L.A. ‘Apprentice’ throws in some new twists

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In the wake of all these changes, there’s also a lot that’s familiar. Trump is still a bad actor, pretending to make telephone calls (“Thanks, I’m heading down now”) while the look on his face says, “Can we get this over with already? I have places to behave irrationally.”

The candidates, too, are like their predecessors, making decisions that seem in retrospect to be, at the very least, questionable. Losing project manager Frank’s manic energy led him to inexplicably spend time printing hundreds of tiny fliers to promote the car wash; as his team members pointed out, had he merely considered their task for a few moments, creating signage would have been a lot more helpful and effective. Duh.

However, some of them are learning: Now they hire people to strip in public instead of doing it themselves. Heidi’s team took advantage of their West Hollywood location by hiring two male model-types to stand on the street, shirtless, to draw customers.

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Like executive producer Mark Burnett’s other series, the people who will be targeted for elimination are still highlighted throughout the episode. This week, that was Martin, who introduced himself to Trump by excitedly saying, “I’ll, too, give you a hug if you’ll let me go to the bathroom.” Trump refused the hug offer and made him hold it, and from that moment on, the editing suggested that Martin, an attorney and professor, wasn’t likely to make it to episode two.

At the car wash, Martin, who was otherwise enthusiastic, told Ivanka he was tired, and the camera circled 360 degrees around him. That dramatic illustration of his fatigue and disorientation worked as an illustration of the audience’s plight, too. This new season of “The Apprentice” leaves us both a bit tired of the sameness and both bewildered and excited by the newness.

Andy Dehnart is a writer and teacher who publishes reality blurred, a daily summary of reality TV news.

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