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The Apprentice 4 Corner Office and Mailroom Assignments, Episode 11by Gil Sery -- 12/08/2005
This week both teams were tasked with creating a 60-second commercial for Microsoft Office Live Meeting. Excel did a better job of working together and as such, came out ahead, while the women of Capital Edge were more preoccupied with playing hot potato with the division of power and creative vision. 
Excel Randal told Rebecca “I’d like to get you a win. You deserve a win. We’re going to get you one.” Aaah, such a gentleman that Randal; or such a sly fox. I mean if you think about it strategically, Randal knows he has a better shot against Rebecca than against Alla or Felisha because, until this task, Rebecca had not won a task yet in her two previous turns as Project Manager, while Alla and Felisha had each won one task. So either Randal was trying to make sure that he would go up against somebody he could beat in the finale, or he really is that much of a gentleman and just wanted to see his friend and teammate pull off a win for a change. It’s hard to judge who deserves the Corner Office more this week. Randal asked Rebecca if she was happy with the actor’s performance, thereby planting the seed of an idea in Rebecca’s mind for replacing the actor. Rebecca acknowledged she wasn’t happy with the actor and even admitted to Randal, “I hate making a call like this.” However, it was Rebecca who came up with the idea of using Randal (and presumably herself, although we didn’t see that decision) in the commercial. The two of them worked very well together and it showed. Frankly, when the professionally-made Live Meeting ad aired during this episode of The Apprentice, I have to admit that I thought Excel’s commercial was vastly superior to the professional one. What does a bunch of people looking like the Knights of the Round Table, sitting at what looks like a construction site, have to do with a computer software program? How does that show the advantages of the software? Where’s the contrast between the two methods? Where’s the call to action? Getting back to Excel’s ad, though. As Project Manager, one has to take the good with the bad. Since it was Rebecca’s idea to recast the commercial with Excel team members, and since she was the Project Manager of a winning task, she gets this week’s Corner Office for Excel. Since both teammates got along well, nobody on Excel gets Mailroom Duty this week. Kudos, Excel! Capital Edge Oy vey! What a mess this task was. I almost got whiplash going back and forth trying to keep up with who was the director when and who was in charge of what task. When you have too much footage, you edit out the extraneous stuff. Do you think that any Hollywood movie crew shoots two hours of footage? No, they shoot dozens, if not hundreds, of hours of footage and edit it down accordingly to two hours or 2.5 hours. They use what they have, without rewriting the screenplay in the editing room, which is essentially what Alla did by suggesting “Plan B” — even if she’s not willing to admit it in front of Mr. Trump, Bill, and Carolyn. Both Alla and Felisha tried to give creative input as to the types of shots they wanted, and ended up butting heads. Felisha summed it well, when she said that, “Alla is one of those people that either you give her everything or she’ll take nothing.” There was no middle ground. About the only thing I did like about Capital Edge’s presentation is that both Alla and Felisha dressed in red and white for their presentation, thus presenting a uniform front. 
Although both Alla and Felisha are no longer with the company, I would have definitely sent them both to the Mailroom because they were both equally bad. As Bill succinctly summarized, “Felisha can’t lead, and Alla can’t be led.” Of course, with both team members getting fired, there’s nobody left on Capital Edge to get the Corner Office. Week Eleven Tally With Rebecca’s latest Corner Office assignment, she now ties Randal for the lead with four Corner Offices apiece. In a somewhat surprising move, Alla, who used to be the leader with five Corner Offices, is no longer in contention. Excel Capital Edge Gil Sery is a freelance entertainment journalist who loves watching reality TV. You can email him at movieman26@hotmail.com with your suggestions on whom you would have picked for the corner office or mailroom. Be sure to sign up for our e-mail update so you can stay informed about new articles on the site! And take a look at the rest of the site. You can find all of our recent articles on this show at our The Apprentice page and take a look at our sections on The Amazing Race 8 and Survivor: Guatemala. You can even buy reality show stuff at our Reality TV Store! For more news about The Apprentice, be sure to check out SirLinksALot's Apprentice page! |