'The Apprentice: L.A.' - Ep. 3 -or- "You can't fire me. I quit."

You know, this season isn't doing too much to redeem itself. Yes, I know this is only the third episode. I believe some key factors are coming into play which could very well spell out the end to the Trump era in reality television. The move to Los Angeles puts the focus on many minutes of surfing and palms. Why so much? Once you've seen the two guys lugging the surfboards, need it be shown each week? Maybe if it tied in with the show itself, it would be okay. Yeah, put them in Carey's pink skimpy suit. That's the ticket.

The new "twist" with the losing team living in tents, albeit fancier than in my own camping days, is wearing thin on both the candidates and me as a viewer. Oh, let them go rough it in an EconoLodge or Motel 6. I'm sick of hearing them fuss and Michelle is right - it's not what she signed up for when she applied. These folks didn't sign up to be on a pampered Survivor. They want to be corporate leaders. Whoever came up with the tent bit should be fired, I say. Perhaps it wouldn't be too bad if the same team didn't lose every week, but that's been the case so far. It's knocking their morale down and annoying me. Make it stop.

And, my last rant before I talk a bit about what happened in tonight's episode - I miss Carolyn and George. With nepotism ruling, Trumpette and Trumpling (Ivanka and Donald, Jr.), the show has changed from mature professionals judging tasks to kids born with silver spoons in their mouths working for Daddy and passing judgment on folks who may know more than them about life in corporate settings. Yes, I'm sure they're both bright kids and even good kids. Nonetheless, they're Trump's kids working for him and now on television. How would they be doing in another job working for anyone else? Oh, well, they have job security, I guess.

Tonight's show had a twist within the twist, if you can follow that. Last week's winning team (Kinetic with Heidi as permanent Project Manager as long as the wins keep happening) didn't take part in tonight's task. Instead, they got massages and spent the day in luxury at the Loew's Hotel in Santa Monica.

The losing team, Arrow, was split into two separate teams. Although Aaron jumped to be the Project Manager for one team, Trump pretty much put Michelle on the spot for the second slot. She reluctantly accepted and chose Tim, Nicole, and Frank to be on her team. Since Aaron was the second to make his first pick, he ended up with a three-person team instead of four. His team included himself, James, and Stefani.

I actually liked this week's task more than the first two tasks. The teams had to come up with a Starline double-decker bus tour and it was the customers who would fill out surveys at the end to decide the winner. Now, I've never taken a tour bus like this, but I see the Big Apple Tour Buses all the time. I know they're popular and, with the right stuff to get the tourists, they're probably a lot of fun.

Once again, it was obvious that one team "got it" and the other team was doomed to failure. In this case, it was Aaron's team who really delved into the task. They came up with the idea of Laker Girls and "Famous Places, Beautiful Faces" thanks to a bit overly-enthusiastic James. But, they did it. They lined up the talent, researched an existing tour to see what tourists liked or not, and then spent more time fact-checking for along their route.

Michelle's team just wasted time. Michelle and Tim drove around Los Angeles trying to come up with a route that way. How foolish is that method, I ask? They're not familiar with the territory and didn't have a clue. My own thought would be to Google "Hollywood Landmarks" or something similar, then plan the route from there... not waste time driving around looking for landmarks. (Yes, I'm rolling my eyes here.) The friction between Michelle and her team members continued. Their theme was "The Lives of the Rich and Famous" but they would have done better with "Seedy Sections of Hollywood."

The big event came and even though James was a bit out there and may necessitate me to rename him Excitable Boy instead of Frank, they did well. Ivanka actually smiled. Over at Michelle's bus, it was a disaster. They didn't have facts, their microphones were constant feedback, and all went downhill from there.

In the boardroom, the Arrow team divided faced Trump and the TrumpKids. Both sides seemed to think they did pretty well until Trump focused on Michelle's team. Frank got in one "at the end of the day" during the session. (Remember, I'm keeping count.) Trump got the whole team pretty much tanking Michelle before they even announced the results of the customer surveys.

Not unexpectedly, Aaron's team received an 82% approval rate while Michelle's team only earned a 58%. Sympathy votes must have pushed them that high. Their tour was a disaster.

Before things could go any further, Michelle quit. Yes, the second in the history of the series to drop out. In Season 3, Verna Felton quit saying she was tired. In Michelle's case, while she doesn't rock my world as a candidate, I think she has a valid point. She didn't sign up to live in a tent and play Survivor in Beverly Hills. That has never been how the show worked in the past and the candidates were not told of the changes before coming aboard. No matter how much Trump tries to gloss over things, quitting is a smart move, I think. If she faced the boardroom, she surely would have been fired. She had nothing to lose but her dignity as the show continued. I say kudos to her for quitting, kudos!

I myself am pondering quitting if this show continues to follow this path. What would Trump say about me? Nyah, he's not the boss of me!

Dollar bills, y'all...