Martha Stewart's 'The Apprentice' Is No Perennial

This is probably news to Tyra Banks. She created and executive-produces and stars in UPN's "America's Next Top Model" and stars in a syndicated daytime talk show and still finds time to strut her stuff down the runway at the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show.

But Martha's no Tyra, for which we are thankful.

In a statement -- which I'd like to mention was neither gracious nor sent on sumptuous linen stationery -- Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia said, "From the time we knew we would be producing a live daily TV show with Martha as the star, it was clear that we could only do one round of 'The Apprentice.' "

The show, Burnett explained, isn't as a big a financial gain to Stewart's public company. Her daytime show "is a profit-making enterprise that transacts product for her public company."

"The Apprentice," he said, was "really more a reintroduction, more of a marketing and publicity tool" for Martha.

"In the very beginning we thought about doing more than one, but the minute it was decided to do the daytime show it was never ever on the table."

The Martha Stewart edition of "The Apprentice" was shot over 7 1/2 weeks of 16-hour days, according to a source familiar with the production, which is pretty grueling -- not that Martha is on air all that much.

Her syndicated daytime show is scheduled to give her a 2 1/2 -month hiatus over the summer, which, if she did do another edition of "The Apprentice" would leave her no time to make velvet ribbon mirror frames or hone her mirror-grouping skills: "Paint your selections an acrylic hue that complements the color of your wall. Start by laying the frames out on the floor and fiddling with their positioning until the arrangement is to your liking."

While Trump's "Apprentice" is doing better than Martha's, it's still not doing as well as last year's fall version. It's down to about 10.5 million viewers each week, compared with about 15.5 million viewers at the same point in the competition last year.

Trump has been quoted recently as saying he was never a fan of the Stewart version, on which he's listed as an exec producer, and that it has hurt the numbers on his.

In retrospect, Burnett told The TV Column, a Wednesday "Apprentice" followed by a Thursday "Apprentice," with more than three dozen players involved between the two, was "a little too much to ask" of viewers.

"They probably split viewership," he said.

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Nighty-night, "Night Stalker."

ABC confirmed it has pulled the plug on its things-that-go-bump-in-the-night series, effective immediately.

This week's episode has been replaced with a two-hour "Primetime."

ABC has been planning for a while to air "Finding Nemo" for most of prime time on Thanksgiving, and its pope flick "Have No Fear: The Life of Pope John Paul II" on Thursday, Dec. 1.

After that, it's a mystery what the network will do in the slot where six episodes of "Night Stalker" have aired this season, averaging a scary 5 million viewers.