It's Celebrity Apprentice's turn this week.

Yes, I still love the show.  Yes, with all of the political hulabaloo and weather disasters going on I am choosing to speak about this instead.  Instead of just speaking about the final outcome, I would like to talk about the season in general.  In Apprentice fashion, I will state the pros and cons.  I will start with the cons, because in my mind, there were so few of them.

CONS:
1.  Omarosa - I don't need the drama.  The show is good enough without it.
2.  Stephen Baldwin - see above
3.  I really wasn't a fan of Trace's attitude during the beginning task.  I felt like maybe he'd been too influenced by his loss to Piers Morgan
4.  Certain players were afraid to bring Omarosa to the boardroom.
5.  The dresses that many of the women wore in the finale.  Please forgive me Trumps if the dresses were from any of your lines, but seriously I was questioning if we were back in the '80s.
6.  The fact that Trump brought back Piers Morgan to be a celebrity judge.  I think my feelings about Piers echo those of Trace on the finale (although I must say, I was glad to see Piers' charity get the money it did from him winning.  It was a very worthy charity).
7.  Dennis Rodman's look on the finale - sorry, Dennis.

PROS:
1.  The integrity of a majority of the players.
2.  The general civility on the show (minus the two characters mentioned in the "CONS" section).  Give me civility any day of the week.  I think this season showed that you don't need all of the drama to make a good reality show.  If you have the right talent of the players and the right tasks, the show should be able to stand on it's own.  Drama is only needed if the competition isn't good enough.
3.  Penn's creativity
4.  The true reason I felt Trace should win the show - He knew how to not only handle Gary Busey, but how to use his talent's to the teams advantage.  I especially loved the first episode when he used Gary to distract Piers.  Also, he did choose a darn good team - that shows that he knows what he's doing.
5.  The talent on the show.  I seriously thought many players were good enough to win
6.  The cleaned up Dennis - he was a completely different person this season.
7.  The fact that Marilu Henner and Lisa Rinna were not nearly as annoying!
8.  That the true Trace eventually came back
9.  The money given to the charities of those who didn't win tasks.
10.  The 100k given to Lil John's charity on the last episode - love that guy!
11. Penn's charity Opportunity Village.  Not only the charity itself, but the fact that it was a local charity.  While I love Trace, and I feel the American Red Cross does wonderful things, I still liked Penn's charity better.
12.  That players were able to illustrate that a leader does not need to be high energy and a stress case to accomplish something
13.  The wonderful directing job of little John on several of the videos.
14.  That the two final contestants were both worthy of the win.  They both played with honor, they did not tear each other down, and they both showed respect for each other throughout the entire show and on the final episode.
15.  Trace's nod to God
16.  Trace's video in the final task - loved Gary's dance.
17.  Learned more about teller.
18.  This one I'm torn about, but I think I appreciated that in the final task Trace used his team without bringing in outside performers.  Now, he did bring in outside performers to donate at the event, but he didn't make a big show of them as Penn did.  That being said, It was very smart of Penn to use the blue man group, the dancers, teller, etc. to pass out ice cream and just entertain in general.  That is why I am torn, but I think I like the more purist route of Trace.  I think.
19.  I'm sure there are actually so many more that I am not remembering right now...please post any comments on your pros and cons (and by that, I'm basically only expecting comments from E.G.B. but if others post, wonderful!)

Where have all the cowboys gone?

Last night, I had a dream.  In this dream, I was a contestant on The Amazing Race.  I'm not sure who my partner was on the show.  The dream started out with two teams on a plane.  My team and one other team.  All of the other teams had made it off the plane, but for some reason, they took the stairs that led down to the tarmac away.  What was annoying me was that the other three were like, "Oh, they'll bring it back in a few minutes."  On the other hand, I went to the door and asked them to bring the stairs back; and, guess what?  They did. 

While on the plane, however, I learned that there had been a twist on the game earlier in the season.  I was now partners with Cord McCoy (one of the Cowboys).  I thought I would enjoy the experience, but I did not.  He and I did not get along, and he was always leaving me behind.  I didn't think it was a very good tactic for us to get split up.

I guess the dream was a harbinger of things to come -- the Cowboys were the final team to arrive tonight.  Despite my dream, I still have so much respect for both of them, and it saddens me that they are no longer on The Amazing Race.  The show will just not be the same, and there aren't really any other teams I want to win. 
 


All of the other teams are fine, but they're just so-so.  I think Kent and Vyxsin are the team I like least.  Well, mostly Kent.  He's a whiner.  I do like Gary and Mallory, but Mallory is sometimes a bit too chipper, although she is calming down a bit.  Jen and LaKisha kind of just blend in...nothing special about them.  The Globetrotters can be fun, but I don't really think they deserve to win.  Zev and Justin are a pretty good team, and Justin is so patient with Zev, who has autism (although Zev definitely carried the team tonight).  The problem with their team is that they have one a number of legs; and if you know me, you know I'm usually for the underdogs. 

I think any of these teams could win, but I've just decided I want the next eliminations to go as follows: Next Elimination - Kent an Vyxsin; After that - Jen and Lakisha, Gary and Mallory; and, finally, the Globetrotters.  This would leave Zev and Justin as the winners of this season.



Overall, I've been impressed by cowboys in reality TV shows.  My one caveat to that would be Clint Black.  I think he made himself look like a complete idiot.  And just so you know, the way I judge is by how they conduct themselves on a show - their integrity and their character - not by how early or late they are eliminated.

So, this one goes out to all of the cowboys who show the importance of integrity and character, and who show that although nice guys don't always finish first, they don't finish last either.