Rover_Wow
09-01-2005, 01:02 AM
With the Martha Stewart edition coming soon, according to the NY Times, Donald Trump has decided to redevelop his original by, among other things, handpicking most of the contestants himself.
Trump Redevelops His Own Series
By BILL CARTER
Published: August 31, 2005
With all the attention surrounding the public rehabilitation of Martha Stewart and the new edition of "The Apprentice" she will star in for NBC starting Sept. 21, you might think that the star of that other edition of "The Apprentice" had turned into a shrinking violet, fallen off the radar screen, gone into hiding.
Uh, no.
Donald Trump emerged this week from a bit of enforced quietude - to allow Ms. Stewart her hour on the stage - rested and ready to send out a loud Trump-et blast of a message, along the lines of: I'm still here. And by the way, I'm better than ever.
" 'The Apprentice' has been a great success by any standard," he said. "And 'Apprentice' 4 is the best by far, the best show we've done."
This pronouncement is consistent with NBC's positioning of the show this season. Kevin Reilly, the president of entertainment for NBC, described Mr. Trump's show, which begins a new season Sept. 22, as being "right back on its game."
Both NBC and Mr. Trump are eager to get that "back on its game" message out to counter any suspicions that "The Apprentice" is a fading phenomenon, an impression that took some root last spring (aided by NBC's competitors, of course) because the third edition of the business-based reality series had experienced a noticeable ratings falloff. The drop was hardly calamitous, though: "The Apprentice" was still in the top 15 for the season.
Mr. Trump noted ruefully that the series NBC broadcast in the hour preceding his 9 p.m. show - notably the "Friends" spinoff, "Joey" - had experienced a ratings meltdown that surely damaged his own numbers, a point that Mr. Reilly acknowledged even more ruefully was true.
Still, NBC's message does imply that Mr. Trump's show was off its game at least a bit in "Apprentice" 3, and Mr. Trump said he thought he knew why. "The entire series I was angry," he said Monday, sitting behind his desk on the 26th floor of Trump Tower. The anger, he said, related to the selection of the cast for that installment, which the show's creator, Mark Burnett, set up as a competition between those with and without college degrees.
Mr. Burnett said, in a telephone interview: "The casting problem on 3 was completely my fault. Having book smarts versus street smarts seemed like a great idea but it changed the tenor of the show." It affected the reaction among the show's usually wealthy and well-educated audience, he said, adding, "I don't think people wanted to see potty-mouthed competitors."
Mr. Trump said he felt that the show's casting directors had not taken his suggestions. Remembering an open call of candidates last fall, when thousands of applicants turned up to Trump Tower, Mr. Trump said he spied several promising entrants that day.
Mr. Trump said he pointed them out. "I was very nice. I said, 'You see that guy in dreadlocks? I would like him in the show if possible.' There was a girl I wanted. I said, 'I'd like to see if you could have her in the show.' It wasn't typical Trump."
Mr. Trump said that when he arrived to begin shooting the series he was given a cast rundown, and none of his choices had made it. "I went through the roof," he said. "Then I became the real Trump - because I didn't like the cast."
Many of the show's fans, in chat-room comments, seemed to agree. Mr. Trump said: "I recommended these people. If I recommend in my company, it's over. I don't have to be a dictator. I say this is a good idea and people do it, if they're intelligent."
Mr. Burnett acknowledged the need to find suitable candidates for Mr. Trump. But he said casting reality shows was always hard because even if you like someone at first glance they could be eliminated in background checks.
He and his star came up with a plan to rectify the situation. Mr. Trump flew to Los Angeles last spring to conduct personal auditions with the 200 or so finalists for the new season. Mr. Trump said: "It was a great interview process. They were fighting like cats and dogs."
The result, he said, is "a real Trump cast." Of the 18 contestants, 17 were his picks, he said. "If I'm looking for somebody out of 18 people to work for me, how come somebody else is picking the 18 people?" he asked. "Doesn't make sense."
The new group includes an ex-N.F.L. football player, a former professional softball player and a Rhodes scholar with five degrees. Ah, but Mr. Trump's deft touch will be apparent in other selections, too.
"We have an ex-stripper who is tough as nails," he said. And then there is Jennifer Murphy. Mr. Trump, who claims a certain expertise in the area, described her as "one of the most beautiful women I've ever seen."
He said some of the show's producers advised him against selecting her: "They said she was too beautiful. I said, 'Excuse me, there is no such thing as too beautiful.' They said, 'Donald she's so beautiful, she's not credible.' I said, 'No. 1, she happens to be smart. No. 2, she's very beautiful - congratulations, she's going on the show.' There wasn't going to be another 'Apprentice' 3 thing where I end up with a cast where I have to pick people to work for me and I don't believe in them."
Mr. Trump admitted it wouldn't be easy to consider firing a bona fide beauty queen. "I try to be objective," he said. "But beauty is an unfair advantage for certain people. When they came up with the wonderful statement, all men are created equal, never has there been a more false statement. It sounds brilliant; it reads beautifully. But some people are geniuses. Some are beautiful."
The new "Apprentice" will contain the usual complement of giant American companies looking for extra commercial exposure by supplying tasks for Mr. Trump's candidates. George Lucas will ask for ideas for the release of the DVD of his latest "Star Wars" film. Bill Gates will be involved, Mr. Trump said, with a new Microsoft product.
As much as Mr. Trump asserts the return to quality in his contestants on "The Apprentice," he acknowledged the challenge of bumping the ratings up again. First, there is the still problematic lead-in from "Joey" and the fading comedy "Will & Grace." Then there is the competition.
Once again "The Apprentice" will face off against television's most-watched drama, "CSI" on CBS. And ABC is hoping to put a dent in the opening episode with the results show from its "dance-off" special, featuring the two couples who drew big ratings in the summer reality series "Dancing With the Stars."
And there is one other new competitor of sorts as well: Martha Stewart. Mr. Trump is a co-owner of the Martha Stewart edition of "The Apprentice," so as he pointed out, he has every incentive for it to do well. Within reason, of course.
He did tell NBC he had reservations about the network's plan to schedule the Stewart show on Wednesday nights, just one night before his own.
"Both Donald and Mark Burnett expressed concern about having to go on back-to-back nights," Mr. Reilly said. "I think there will be a core audience that watches both, but I also think they'll attract different audiences." He said he was confident that Mr. Trump's show would endure - rather essential for NBC to survive on Thursday nights this season.
"It still feels like a show that can have a long run," Mr. Reilly said.
OT ETA: Also in the NY Times, Donald and Ivana are involved in two separate Las Vegas building projects.
Home on the Strip
By ROBERT JOHNSON
Published: August 17, 2005
LAS VEGAS - Even in this gaudy city a building painted black and pink stands out. It needs to, because the one-floor structure at the corner of the Strip and Sahara Avenue is a condominium sales center in a metropolis where more than 100 new high-rise residences are in the works.
The black-and-pink exterior was designed by the woman who is the namesake of the planned condominium. Victor Altomare, the developer, said simply, "It just screams 'Ivana.' " That would be Ivana Trump, an ex-wife of Donald J. Trump. "Her fingerprints are all over this project," Mr. Altomare said. "Pink is her color."
Although the condo itself, scheduled for groundbreaking in mid-2006 and opening 30 months later, will be a relatively sedate silver color, it will command attention as the tallest skyscraper in Las Vegas. Mr. Altomare estimates construction costs at $500 million. In a telephone interview, Mrs. Trump said she was an investor, but would not be specific about the amount.
The Ivana building "will be elegant," vowed Mrs. Trump, who divides most of her time among homes in New York, London and St.-Tropez. She has lines of clothing, cosmetics and jewelry that are sold on cable television shopping channels and over her Web site, IvanaTrump.com.
Ivana, the building, is to rise 80 floors. Its advertising slogan is "Size Does Matter," a phrase also used to promote the 1998 film "Godzilla," a big-budget production about the fire-breathing lizard that fizzled at the box office. In that movie, the monster destroyed much of Manhattan. In contrast, the Ivana tower and other high rises under development are being hailed as the "Manhattanization" of Las Vegas.
Konnel Peterson, a Re/Max broker who sells mainly condos, said: "Condos, not casinos, are the next big wave of building here. If successful, they'll remake the skyline of this city and recast the Strip from a place to gamble on games to a hub of real estate investment."
The Las Vegas condo market is heating up fast. Some 6,000 units are under construction, compared with about 300 in early 2004, according to Gunther Gedsl, a high-rise analyst at Manhattanization.com in Las Vegas. Another 12,500 units are in the preconstruction sales phase, he said, versus 4,000 as 2004 began.
All that activity, however, is taking its toll on the optimism among some developers. Mr. Gedsl estimated that 12,000 condo units had entered the "idea stage" within the last 18 months. But he added that there had been some erosion in the number of condos in the pipeline "as costs and competition have increased."
How close is Las Vegas to a condo glut? Mr. Gedsl said the glut might already exist. "I think at least 20 percent of those we're hearing about now won't be built," he said.
Mr. Altomare said he had to persuade Mrs. Trump to lend her name to the tower. "She said no, unless it has the right size and scope." He added, "One appeal for her in Las Vegas is to succeed in a 'guy's town.' "
Certainly the size and scope of Ivana, the building, are big enough to compete with one guy in particular: the man she divorced in 1990 after 13 years of marriage.
Mr. Trump, not known for self-deprecation, also has a condo project being built on the Strip. But, planned for 64 floors, his Trump International Hotel and Tower will be smaller than the one named for Mrs. Trump. Still, he swept aside comparisons in a telephone interview.
"Trump International has the right location in the heart of Las Vegas Boulevard," he said, referring to the street more commonly known as the Strip, "near Steve Wynn's new resort and all the glamour that buyers are looking for."
Mr. Trump said that Ivana, the building, may be too far north on the Strip, near the older downtown area of Las Vegas, to be successful. "It's in the wrong place," he said. His development has as a neighbor the Fashion Show Mall, with such stores as Neiman-Marcus. Hers is across the street from a discount store that offers bargains on T-shirts.
Ivana's prices range from $550,000 to a penthouse listed at $35 million. Trump International's units are $800,000 to $8 million.
"Trump International is sold out," Mr. Trump said. "We have 10 percent deposits on all 1,268 units." He added that if some buyers drop out, "We have a long waiting list of people who want to get in."
While the sales center at Ivana is bustling, and Mr. Altomare showed a stack of deposit checks to a visitor, they are for a modest $10,000 each, rather than the 10 percent of the sales price that Mr. Trump said he was receiving in advance.
Still, the Ivana condo was nearly 50 percent sold even before marketing fully started last Sunday with a party attended by Mrs. Trump at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, five miles south of her sales center.
Among those attending the gala was Alyssa Lampert Thomas, a Los Angeles mortgage consultant, who has made a deposit. "This is my first time in Las Vegas," she said, "and I'm really excited about owning a part of a building that Ivana Trump is involved with. She is helping with the design of the interiors, and she has exquisite taste."
One promotion for the building exhibits a certain earthy quality. A press release on July 31 proclaimed, "The Ivana standard of procuring 'only the best' is even reflected in the men that will actually build Ivana Las Vegas."
The announcement invited the wives, girlfriends and sisters of construction workers to submit "your sexiest construction photo" to www.ivanalasvegas.com, in a contest to pick the 12 "hottest construction men in America." They will be featured on a calendar for the tower.
While she was married to Donald Trump, Mrs. Trump was named vice president for interior design of his buildings, including Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City, where she supervised construction and later managed the property. She also did a four-year stint as president and chief executive of another Trump property, the Plaza Hotel in New York.
In recent years she has been involved in real estate as a spokeswoman for condo projects in Australia and Miami, but the Las Vegas building is the first to bear her name. "She is definitely a brand, an icon known all over the world," Mr. Altomare said.
Yet brand names have sometimes not been enough in the Las Vegas condo market, where plans for a 46-story building backed by the basketball legend Michael Jordan were scrapped this year in part because of higher-than-expected construction costs.
And, Mr. Trump said, "I'm afraid she is just being used by people who want her name to get something built."
Mrs. Trump had this to say: "I'm glad that Donald is concerned. We're still family even though we're divorced. No one is using me for anything. I'm not the type of person who gets used."
Trump Redevelops His Own Series
By BILL CARTER
Published: August 31, 2005
With all the attention surrounding the public rehabilitation of Martha Stewart and the new edition of "The Apprentice" she will star in for NBC starting Sept. 21, you might think that the star of that other edition of "The Apprentice" had turned into a shrinking violet, fallen off the radar screen, gone into hiding.
Uh, no.
Donald Trump emerged this week from a bit of enforced quietude - to allow Ms. Stewart her hour on the stage - rested and ready to send out a loud Trump-et blast of a message, along the lines of: I'm still here. And by the way, I'm better than ever.
" 'The Apprentice' has been a great success by any standard," he said. "And 'Apprentice' 4 is the best by far, the best show we've done."
This pronouncement is consistent with NBC's positioning of the show this season. Kevin Reilly, the president of entertainment for NBC, described Mr. Trump's show, which begins a new season Sept. 22, as being "right back on its game."
Both NBC and Mr. Trump are eager to get that "back on its game" message out to counter any suspicions that "The Apprentice" is a fading phenomenon, an impression that took some root last spring (aided by NBC's competitors, of course) because the third edition of the business-based reality series had experienced a noticeable ratings falloff. The drop was hardly calamitous, though: "The Apprentice" was still in the top 15 for the season.
Mr. Trump noted ruefully that the series NBC broadcast in the hour preceding his 9 p.m. show - notably the "Friends" spinoff, "Joey" - had experienced a ratings meltdown that surely damaged his own numbers, a point that Mr. Reilly acknowledged even more ruefully was true.
Still, NBC's message does imply that Mr. Trump's show was off its game at least a bit in "Apprentice" 3, and Mr. Trump said he thought he knew why. "The entire series I was angry," he said Monday, sitting behind his desk on the 26th floor of Trump Tower. The anger, he said, related to the selection of the cast for that installment, which the show's creator, Mark Burnett, set up as a competition between those with and without college degrees.
Mr. Burnett said, in a telephone interview: "The casting problem on 3 was completely my fault. Having book smarts versus street smarts seemed like a great idea but it changed the tenor of the show." It affected the reaction among the show's usually wealthy and well-educated audience, he said, adding, "I don't think people wanted to see potty-mouthed competitors."
Mr. Trump said he felt that the show's casting directors had not taken his suggestions. Remembering an open call of candidates last fall, when thousands of applicants turned up to Trump Tower, Mr. Trump said he spied several promising entrants that day.
Mr. Trump said he pointed them out. "I was very nice. I said, 'You see that guy in dreadlocks? I would like him in the show if possible.' There was a girl I wanted. I said, 'I'd like to see if you could have her in the show.' It wasn't typical Trump."
Mr. Trump said that when he arrived to begin shooting the series he was given a cast rundown, and none of his choices had made it. "I went through the roof," he said. "Then I became the real Trump - because I didn't like the cast."
Many of the show's fans, in chat-room comments, seemed to agree. Mr. Trump said: "I recommended these people. If I recommend in my company, it's over. I don't have to be a dictator. I say this is a good idea and people do it, if they're intelligent."
Mr. Burnett acknowledged the need to find suitable candidates for Mr. Trump. But he said casting reality shows was always hard because even if you like someone at first glance they could be eliminated in background checks.
He and his star came up with a plan to rectify the situation. Mr. Trump flew to Los Angeles last spring to conduct personal auditions with the 200 or so finalists for the new season. Mr. Trump said: "It was a great interview process. They were fighting like cats and dogs."
The result, he said, is "a real Trump cast." Of the 18 contestants, 17 were his picks, he said. "If I'm looking for somebody out of 18 people to work for me, how come somebody else is picking the 18 people?" he asked. "Doesn't make sense."
The new group includes an ex-N.F.L. football player, a former professional softball player and a Rhodes scholar with five degrees. Ah, but Mr. Trump's deft touch will be apparent in other selections, too.
"We have an ex-stripper who is tough as nails," he said. And then there is Jennifer Murphy. Mr. Trump, who claims a certain expertise in the area, described her as "one of the most beautiful women I've ever seen."
He said some of the show's producers advised him against selecting her: "They said she was too beautiful. I said, 'Excuse me, there is no such thing as too beautiful.' They said, 'Donald she's so beautiful, she's not credible.' I said, 'No. 1, she happens to be smart. No. 2, she's very beautiful - congratulations, she's going on the show.' There wasn't going to be another 'Apprentice' 3 thing where I end up with a cast where I have to pick people to work for me and I don't believe in them."
Mr. Trump admitted it wouldn't be easy to consider firing a bona fide beauty queen. "I try to be objective," he said. "But beauty is an unfair advantage for certain people. When they came up with the wonderful statement, all men are created equal, never has there been a more false statement. It sounds brilliant; it reads beautifully. But some people are geniuses. Some are beautiful."
The new "Apprentice" will contain the usual complement of giant American companies looking for extra commercial exposure by supplying tasks for Mr. Trump's candidates. George Lucas will ask for ideas for the release of the DVD of his latest "Star Wars" film. Bill Gates will be involved, Mr. Trump said, with a new Microsoft product.
As much as Mr. Trump asserts the return to quality in his contestants on "The Apprentice," he acknowledged the challenge of bumping the ratings up again. First, there is the still problematic lead-in from "Joey" and the fading comedy "Will & Grace." Then there is the competition.
Once again "The Apprentice" will face off against television's most-watched drama, "CSI" on CBS. And ABC is hoping to put a dent in the opening episode with the results show from its "dance-off" special, featuring the two couples who drew big ratings in the summer reality series "Dancing With the Stars."
And there is one other new competitor of sorts as well: Martha Stewart. Mr. Trump is a co-owner of the Martha Stewart edition of "The Apprentice," so as he pointed out, he has every incentive for it to do well. Within reason, of course.
He did tell NBC he had reservations about the network's plan to schedule the Stewart show on Wednesday nights, just one night before his own.
"Both Donald and Mark Burnett expressed concern about having to go on back-to-back nights," Mr. Reilly said. "I think there will be a core audience that watches both, but I also think they'll attract different audiences." He said he was confident that Mr. Trump's show would endure - rather essential for NBC to survive on Thursday nights this season.
"It still feels like a show that can have a long run," Mr. Reilly said.
OT ETA: Also in the NY Times, Donald and Ivana are involved in two separate Las Vegas building projects.
Home on the Strip
By ROBERT JOHNSON
Published: August 17, 2005
LAS VEGAS - Even in this gaudy city a building painted black and pink stands out. It needs to, because the one-floor structure at the corner of the Strip and Sahara Avenue is a condominium sales center in a metropolis where more than 100 new high-rise residences are in the works.
The black-and-pink exterior was designed by the woman who is the namesake of the planned condominium. Victor Altomare, the developer, said simply, "It just screams 'Ivana.' " That would be Ivana Trump, an ex-wife of Donald J. Trump. "Her fingerprints are all over this project," Mr. Altomare said. "Pink is her color."
Although the condo itself, scheduled for groundbreaking in mid-2006 and opening 30 months later, will be a relatively sedate silver color, it will command attention as the tallest skyscraper in Las Vegas. Mr. Altomare estimates construction costs at $500 million. In a telephone interview, Mrs. Trump said she was an investor, but would not be specific about the amount.
The Ivana building "will be elegant," vowed Mrs. Trump, who divides most of her time among homes in New York, London and St.-Tropez. She has lines of clothing, cosmetics and jewelry that are sold on cable television shopping channels and over her Web site, IvanaTrump.com.
Ivana, the building, is to rise 80 floors. Its advertising slogan is "Size Does Matter," a phrase also used to promote the 1998 film "Godzilla," a big-budget production about the fire-breathing lizard that fizzled at the box office. In that movie, the monster destroyed much of Manhattan. In contrast, the Ivana tower and other high rises under development are being hailed as the "Manhattanization" of Las Vegas.
Konnel Peterson, a Re/Max broker who sells mainly condos, said: "Condos, not casinos, are the next big wave of building here. If successful, they'll remake the skyline of this city and recast the Strip from a place to gamble on games to a hub of real estate investment."
The Las Vegas condo market is heating up fast. Some 6,000 units are under construction, compared with about 300 in early 2004, according to Gunther Gedsl, a high-rise analyst at Manhattanization.com in Las Vegas. Another 12,500 units are in the preconstruction sales phase, he said, versus 4,000 as 2004 began.
All that activity, however, is taking its toll on the optimism among some developers. Mr. Gedsl estimated that 12,000 condo units had entered the "idea stage" within the last 18 months. But he added that there had been some erosion in the number of condos in the pipeline "as costs and competition have increased."
How close is Las Vegas to a condo glut? Mr. Gedsl said the glut might already exist. "I think at least 20 percent of those we're hearing about now won't be built," he said.
Mr. Altomare said he had to persuade Mrs. Trump to lend her name to the tower. "She said no, unless it has the right size and scope." He added, "One appeal for her in Las Vegas is to succeed in a 'guy's town.' "
Certainly the size and scope of Ivana, the building, are big enough to compete with one guy in particular: the man she divorced in 1990 after 13 years of marriage.
Mr. Trump, not known for self-deprecation, also has a condo project being built on the Strip. But, planned for 64 floors, his Trump International Hotel and Tower will be smaller than the one named for Mrs. Trump. Still, he swept aside comparisons in a telephone interview.
"Trump International has the right location in the heart of Las Vegas Boulevard," he said, referring to the street more commonly known as the Strip, "near Steve Wynn's new resort and all the glamour that buyers are looking for."
Mr. Trump said that Ivana, the building, may be too far north on the Strip, near the older downtown area of Las Vegas, to be successful. "It's in the wrong place," he said. His development has as a neighbor the Fashion Show Mall, with such stores as Neiman-Marcus. Hers is across the street from a discount store that offers bargains on T-shirts.
Ivana's prices range from $550,000 to a penthouse listed at $35 million. Trump International's units are $800,000 to $8 million.
"Trump International is sold out," Mr. Trump said. "We have 10 percent deposits on all 1,268 units." He added that if some buyers drop out, "We have a long waiting list of people who want to get in."
While the sales center at Ivana is bustling, and Mr. Altomare showed a stack of deposit checks to a visitor, they are for a modest $10,000 each, rather than the 10 percent of the sales price that Mr. Trump said he was receiving in advance.
Still, the Ivana condo was nearly 50 percent sold even before marketing fully started last Sunday with a party attended by Mrs. Trump at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, five miles south of her sales center.
Among those attending the gala was Alyssa Lampert Thomas, a Los Angeles mortgage consultant, who has made a deposit. "This is my first time in Las Vegas," she said, "and I'm really excited about owning a part of a building that Ivana Trump is involved with. She is helping with the design of the interiors, and she has exquisite taste."
One promotion for the building exhibits a certain earthy quality. A press release on July 31 proclaimed, "The Ivana standard of procuring 'only the best' is even reflected in the men that will actually build Ivana Las Vegas."
The announcement invited the wives, girlfriends and sisters of construction workers to submit "your sexiest construction photo" to www.ivanalasvegas.com, in a contest to pick the 12 "hottest construction men in America." They will be featured on a calendar for the tower.
While she was married to Donald Trump, Mrs. Trump was named vice president for interior design of his buildings, including Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City, where she supervised construction and later managed the property. She also did a four-year stint as president and chief executive of another Trump property, the Plaza Hotel in New York.
In recent years she has been involved in real estate as a spokeswoman for condo projects in Australia and Miami, but the Las Vegas building is the first to bear her name. "She is definitely a brand, an icon known all over the world," Mr. Altomare said.
Yet brand names have sometimes not been enough in the Las Vegas condo market, where plans for a 46-story building backed by the basketball legend Michael Jordan were scrapped this year in part because of higher-than-expected construction costs.
And, Mr. Trump said, "I'm afraid she is just being used by people who want her name to get something built."
Mrs. Trump had this to say: "I'm glad that Donald is concerned. We're still family even though we're divorced. No one is using me for anything. I'm not the type of person who gets used."