Donald Trump: Difference between revisions

Producer [[Mark Burnett]] made Trump a TV star{{sfn|Buettner|Craig|2024|p=7|loc="Mark Burnett, the television producer who made Trump a star, did not just hand him a fortune."}} when he created ''[[The Apprentice]]'' which premiered in 2004. The first season ranked at No. 7 in the average weekly [[Nielsen Media Research|Nielsen ratings]];<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.abcmedianet.com/web/dnr/dispDNR.aspx?id=060204_11|title=Viewership numbers of primetime programs during the 2003–04 television season|access-date=November 30, 2016|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930171419/http://www.abcmedianet.com/Web/progcal/dispDNR.aspx?id=060204_11|archive-date=September 30, 2007}}</ref> 28.1&nbsp;million viewers watched the finale.{{sfn|O'Brien|2005|p=19}} The shows ran for 14 seasons. By 2006, viewership had declined 60 percent, and the network reduced its production to one season per year, with celebrities as contestants.<ref>{{cite news|last=Adalian|first=Josef|url=https://www.vulture.com/2017/01/celebrity-apprentice-ratings-were-down-for-years.html|title=The Celebrity Apprentice Ratings Haven't Been Great for a Long, Long Time|work=[[Vulture (website)|Vulture]]|date=January 6, 2016|access-date=December 31, 2024]]}}</ref> Trump borrowed his catchphrase from [[George Steinbrenner]] when the latter {{nowrap|ad-libbed}}, "You're fired"."{{sfn|Haberman|2022|p=155}} The shows remade Trump's image for millions of viewers nationwide and may have reified his political aspiration.{{sfn|Kranish|Fisher|2017|pp=213–219}} With the related licensing agreements, they earned him more than $400&nbsp;million.<ref>{{cite news|last=Poniewozik|first=James|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/28/arts/television/trump-taxes-apprentice.html|title=Donald Trump Was the Real Winner of 'The Apprentice'|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=September 28, 2020|access-date=October 18, 2023}}</ref> Co-producers, he and Burnett split the [[Product_placement#Brand_integration|brand integration]] revenue fifty-fifty.{{sfn|Buettner|Craig|2024|p=346}} His licensing income grew from $46,000 in 2004 to $30.6&nbsp;million in 2010.{{sfn|Buettner|Craig|2024|p=410}}