The Gift of the "Apprenti"
To Donald Trump, the latest finale of The Apprentice was "good television." To NBC, it was as good as it got.
The two-hour Apprentice capper was the struggling network's highest ranked program of the TV week ended Sunday, per Nielsen Media Research. And around NBC these days, highest ranked means 13th place.
As far as The Apprentice was concerned, the showing represented the best of times (a season-high 12.8 million viewers) and the worst of times (a finale-low 12.8 million viewers, off more than 50 percent from the original boardroom blowout back in 2004).
What the season ender lacked in eyeballs, it arguably made up for in buzz. Monday's Larry King Live saw Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld share air time with "the finale controversy."
Said controversy was ignited when Donald Trump hired Rhodes Scholar Randal Pinkett to be his apprentice, and then asked Pinkett if he thought runner-up Rebecca Jarvis should be hired as well.
"It's not The Apprenti, it's The Apprentice," Pinkett explained in declining to share his title with Jarvis.
On Larry King, Trump said questions as to whether his unusual proposal was somehow about race--Pinkett is black, Jarvis is white--were "totally inappropriate." The mogul said he merely liked both candidates.
"You have to say, Larry," Trump told the CNN host, "it was good television."
Trump will be back in the television business for at least two more Apprentice seasons on NBC.
The Martha Stewart-fronted version of The Apprentice, meanwhile, ends its first--and last--season on Wednesday night.
Elsewhere:
Has NBC found its savior? The Howie Mandel-hosted game show, Deal or No Deal, got off to a fast start Monday night before an estimated 11.6 million. Like Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, which both rescued and ruined ABC in the early 2000s, Deal or No Deal will air every night through Friday.On Sunday night, Rob Lowe warmed the cockles of viewers' hearts in the CBS made-for-TV movie The Christmas Blessing (ninth place, 13.8 million) and Grinched the ABC made-for-TV musical Once Upon a Mattress (36th place, 8.4 million).
After The Amazing Race 8 finale, the Linz siblings from Cincinnati are $1 million richer; CBS is 11.3 million viewers richer (16th place).
Meet the new holiday standard: The Santa Clause. The umpteenth network broadcast of the 1994 Tim Allen comedy attracted a turnout of 10 million loyalists (22nd place) for ABC.
The old holiday standard A Charlie Brown Christmas managed to draw another 8.5 million (32nd place) for ABC just a week after it broke into the top 10.
CBS' annual Yuletide outing for Frosty the Snowman (42nd place, 8.1 million) was its time slot's most watched show among adults age 25 to 54. But the grownups didn't stick around the sequel, Frosty Returns (62nd place, 7 million), because, well, that one's just kids' stuff.
How the Grinch Stole Christmas (81st place, 5.2 million) put up big numbers for the WB, but small numbers compared to its classic animated brethren (Charlie Brown, Frosty).
Christmas came early for NBC's Joey (45th place, 8 million), cracking the top 25 among 18- to 49-year-old viewers.
Chrismukkah delivered no miracles to The O.C. (70th place, 6.2 million).
Very quietly, CBS' Numb3rs is putting up very solid numbers (14th place, 12 million) on Friday nights.
Overall, the CSI-laden CBS won the week in total viewers (averaging 12.2 million) and the 18-49 demographic.
ABC (8.7 million) ran second in viewers, followed by NBC (8.3 million) and Fox (6.7 million). UPN (3.5 million) kept down the WB (3.4 million).
Here's a look of the 10 most watched prime-time shows for the week ended Sunday, according to Nielsen Media Research:
1. CSI, CBS, 17.7 million viewers
2. NCIS, CBS, 17.1 million viewers
3. CSI: NY, CBS, 16.5 million viewers
4. Without a Trace, 15.3 million viewers
5. Criminal Minds, CBS, 15.23 million viewers
6. Cold Case, CBS, 15.22 million viewers
7. House, Fox, 14.6 million viewers
8. Two and a Half Men, CBS, 14.3 million viewers
9. CBS Sunday Movie: The Christmas Blessing, CBS, 13.8 million viewers
10. CSI: Miami, CBS, 13.79 million viewers
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