为何The Apprentice风靡美国？

时间: 2004-11-25
虽然美国的就业形势在不断好转，但“你被解雇了！(You’re fired)”这句让职场中人噤若寒蝉的话最近在美国大街小巷异常火爆，快成了时尚的口头禅。这一切都源于美国全国广播电视台（NBC）的纪实秀（Reality Show) — “学徒”（The Apprentice)。
美国梦游戏规则之一：只要你聪明而且勤奋，那么就一定会有机会成功
美国当红的纪实秀为数不少，有的让参与者在热带岛屿的烂泥中汗流浃背地忍饥挨饿酷热、为蚊虫提供大餐，有的让一个假冒是百万富翁的英俊男士挑动25个蒙在鼓里的佳丽为争金龟婿而伎俩用尽。同这些节目相比，“学徒”应该算是迄今为止最贴近生活的“纪实秀”了。它的舞台是我们每一个人都熟悉的、无处不在的办公室，只是这一个办公室是在纽约这个商场如战场的大都市里。
16个参赛者, 八男八女分成两组, 到纽约来面对美国地产大亨唐纳德·特朗普（Donald Trump）的挑战, 大家轮流担任团队领导，每一周分别作一个诸如卖矿泉水，出租房子的项目，输掉的一方中会有一位对团队最没贡献的成员被“炒掉”，最后胜出的一位则可以得到一年的合约, 在唐纳德·特朗普旗下的某个公司担任“学徒”。可别对特朗普的这位“学徒”看不上眼，学徒一年的工资为25万美金。虽然这一年薪无法与其他“幸存者节目 （Survivor)”动辄百万的奖金相提并论，但参赛者在NBC的曝光和在万众瞩目之下兜售自己的才智对其事业发展是一笔不可估量的财富。成功的参赛者或者不用投资时间与金钱在商学院埋头苦读便可获得就业敲门砖，或者可以平步青云，一举越过公司中的重重晋升阶梯加入公司组织高层，人生可以少奋斗二十年。
美国雪城大学（Syracuse University）电视与流行文化专业的罗伯特·汤姆森 （Robert Thompson）教授认为：“这对所有做着美国梦的人们来说是绝好的成功机会。”
职场“灰姑娘”的故事抓人之处是在宣扬人人平等而且机会众多的美国，真的是有很多美国人相信只要你聪明而且勤奋，那么就一定会有机会成功。
“给你一个机会展示自己，获取成功”是“学徒”节目吸引了众多美国眼球的主要原因。有20多万人报名应征节目中这16个职位，而且在其第二集播出时就创下了全美纪实秀收视率最高纪录：2千万观众。
“学徒”节目的创始人和主持人特朗普现在成了他自己节目“口头禅”的受害者。特朗普说，每天都有“学徒”迷们向他大喊 “你被炒掉了！”超过一百声，就连他和女朋友在餐馆吃饭时也不得清净，会有人隔着桌子冲他大喊“你被炒掉了！”
美国梦规则之二：必备团队合作和领导才能，心理素质强过外部压力
为了最后在角逐中胜出，参赛者们既要在比赛中与团队里的每一个成员密切合作，在短时间内完成一个个近似不可能的销售目标，又不免在项目失败时勾心斗角，学会如何保全自己而让别人被开出局。虽然一个个专门为电视节目设计的项目与现实生活中的营销有所差别，但它们实在是象极了美国商学院中的案例学习，充满商界的真知灼见。
在2004年三月份第一周的节目中，两组的才赛者被要求任务去卖自己选中的两位艺术家的绘画作品。第一组选中一个卖价较高，可是风格怪异，连组员自己都无法理解的艺术家，大家经讨论决定承担风险，因为只要卖出一幅作品就会在销售额上有相当大的赢面。第二组则选中了一个风格比较大众化，但作品单价较低的画家。竞争的结果是两组的销售额之差创下了节目开始以来的最高纪录，第二组的利润额高出了第一组一万多美元。掌握生杀大权的特朗普最后总结说：“如果你想卖掉自己的商品，那么就一定要相信自己的商品。你无法卖掉连自己都不相信的东西。”
这一集被炒掉的是一个叫奥玛罗莎·斯塔尔沃斯（Omarosa Manigault-Stallworth)的女孩儿，尽管是她卖出了组里唯一一幅价值八百多元的作品，并且是她曾经建议不要选那位风格怪异的艺术家。因为其他队员认为她态度不够积极，在所有人都在为实现目标争分夺秒工作时，斯塔尔沃斯却坚持要在一个餐馆吃上两个小时的午餐。而且这并不是唯一的一次，推销“特朗普”牌瓶装水（Trump Ice)时，她在一家只买下了两箱水的美容店花时间让人给自己做了免费美容。在大家都在忙着粉刷特朗普名下的公寓，想租出一个好价钱时，斯塔尔沃斯却跑到门外去和小孩子们打球。整个团队对她的不满由来已久，她能坚持到现在已经是个奇迹。特朗普对她的评价为：“她总是认为自己比别人聪明。”
从上面的描述中大家不难看出，“学徒”的每一个项目中都包括了团队合作，个人贡献，领导才能，销售技巧，压力对抗等等办公室必备的基本因素，而且比写在商学院书本上的案例要生动精彩得多，也真实得多。罗伯特·汤姆森教授认为:“如果美国的商业可以代表普遍意义的商业的话，那么‘学徒’就是它的第一部影像日记。”
“当我和苏茜以及她的两个孩子第一次在床上观看‘学徒’节目时，我就知道这将是一个很好的节目。最后她们开始一起大声喊‘你被炒掉了！你被炒掉了！’，如此激动让我很吃惊，这就象是一个本垒打。”一个退休CEO杰克·伟尔奇对这个节目评价道。
当然也有不少人对此唱反调，《华盛顿邮报》就邀请了7位华盛顿的企业领导一起观看“学徒”的第二集，火焰战略（FireStrategy）的创建者及总裁鲍尔·威莱拉（Paul Villella) 说：“一群没有工作的人拚命报名去参加一个不停有人炒掉的节目是一件很讽刺的事情。”而前康奈尔大学商学院院长，现任乔治·梅森大学的校长阿兰·莫坦（Alan G. Merten)则认为节目“对商学院的教育毫无帮助。”
美国梦之三：无数个机会，无数财富，但要心狠手辣
“学徒”的背景舞台是国际商业的黄金宝地——纽约。这个钢筋水泥构筑的混凝土丛林中有无数的公司，无数个机会，无数的人才，无数的财富，没有一个生意人能够拒绝纽约。“我喜欢‘学徒’里所表现的这个城市，它的美丽，它的恶毒，它如何把这些孩子活活地吞噬掉。我真的是喜欢这一切。” 这是特朗普对《新闻周刊》说。
唐纳德·特朗普是“学徒”节目最大的赢家，他现年五十七岁，是一个讲起话来滔滔不绝，又偏爱夸张的房地产发展商，喜欢年轻漂亮的女人与聚光灯。十年前，特朗普曾经沦落到濒临破产的地步，但如今他又凭借“学徒”节目的无限风光重新回到人们的视线中，顺便在美国经济复苏之始为自己的产品做足了广告，赚够了名声。现在他挂在纽约大大小小建筑上的名字比洛克菲勒的都要多。
“学徒”每播出一集，特朗普就会有十万美金进帐，现在他已经签字同意了“学徒”的第二轮播出，而且每集的转播费比第一轮还要高。同时他还在抓紧时间推销他在电视中的项目产品，“特朗普”牌瓶装水，并且正在着手写一本教人“如何发财致富”的新书。其公司名下的纳斯达克股票早已趁着这股宣传风创下了历史新高。
特朗普对每一个项目的胜利者都要做出奖励，或者让胜者一方到他豪华的别墅中去野餐，或者让胜者的领队挑选两个人乘坐他的私人直升飞机在纽约翱翔，俯视自由女神象，或者让胜者的领队走进他以金子镶门的办公室与他单独相处十分钟。没有人能够拒绝这样的邀请。
纽约人凯茜·格尼（Cathy Gurny)每次都和她9岁的儿子哈里斯（Harris)一起观看“学徒”，现在哈里斯的梦想就是要当一个和特朗普一样的房地产巨头。凯茜不得不告诉哈里斯他没必要向特朗普一样铁腕无情，争强好胜，并且禁止他向自己的保姆喊叫“你被炒掉了！”然而，凯茜无法阻挡的是美国梦，这个梦想不仅包括对机会平等的信仰，也包括对不是那么美好的心狠手辣、诡计多端的生存守则的遵循。它们已经在美国的下一代身上延续。
唐纳德·特朗普自信地告诉大家，他不会只是向其他纪实秀的出演者一样仅在节目中昙花一现，节目结束后就淹没在芸芸众生之中。他会一直与大家在一起。是啊，有谁会对唐纳德·特朗普喊“你被炒掉了！”呢？
----杜菁琳，《华盛顿观察》周刊
PS:
前几个月，每周四晚上都守在电视前把Apprentice看完，很有意思，也觉得满刺激的。真人秀的节目之所以吸引人的目光，在于它的真实和贴近生活。
个人很喜欢Troy，喜欢他灿烂的笑容，积极乐观的心态，以及为实现梦想放手一击的勇气。
另一个喜欢的是Kwame，一个典型的温文尔雅的儒材，但是温柔善良的本性中缺乏还击敌人的气魄。因而，由此导致的最后失利也让人分外惋惜。
ps
Bill Rancic trumps Kwame Jackson to become The Donald‘s ‘Apprentice‘
By Wade Paulsen, 04/16/2004
In the two-hour season finale of NBC‘s The Apprentice, New York City real-estate mogul Donald Trump selected Chicago native Bill Rancic, 32, founder of the web site Cigars Around the World, to be "The Apprentice."
As his reward, Bill won a 2005 Chrysler Crossfire roadster and a $250,000/year job as the head of construction for The Trump Organization‘s new 90-story Trump International Hotel in Chicago. However, The Donald left no doubt that Bill would not be the person ultimately in charge of the Chicago project -- instead, The Donald would be.
Bill was picked over Kwame Jackson, 29, a Harvard MBA who had worked for Goldman Sachs prior to becoming one of "Trump‘s Chumps," as the show‘s 16 contestants were sometimes called. The determining factor in Trump‘s final decision seemed to be Kwame‘s failure to fire the lying, insubordinant and incompetent Omarosa Manigault-Stallworth during Kwame‘s final task: managing a Jessica Simpson concert at the Trump Taj Mahal last October.
During the course of the concert, Omarosa "lost" Jessica and her band after they changed their travel plans -- a possibility that Omarosa disregarded so that she wouldn‘t have to interrupt her fancy dinner with the rest of the team -- then lied to Kwame and the rest of the team about it. After that, a breakfast for Jessica and her posse was served late when neither Omarosa nor Troy McClain (whom Kwame asked to help after Omarosa‘s dishonesty was revealed) contacted the kitchen. Later, she took Jessica out of a pre-show reception just before Kwame brought Donald Trump to it, angering The Donald. Although the other aspects of the concert ended up fine, the accumulation of Omarosa‘s errors counted against Kwame.
The "live" ending of the finale revealed the reason for all of the obvious "voice-overs" used for Donald Trump‘s words in the boardroom: Trump is not a good extemporaneous speaker. In fact, Trump very obviously ended up reading just about every word he spoke off a teleprompter. After this performance, it will be difficult to ever again refer to The Apprentice as "unscripted" TV. May we suggest tape-delay for the finale of The Apprentice 2, which will air in fall 2004.
As part of the finale, all 16 candidates were brought back, including Ereka Vetrini, who was accused by Omarosa of using the "n-word" and various other racial slurs toward her. Although Omarosa‘s comments cannot be conclusively disproved, since every second of the contestants‘ lives was not taped during the show, Apprentice producer Mark Burnett has stated that none of the tapes, including tapes taken during the time when Omarosa originally claimed that such a slur was uttered, offers one iota of support to Omarosa‘s claims. At the end, Trump apologized to Ereka for the hurt that the show had caused her. He also told Omarosa that her lies were captured on tape and that she needed to watch her lying. From our vantage point, it appears that lying comes as naturally as breathing to Omarosa, so we doubt that Trump‘s admonishment will do much good.
Nevertheless, in the "teaser" for The Apprentice 2, the producers hinted that some of the original contestants may return -- and specifically showed a picture of Omarosa. We hope that Mark Burnett does not choose to add his name to the list of "enablers" for Omarosa‘s personality dysfunctions -- a list that already includes the Clinton-Gore White House and once-respected TV talk show host Oprah Winfrey.
But enough about Omarosa. For Bill, being able to stay in Chicago while working for Trump means that he will be able to continue his relationship with Jen Schefft, Andrew Firestone‘s chosen fiancee from The Bachelor 3, who also lives in Chicago since she and Andrew broke up. Bill chose to remain home over becoming head of a Trump golf-course/resort construction project in Los Angeles, apparently offered so that Trump could promote the project on national TV. We admit that Trump‘s claim that the golf course and resort would eclipse Carmel‘s Pebble Beach left us laughing out loud -- even though Pebble Beach actually is eclipsed by the ultra-private Cypress Point course that borders it. Trump can only hope that some day his course will be mentioned as an afterthought by people familiar with those two venues
For Kwame, we only hope that he never again has to lay eyes on She Who Must Not Be Named. Kwame also has the option of taking a one-week stint as Chief Sales Officer of KFC (the former "Kentucky Fried Chicken," which now seems to want to be known as "Kitchen Fresh Chicken"), for which Kwame would be paid $25,000 plus a one-year‘s supply of KFC products. KFC would like to use Kwame in the roll-out of its new Oven-Roasted Chicken product line. (We tend to think that his "sales job" would involve some on-camera time...)
caterpillar6  发表于  2004-11-25 16:25  引用Trackback(0) | 编辑