Friday, April 24, 2015

Recap: Celebrity Apprentice Episode 8 the finale

It's time for the Apprentice finale with a live audience. The announcer sounds half bored and not at all impressed that this will be live. Over at ABC their announcer always sounds like he's about to stroke out whenever they dare to go live he's so excited about it.

Four flipping degrees outside? #yeahthatswhyimoved

There's Trump's kid Barron, his youngest. He must be about eight. He is such a good looking kid like all the Trump kids. He looks like a walking advertisement for the Hamptons. Trump is quite the eccentric, but in the spawn department he really did well.

Trump emerges from some cheap sliding doors like he just got a makeover. I think they borrowed those from The Biggest Loser. No makeover this time, he looks exactly the same though less orange when it's live.

He joins Ivanka and Trump Jr. at the boardroom table and starts talking about how wonderfully amazing the show is, giving himself credit for it all.  This is such good bad T.V.

As is usual for the live finale we will be skipping back and forth to the not-so-live final challenge in Florida. Recall from last time, Leeza and Geraldo were in the midst of making promotional packages for Universal Studios.

Last week I ran into a friend of mine who lives in the Hollywood Hills and she mentioned that the daughter of a friend of hers babysits for none other than crazy I-an! I mentioned crazy I-an was kind of crazy on Celebrity Apprentice but that I thought it might be just a character he was playing for more screen time and just because he can. She immediately agreed and said he's, according to her friend, completely normal and very nice, treats her daughter well and is not crazy at all. Well, that's a seriously gigantic relief.

They do a long recap of what happened last time. See my previous recap, hehe! Olivia Newton-John's accent is so lovely. I call it Australian elegance. Leeza can get away with saying she's going to win because she's actually going to. When Kate has said nonsense like that in the past it's just embarrassing. I like that two entertainment journalists are the finalists. It seems more fun when they're both sort of from the same world. I can't even imagine how inept Kate would be at this final task.

We pick up with Geraldo where we last left off. Recall he's using some child actors who were somehow misplaced, like you might lose your keys. They're still fumbling around trying to sort this all out. Lorenzo is trying to explain to Geraldo they have very limited time to do a great number of things and really need to haul it. Geraldo doesn't seem to care and calls this marching to a different beat. I call it Lorenzo understanding what a tight production schedule is. Geraldo takes over Lorenzo's duties because he thinks there can be only one captain of the ship. True, but shouldn't it be the person who knows what they're doing? Like Lorenzo. By the way Lorenzo was doing great, naturally, and can pretty much just shake his head at this point. They round up the kids and start filming some little spots. Geraldo's not very good with the kids, telling them things like "don't rest on your laurels." What the hell kid knows what that means? What the hell adult knows what that means for that matter! I know someone who has chosen to work with kids who talks like that. I scratch my head every day wondering if they realize how bad they are with kids. Kids don't know what you're saying, and that's not how you build rapport.

Over at Leeza's team they're at the cool Harry Potter section, where they're blocking out a scene for their commercial about an uptight dad.

Leeza forgot to account for Kevin Jonas who is attracting a bunch of fans ogling at him, which is starting to get in the way of production. Jonas brother saves the day though and asks his fans to please move along, and they do, just like little Jonas sheeple. I guess I have to admit that Jonas brother is doing a decent job directing the commercial. It looks like he is just systematically getting everything organized and shooting the shots they planned. The reality is under these time constraints it's more important that you get all the footage you need rather than it's an Oscar worthy performance. He understands that and he's delivering for Leeza. Good for him. Leeza goes on ahead to start editing and trusts Jonas brother to finish the last few shots. This makes Jonas brother and his huge head feel very good. But that's the thing, Leeza understands what makes somebody difficult to work with like Jonas brother become somebody easy to work with. In other words, she is a good manager who can manage anyone and play to their strengths. This is why she is a far superior choice as the winner, there is no close call this season whatsoever.

Back at Geraldo's team, Geraldo announces that as soon as Lorenzo just accepted Geraldo is in charge things went so much smoother. For Geraldo I guess. The truth is Lorenzo very reluctantly let him be in charge only because he's the boss, and Lorenzo thinks Geraldo's going to screw this whole thing up if he doesn't want to put his ego aside for one moment and trust somebody who knows what they are doing like Leeza trusts Jonas brother. Lorenzo is right, Geraldo is wrong, but this time Lorenzo doesn't have a dog in this fight so it's not worth trying to stop this clusterfuck.

Geraldo calls himself iconic, and I love that the producers let us hear the sound from the live studio audience, because they burst out laughing. They're laughing at you Geraldo. Lol.

Lorenzo says Geraldo is a pain in the ass, lol, but admits his energy is pretty endless. Yeah, I've noticed that with many celebs. I think your energy level has to be that high if you want to make it in this business, because so much of your success depends on whether you can outwork that other person who wants the role. That's why you always hear bizarro workaholic stories about how people like Meryl Streep sold all her personal belongings and went to go live in Poland for six months where she wandered the streets of Krakow every day eating sauerkraut sandwiches and making idle conversation with the locals until she had the accent perfected. I don't know if she did exactly that but I'm sure it was close enough, and you get my point.


Ah, the great Joan Rivers. I miss her midas touch on this live finale already.

The child actors are cute I guess, but Geraldo as Harry Potter is so creepy just as expected. Geraldo drinking butter beer dressed as Harry Potter comes across like the beginning of a really kinky porno. It's just not good.

Just before commercial break they show us the live backstage area where the has-been contestants are waiting. Kate is making duck lips while Terrell takes a selfie of them. Oh, Doofus, duck lips are so 2013. Also I love that she is so chummy with deadbeat dad of the year. He himself admits he can't be bothered to see his children because he's too busy. I think she's just ignorant (due to laziness), both to his history of treating his four baby mamas and their children like absolute crap, and to why it would be hypocritical of her to be so buddy-buddy with someone like him. Kate is so darn lazy she can't even bother to read the Wikipedia entries on her fellow contestants. Smart contestants going on this show do their research on their competition to try to find out where their opponents strengths and weaknesses are, as well as figure out who they should associate, and not associate with. I remember hearing somewhere, maybe it was in her documentary, that when Joan Rivers was on this show she had a gigantic three ringed notebook filled with information on the competition. Naturally, she won her season.

We're back! Trump introduces his family, and they show Barron again next to his mom. Melania looks really ticked off about something. At first I thought she didn't realize the cameras were on her and was just bored, but then when he says her name she must know yet she still can't barely manage the tiniest of smiles and won't even clap when everyone else around her is. Haha, Trump's in the dog house. Probably drank straight from the milk carton again.

Whoosh, and we're back to Florida again. For some reason I just pictured those cool Indiana Jones maps from the movies with a little bi-plane going down from New York to Florida. What business Indiana Jones would have in Florida I don't know.

Geraldo begins editing his commercial, and mercifully he's letting Lorenzo and the other two figure that out. Thank goodness. He works the phones to get his entertainment lined up, Tony Orlando. He is very moved that Tony is going to help him out, especially since Tony has a disabled sister.

Speaking for my generation, with all due respect to Leeza and Geraldo, I don't know who Tony Orlando is and the only reason I know who Olivia Newton-John is, is because Grease made a very small, very brief comeback when I was a kid (anyone remember it being re-released and going to see it?), and also because of a complete coincidence, I know a few of her friends. I just don't know that this sort of entertainment is going to interest anyone under 40.

Back at Leeza's team, she's leading the editing. Brandi and Jonas brother return from filming and they've brought churros! Churros!  By the way, have you seen these?



Yes, that is a churro ice cream sandwich. It speaks for itself; nothing more need be said about that.

I respect that Jonas brother is really trying to help Leeza make this the best that it can be. He doesn't have to work so hard on something of little consequence to him. I like him a teeny, tiny bit better than I used to.

Ian ends up really liking Geraldo's commercial, but says it's all about Geraldo. He wouldn't have done it that way. I agree with him, that was the wrong approach. It's awkward and self-serving, and the Harry Potter thing really doesn't work. Like, borderline weird porno really doesn't work.

Leeza's happy with her commercial too, she thinks it's upbeat. Brandi reports Brandi's raised $17,000, so that's a good start and not bad for a reality star. Leeza's worried though about Geraldo's fundraising. I think she should just not vex herself about that. Geraldo will always beat her on fundraising, there's nothing she can do about it. Better to focus her efforts on all the other things that she can do better.

Back in the studio in New York, it's time to bring out the losing celebs, woo hoo! They come out in order of being fired. We have Keisha, Gilbert, Jamie, the true deadbeat dad Terrell, Kate, who is dressed appropriately in what I would call a nude-gold sheath dress, and crazy Kenya Moore.

On a side note, there was a time when Kate dressed completely inappropriately, remember those days? I'm always going to be curious who or what made her stop that nonsense and start dressing her age. Because you don't go just like that from looking like a two bit hooker at the Reading Amtrak station to someone about to give a Ted Talk on overcoming adversity. Trump introduces her as American's most famous mom. I almost gasp until he adds, of eight. Lol, well sure, that's true. I like that he doesn't describe her as a reality star or anything like that. His description is accurate, she is a famous, or rather infamous, mom of eight. That's all she ever was, and apparently all she ever will be. Suck it, Kate.

Heh, Trump asks Kenya if she is a nice person. Can I answer that? No, she's a thief and a pathological liar. Trump certainly has no problem being blunt, so how come he won't ask Kate if she's a nice person?

Commercials! In New York, Trump has over the commercial break become "America's boss." Wow, guess we'll all be punching in with him on Monday.

Back in Florida, I don't know what is happening, but there appears to be some kind of red carpet event where you're standing in line. Geraldo says he can still get it up. Ew. I hate when old people make sex jokes. Just no.

Some rich people are sort of gathered in a big room with a few tables around, some posters, and a bunch of those weird aliens from Despicable Me who look like giant yellow horse pills with eyes. I guess they are collecting money because Geraldo and Leeza are suddenly shouting out donation numbers as people hand them checks. It seems to me Geraldo has an unfair advantage bringing in all his friends from Fox, it's all big business rich Republicans!

A limo pulls up and the soundtrack is some over the top Prince Valiant's coronation type thing with trumpets and snare drums as Trump steps out of the car. Trump is too much. You know he picked that music. The Transformers introduce Leeza and Geraldo. Those movies are so stupid, and somebody in post production turned up the yellows and blues on them so high you feel like you need sunglasses just to make it through.

Also I can never see a transformer without remembering the jingle from their old cartoon from the 80's. "Transformers: Robots in disguise! Buh-bum!!" No woman my age didn't have a bunch of guy friends or a brother our ages who, back in the day, couldn't be torn away from their T.V.'s between the hour of 8:30 and 9 on a Saturday morning because of "Transformers: Robots in disguise! Transformers: More than meets the eye!" (Wow, that's like Milo-level poetry.) In googling the show to see what is out there about it, I see they've done a reboot of it that just started this year. Oh, please no. Another generation of boys sucked into that useless vortex. Even if the new movies were any good, which they're not, I don't think I could like them anyway due to that jingle stuck in my head for thirty years.

Geraldo is stumbling all over everyone's names and occupations. Wait, is he sloshed? The other contestants look like they're asking themselves the same question. He correctly calls Ian I-an, but says I-an Zerling. Okay, John Travolta.

"Thanks so much for that, Geraldo-doe," Ian quips. Haha, funny. Like pig latin. You can tell I-an's pissed as hell somebody would dare insult his ego by flubbing his name, especially Geraldo. I-an has daggers in his eyes. Bit scary.

Leeza thinks Geraldo's commercial is professional but too Geraldo heavy. Yes. Some of the execs seem to like it. No one has said this, but I also think the concept of kids going off to one part of the park to enjoy something while the parents go off to enjoy another is a little odd. Most families are not going to spend that much money to happily leave their kids to go frolic off at the other end of the park. Usually families are here on vacation, and they want to enjoy the experience with the kids. Maybe when they're older.

I still don't know who Tony Orlando is, but he shares an inspiring story about his sister who has cerebral palsy and is "mentally retarded." I remember some people on here insisting awhile back that term is no longer acceptable, but I can attest that acceptable or not, the term is still in heavy use among medical professionals, social workers and even by families of those with mental disabilities, as evidenced here when Tony says it.

The Willowbrook mental institution story is a tragic one, but it's also been almost thirty years since they closed their doors forever. I've never understood why Geraldo keeps referring to Willowbrook like he just got it shut down or something. In fact there's been so much de-institutionalization since the 80's, some people who maybe actually need a more formal setting have been turned to the streets and dangerous and even deadly incidents have resulted. Mental health in this country is a controversial issue that's for sure, but Geraldo even being a journalist never really goes any deeper than his tag lines about it.

Leeza is probably one of the best public speakers I've ever seen. She breezes through her presentation. She's so good. Oh, don't tell Donald he changed your life, that just encourages him. I think her commercial is so much better, it has a story with a beginning, middle and end, about an overbearing and too organized dad. It has just the right touch of Leeza, with Leeza doing the voiceover. "Fun is your only agenda" is a good tagline and modern.

Leeza shows a wonderful photo of her hugging her mom. Aw. She speaks eloquently about how tragic Alzheimer's is. Leeza thanks Trump for giving her a platform for her charity. There is nothing insincere about this lovely woman and her cause. She believes in what she's doing mind, body and soul.

There's the dated entertainment Olivia Newton-John, but at least she sings a song "everybody knows" except me I guess, "Magic." Seriously, never heard of it. Vivica gets the live audience laughing when she says she has a girl crush on Olivia. Who doesn't? I don't much know her songs but even I have to admit there's something about her that is very crushable. Commercials.

We're back, and oh, no, I guess Trump must have flubbed Kiesha Knight's name earlier and feels he needs to correct it. What, did he say Kuh-Night or something? Oh, I guess he flubbed her other last name nobody knows or ever calls her by. Who cares. Trump cuts her off as she tries to thank him for helping her charity, lol, to shamelessly plug Miss Universe. Ha, Miss Universe drops an anvil hint she wants to be on next season's Apprentice, lol. There's a next season? Woo-hoo!

It's boardroom time, and because Lorenzo is a gentleman he starts saying Geraldo did a great job. Trump brings up that Geraldo flubbed all over introducing Lorenzo. Remember that was during that part where I was wondering if Geraldo might be drunk. Awkward.

Lol, I-an finally gives up and is like whatever just call me Ian (E-an). Ha, that's great. Sometimes it's just not worth having a name like that and he finally reached that point. We did a great job, blah blah, says Vivica. Geraldo is driven. Well, so are most celebs and most of this cast except Terrell, Kate and maybe Shawn. Ha, Geraldo has a conspiracy theory Trump intentionally put Ian and Lorenzo on his team to screw with him. It's no conspiracy theory, Geraldo. It's just ratings.

Brandi is gracious as usual and explains why Leeza is the greatest, which she is. Kevin did a great job too, I reluctantly have to concede. Kevin has developed a lisp between now and the last time we saw him. Odd.

I get bored with Geraldo and Leeza going on about how they won even though they have no problem with their opponents. I notice that Leeza's boobs look pretty natural for her age, I don't think she's had any work done. Then I feel weird staring at her boobs, lol. But it really catches your eye when a celeb is so real! Forgive my boob ogling.

The exec's thought it was a good idea to have Geraldo as the celebrity endorsement. They did? I thought that whole thing was strange. Ivanka is either really sick or trying to sound sultry. I'm not sure which. The executives had exactly the same issue I had with the commercial, wow. They said it was weird to have the children and adults separate at the park when the park is supposed to be about family! Right?

The exec's loved Leeza's voiceover and presentation. They loved Olivia Newton-John, surprisingly, though I think they're her demographic, so. They wanted more celebrity in the video? I would have thought relying too heavily on celebrity endorsements is not very creative. It's the easy way out. If I were doing this final task I wouldn't risk falling back on something that easy, I'd be afraid of being accused of not thinking outside the box. They also weren't exactly crazy about the uptight dad story either. I must not know anything because I thought her commercial was great. Oh well.

I almost forgot Kate was even here until I see a tiny portion of her body sitting next to Kenya, the one the closeup shot is on as we cut to commercial. Lol. Ego crushed! Leeza actually ended up raising a lot more than Geraldo, more than $300,000 or something. Wow, Geraldo barely tried or has exhausted his donors or something. If I were Leeza I would never have thought 300k was enough to beat him. Lucky her.

The other contestants come out to the live show. Haha, Brandi is a Real Housewives "sensation"! Lol, suck it, Kate. I just love when Brandi gets much better introductions or descriptions than Kate just because she's most comparable to Kate. No offense meant to Brandi.

Lorenzo is a god. That is all.

Yeah, let's revisit the phone-gate thing, bring it on. That was pretty wild. Lol, the audience is laughing throughout most of it. It was terribly funny as badly as I felt for Vivica. I loved her "low-down dirty bird" comment. That was great.

You're kidding, Kenya is still denying she ever stole the phone. I want to put her on trial Game of Thrones style with a panel of three judges who hate her and she's only allowed to ask one question the whole proceeding. That would be good justice for the shitty thing she did to Vivica.


"I did not take Vivica's phone, but I wish I had!!"

This is the one time I don't mind Kate's over the top smug faces she's making in the background. Kenya really is ridiculous and pretty much everyone at home is making similar faces. Trump believes Kenya's lies why?

Brandi looks just gorgeous tonight. She's got a bunch of hair extensions but they look good. Brandi says what anyone who knows how to play Clue would say, it has to be either Kenya or her makeup artist, as they were the only people with access to the library. Er, war room  Well, I'm sorry if that pisses Kenya off but it's true, there's not a lot of other suspects. It's not the boys, no man would tweet something so catty, they don't have it in them even if they wanted to.

Trump does a funny montage with Gilbert Gottfried. He totally is a love him or hate him guy, lol. He's hit and miss with me, but I did think his "mein fuhrer" comment to Trump was pretty funny even if it didn't much make sense. Much of what that man says doesn't quite make sense.

Gilbert says he gave up because he's going through menopause. Ha, that's sort of a clever tie in with Vivica, nice.

Geraldo and Leeza finally join the live show and take a seat at the table. Trump is surprised Leeza made it this far? Wtf? I think most people saw within about ten minutes of this show she would be in the final two, she was that good. I don't know what took Trump so long. You can tell Leeza thinks that's a ridiculous comment but since Leeza has the self-control of a jungle cat stalking her prey, she politely says she's happy to surprise him. 

They do a montage of how hard Geraldo is to work with, lol. Kate had made a rather helpful comment during this, that Geraldo was like a snowball growing so big until he's out of control. That's not a bad description of him. It's like if you don't rein him in right away when he's just a snowflake, he's quickly off to Never-Never Land again and you'll never bring him back.  I forgot the way Geraldo was all Brian Williams-y on this show claiming he was shot at, knifed and stuff. 



Lol, Jonas brother hated him. That was so funny, especially Jonas brother's five second rule that didn't have to do with dropping food on the floor but rather, apparently, when you're allowed to interrupt a conversation. Lol. Trump says maybe he shouldn't have fired Jonas brother. Well, let's not go that far, Trump.  

Haha, Brandi says she adores Geraldo because she never had to work with him, but she wants Leeza to win. Johnny and Jonas brother want Leeza to win too.

It's not rocket science why Leeza is a good manager and did well in this game. She explains she avoids the drama and stays focused. There's no special secret to it, but those two things are surprisingly very hard for many people.

Leeza's Care Connection, which is located in a Los Angeles hospital, is a lovely carved out space for caregiver support groups to meet. Some of the caregivers are filmed hanging out with Leeza and Leeza tells them she's going to be able to open another Care Connection in her hometown in South Carolina. I'm crying. She just hopes she's been as courageous as her mom and done her proud. You have, Leeza. You have.

Okay Geraldo, top that. Hehe.

Geraldo goes to some care center for those with autism and other developmentally disabled. He really can't say autistic. Gah, it's not artistic, it's autistic, Geraldo. No R. I guess it's kind of touching how proud Geraldo is of his story on Willowbrook back in the day. He finally admits it was four decades ago. Some of the residents are painting. All the paintings are really vibrant and awesome, I want one! This center seems very welcoming and peaceful, almost like a laid back community college. Very nice.

Geraldo blathers around and around for a long time about how this is the way we should treat the mentally ill. Alternative care is great I'm not against that, but it needs to be understood it won't work for everyone, and that some people need a more restrictive setting. I don't find it helpful to our national mental health crisis to act as if Geraldo here has found the simple solution. Some patients could sadly not function in that group art class, but for those who can, this place is great.

Oh great, Twitter questions! Haha, just kidding, this is super boring. Don't quit until you succeed (Or you could quit things you suck at and just do what you're good at, says Malcom Gladwell.) Hit targets. Vivica thinks it's fine she quit because the two finalists were the best.

Does anyone have any questions for Kate? Bueller? Bueller? No takers? Lol, she hasn't said a word this entire episode. It's like she's not even here.

Melissa Rivers comes out to a standing ovation. That's nice. Melissa has kind of weird gestures and body language, I've noticed. Even though she's very petite, she moves like one might if they were way too tall, sort of awkward and hunched. Melissa was an integral part of the greatest Apprentice shit show firing in their history and I don't think I will ever forget the image of her cursing and hobbling around in that boot "bitch-whore!," so I thank her for the laughs when it comes to that.

Finally a nice tribute to Joan with inspirational music and Joan just being Joan the legend that she is. Sinbad, a comedian who was pretty popular in the 90's, says she took the time to let him know she thought he was funny, and that it meant the world to him.

For all of Joan's reliance on jokes at the expense of others and her cutthroat work ethic, story after story demonstrates that it was all just part of her act, and that she loved and loved her fellow man, and then loved some more. She especially was supportive of people's aspirations whatever that was, she handed out praise freely when it was due, and she gave and gave to charity. AIDS charities held a special place in her heart, because the epidemic personally touched dear friends of hers many times. She will be missed.

Kenya, who should win? America, does anyone care what Kenya thinks? Didn't think so. Kenya, the expression is not "that speaks loudly." The expression is, "that speaks volumes." #Dolt.

Of course Kate wants Geraldo to win even though she admits she worked with Leeza equally. Leeza, recall, helped Kate WIN when Kate was PM and screwing everything up. But that sort of "debt" means nothing to Kate even though most normal well-socialized people would just say Leeza after what she did to save her, whether you really believe it or not.

Ironically, Kate appreciates that Geraldo called a spade a spade. Of course don't call Kate the garden tool that she is or she freaks out. Ironically, Kate probably doesn't want Leeza to win because it was obvious Leeza saw right through her and correctly wrote her off as dead weight from day one. If there is one thing Kate is aware of is when the jig is up on pulling the wool over someone else's eyes. She knows.

Only Kenya, Kate and Gilbert want Geraldo to win, hehe. Kate is too stubborn to just fly under the radar, not be an asshat, and go with the overwhelming majority who want the correct choice, Leeza.

Leeza is "high functioning" Geraldo says, and doesn't understand why the audience is laughing. People like him often don't understand why the laughter, hehe. Leeza's like uh, thanks for that. I think? "High functioning," lol.

What is Geraldo even talking about? He flutters around in circles, squares, and triangles until Trump finally cuts him off. Geez, no offense but I'd hate to be his kid. He's the type of dad who will lecture you for an hour about how when he was a kid, what he did, what he didn't do, what he should have done, what his dad was like, how times were different, how times were the same, blah-blah-blah, when all you really need to hear from him is "Honey, just don't forget your homework again, okay?"

Leeza won the final task, woo-hoo. That bodes well for the big win. Leeza thinks she should win because she had integrity and played a smart game, and has never been called back in the boardroom. Plus she has a shit ton of wins and very few losses. She once even saved Geraldo's ass. She saved Kate's too, and others, though that's not as relevant. I like when she speaks for the simple fact that I can understand what she's saying. I took that for granted how nice that is this season.

Trump confirms NBC will renew Apprentice. Happy happy joy joy!!!

Ivanka was impressed with Geraldo's fund-raising abilities, and Leeza's quiet grace and elegance. She likes both candidates. Trump Jr. liked them both too.

As for Trump he thinks Geraldo is smart (eh, that's debatable) and good at raising money. Leeza led with kindness. Trump is still trying to wrap his mind around that leadership style. You can tell he finds it perplexing. In the end though he picks who most people wanted, Leeza!!! Yeah!

Confetti everywhere. Some sound guy forgot to turn off the mics near the confetti machines and so all you hear the last 30 seconds is "shhhwoooooosh!!!!!!" as the confetti pours out. Hehe. Everybody is hugging and Brandi is so cutely excited for her BFF. Kate finally comes over and Leeza says "thanks for nothing, bitch." Haha, just kidding. I wish. Instead Leeza goes in for a polite hug but, oh shit! Kate totally burns her and just before the hug can happen points Leeza over to her hubby off to the side to go hug him. What the f just happened??? I think that was a hug burn! Cold!!!

Kate said one thing this whole episode, not counting the one thing she said in an old clip. Haha, karma, doofus.

Well, it's been a grand time everyone. These long episodes were at times challenging to recap but always fun. I love television, I'm not ashamed to say that. I love good television, of which there is a lot of good T.V. right now, but I also love guilty pleasure T.V. like this, especially when it's done well, as this is.

Some shows are just shows, but Apprentice sort of means a bit more to me than most shows, because I remember when it was a gigantic hit when I was a first year in law school, back in the Omarosa days, and I was studying all the time or in class all the time or stressed out all the time and had very little time for T.V. One of my professors, kind as she was, had our whole class over to her house for dinner and to watch The Apprentice. Mind you this is like 80 people in a class, because most law school classes are about 80 people. We all showed up. She had a pretty big house and backyard and we all managed to fit pretty comfortably actually. I realize now she wasn't just doing it to be hospitable to her new crop of students, but also she did it to give us an evening to relax without fear somebody else in the class was home studying and we were falling behind somebody else by allowing ourselves one night off. If you haven't heard, your first year of law school plays all kinds of paranoid head games like that with you; oh it's fun.

Anyway, we really had a great time watching Apprentice together, laughing, joking and discussing it. It was a few hours out of our busy lives where we could just relax a little bit and not worry so much about grades and exams and what the future held. Television brings people together sometimes, as cheesy as that sounds. It can relax you and make you more open with people who maybe you don't know that well, or are the competition, or what have you. Watching this show that night with my classmates calmed me a bit, gave me perspective, and made me realize it's important to allow yourself to have "guilty pleasure" moments like this no matter how crazy life gets. Thank you, Trump, and I hope you do get another season. It's well deserved.

Thursday, April 9, 2015

Sandra Bullock's chilling 911 call about her fan and stalker

Bullock has been uncharacteristically private since the incident 

Hear the call in its entirety here. 

Read the full transcript here.

Here's some of the facts about this interesting ongoing stalking and burglary criminal case.

  • Joshua James Corbett broke into Bullock's home in June 2014. Bullock, who had just returned from a media event, hid in a locked closet and called 911. The call was released today.
  • Corbett will stand trial in Los Angeles. His preliminary hearing was today, in which he pleaded not guilty.
  • Photos of Bullock and love letters to her were found on Corbett's person. He believes he is her husband.
  • Bullock, normally a staple on the red carpet, has nearly become a recluse since the incident, making very few public appearances over the past ten months. The experience may have permanently traumatized her.