The O’Jays — “For the Love of Money” (from The Essential O’Jays
Had I been using my noodle yesterday, I would’ve forgotten all about that ridiculous rapture nonsense and plugged this all-time classic into Honey from the Hive instead, since the current best show on television — The Celebrity Apprentice, Donald Trump’s barking mad, blisteringly brilliant parade of backstabbing b-listers — wrapped its latest season last night, with the glorious Academy Award winner Marlee Matlin facing off against crunchy chart-topper (and fellow Amarillo native) John Rich, and while this competition cycle didn’t contain any moments as combustible or as jaw-droppingly hysterical as Joan Rivers calling her archrival Annie Duke a “piece of shit Nazi” — most seriously, one of the greatest sequences in the whole of television history — it was probably the greatest one to date, with all manner of fun new rivalries taking shape (queen conniver Star Jones vs. the shockingly competent LaToya Jackson vs. that number one nutbar NeNe Leakes) and the stupendously insane Gary Busey keeping everyone in stitches with his stories and sayings. (Don’t know about you, but I’ll never look at a kite on Father’s Day quite the same way ever again.) I’ll refrain from spoiling the end, in case you have yet to watch the finale, but in my humble opinion, Trump made absolutely the right choice in the end: both Matlin and Rich had incredible chances to shine individually throughout the course of the season (and they both managed to raise over a million dollars each for their respective charities, setting fundraising records for any Apprentice edition that could well be tough to top), but the ultimate winner killed it in practically every task and was a born leader throughout the course of the competition. And, his sketchy politics notwithstanding (and, thankfully, no longer relevant), Trump and his terrific team proved they still know how to put on one hell of an entertaining show.
