The Apprentice

The Writing on the Wall

Season 3, Episode 6, Aired 2/24/05

Episode Summary

Magna, ready for action now that they have shed themselves of Michael, proves the importance of Michael's dismissal when they excel at the next assignment, designing and painting an ad campaign, in the form of a mural in New York City, for the Playstation 2 game Grand Turismo 4. Using the opinions of NYC citizens, Magna Corporation creates a strong, relatable campaign that sells the product. Networth's Project Manager Tara, on the other hand, focuses too much onto "giving back" to the community, and her lack of attention to marketing a video game causes her team to fail. Later, Magna is treated to a photoshoot with a famous photographer while Trump fires Tara from Networth.moreless

6.8

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Cast & Crew

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Donald Trump

Himself (the boss)
Bill Rancic

The Apprentice
Carolyn Kepcher

Herself/Trump's assistant

Fan Episode Reviews (1)

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...storyline as in "challenge." Either way, “Mad Props” to the “Super Tricked Up” Graffiti Ads.

6.6

"Fair"

By theaterguy007, Jun 19, 2005 Report Abuse

...storyline as in "challenge." Either way, "Mad Props" to the "Super Tricked Up" Graffiti Ads.

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Previously on The Apprentice, Michael was fired because Mr. Trump was disgusted at Mike's statement that he was just like Trump. Amen. Well, after his firing, Stephanie and Bren go up to the suite, to everyone's disappointment, which doesn't make much sense to me. They all hate Michael but they want Stephanie fired instead because she's a "bitter, complaining *****." Stephanie, after shedding some tears, realizing that her team hates her, agrees not to be such a "bitter, complaining *****." What a touching moment.

The next morning, the teams meet at the Sony Playstation offices. Trump and his cronies introduce that the task will be to create a billboard using graffiti to market the game Grand Turismo 4. They must choose an artist and help the artist to make the advertisement. And even though this task doesn't really have much to do with business, I'll let is slide. Unfortunately, Jill Kramer, returning from last week, replaces Carolyn again, and I think I'm beginning to have some separation anxiety (either that, or it's gas or dance fever.).

Before picking a Project Manger, Net Worth Corporation decides to test the game, and it turns out that John really sucks at it. So the obvious choice for PM for their team is Tara. I mean, she's urban, she's hip, and she "would be embarrassed if she lost to the Book Smarts." What a shame. Her "vision" is to be sensitive to the city of Harlem, because those are her people. She needs to protect her city from the evil people who portray it as a bad neighborhood. (Hey, her words paraphrased, not mine.) After discovering that the main demographic for the game is Males 18-34 (even though it's rated E for everyone), Tara decides to pick Ernie for an artist because he can captivate this "hip urban male" quality that she wants.

Magna, on the other hand, chooses Alex to be their Project Manager, who picks Lady Pink (what a cool name) as their artist. Erin, Kendra and Alex go about painting their concept onto the wall, and they decide to use jungle leaves at the bottom, sprouting up. Whateverdoesn't make much sense to be. Nor does it make sense to Bren and Stephanie, who think that the jungle art doesn't fit the very urban game. But Alex doesn't know what to do, and Stephanie jumps on her prey for the 5th time in the game. "Alex needs to make a decision because Alex is running out of time." As was Danny in Task 3, Erin in Task 4 and Bren in Task 5. That's what we call a coinquidink. Oh, another thing that doesn't make sense about the task why don't the teams plan the "concept" onto a piece of paper before destroying their wall with a jungle or floral print? Wouldn't that make sense?

We interrupt this program now to bring you some "Words from the Donald." According to him, we should all just "Shut Up and Listen." "You don't have to do what people say all the time but always listen."

Take Tara for instance. Her teammates were probably trying to tell her that the advertisement wasn't supposed to "give back to the city." It was meant to sell Grand Turismo 4. Or maybe Audrey should "shut up and listen." Tara puts Craig in charge as she runs out for a potty break (or a pott break? Uh-huh.) Well, anyway, Craig tries to scold Audrey for painting something that Ernie didn't tell her to paint. "Don't assume what the man wants painted." To this, Audrey quips back "Craig has four kids. I am not one of his kids." Well.you never know Audrey. Things can happen in those hospital births. Which is why (Public Service Announcement Alert!) you should always use a midwife. Even if you have to deal with the messy cleanup. There are no mix-ups when you have a midwife.

Cut to Magna, whose PM sure knows how to listen. Alex realizes that he's just a college white boy, Bren's a layer who belongs in a country club, Erin looks like a white hottie/Hooters girl, Kendra looks like a little girl, and Stephanie grew up with Daddy. So, he seeks advice from a few gangstas on the street. They like the mural, but would suggest adding some "mad props" or some "stacks of cash" falling from the sky or some more "bling-bling." In this instance, Alex made the right choice, and he decides to have a big fist in the mural with a ring that screams "PS2." According to him, that would "be tight" and "super tricked up."

As the teams begin to finish their murals, Trump drives by both of them. The song "Trump's Rollin' Up" plays in the background when he approaches Net Worth's ad, and he congratulates them on a job well done. When he passes Magna's ad (which in my opinion is better), he doesn't stop, which I don't understand. Usually, in the judging process, DT doesn't have any preference, and he doesn't reveal which he likes better until the boardroom. So, either he didn't like it or there were some gangstas around who were gonna try to shoot Trump in the chest. If the scenario was the latter of the two choices, I wouldn't have gotten out of my limo either.

At the executive presentations, Tara presents her mural with a very "I did it all" attitude. This pisses the spazzy Chris out, because he thinks that everyone contributed to the project. Magna's entire team contributed to their presentation. After the executives, the focus group is brought in to see both of the murals. They don't seem too impressed by Net Worth's, but then again they don't reveal too much of their feelings about Magna's either. My opinions? Magna was better. It was more eye-catching, and it portrayed the game better.

The day ends, and the teams are called up into the boardroom so that Trump can reveal the results of the task. After he talks with the real judges, he calls the teams in, and tells the focus group's opinions. They think that Net Worth's is "just another nice mural" and that it "doesn't make me wanna go out and get the game." Magna's on the other hand is liked, and a mother claims that "I would buy the game because it says the rating so I know it's safe for my son." The judges tell Trump that there was a clear cut winner in Magna, and Trump rewards the team with a trip to a photography studio to get portraits taken by a photographer who shoots for Esquire and Vogue.

At the studio, Bren hangs around two hot models, only emphasizing his shortness. According to Alex, "Bren looks like a stuntman for Orville Redenbacher." All of the candidate's portraits turn out great and Mr. Trump even stops by for a big group picture.

Back at the suite, Net Worth isn't nearly so lucky. They are forced to go in the boardroom where someone will be fired. Tara, contemplating about who did the worst job on the task, proclaims how much it was not her fault. "I don't believe I owned this," she says, even though several minutes before, she said "When I found out I lost" It was all "I-I-I-I-I" and "my concept" etc. But then she sees a little ray of hope when Audrey tells her that they should have included some of the other venues of the game, like deserts or mountains, in the mural as Magna did. Tara gets all pissed off because Audrey didn't tell her that, and then John tells her that he knew there were other scenes as well. He just didn't tell Tara because he thought that it would screw up "her vision." Tara gets all finger-pointy now, and says that John and Audrey withheld the information on purpose because they wanted her to lose, and she probably would have said they were racist too if she had any proof at all.

Net Worth makes the trek down to the boardroom and Tara (now obviously being portrayed as the crazy black person of the show) lays out the fact that she didn't know that there were other scenes in the game, and that was Audrey's fault. Audrey backs herself up though when saying that she's never played Grand Turismo 4, only Grand Turismo 3. The fourth installment hasn't even been released yet. Trump takes a poll and asks who the people in the boardroom would fire. Chris, John and Tara would all sack Audrey, because she's the weakest player on the team. However, Audrey, Jill (who has considerably more power than Chris, John and Tara) and Craig say that they would fire Tara because she's a bad leader and she really screwed up. Jill says "It was a Sony ad. Not a community ad" and Tara focused too much on giving back to the community. Tara decides to bring back Audrey and Craig (probably because she felt betrayed by him).

Trump dismisses the team and in a few minutes asks Robin to send Craig, Audrey and Tara back in. I like Audrey. I like Craig. But after this task, I don't like Tara or her leadership style. After some light talking (Audrey has been married for two months now, which means that she left for the show a month after being married), Trump gets down to business and fires Tara because she made a big mistake. However, "she's smart. She's tough. She blew the task." Thank God. Now let's all hope that Tara doesn't go on The View or 20/20 or ABC Primetime and blame the show for being racist, as so many people have done to The Apprentice before.

-Adam

Once again, if you need to tell me something about my review (like that cufflinks are important) or ask me any questions (What was that quote again?), I'm here (theaterguy007) and you can email me any time.

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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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Trivia
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- Matthew Calamari, who replaced George in Season 2's "Bringing Down the House," makes a brief appearance during Trump's lesson of the day in this episode. Edit
- Grand Turismo 4, the game marketed in this task, was released two days before this episode aired. Edit
Notes
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- The Project Managers in this episode are Alex for Magna and Tara for Networth. Alex will receive an exemption next week should his team lose. Edit
- Networth Project Manager Tara, who chooses to bring Audrey and Craig into the final boardroom, is fired. Edit
- Carolyn Kepcher is still away on business in this episode, and Jill Cremer takes her spot as Trump's assistant again. Edit
Quotes
ADD QUOTES
- Trump: (About Tara) She's smart. She's tough. She blew the task. Edit
- Alex: Bren looks like a stuntman for Orville Redenbacher. Edit
- Alex: I would never use the words 'mad props.' Edit
Allusions
- Help by adding allusions to this episode. Add allusions