• by Adam Buckman , Featured Columnist, March 6, 2017

There are so many angles to this Schwarzenegger “Celebrity Apprentice” announcement last Friday that a TV blogger hardly knows where to begin.

Do we begin with an examination of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s characterization that he’s “quitting” the show? The real truth is probably closer to this scenario: NBC was on the verge of axing the show anyway (or had already done so) and Schwarzenegger wanted to get out in front of the story by, among other things, blaming Trump for the show’s demise.

Or should we start with a discussion of the show itself, which scored low ratings on opening night, January 2, and has gone downhill ever since? The two-hour premiere on that Monday night following the Christmas and New Year’s holidays drew an estimated total audience of 4.952 million, which did not bode well.

The most recent episode -- the one that aired February 13 -- attracted 3.478 million. Here’s something I’ll bet you didn’t know: That February 13 episode happened to be the show’s season finale (and probably the series’ finale too).

Yes, this “season” of “The New Celebrity Apprentice” was just seven episodes long. The winning “celebrity” was a guy named Matt Iseman, who happens to host an NBC show, “American Ninja Warrior.” Congratulations.

Or might we begin with a screed against advertiser boycotts? For the record, I’m against them. Apparently, there has been an effort in place on the part of various Trump-haters since at least December to boycott sponsors and advertisers associated with “The New Celebrity Apprentice.”

And what about Schwarzenegger’s “announcement” itself? It doesn’t exactly rank high on the list of TV personality resignations or retirements that have been announced throughout TV history.

A rarified number of them were big news at the time: Jerry Seinfeld announcing on Christmas Day 1997 that “Seinfeld” would end that spring, Johnny Carson’s announcement in May 1991 that he would leave “The Tonight Show” the following year, Oprah Winfrey’s decision, announced in November 2009, that she too would give her daytime talk show just one more season (it ended in May 2011).

Schwarzenegger announcing he won’t return to “The New Celebrity Apprentice”? Nobody cared except the man he replaced on the show, Donald Trump. 

In his announcement, Schwarzenegger said the show’s association with Trump is what killed it. 

“With Trump being involved in the show, people have a bad taste and don’t want to participate as a spectator or as a sponsor or in any other way support the show. It’s a very divisive period now and I think this show got caught up in all that division,” Schwarzenegger wrote.

On Saturday, Trump took time away from his weekly vacation in Palm Beach and composing Tweets about wiretaps in Trump Tower to turn his attention to his old show.

“Arnold Schwarzenegger isn’t voluntarily leaving the Apprentice,” tweeted the nation’s Twitterer in Chief. “He was fired by his bad (pathetic) ratings, not by me. Sad end to great show.”

You had to hand it to Schwarzenegger, though. His statement even included this sentence: “Even if asked [to return], I would decline,” he reportedly wrote – as if there was a snowball’s chance in hell that this show would be back.

If an advertiser boycott was successful in chilling the enthusiasm of sponsors for “The New Celebrity Apprentice” and contributing to the demise of the show, then that wouldn’t be too surprising. 

Like other competition shows of its kind, “The New Celebrity Apprentice” was greatly dependent on in-show sponsorships – the companies that participated in the show’s weekly challenges. If these were proving difficult to recruit, then the future of the show would be in doubt.

This season, the in-show sponsors included Tyra Banks Cosmetics, Trident Gum, Welch’s grape juice, Universal Studios Hollywood (an NBC company), the Los Angeles Clippers, QVC, the Honest Company and Carnival Cruises.

The reason I have never agreed with these calls for boycotting advertisers is that they always strike me as misplaced and unfair. To me, advertisers are like Switzerland. They’re neutral. 

Where “The New Celebrity Apprentice” is concerned, these challenge-sponsors and other companies with commercials during the show have nothing to do with Trump and how he’s comporting himself as President of the United States. They’re just trying to sell grape juice, cruises and other things that everybody likes.

Trump was certainly wrong when he characterized “The Celebrity Apprentice” as a “great” show. It was not, which is also a reason why it won’t likely be back.

If your show has reached the point where Snooki is possibly the most famous “celebrity” on it, then it’s probably time to call it a day.