‘Apprentice,’ you’re retired
NBC left “The Apprentice” off its announced fall schedule last week, and now it appears Donald Trump is abandoning it as well.
In a statement to the Reuters news service, Trump says he’s “moving on from ‘The Apprentice’ to a major new TV venture” – which would seem to indicate the show’s sixth season, which ended in April, was its last.
Last week, NBC Entertainment president Kevin Reilly said the issue was one of finding a place on the schedule.
“Donald still wants to do the show, executive producer (Mark) Burnett still wants to do the show; we just couldn’t find the right spot for it,” he said.
Reilly said that NBC and the show’s producers had until June 1 to strike a deal to bring the reality show back at some point, but that seems moot in the wake of Trump’s announcement.
After debuting to big ratings in 2004 – it averaged better than 20 million viewers in its first season – “The Apprentice” declined significantly in its most recent incarnations.
The latest season, set in Los Angeles, drew only 7.5 million viewers per week.
Raging hormones
Sylvester Stallone was ordered Monday to pay $10,651 in fines and court costs for improperly bringing restricted muscle-building hormones into Australia.
A judge said the “Rocky” and “Rambo” star failed to show he had a valid prescription for dozens of vials of human growth hormone found in his luggage when he arrived in Sydney for a promotional tour in February.
Stallone, 60, says he’s taken the drugs for years to treat an undisclosed medical condition.
Broken lives
Former “Prison Break” actor Lane Garrison pleaded guilty Monday to vehicular manslaughter and drunken driving in a crash last year that killed a teenage passenger.
Garrison, 26, faces up to six years and eight months in prison.
Not hitting with the bottle
Rock singer Scott Stapp was charged with misdemeanor assault Monday stemming from a Sunday confrontation with his wife.
Authorities said the former Creed frontman “threw a bottle of Orangina at his wife, at her head, and missed and the bottle broke.”
Real-life ‘Live’
“Live With Regis and Kelly’s” Regis Philbin and Kelly Ripa helped assemble playground equipment Monday at an elementary school damaged by Hurricane Katrina.
The daytime talk show will be in New Orleans through Wednesday.
Fat man sings; it’s not over
Some feared Fats Domino would never perform again after Hurricane Katrina washed away his home and his pianos.
But sporting his signature white cap, the 79-year-old singer took the stage at a New Orleans nightclub Saturday to belt out hits including “I’m Walkin’ ” and “Blueberry Hill.”
The birthday bunch
Actor-director Richard Benjamin is 69. Actor Michael Sarrazin is 67. Actress Barbara Parkins (“Peyton Place”) is 65. Singer Morrissey is 48. Model Naomi Campbell is 37.