[quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' date=\'Apr 16 2004, 11:39 AM\'][quote name=\'Clay Zambo\' date=\'Apr 16 2004, 08:26 AM\'] I can appreciate that. It's one reason I didn't watch the news last night on an NBC station, and don't have Today on this morning. [/quote]
I was filling in on a talk radio station this morning, and the ABC Radio newscast at the top of the hour not only treated the story as a news item, but actually dedicated a reporter and included sound bites. This for a rival network's TV show.
I'm not at all surprised by the success of The Apprentice, but I am a little...I don't know, disappointed at how we as an audience (and the media at large) accepted it as a bona fide competition. This was Mark Burnett's dream format: an elimination format in which the eliminations are totally controlled. Make no mistake, The Donald was a hired hand in this little falderal. If Burnett wanted somebody fired (or not) then that's what happened, and all it took was a little disclaimer at the end to make it legit.[/quote]
The disclaimer appeared before the credits on the first episode and near the end in all of the other episodes, along with "Prize winners must meet..." and "Portions of the program not affecting..." (Yep, NBC did require this, even if CBS doesn't on "Survivor.") It said something on the order of "Donald Trump is the sole decider of all contestant elminations, although he receives advice and consultation from his associates and from the producers. All decisions of Mr. Trump are final."
I'm sure someone on the web has the exact verbiage from the disclaimer--if NBC had run it in bigger type, I probably would've had it memorized by now.