Donald Trump, Don Jr., and several Celebrity Apprentice contestants in 2012.
Photo: Desiree Navarro/WireImage
We live in an age of reboots. Everything from He-Man to Bewitched to Prison Break has a new version coming soon. Our society’s apparently insatiable desire for recycled content is just about the only logical explanation for Amazon considering a reboot of The Apprentice, the reality-TV show that arguably put Donald Trump in the White House.
To be clear, we’re a good way off from Amazon rebuilding its TV studio in Trump Tower. The Wall Street Journal reported today that executives are merely “discussing” the idea of bringing back the show Trump hosted for 14 seasons on NBC with his son Don Jr. as host. They haven’t actually pitched any of this to the Trump family (unless you consider floating the idea in the Journal a pitch):
People familiar with the matter said that executives at Amazon internally have discussed casting someone very close to President Trump as the host if they were to move ahead with filming new episodes: his oldest son Donald Trump Jr. Discussions are still in the early stages and Amazon hasn’t approached the Trump family, but if the show gets made, it would appear on Amazon’s Prime Video service.
An Amazon spokesman told the paper that the show isn’t in active development and no potential host has been selected. It just has the rights to the president’s former TV show burning a hole in its pockets. “Since our acquisition of MGM, we have had preliminary internal discussions about what’s next for The Apprentice as a property,” the spokesman said.
What’s perplexing here is that no one really needs this. Sure, Donald Trump never passes up a moneymaking opportunity even if it involves selling goofy NFTs or rebranding Bibles. But he’s already making a good amount of money off reruns of The Apprentice without the hassle of creating new content, as The Hollywood Reporter discovered:
According to a copy of Trump’s financial disclosures, which were viewed by THR, the show still generates six figures of annual income for him, with royalties of between $100,000 and $1,000,000 in 2024. That figure does not include the value of the show itself, which Trump’s form says is “not readily ascertainable.”
Does Don Jr. need to bolster his brand? As First Son he already has excellent name recognition. Is hosting a derivative Amazon Prime reality show really going to help him in a way that his podcast, robust social-media presence, frequent appearances in conservative media, and existing lifestyle brand can’t?
You could chalk this up to Amazon kissing up to the Trump administration, but it seems like overkill. Amazon MGM already spent an eye-watering amount of money on the Melania documentary. While the film grossed a better-than-expected $16.6 million in theaters, Amazon reportedly paid $40 million for the film and spent another $35 million promoting it. And as the Journal notes, Jeff Bezos has done plenty of Trump groveling himself:
Bezos, who retired as CEO of Amazon in 2021 but remains executive chairman, has developed closer ties with Trump in his second administration. Amazon contributed $1 million to Trump’s 2025 inauguration, with Bezos attending the swearing in and events around it. Heading into the election, Bezos killed the Washington Post’s endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris for president. Bezos bought the newspaper in 2013.
This week Bezos was among the guests mingling with Trump at a White House state dinner honoring King Charles III.
So maybe Amazon executives just think a reboot of The Apprentice could be profitable? The Journal noted that Amazon has been looking for ways to lure Trump voters:
Rebooting “The Apprentice” would fit into Amazon’s push to appeal to broader audiences as it competes with Netflix and others for viewers. For example, Hopkins has been pushing for more faith-based programming to differentiate Prime Video, according to former executives.
Under Hopkins, Amazon partnered with Wonder Project, an independent studio that produces religious content, and released its “House of David” series about the biblical figure. Amazon also launched Wonder’s faith-based streaming service last year.
Years before greenlighting the “Melania” documentary, Amazon executives explored other programming that could appeal to Trump voters. Some of them discussed making a documentary following Trump’s first inauguration, according to former employees. Ultimately Amazon didn’t make that film.
Perhaps what we’re seeing here is a lack of imagination from Amazon executives. Someone asked, “Hey, how can we appeal to people who love Donald Trump?” and all they came up with was “more of Donald Trump’s successful TV show”?
Might some MAGA types tune in for a Don Jr.–hosted version of The Apprentice? Sure. But it’s hard to see the reboot convincing droves of new subscribers to fork over $139 per year for Prime, when the entire nation is already living in Donald Trump’s reality show for free.
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