The Apprentice: The Final
Well what can I say? The final episode of The Apprentice thoroughly outdid itself last night with shock winner, Lee McQueen pipping runner-up Claire Young to Mr. Sugar’s eminent £100,000 a year, high-powered post. The exhilarating final moments made me so happy that I actually begun punching the air in delight, much like Michael in week six. Yes, I suddenly understood the joyfully inappropriate compulsion that he must have felt to shout in the face of respectable people. Luckily my housemate, though of course respectable, is no disapproving Margaret and so joined me in my expression of glee.
A closely–run contest, the four were split into two teams and challenged to come up with a scent for the modern man. From the beginning though, it seemed fairly certain that Sir Alan had a plan in mind. Splitting up the two that many saw as the strongest candidates, Alex and Claire looked like a suspiciously cunning way to ensure one of them made it to the final Board Room.
Team Whinge aka Helene and Alex didn’t get off to the best start. Actually, they got off to a vacuously unimaginative start trying to brand the perfume – NB. When name ideas turn to references of male genitalia (Helene at one point suggests “Girth”) you’ve got to recognise that a little of the je ne sais quoi may have been lost from the product. Moreover, they both seemed to lose the power to communicate, preferring to debate the issue of who was misunderstanding the other the most and who this therefore made the calmest. The best thing of all was that this was conducted over the good old speakerphone so that everyone around them could hear including the bottle designers who were sat next to Alex in the design meeting when Helene asserted from the other end of the line, “the bottle is not important” – ouch.
Meanwhile, Claire and Lee were busy furiously directing their commercial for “Roulette”, the gambler’s choice, in which they appealed to the “man’s man” due to the extensive market research they did in a fish and chip shop (apparently a lot of vinegar went into the final scent). Lee seemed to crack a little under the pressure stuttering through the practise presentation but ever resilient Claire, whose face, incidentally, bears an uncanny resemblance to a crisp, told him to have a word with himself and by the evening they were all set to present to important industry professionals and Sir Alan himself.
So “Roulette” went up against “Dual” (or was it, “Duel”?) and one cringe-worthy dance tune followed the other (played at full volume so as to alleviate the awkwardness of the less-than-grand situation) while showmen juggled/danced/duelled among the tables to celebrate the manly smells. But it was Lee and Claire who found themselves in the final Board Room and in a final twist of the game, Lee was hired. Clearly, the producers are fed up with wannabe savvy viewers (like me) smugly working out the editing technique and correctly predicting the outcome. Got me this time though Apprentice and I’ve got to say, surprises are best. Go Lee!!!
By Susan Allen
An Unmissable Comedy: Summer Heights High
I have never forgotten what high school was really like. The fantasies that underpin U.S shows like Greek and Gossip Girl and their saccharine counterparts, or even Channel 4’s The Inbetweeners, rely less on reality and more on melodrama to fuel their plots. And fair enough. I thoroughly enjoy each trashy minute of these shows, with their sexed up casts and comfortably familiar storylines.
But that sure wasn’t like my high school.
Sometimes you can’t capture the atmosphere of school from straight on. This is a complex environment that so shapes us. You have to come to it from a different angle, whistling nonchalantly. This is what Chris Lilley does in the new Australian mockumentary Summer Heights High (BBC, Tuesdays, 10:30pm). He just creates three characters that make you laugh. Yet somehow it sneaks up on you that this show really, really captures the nuances of high school. The cliques, the teachers who care and who don’t, the people who can cope and the people who can’t. And all of these dramas are very real. This is not about getting girls, sexy parties and parents having affairs. Summer Heights High gets its comedy from the most understated and yet real dramas of high school.
Comic Chris Lilley plays all three roles, Ja’mie- a hideous private school girl on exchange at the ‘povo’ public school. She marches around, ruthlessly crashing in on the popular hierarchy with a boob thrusting superiority complex. On the other end of the spectrum is Jonah Takalua, an Islander boy with attitude and a learning disability. Jonah’s deteriorating school life is a reflection on so many kids going through the education system. Maybe best of all, certainly most controversial, is drama teacher Mr G. Beneath delusions of grandeur “an industry profession for high school teacher rates”, and musical spectaculars such as Tsunarama, a musical ode to the Tsunami tragedy set to the music of Banarama, is a man whose dreams have not been achieved. Lilley lances that fundamental flaw of humanity in which self obsession overrides responsibility.
For all its humour, beneath its comic exterior this is a show that is at times fiercely critical of this politically correct, careful and yet ultimately careless environment, that can never really look after every kid. Desperation, pretention, and the hopelessly disruptive are fundamental cogs in high school and Lilley captures this beautifully.
A savagely funny comedy, that revels in the immense microcosm that is high school. It is
unrepentant, unsentimental and yet ultimately quite heart breaking. A show that proves that, for all that it is about high school, Australian comedy is growing up.
Thunderbirds’ Brains encourages smart hydration with Britvic’s new advert for Drench
Interview with Executive Creative Director and Writer Ewan Paterson
When thinking up the concept for an ad to promote a bottled water drink, you might wonder, what’s the best way to go? Someone drinking some water? An overflowing water fountain? A mighty waterfall? Indeed, a puppet from a ridiculously famous 1960s television show dancing to a pumping early nineties dance tune set against a back drop that bears a remarkable resemblance to a scene from the 1952 musical Singing in the Rain is perhaps not the first thing that springs to mind. However, advertising agency CHI & Partners certainly had an inspired vision when asked to advertise Britvic’s new bottled water product, Drench – and what a unique vision it was.
With summer coming in fits and starts and bottled water simply a must-have item when travelling around, it looks like now is the perfect time to hit the market with a promotion that will become fixed in people’s minds. Executive Creative Director and Writer, Ewan Paterson, speaks to OnTheBox about how the advert came to be, what Brains was really like to work with and how the Drench brand is whipping up a storm among the online community.
OnTheBox: How exactly did the Thunderbirds’ character work his way into the ad concept for Drench?! Was it a long process or something that someone came up with quite spontaneously?
Ewan Paterson: Pretty well instantly (last year we used a real brain, this year the next most famous version).
OTB: Aha, it’s all got that bit more conceptual then? Considering that the product being advertised is bottled water and Brains is a puppet, a group not generally renowned for their hydration needs, do you think he is an appropriate ambassador for Drench?
EP: We’re very happy with Brains’ commitment to the job as a spokes-puppet. In many ways, he needs hydrating even more than us humans…
OTB: …I see. But obviously, you could have gone for a run-of-the-mill beautiful woman in pool sipping/drenching herself in Drench. What were your motivations to go for something a little more quirky?
EP: In answer to rule 1 of advertising: to get noticed. And Drench is all about smart hydration so it just made sense!
OTB: Rhythm is a Dancer. Snap! 1992. Explain please.
EP: We felt the time was right to bring back early 90s dance and get people performing at their best. It’s a song we all secretly love and something you wouldn’t expect Brains to dance to.
OTB: Speaking of which, the choreography all seems fairly complicated for your average marionette – did Brains pick it up easily?
EP: He started off a little stiff but ended up being a natural (He’s clever remember, particularly after a little Drench).
OTB: Clever and cool – impressive. Are you pleased with the way the advert turned out?
EP: Yes – we’re pleased that people really seem to be enjoying it and are drinking Drench. There’s some great feedback on YouTube and Facebook from the public.
OTB: Indeed, there are already four groups celebrating the advert on Facebook! It looks like you are enthusiastic about using the internet to create a buzz about the product. Your website gives users the chance not only to watch the ad, but also to see the making of it and even play a game to test your alertness! What kind of role does the internet play in Britvic’s marketing campaign?
EP: A major part – it allows the public to experience and interact with Drench and the whole area of smart hydration in a fun way and in more depth than with a TV campaign. You can also see how we got Brains to perform so well in the making of film.
OTB: So would you say that you are you hoping to achieve more coverage via the internet rather than television broadcasting?
EP: It’s important that they both work – people need to see and enjoy the television spots to encourage them to share it with friends on internet… ■
To check out the advert for yourself, watch the making of it and get involved in the general online stir, go to www.staydrenched.co.uk.
By Susan Allen
The Apprentice: Why I Fired Them
Remember how some shows do that thing where one episode is a flashback episode, in which the characters recall all the funniest, or sad or whatever moments? I always thought those sucked. This is the reality TV version and so I was not impressed when I read about it. Hey another money maker in the franchise right? After all, Alan Sugar is a businessman. Yet I found, weirdly, that I really, really enjoyed this flashback to all the businessman wannabes.
Perhaps its because those excruciating, humiliating board rooms in which the candidates backstab and bitch are one of the most spectacular examples of human competition at its worst. These guys are breathtakingly arrogant, and yet almost unanimously they are hilariously crap. I mean seriously, who doesn’t know what kosher is? Who actually thinks that the green movement needs greeting cards? Starting from the very first stupid toff who ballsed up the lobster pricing, to the latest to get the boot, zany Lucinda we get to relive those great boardroom moments, with a little background from Sir Alan.
It was great to hear some of the more behind the scenes stuff, a few perceptions from Sir Alan about what made him fire people. What is perpetually interesting to me is that unlike the orginal Trump version Sir Alan does seem to be very clued in about the real behaviour of the candidates. He instantly seems to clock the sordid, selfish inner workings of each person, and then bollock them for it. This flash back show reveals this more than ever and is so enjoyable because of it.
However having sat through this collection of moments I find myself asking - Is it truly possible that one of these people will end up working for Alan Sugar? The ones left over don’t seem any better than the ones who’ve gone before.
Well, we will soon find out.
Four to Fight for Apprentice Title
Last night’s episode of The Apprentice saw Sir Alan line up four candidates to battle it out in next week’s final instead of the customary two.
After a grilling from four of Sir Alan’s trusted friends and colleagues, only one Apprentice hopeful was sent packing. Property tycoon Paul Kelmsley was drafted in to test the candidates’ strength of character while chief exec of Viglen Computers, Bordan Tkachuck, and trouble-shooter Claude Littner were on hand to assess the hopefuls’ business acumen. A new face on the interview panel was Birmingham City FC Managing Director Karren Brady who judged the candidates on their personal strengths.
Eventually it was Lucinda who didn’t quite cut the mustard. Her softly-softly attitude to management and her wacky dress sense rubbed Sir Alan up the wrong way, leading him to believe she was too ‘zany’ to fit in to his company.
Tensions mounted in the boardroom as Sir Alan prepared to whittle the four finalists down to just two. Would it be Lee who faced the boot after lying about his qualifications on his CV? Would Alex’s youth count against him? Sir Alan had voiced concern in the past about Claire’s bullish approach to business, so would she be in the firing line? Or perhaps Helene’s lack of sparkle would mean that she’d be one of the two to go. But in an unexpected and unprecedented step, Sir Alan decided to keep all four on.
While previous finals have involved just two finalists leading teams consisting of the fired candidates from the series, this year will see Claire and Lee working together while Helene and Alex lead a rival team. It promises to be one of the tensest Apprentice finals yet. We can’t wait!
The Culture Show Debuts the Latest Season
The Culture Show debuted its latest season last night and as usual it was cracker. This is such an accesible show. It marries high culture with pop culture with a complete lack of w*nkiness and the truth is, it’s hard to talk about art and culture without becoming some boring old lecturer that sends everyone snoozing.
Last night’s episode saw a look at the Vienna boys Gustav Klimt and Sigmund Freud. Since every student’s wall has at least one poster of ‘The Kiss’ then this is sure to draw in a huge amount of people. The thing is, behind Klimt’s beautiful paintings is a whole lot of sex and death, something which the Culture Show quite rightly points out is well within Freud’s realm.
What really got me laughing though was Mark Kermode’s review of Sex and The City. When talking about the future franchise possibilties he remarked that this ‘made him lose the will to live’. The thing is, he’s not just bagging on a pop culture film, well he is, but he does it with such style. After nailing it to the wall for its ‘narcissm, product placement’ and general ghastliness, he finishes with a line i will now quote forever and says he wants to watch a film that ‘doesn’t have a handbag where it’s heart is’.
This is why the Culture Show is so excellent, it gives us bite sized chunks of culture, delivered with panache by kookily sexy hosts. So what if you never get out and see the shows/bands/films they talk about. At least you feel like a better person for getting a little culture…
Britain’s Next Top Model
This is very distinctly a poor man’s version of the US Top Model. I never thought i would say this but sometimes, watching Britain’s Next Top Model (Living TV, Mondays, 9pm), I think these girls make the Americans look, well classier.
There, I said it. Ugh. It’s so wrong, and yet so true.
Last night’s episode was a swiss roll of a bitch fest rolled up in some of the most toe curlingly, nail bitingly embarrassing moments that i’ve seen for a while. In order to explore the ‘drama’ of modelling, the girls had to improvise a scene where they had to tell their (guy) best friend that they loved them, and then snog them. In front of their parents. These scenes were excruciating to watch. Not only for the bad acting but for the self indulgent whining, and bizarrely serious approach the girls took. One of them, Rachael, decided to add some extra drama by adding in to her scene that she was dying of cancer. You’re not going for an Oscar, luv what’s with the death throes?
I want to tell you how it went after that but it was really hard to see what was going on with my eyes closed and my fingers in my ears while i sang la la la la la over and over again in an attempt to block out the hideously embarrassing performance that ensued. She cried and everything. Funnily enough, the best improviser of the lot was one of the nastier girls of the house, Stefanie. You could actually see her as the resident bad girl on Hollyoaks. Mainly though, she didn’t take it too seriously which by the time it was her turn was a blessed and unique relief.
To make matters worse this week’s photographer was the kind of endearing uber-w*nker that really believes in his craft. He really entertained me, not least because he had the girls shouting, crying, screaming, laughing and generally looking ridiculous in between moments where he would whisper some horrible thing about the girl all secretively to the camera crew ‘I just didn’t really, you know, connect with her right?’ (pats heart). You realise the girls will SEE you doing that on TV right?
Of course no series of BNTM would be complete without some sort of fight between friends, and sure enough this week brought about the two faced nastiness at its best with accusations of fakery and bitchery all over the place as Catherine started throwing her waif like weight around. For some reason she took it upon herself to tell the, ok very grating, Stefanie that she was a drama queen. Oh dear. Stefanie bore the accusations quite well, or like a wuss, depending on your point of view. I think she thanked Stefanie for telling her. Then offered everyone a cup of tea.
In the end though, its the booze, boobs and bitch fights that make us watch this show and this season, like every other, has its fair share. Easy Monday viewing.
Lost Season Finale
I know that this tends to be a love it or miss it show. The truth is, unless you have followed from the beginning, this is not a show to come to late. Maybe this is why, watching the death and destruction finale of Lost season 4 last night I was struck by how far this show has come. Remember beautiful, vapid Boon? The guy who was in love with his equally beautiful, vapid sister? He was the first to go. Well, the first REAL character to go, as opposed to one of the fluctuating cast of randoms that were the extras. In fact, ditching Boon was an early streamlining that continued until the show is what it is today. The writers ditched all the nonsense (black smoke, monsters blah blah) and stupid characters (Boon, his sister, the other half of the passengers) and developed the show into a lean mean tension machine. It’s so completely engrossing, with such a tightly woven plot, and probably the most complex narrative structure ever seen on TV. This is probably why many people can’t get into the show late on. The crazy story structure is the narrative equivalent of the hokey pokey, it jumps in, it jumps out, it shakes it all about.
Yet as I watched, I couldn’t help but marvel at the brilliance of where the show has ended up. It’s a masterpiece of story telling, it challenges even the most basic conventions of TV drama- often you know the end before the beginning and yet it sustains the tension seamlessly, not to mention the fact that despite how much money the show makes the creators have contractually ensured that it ends after two more seasons. Why is this important? Because it means that they can really tell a story, with a beginning, middle and end, just like REAL stories. By doing this we will get to see a full plot, one which isn’t hurried to a suddenly cancelled close a la Joss Whedon’s Angel, the fastest Armageddon in television. This fundamentally challenges the age old TV drag-a-thon that requires that a show must be crushed until every ounce of financially rewardable juice has been squeezed from it and all that remains is an empty, pitiful husk of a dried up, once awesome, show that suddenly ends with no warning. Think Friends. Think Scrubs. Like that.
So as this season ended in a shower of explosions and broken expectations and predictably undpredictable plot turns, mainly what I thought was ‘I can’t believe I have to wait until next year to find out what happens next’. So for those of you that are in the ‘missed it’ category, in a way I’m slightly envious. Because you still get to watch all this for the first time. My advice? Get started, before next season comes around. Boy are you in for a treat.
Honda Live Advert
A couple of weeks ago this advert from Honda was broadcast live to an audience of over 2 million boosting normal viewing figures for that ad slot by a substantial 8 percent - impressive for three minutes’ work, eh? Featuring a group of skydivers jumping out of a plane in real time shifting in formation to spell out the word Honda, the actually quite elaborate stunt proved to be edge-of-the-seat stuff. Indeed, it demonstrates that an innovative advertising format can successfully bring the spectators in, but just what kind of staying power does a live advert actually have after the event itself?
The ad is, no doubt, a veritable feat of PR ensuring that excitement escalated around the brand in the run up to the event, but what happens now that the fun’s over? Now that the sky divers have all landed safely and gone home has Honda’s moment of glory faded from our memory? Regarded by some critics as flash-in-the-pan and a waste of money, they, in fact, rise above the disparagement and represent a rather noteworthy flash. After all, ‘difficult is worth doing’. In an era where content is increasingly succumbing to the user’s demand, this advert proves that there is still a buzz about live TV – even if no one swore or got naked (that’s what Big Brother’s for).
OntheBox's TV Highlights are updated daily and the easiest way to keep updated is to subscribe to our news feed