We will let others supersnark on the following news item, which I will report with a straight face. This morning, Ben Silverman, the new co-chair of NBC entertainment and its TV studios, announced not only that he was bringing back "The Apprentice," and not only that the next edition of "The Apprentice" would be an all celebrity edition with all celebrity entrepreneurs competing for charity, BUT that Donald Trump had asked him, Ben Silverman, to invite Rosie O' Donnell to be on the show.
After the session I had to confirm it. Were you bullsh----ng us? I yelled up at the stage. "No bullsh--!" Silverman yelled back.
Earlier, he and I chatted at a noisy breakfast about "Friday Night Lights" and why he's so adamant about scheduling it on one of the least-watched nights of television (Friday). I also asked him about the report that's been floating around Nashville that "Nashville Star" will move to the NBC network. Now this is not a crazy rumor. "Star" already averages three million viewers on cable and with a move to June and the network, it could step out of "American Idol's" shadow and draw far more viewers. Oh, and one other thing. He owns the show. Here's Silverman's response.
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