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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Grand comeback


Martha Stewart has chosen her daughter, Alexis, and Charles Koppelman, chairman of the board of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, as her advisers on
Frazier Moore Associated Press

Saying “I am a businesswoman and I am a homemaker,” Martha Stewart on Thursday served up details of the two upcoming series that mark her return to TV – in each of those roles.

A studio full of reporters and photographers got to take stock of the set for “Martha,” her syndicated weekday lifestyles show that premieres Sept. 12. It’s a sprawling dream of a Manhattan loft done up in signature Stewart tones, complete with a fully functioning kitchen and a garden area for growing houseplants.

“It’s a how-to show with entertainment and a live audience,” Stewart said. “It’s not a talk show – I don’t see a couch anywhere.”

As for “The Apprentice: Martha Stewart,” her weekly NBC prime-time series that premieres Sept. 21, the most urgent question went begging: What, if any, catch phrase Stewart might introduce for her equivalent of Donald Trump’s “You’re fired”?

“There’s a wonderful commonality to the end of every show that Martha came up with,” said Mark Burnett, executive producer of “Martha” and both “Apprentice” editions, hinting at some Martha-coined trademark that might soon be sweeping the nation.

Burnett offered a sneak preview of Stewart’s “Apprentice” theme song: a cut-down version of the Eurythmics’ “Sweet Dreams,” with the fitting lines: “Everybody’s looking for something … Some of them want to use you.”

While “The Apprentice” focuses on business, Stewart described “Martha,” which will air live, as focused on fun and getting more out of life.

Long a lifestyles guru who built a media empire, the 64-year-old Stewart is poised to make a grand comeback after her headline-commanding trial and five-month prison term for lying about a stock sale.

Perched on an aqua-colored stool in front of the “Martha” set’s enormous kitchen island, Stewart wore a chocolate-colored pantsuit with aqua beads around her neck and bracelets on both ankles.

Beneath her left cuff was strapped the transmitter for her wireless microphone; on her right was the monitoring anklet she has worn for nearly six months as part of the house arrest that ends next Wednesday.

Her original five-month home confinement sentence, which followed the prison term, recently was extended by three weeks. Stewart reportedly violated terms of the agreement by going to a yoga class and motoring around her estate in an off-road vehicle.

Speaking of her stint this summer taping “The Apprentice,” for which production is substantially complete, Stewart said, “I had a great experience.”

On the show, 10 women and six men – including a magazine publisher, a chef and a prosecutor, ranging in age from 22 to 42 – compete for 13 weeks on tasks related to Stewart’s area of expertise: publishing, apparel, entertainment and branding. A job at Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia awaits the winner.

“Many of the candidates were as accomplished or more so than I when I started to build my business,” Stewart says. “Even so, there are some explosive personalities among the candidates and they really create a lot of tension in the conference room.”

One big difference from Trump’s original “Apprentice”: Daughter Alexis Stewart and Charles Koppelman, the company’s chairman, were on hand as Stewart’s “eyes and ears” during each week’s task. They also will join her in the conference room when one candidate is sent home.

“No one knows me better than Alexis, and she understands my way of conducting business and dealing with people,” Stewart says. “Charles brings the expertise of a legendary entrepreneur to the conference room each week.”