Saturday, August 18, 2007

The Next Internet Millionaire

To say I didn’t find this show particularly compelling is being polite.

The host / brains behind this show, Joel Comm, comes across as arrogant, and lacks the charisma of Donald Trump, whom he is obviously trying to emulate. And, while the concept of his show is modeled after The Apprentice, there are several major differences:

- Joel Comm (who tells us he's made millions on the internet, sold a site to Yahoo and had a book on the NYT Best Sellers List) is not exactly a household name, like Donald Trump. He seems like a clever, though rather dull, computer nerd who dreams that his cash (and self-manufactured "fame") will make up for his lack of sex appeal and wit. (I almost laughed out loud when Joel was giving the contestants tips on "stage presence." Puh-lease!)

- It wasn't immediately clear what job the person would "win." Joel says that the person will work with him in his next venture but I would have been more interested if he said what that venture was, or how much money they would make doing it. They get $25,000 if they win the contest - which I'm guessing is some sort of 'signing bonus.' Of course, the catch to receiving it is participating in this lackluster internet show. (Frankly, all I could think about is how much having to listen to this Joel guy everyday would totally get on my nerves.)

- The cast members (sorry, "contestants") are a barely a step up from Joel, as far as "star quality." (how did they find these people? why does the one guy hate the word "blog?") Again, compared to the hot-looking, well dressed folks on The Apprentice, well, let's just say this crew fits well with The Next Internet Millionaire. What's worse is the obvious maneuvering by the producers of this so-called reality show to create a little drama - like highlighting the staunch Republican spouting his views, and the girl who says that when her family watches this show they'd understand what she does alone in bed all day. She then falls into a fit of embarrassment and begs the camera guy to cut that part. Yawn.

I was hoping to learn something from episode one, as I would love tips on internet marketing, etc. It would be very helpful to learn how to get The Liquid Muse website further out to the world and bringing in more moo-la. (Cocktails ain't cheap, these days!)

But, by minute 15 of the 51 minute show, I couldn't take it. I wanted to rip my hair out from sheer and utter boredom. Anyone else watch it?

*photo from Joel's website

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