Read This: Rewatching The Apprentice after its star fell ass-first into the presidency
People are quick to point out that we elected a “reality TV star” as our president, but it’s rare we find them actually discussing that show. That might be because NBC’s The Apprentice, which found Donald Trump presiding over a band of business hopefuls in pursuit of a position at one of Trump’s businesses, is, like his tax returns, nearly impossible for one to get their hands on. Some used copies of the first season are online, but the only means of watching the rest involve “occult methods.”
That’s how Pulitzer-winning critic Emily Nussbaum puts it. For a new piece for the New Yorker, “The TV That Created Donald Trump,” Nussbaum rewatched the entire series (including its latter-day “celebrity” renditions), and discovered that the show offers a glimpse at the Trump we now recognize but also one that’s been more or less retired.
On the former front, both the show and an accompanying panel discussion from 2004 (moderated by Billy Bush, natch) that can be found at the Paley Center For Media, reveal a Trump obsessed with ratings and numbers. His misogyny is also on full display; not only is he routinely commenting on the looks of his female contestants, but the panel discussion finds him describing Joy Behar a “fat slob who can’t stand me.”