New NBC execs reconsider Trump's "The Apprentice"

By Craig Modderno and Steve Gorman

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Maybe Donald Trump and "The Apprentice" can't get fired.

Just when it seemed that Trump's corporate reality show would never return to NBC, the network's new head of prime-time entertainment is thinking about bringing the real estate tycoon back after all.

The network has asked Trump and fellow executive producer of the show, Mark Burnett, for a one-week extension of NBC's option to renew the series, an NBC spokeswoman told Reuters on Thursday. And they have agreed, according to Trump.

The extension does not guarantee a return of "The Apprentice" to NBC; it merely gives NBC another week, until next Friday, to exercise its rights under its existing deal to air one more installment of the program.

The future of the low-rated show was cast into doubt earlier this month when "The Apprentice" was left off the new prime-time schedule unveiled by NBC. The network refused then to rule out the possibility the program might return.

But Trump himself declared he had decided he was ready to leave the franchise behind.

NBC's move to reconsider marks one of the first decisions by the network's new chief programmer, Ben Silverman, who was named earlier this week with Marc Graboff as a co-chairman of NBC Entertainment and NBC Universal Television Studio.

Silverman replaces Kevin Reilly, who left after three years on the job in a shake-up announced on Tuesday by the beleaguered General Electric Co.-controlled company.