Undercover Boss

[Pete Incaviglia]

Great show.

This is a take on something every one of us has said at some point:

The f*cking CEO should do my job for a day and see what I do for a living.

Great, great stuff if it is, in fact, true.

 

[joe king]

A great concept indeed.

 

[fishhack2009]

Hooters teaser for next week looks great.

 

[fishhack2009]

Dean Singleton to the white courtesy phone....

 

[budcrew08]

I want to see what that manager who demeans the girls gets from the boss, because from the promo, it looks like he goes back to being the boss to chastise the guy.

 

[Pete Incaviglia]

I want to know more about the bosses. Like, are they guys/girls who worked their way up through the company (i.e. from the ground up or from the mail room up at the corporate headquarters or some great whiz kid grad who landed a big board room gig)?

 

[Double J]

Dean Singleton Pierre Karl Peladeau to the white courtesy phone....

Fixed for Canadian posters.

And I agree - this is a great premise for a show.

 

[slappy4428]

Maybe my former publisher, born with a silver spoon in his mouth and who once said his son's high school baseball games we fascinating because one time a (and I swear I am not making this up) "manager was evicted from the game by the umpire", could do the same.

 

[JackReacher]

Enjoyed the show, but it's obvious the whole thing wasn't as "real" as they wanted you to believe. The COO just so happened to place himself in positions with bosses who have dealt with terrible health issues and financial stresses. Imagine that!

Great concept. Terrible execution.

 

[ArnoldBabar]

Great concept. Terrible execution.

I thought the exact opposite. Potentially obvious gimmick show turns out to be pretty interesting and authentic.

Of course they did some advance work and looked for people with compelling stories to include. Why wouldn't they?

 

[JackReacher]

Authentic? You can't be serious. It was about the most unauthentic show ever, which you explained yourself.

However, I'm interested to see if the rest of the series is as predictable and follows the same boilerplate.

 

[ArnoldBabar]

Just because you put people in the situation doesn't make what happened in the situation inauthentic. That's like saying your two friends aren't really in love because you set them up thinking they'd like each other.

 

[JackReacher]

I never said what happened IN those situations were not authentic. Just that they went a little overboard on putting themselves in those situations. Between the guy with kidney problems and the girl with five cancers and no money, it was a bit much. You can still make it interesting without the over-the-top plotlines, IMO.

Either way, I liked it enough that I'll keep watching.

 

[RedSmithClone]

I like the show, BUT the cynic in me says this is a big-business ploy to try and make heads of big corporations look good to the general public. Like CBS cut a deal to help with the public image of the evil corporations. We know how big business is currently viewed in society right now. This is could just be a tool to at least attempt to change that image.

 

[SoCalDude]

I liked the big boss. But it's kinda hard to believe that the company really cares. I have Waste Management and I have no choice in the matter because of its contract with the city where I live. It's WM or nothing. Whether they project a happy image or not doesn't matter.

 

[Football_Bat]

"Hey Dean. You've got 10 minutes to format that high school swimming agate or YOU'RE FIRED!"

Figured I'd just cut to the chase.

 

[Pete Incaviglia]

I never said what happened IN those situations were not authentic. Just that they went a little overboard on putting themselves in those situations. Between the guy with kidney problems and the girl with five cancers and no money, it was a bit much. You can still make it interesting without the over-the-top plotlines, IMO.

Either way, I liked it enough that I'll keep watching.

I was able to separate the two. I cared more about the COO who had to get his hands dirty than with whom he had to do it with or under.

I was more interested in the suit wearing the coveralls than the problems of the others.

The fact the man had a kidney problem or the woman had cancer didn't change the fact he was picking up trash, cleaning toilets, etc.

 

[Ace]

I liked the big boss. But it's kinda hard to believe that the company really cares. I have Waste Management and I have no choice in the matter because of its contract with the city where I live. It's WM or nothing. Whether they project a happy image or not doesn't matter.

A lot of places aren't like that, though. You can contract with one of several companies.

 

[Ace]

My teenage kids were begging to watch the show after the Super Bowl and really liked it. I liked it too, though, it did seem a happy coincidence of compelling stories and a good-guy boss.

If they get enough bosses who are human, it could do well.

 

[playthrough]

Didn't see it in Indy thanks to the Super Bowl postgame ("and let's talk to MORE upset Colts fans!"). Will look forward to seeing it at some point, I hear that White Castle is involved. I love me the occasional WC.