Amazon Prime Starts Streaming President Trump’s Former Reality Show ‘The Apprentice’

The reality competition show that brought President Trump into America’s living rooms long before his run for elected office will be available to Amazon Prime subscribers starting Monday. The internet commerce giant announced that its Prime video streaming service will release multiple seasons of “The Apprentice.” The first seven seasons will be available weekly on Mondays until April 27. The show, which premiered 20 years ago on NBC, brought the phrase “You’re fired!” into everyday use. It is credited as the launch pad for Mr. Trump’s national name recognition, drawing an average 20 million viewers in its first season and peaking at 28 million for its finale. The show ran for 15 seasons; seven of them with unknown contestants trying to get a job in Mr. Trump’s real estate empire. Eight seasons featured celebrities. The show was nominated for nine Primetime Emmy Awards.Mr. Trump hosted for 14 seasons before bowing out to announce his first presidential campaign in 2015. Arnold Schwarzenegger took over hosting the final season in 2017.“I look forward to watching this show myself — such great memories, and so much fun, but most importantly, it was a learning experience for all of us,” Mr. Trump said in a statement announcing the re-airing of the series.“‘The Apprentice’ is one of the best shows that I ever produced. The charismatic onscreen presence of President Donald J. Trump made it a bona fide hit,” said producer and show creator Mark Burnett, who currently serves in the Trump administration as the United States Special Envoy for the United Kingdom. Mr. Burnett also produced the British version of “The Apprentice” for 18 years. “This show is a love letter to New York City!” he said in the statement released by Amazon. The deal is the second big licensing agreement between the first family and Amazon, whose owner Jeff Bezos has recently cozied up to the president, even sitting on stage during President Trump’s January inauguration. At the beginning of the year, Amazon announced that it was buying rights to an upcoming documentary on First Lady Melania Trump for $40 million.Critics took to social media at the time to criticize the deal. “We love our bribes to the Trump family, folks,” said columnist Matthew Yglesias.Last month, Mr. Bezos, who also owns The Washington Post, announced the newspaper’s opinion section would change its focus to “personal liberties and free markets,” which he said are underserved topics, rather than broad based personal views.“We are going to be writing every day in support and defense of two pillars: personal liberties and free markets. We’ll cover other topics too, of course, but viewpoints opposing those pillars will be left to be published by others,” he wrote in a company-wide letter to Post staffers.The decision led the section’s editor, David Shipley, to resign.

Amazon Prime Starts Streaming President Trump’s Former Reality Show ‘The Apprentice’

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