The Apprentice

CHICAGO – Part “Top Chef,” part “The Apprentice,” and even part “American Idol” and with a title borrowed from “America’s Next Top Model,” NBC’s “America’s Next Great Restaurant” is a recipe built from ingredients you’ve tasted before but that have become bland by mixing them all together with nothing new to add to the pot.

CHICAGO – Anyone who considers Joan Rivers to be little more than a plasticized sight gag is advised to check out Ricki Stern and Annie Sundberg’s wonderful documentary, a sorely deserving (and unfairly snubbed) contender in this year’s Oscar race. The film invites viewers to look under Rivers’ immobile Botox mask and observe the angry, brilliant, brutally honest and fiercely insecure woman hiding beneath.

CHICAGO – Mark Burnett is a man who knows no shame. The phenomenal success he’s found with shows such as “Survivor” and “The Apprentice” have cemented his reputation as the Jerry Bruckheimer of television.

CHICAGO – “The Apprentice” star Omarosa Manigault-Stallworth posed for the HollywoodChicago.com camera on Oct. 22, 2008 before beginning her two-day Chicago book tour to promote “The Bitch Switch” at Borders in downtown Chicago.

CHICAGO – Donald Trump appeared in Chicago on Sept. 24, 2008 to comb over reporters and VIPs at the opening of his new Trump International Hotel & Tower in the Windy City.