Whoever came up with the saying "All good things must come to an end" was an idiot.  If it was that good in the first place, it would never go away.  That said, I think NBC would do well to shelve "The Apprentice" for awhile.  Yeah, it will be tough for The Donald to go that long without being in the public eye, but he'll find a way.  His show has gone from top to bottom in only four series.

I keep saying the same thing about these shows: in the beginning we had the interesting tasks.  Even the first one was ingenious; the running of a lemonade stand in Manhattan.  The charity auction for the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation?  Wonderful TV.  Now, the majority of tasks is "Design an advertisement for whichever company sponsored this week's show".  I suppose all shows go through this sort of thing, having a first season full of interesting ideas and then slowing down, but I don't care, I tune in every week to see something fun, and The Apprentice is not paying off.  Last year, NBC propped up its Saturday primetime schedule with an extended version, with extra footage from the Boardroom scenes.  That ingenious idea only lasted a few weeks, unfortunately.  The last best part of the show only lasts for fifteen to twenty minutes.  And what dummy came up with the vote for exemption idea?  No one in their right mind would do it, and yet eight out of the nine women decided to magnanimously give one to the Project Manager last week.  That act alone should be enough to call for their resignation.

Martha Stewart has also jumped on the bandwagon, but I don't have a strong enough stomach to watch her show.  I guess it follows the same pattern as the original show, but I don't really care.

That more than aptly describes my apathy of the series.  Week after week I come here, and say "Here are a few ways that shows could improve."  And we still get bad TV.  So I'm not going to put up a list of ways that this season's show could turn around, because it would be a waste of typing.  Clearly the executives in charge of the show are content to rest on their laurels, otherwise they would not be trying to improve what is a stagnant franchise.  Even so, I'm all about second chances, so I'll give them through the rest of the year.  If the show is still bad, it'll be a loss for NBC, and they'll get those magic words from me.  C'mon, say it with me...

You're fired.

Travis Eberle would like anyone who reads to the end of this week's column to surf over to pedaids.org.  Drop a couple of dollars there, anything you can.  Thank you. E-mail him at Traviseberle@gmail.com.