Celebs help ‘Apprentice’s’ star rise again

On a night that seemed to be like most others, my wife turned to me and said something I hadn't heard in years, and thought I might never hear again: "Can we watch 'The Apprentice'?"

Donald Trump's once-mighty reality franchise still doesn't have viewers flocking to it the way they once did — and it certainly never will match its heyday of 21 million a week — but the show's drastic ratings decline over the past six years has not only stopped, it has reversed.

The season premiere of "The Celebrity Apprentice," the show's seventh season, pulled in more than 11 million viewers, well above its average of 7.1 million last year. It took an unsurprising hit in the ratings competing against the season premiere of "Lost" on ABC, but is still averaging around 9 million viewers.

That's for a good reason: "The Apprentice's" clever reinvention as a competition where celebrities (and season 1 contestant Omarosa Manigault) put their egos on the line in a quest for money for their favorite charities.

The twist has worked so well that NBC announced last week, less than a year after the show was apparently done for good, it is bringing “The Apprentice” back for another celebrity edition. (Msnbc.com is a joint venture between Microsoft and NBC Universal.)

Sure, the success of "Celebrity Apprentice" is owed, at least in part, to less competition on the schedule because of the writers strike. But Trump and friends are making the best of the opportunity by changing the tired formula that repeatedly gave viewers a batch of uninteresting robots who seemed to be competing for how many times they could repeat, "At the end of the day, it's all about stepping up to the plate."

This time around, by virtue of familiar faces whose backgrounds viewers know, every challenge has an added element of surprise and possibility. Whether it's waiting to see which rich and famous friends of the celebrities will appear, or simply watching these divas lock horns, there's always a story beyond the challenge that makes each week exciting.

New sense of lightheartedness
A recent episode — during which former "Sopranos" star Vincent Pastore was deployed as a rat for the men's team, infiltrated the women's team and then became a double agent — was the most fun I've had watching a reality show in recent memory.

Slideshow   Celebrity sightings Ginnifer Goodwin gets serious at the “Single Man” screening, Beyonce wows Berlin at MTV awards, Claire Danes is a BAFTA beauty and more. more photos

Pastore, who kept repeating that "the rat always gets killed," blurred the line between his mob-show character and real life to such a point of absurdity that his project manager, Piers Morgan of "America's Got Talent," had to point out, "I knew he wasn't going to get murdered by Marilu Henner."

The turmoil between Pastore and Morgan erupted in the boardroom, and Pastore asked Trump to accept his resignation, which Trump did. The editors then took some liberties with the ending, making a play off "The Sopranos" finale by playing Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'" over scenes of Pastore walking out of Trump Tower and looking suspiciously at random people on the street before the music abruptly ended and the screen cut to black.

It was a prime example of a new sense of lightheartedness that didn't exist in the first six seasons of a show that took itself entirely too seriously.

The celebrities, no matter how far down the alphabetical list they reside, bring with them a certain recognition that gives what they do and say a little more weight. It was hilarious when Stephen Baldwin suggested last week that he was taking his teammates' ideas "and peppering them up with a little Stevie B." No matter how much we all loved "Apprentice 4" winner Randal Pinkett, it would have seemed silly if he'd said he was "peppering it up with a little Randy P."

Finding balance
Part of the credit also must go to Trump, who had to face the notion that he alone wasn't enough to keep the franchise entertaining — regardless of whether he'd ever admit it. His presence, his catch phrase, his ridiculous hair and his monstrous ego made the first couple of seasons interesting. But over time the luster wore off until people no longer cared.

By introducing more famous people into the mix, Trump has found a balance and saved himself the pressure of trying to make it work on his own.

Even better, the casting is well rounded enough to fill the holes left by celebrity firings. The departure of KISS bassist and megalomaniac Gene Simmons, arguably the show's biggest celebrity, in week three had the potential to send the whole experiment into the toilet. It surprisingly had the opposite effect as Simmons' ultimately disappointing exit (he effectively put himself on the chopping block in a lame act of stubbornness) opened the door for others to shine.

On the men's side, Morgan suits the role of the villain quite nicely, while Stephen Baldwin seeks to play the part of moral authority. While those two seize the majority of the spotlight, country singer Trace Adkins is quietly emerging as the cool-headed voice of reason and a tremendously likable character. Adkins, a relative unknown to those who aren't fans of country music, is one of the most soft-spoken of the bunch, and that gives his carefully selected words even more power and authority when he chooses to speak.

For the women, early '80s supermodel Carol Alt is proving to be a force after finding herself close to elimination early in the competition, and Henner is displaying her talent as a natural leader.

It's all about people helping people as these borderline and all-but-forgotten celebrities help to re-energize a reality show that was practically written off. NBC, in its announcement last week, claimed that many high-profile celebrities are lining up to take part in the new season of "The Apprentice."

For the first time in years, the phrase "a new season of 'The Apprentice'" isn't being met with disinterested groans and shrugs.

Victor Balta lives in Philadelphia and is a regular contributor to msnbc.com.

MORE FROM MORE REALITY TV NEWS, FEATURES

Kirstie Alley to star in TV reality series

Kirstie Alley to star in TV reality series In reality, some stage parents are very scary Illness forces Billy Bell out of ‘Dance’ Carnie Wilson goes ‘Unstapled’ for reality series ‘Big Brother’ winner accused of selling pills Kate Gosselin says her kids are struggling TLC suing Jon Gosselin for breach of contract For kids’ sake, ‘Jon & Kate’ needs to end now ‘Loser’: A player’s past choices come back to haunt her Report: Blagojevich will appear on ‘Apprentice’   Add More reality TV news, features headlines to your news reader: