Original Series
The U.S. version of The Apprentice is the first version of reality game show franchise. It was broadcasted on NBC and billed as "The Ultimate Job Interview". The show depicted a group of 15-18 businessmen and -women competing in an elimination competition for a one-year, $250,000 job to run one of real estate magnate Donald Trump's companies. The position starts with an introductory one-year contract with a starting yearly salary of $250,000 USD.
The first season aired during winter and spring of 2004, executive produced by Mark Burnett, Jay Bienstock, and Donald Trump, who also hosts the show. The show led Trump to become known for his fateful catch phrase "You're Fired!". The theme song for the show is "For the Love of Money" by The O'Jays, and other themes and underscore are written by composers Mark T. Williams and Jeff Lippencott of Ah2 Music.
The contestants live communally in a suite at Trump Tower in New York City and the boardroom showdown is with Trump and two of his associates (usually Carolyn Kepcher, Former Chief Operating Officer and General Manager for the Trump National Golf Club, and George H. Ross, Executive Vice President and Senior Counsel, The Trump Organization). Season 6 saw the show move to Los Angeles. On May 14, 2007 NBC announced the show was not on its fall 2007 schedule, but that a decision to cancel or renew it had not yet been made. On 19 May 2007, Trump announced that he was "moving on from The Apprentice", effectively ending the series. However, on 22 May, NBC responded by saying Trump still has a year left on his contract. On July 16, 2007 NBC renewed the show with a sequel series, Celebrity Apprentice. The sequel debuted with season seven on January 3, 2008. The eighth season of The Apprentice premiered on NBC on March 1, 2009. Similar to the previous season, all contestants were celebrities playing for charity. The ninth season of The Apprentice began in Spring 2010, also featuring a celebrity cast.
A new season with regular candidates started on September 16, 2010 on NBC.
Read more about this topic: The Apprentice (TV series)
Famous quotes containing the words original and/or series:
“It is conventional to call “monster” any blending of dissonant elements.... I call “monster” every original inexhaustible beauty.”
—Alfred Jarry (1873–1907)
“I look on trade and every mechanical craft as education also. But let me discriminate what is precious herein. There is in each of these works an act of invention, an intellectual step, or short series of steps taken; that act or step is the spiritual act; all the rest is mere repetition of the same a thousand times.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)