Trumped! Show is irresistible

Yes, I'm sick of reality TV shows. Most of them, anyway.

And, yes, I think Donald Trump is an unbearably egomaniacal blowhard.

Still . . . I've gotten caught up with "The Apprentice." And, like tens of millions of other Americans, I'll be watching tonight's two-hour season finale (8 p.m., Ch. 5), when somebody finally gets hired.

In spite of Trump, not because of him. It does get tiresome to hear him week after week talking about how great he and his possessions are.

Although, as much as it pains me to say it, The Donald has proven to be just about perfect for this show. Which proves that with reality shows, it's about 90 percent dependent on the casting.

There's nothing really new about "The Apprentice." It's a rip-off of "Survivor." That is, if it's possible to rip yourself off because both shows come to us from executive producer Mark Burnett.

And, like the better editions of "Survivor," "The Apprentice" was extremely well cast. These real people became great characters as they competed against each other to see who would win a job heading one of Trump's companies for a year.

"My (instruction) to the casting team was — don't bring me anybody that doesn't have the brains and the drive to make it," Burnett said.

Of course, it didn't hurt that most of those people were attractive. This is TV, after all. Just don't suggest to Burnett (who's become more than a bit of an egomaniac himself) that he cast based on looks.

"I could have easily had better-looking guys, but they wouldn't have been as good. So I decided I wouldn't cast it by looks at all," he said.

Burnett is great at casting and produces some of the most involving, entertaining reality shows on TV. But that's baloney.

Not that it matters. What "The Apprentice" has given us is an interesting competition populated by interesting people/characters — people to both root for and root against. As a matter of fact, bringing back the villainess Omarosa Manigaul-Stallworth to last week's episode (along with other eliminated contestants who serve as the two finalists' employees) was a master stroke. Her latest blunder — for which she's already making excuses — might just cost Kwame Jackson the game and give it to the other finalist, Bill Rancic.

Finding out who wins tonight ought to be fun.

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E-mail: pierce@desnews.com