‘All-Star Celebrity Apprentice’ premiere preview: What is Donald Trump thinking?

Sunday night is the premiere of “All-Star Celebrity Apprentice,” but if we are being completely honest, there was a time a few days ago, despite our profession that keeps us firmly tapped into this business, that we forgot that the show was even coming on. We were enormous fans and obsessed over this show for the past several years, but now this All-Star season seems to have all of the hype of paint drying in an apartment building.

So why the lack of excitement this time? If we had to chalk it up to one thing, it is not Donald Trump going berserk in the media; rather, it is his decision to not bring in new celebrities. Returning players can work well on some shows such as “Survivor” and “Big Brother,” but did you really see anyone clamoring to see a season of this show with Gary Busey back?

A good comparison we use here is between this show and “Dancing with the Stars,” as part of the appeal of both is seeing how celebrities react in unusual environments. We had already seen all of the stars in the ballroom before when ABC tried their All-Stars competition, and the ratings were the worst in the history of the franchise. We have the same fear with this show now: everyone already knows that Gary Busey is crazy and that Trace Adkins will probably win the whole thing. Plus, why in the world are Dee Snider and Claudia Jordan even back given what non-factors they were the first time? Watching Trump fire Omarosa twice was entertaining; we’re not sure it will be a third time.

We really hope that we’re wrong, and that “All-Star Celebrity Apprentice” creates the same sort of reality TV gems that we had with Gene Simmons flipping out over Kodak, Rod Blagojevich completely destroying the world of “Harry Potter,” and Clint Black somehow managing to make Tide completely inappropriate. We’ll just have to wait and see.

Are you as excited about this season as you were about the ones in the past, or are the lack of new faces already turning you off? If you want to hear what else Trump is up to at the moment, you can do so here.

Photo: NBC