I know we are only just getting started here, but the sweeping change of 2017 doesn’t seem to have reached the Monday night TV schedule . . . yet. Right now it still seems like nothing but Vanderpumps, children who somehow know how to bake, and the usual buffet of lukewarm ham laid out by CBS.

Ah, but here’s something new: “The New Celebrity Apprentice’’ — with “NEW’’ sort of stamped on there haphazardly in all caps so you really can’t help but notice the newness. What exactly is new? Arnold Schwarzenegger, that’s what. That’s also it. I know he’s not really “new,’’ but everything is pretty much exactly the same. (Though I’m not fully convinced he’s not the former host wearing a very convincing high-tech Arnold disguise.)

Meanwhile, Tyra Banks, who ought to be the new Donald, is the new Ivanka. (So what else is new?)

I mean, technically all of the contestants are new too — though new in that “new to me’’ sense (Carrie Keagen?) or “new’’ as when you find an old salad spinner when clearing out your aunt’s basement and say “nice, check out my new salad spinner.’’ So, Carnie Wilson, Carson Kressley, Kyle Richards, Carrie Keagen (oh wait, I said her already, completely forgot) — faux stars who remind us of actual stars who remind us of actual-actual stars . . . billions of them, littered across the void, their insignificant flickers offering little more than evidence of their certain disappearance. It does look like a fun crew though. Jon Lovitz!

If we’re really scraping the pipe for a hit of new, I guess there’s something new about the show’s fundamental premise.

No, not the whole “celebrities thrash around in career quicksand’’ while we stand idly by and watch thing — that’s more popular than ever. (Tonight on Fox’s “MasterChef Celebrity Showdown,’’ for instance, Gordon Ramsay cuts the sweetness of Trai Byers with the acidity of NeNe Leakes.)

And it’s not that the “Celebrity Apprentice’’ has changed all that much — tonight, the contestants must create a 10-minute beauty experience (good luck Vince Neil) as well as a song and video for Trident (I repeat). It’s something more profound than either of these.

What’s new is the world around the show, and the strange light that world casts not just on the “Celebrity Apprentice’’ but the whole realm of celebrity-rescue reality television: This fake boardroom is no longer just a fake boardroom. This Tribal Council is no mere Tribal Council. This “Chopped’’ appetizer round isn’t some kind of game, Jackée.

These sacred competitions of strength and skill, these public forums for debate and justice, these proud wings of the world stage are where we will now turn to find the leaders of tomorrow, the men and women who will show us the way to the future through a really killer marketing plan for volcano spring water.

On that note, do we say “Madame Polizzi’’ or keep it real and stick with Snooki?

Michael Andor Brodeur can be reached at mbrodeur@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @MBrodeur.