Apprentice. The show transformed his image — an assertion further solidified the recent New York Times bombshell investigation of Trump's taxes. The paper reported that the NBC reality competition series not only helped rocket Trump to further fame, but fortune: He earned US$427 million from the show.
As the Times detailed, the magic of The Apprentice was that it showcased Trump, who had lost millions over the years, as a hugely successful titan of business. The opening minutes of the première showed the famous real estate developer riding in a limousine intercut with scenes of a building, casino and plane all emblazoned with his name.
In reality, Trump had reportedly recently lost nearly $90 million (all figures in U.S. dollars) from his businesses, yet, as the Times wrote, “that image of the selfmade, self-saved mogul, beamed into the national consciousness, would help fuel Mr. Trump's improbable election to the White House.”
You may assume that when the show had its debut in January 2004, people didn't really care (or outside New York City, didn't really know) about Trump's reputation as an egomaniacal and previously bankrupt businessman, despite the tabloids chronicling his ups and downs and outrageous behaviour for years. But looking at media coverage around the The Apprentice debut, the opposite appeared to be true. Many critics, TV reporters and industry experts were well aware, and quite vocal, about Trump's role as a controversial figure and a punchline — even if the show tried to gloss over that unpleasantness.
“Watching Trump whoosh through traffic in his personal limo, it's easy to forget that back in the early '90s, the obnoxious opportunist with a flair for getting his picture in the paper and his name on skyscrapers purchased with other people's money was finally getting his comeuppance,” columnist Beverly Kelley wrote in the California-based Ventura County Star. “Due to a string of bad business deals, the bankrupt mover-and-shaker (a.k.a. `the short-fingered vulgarian') could have learned, albeit the hard way, that all that's glitzy is not gold. But Trump didn't.”
Kurt Andersen, former editor for Spy magazine, which coined the “short-fingered vulgarian” nickname, told The Associated Press, “He always struck me as a creature who needs and thrives on public attention, of whatever kind, the way the rest of us need food and oxygen and the love of our children.”
“If the first episode of The Apprentice is any sign, viewers looking for something more from Trump will be doomed to disappointment. But no wonder,” the AP's Frazier Moore wrote. “Trump has always stayed in character as someone for whom the word `grandiose' just isn't grand enough.'”
Moore also made a joke that several writers repeated: Being declared the “winner” of The Apprentice, in which 16 people competed weekly to land a job with one of Trump's companies, wasn't actually that great. “A year working for Trump — to some viewers, this may seem more like a sentence than a prize.”
That didn't ring true for everyone: Producers received 215,000 applications for 16 slots, and Trump Tower became a tourist destination. But other stories pointed out people's disdain for Trump. The New York Post cited a consulting company's online poll that found 33 per cent of participants said they wouldn't take a job with Trump no matter what it paid. As the paper snarked, maybe they thought “that any employment offer would require them to work on The Donald's near-bankrupt casino company or as his personal hairstylist.”
Some mocked those who were impressed by the spectacle: “Viewers enamoured of Trump might want to think carefully before buying stock in his highly leveraged public company Trump Hotels and Casino Resorts,” wrote the New Jersey Star-Ledger.
Outlets including Advertising Age and The Globe and Mail ran pieces that dove into how the show was serving as a vehicle to improve Trump's tarnished image. Two months after the debut, a Newsweek cover explored his new-found popularity: “Not long ago, Trump, 57, was a bloviating real-estate developer with a taste for young women and the spotlight. Today he's — the same. Not even his hairdo has changed. So how has Trump gone from something of a joke ... to a man so cool, even `The Donald' doesn't sound mocking anymore?” the magazine asked.
In the first season, about 22 million people tuned in every week, and approximately 28 million watched the finale. Even though Apprentice creator Mark Burnett's initial idea was that other moguls might host various seasons, Trump was the anchor until 2015, when he decided to run for the U.S. presidency.