Press Release of the Week: The Donald gets served

Well, kiddies, I'm off to sunny Florida later this afternoon, so you get your Press Release of the Week a day early. And it's a doozy. Some guy named Kevin Blatt, who calls himself the "producer" of the Paris Hilton sex tape, is jumping on the reality show bandwagon with a program that, according to the headline, Dares to Trump NBC's The Apprentice. Get it? "Trump" The Apprentice? If the show is half as clever as that pun, it'll be a real treat.

Blatt is pretty cagey about the details of the show, except to say that it will be called The Ultimate, Ultimate Challenge and will involve "physical and mental challenges." He devotes most of the release to shit-talking about The Apprentice, saying his show is a deliberate attempt to "mock The Donald's reputation for toughness" and will make The Apprentice "look like band camp," whatever the hell that's supposed to mean.

"I'm taking reality TV beyond the rules, where viewers want it to go," Blatt says. Which makes sense. Because if anything's been holding reality TV back it's the genre's stodgy allegience to "the rules." See, other reality shows are all, like, straight-laced and corporate and stuff. But this one's gonna be, like, totally extreme and in-your-face and shit. Word.

Anyway, in just nine short paragraphs, Kevin Blatt has made himself out to be possibly the world's most self-involved asshole. And not to quibble with his resume, but what exactly was involved in being the "producer" of the Paris Hilton sex tape? A video transfer? Nice work, Spielberg.

Besides, isn't "trumping The Apprentice" sort of like making a sitcom that promises to "blow According to Jim out of the water?" Way to reach for the stars, Kevin Blatt.