Posted by
Andy Zarowny on Monday, May 11, 2009 9:26:10 PM
NBC, the National Broadcast-
ing Company, is no stranger
to committed fraud on TV.
You may recall the movie,
"Quiz Show", based on the
TV game show, "21". On
the evening of Dec. 5, 1956,
the current champion of the
show, Herb Stempel, was
'scripted' to finally lose to
one Charles Van Doren. Van
Doren then became the toast
of America, and was given a
spot on NBC's morning show,
"The Today Show". By 1958,
stories of NBC fixing their
game show finally rose to the
forum of the U.S. Congress
which held hearings on the
public frauds. On Nov. 2nd,
1958, Van Doren testified
against NBC himself and
admitted to being coached.
Congress then passed a law
prohibiting fixing game shows.
Another famous incident was
the NBC "Dateline" episode
where they faked a gas tank
exploding on a GM truck. The
story distorted a legal case
against GM whom were being
sued for wrongful death. NBC
technicians rigged the gas
tank to split open seconds
before a test crash. The show
aired on Nov. 14th, 1992, but
it did not take long for the truth
to come out. Private detectives
hired by GM tracked down the
hulk of NBC's test truck after
searching some 22 junkyards.
A scientific examination proved
that the gas tank had been
tampered with.
Fast forward to Sunday night's
finale of "The Celebrity Appren-
tice 2" which aired on NBC for
3 hours. The series features
Donald Trump who has celebs
perform various tasks to raise
money for charities. Each epi-
sode concludes with Trump
firing the least productive
celebrity.
That is, unless the least pro-
ductive has ties to the show's
host and producers. Joan
Rivers faced off against Annie
Duke on Sunday's show. A
rivalry had developed during
the series between these two
ladies, which was easily ex-
ploited for ratings. However,
there may be more to the
story than just ratings.
In other episodes and seasons,
Donald Trump always was
very harsh to those who he
viewed to be 'quitters'. Trump
has no stomach for those who
give up. So, why did he allow
Joan Rivers to return to the
show after she walked off?
She had become outraged
when her daughter, Melissa,
was fired by Trump two epi-
sodes prior to the finale.
Melissa threw a temper tan-
trum and stormed off the set
after hurling abusive remarks
to the show's staff and other
contestants. Joan also railed
against Annie Duke and
Brande Roderick, whom Joan
both blamed for Melissa's
firing.
The next episode, Joan returns
and continues the competition.
Why did Trump allow her to?
Why did he select her to ad-
vance to the finale?
The charity which Joan Rivers
was playing for is God's Love/
We Delivery, based in New
York. They provide meals and
assistance to the ill and home
bound. Joan is very active as
a member in the charity, having
served on their board in the
past. In 1995, she served on
the board of directors alongside
Blaine Trump, socialite and the
sister-in-law of one, Donald
Trump. Blaine is married to
'The Donald's' younger brother,
Robert. Blaine currently serves
as Vice-Chair for the charity.
Hmmmm? Are we talking a
possible conflict of interests
here? Well stayed tuned, my
friendly 'stay-tuners'. Because
there is one more minor issue.
Joan Rivers, who was fired
along with Melissa from the
TV Guide Network, will soon
have a new TV show on the
TV Land Network, produced
by none other than Mark
Burnett. Burnett, who co-
produces "Apprentice" and
is the man who created
'reality TV' with his hit
series, "Survivor", will be
doing a new reality series
called, "How'd You Get So
Rich?" The series will air
this fall on TV Land with
Joan as it's host.
So was Joan allowed to win
"Celebrity Apprentice 2" de-
spite failing to earn as much
cash for charities as Annie
Duke? Annie raised some
$465K in the finale alone,
more than triple Joan's take
from their competing charity
auctions. During the course
of the season, Duke raised
far more money and won more
challenges than any of the
other contestants. She was
clearly the better player.
So, the question is, did NBC
allow another game show fraud
to be committed? I would sug-
gest that an investigation is in
order, both from the U.S. Dept.
of Justice and the New York
State Attorney General at the
very least. There appears to
be sufficient indicators that
there was a conflict of interest
with allowing Joan Rivers to
continue after quitting, and to
be awarded the victory of the
series despite failing to out-
perform Annie Duke on every
substantial level.