Yesterday, NBC released their new schedule for the 2011-12 season. Celebrity Apprentice will return mid-season but NBC Entertainment chairman Bob Greenblatt commented that, if Donald Trump decided to seek the presidency, the show would go on without him.
He said, “The truth of the matter is that the show is a big success for us and a lot of it is due to [Donald Trump]. He’s an entertaining, smart, direct-shooter kind of guy and he’s great on the show.”
Greenblatt concluded, “If [Donald Trump] decides to run for president and is unavailable to do the show, we will bring the show back and there will be somebody else sitting at the head of the boardroom table.”
When asked who might replace Trump, Greenblatt notes, “Honestly, I don’t know. If we had to address the issue of who it would be replacing him, we’d have to just feel really confident that we had another galvanized presence. I’m hopeful we don’t have to go there, but if we do, it’s too strong a franchise for us not to consider that.”
Today, Trump announced that he’d rather to continue hosting the reality show than try to become the President of the United States. At the upfronts, Trump said, “After getting so many calls from NBC, I’ve decided that we are going to continue onward with Celebrity Apprentice. I will not be running for president, as much as I’d like to, and I want to thank everybody very much… This will be our 12th season, and I have to say, I love Celebrity Apprentice.”
Deadline reports that Trump informed NBC that he wanted to speak at the upfronts. They suspected that he would be staying with the show but weren’t sure until this morning.
What do you think? Are you glad to hear the show’s been renewed? Could it have survived without Trump?
Wondering where the rest of your shows stand? Check our NBC cancel/renew page.
I enjoy Celebrity Apprentice but with Trump acting like a buffoon on this fake quest to be President, I wish someone else could take over the board room..
Yes very happy. I hear that people say this is a reality show, but I gotta disagree. It’s a game show. Their making and getting money for charity. It’s a game. You can call stupid jersey shore a reality show, but not this show though. As far as them doing the show without him. I don’t think it would last very long honestly. Even though Donald can be a hard ass and intimidating, I still think he the primary player that brings in the ratings for the regular version. If he wasn’t on the regular version that would hae been… Read more »