The TV Zone

Hey, am I the only one who pretty much decided this season's "The Celebrity Apprentice" is stuck in a time warp, or a place - long ago and far away - that doesn't exist any longer?

That would be New York City, pre-October, 2008...

It was a strange other-worldly edition last night, even stranger and more otherworldly than usual. Somehow, the Donald's Gold Lamé universe just doesn't seem to exist anymore. It doesn't; it's now nickel-plated. But there was Trumpster - who now says in interviews that we're in a "depression" - pretending that everything is just dandy, same as it always was.

That's because this was all taped last year...

[Oh, who got fired? The Diceman. A surprise? Hell yeah, insofar as he probably has a little more name recognition than most of the other celebrities - certainly vastly more than survivor Brande Roderick, whom no one has ever heard of, ever.]

But back to the other-world quality of the new season - filmed last year before the crash. Can you imagine anyone paying $9,000 for a single cupcuke now? Or Donny Deutsch paying ten thousand for one?

Donny Deutsch?! CNBC has even FIRED him, or canceled "The Big Idea.;" he sure wouldn't be so generous now, one imagines...In fact, he must feel profoundly foolish - "I bought a $10,000 cupcake and NBC FIRED ME!!??"

I'd feel profoundly foolish too....

You noticed too, I assume, that Kathie Lee Gifford and Hoda Kotb came off of their aerie to pay tribute to another NBC show, right? But they didn't cough up a dime for those lousy cupcakes. Either they've got good sense, or they're just cheap. You'll notice NBC hasn't canceled THEIR show. There's a lesson here, somewhere...

But honestly, the whole episode reeked of the old, bad past - when rich irresponsible people threw money around like it was tissue paper, and knew they didn't have anything to worry about because - hey! - it's a tax write-off.

In other words, rich people behaving in a way that got us all here in the first place.

I wonder if "The Celebrity Apprentice" will adjust to the New World Order? We'll see...