The Woz has been eliminated from the US version of Dancing With The Stars. Yes, the creative genius behind Apple was ever so publically back in the spotlight and lasted through four episodes before getting the boot.
This isn’t Steve Wozniak’s first foray into television. In 2007 he was dating comedian Kathy Griffin and made guest appearances on her TV show Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List and he acted on two episodes of a drama series Code Monkeys.
The Woz effectively left Apple in the early 80s and has had something of an ‘everyman’ life, for a guy who is a multi-millionaire and can count himself as one of the 100 greatest living geniuses on the planet.
Back in 1981 Woz crashed a plane he was piloting and dropped away from Apple, attending Berkeley University and earning an undergraduate degree. He returned to Apple in 1983, but left permanently in 1987. As Wikipedia states:
”He founded a new venture called CL 9, which developed and brought the first universal TV remote control to market in 1987. Wozniak also taught fifth-grade students.
”In 2001, Wozniak co-founded Wheels of Zeus (note the acronym, "WoZ"), to create wireless GPS technology to "help everyday people find everyday things
”In 2006, Wheels of Zeus was closed, and Wozniak founded Acquicor Technology, a shell company for acquiring technology companies and developing them, with Apple alumni Ellen Hancock and Gil Amelio.”
(He also blew a chunk of money staging the US Festivals in 1982 and 83 in California. With the glut of music festivals that have followed in the last 25 years - Lollapalooza etc they have kind of being forgotten. Though true fans of the band the Clash (such as me) instantly recall that the 1983 event was the last performance of the band with Mick Jones on guitar.)
Ok, here’s the pitch for my Apple of an idea.
If you put the words ‘Steve Jobs', ‘diagnosis' and ‘cancer' in an online headline you had better have got your facts damn straight, because with those three words your story is going to get fired around the net faster than you can breathe. Cue, falling Apple stock price and that metaphorical knock on your door will be from Apple lawyers wanting to rip your heart out (and, no, they won’t bother with an anesthetic.)
Now, unlike Microsoft where Bill Gates set up his succession before departing, I’m pitching that there is only one man with the mana who can fill Steve Job’s shoes while he is on sick leave. And that is the other Steve, the Woz.
It has of course been 22 years since the Woz was engaged with Apple; however his Wikipedia entry notes this point. He is still an employee, receives a wage and holds stock.
That’s the bare hook Apple has been floating for two decades, here’s the bait.
Make a reality TV show about Steve Wozniak stepping back into Apple to run the company. The Woz already knows the actual process of making a TV show and has had a taste of TV fame (such as it is, given he is one of the 100 greatest living geniuses on the planet).
So bring it on I say. The first two episodes can be a will he or won’t he scenario. And then the Woz will return. Now we are talking reality TV here, so a couple of senior Apple employees will have to ‘play' the ”I don’t like this at all” card, and attempt to sabotage his return.
But they will be won over by about episode five. Episode six can go off on a tangent about a kitten or a cute puppy, wheel in Larry David for a cameo on episode seven then cook up a manufactured crisis and spin it out to episode eleven … and the grand finale wrapping up episode 12 is the return of the other Steve.
With all the ‘Macheads’ there forming an instant core audience for the show, and with a website where they can air their views on each episode, it sounds like a winner to me.
And the show’s title: ”The Wizard of Apple returns”.
