After the Superbowl last night, my husband and I watched Undercover Boss. It's a new reality show where the Company CEO goes undercover in his own company. The PROMO says: "The economy is going through tough times. And many working Americans blame wealthy CEOs who are out of touch with their own companies. But some bosses are willing to take extreme actions to make their businesses better. Each week, we'll follow the boss of a major corporation as they go undercover in their own companies."
Last night we watched Larry O'Donnell, president and chief operating officer of Waste Management, venture into the depths of his company's tough jobs, including working on a recycling assembly line, picking up trash off of trash heaps in a city dump, working with a clerk who was doing the job of 3 people that were not replaced when they were laid off, and vacuuming human waste out of porta-johns.
I liked the show although it didn't really ring true at the end. I do recommend it to others as a very nice "feel good" show. The worker was the hero. The CEO really listened, admitted there were some problems - though he blamed them all on lower and middle management, and said he was going to make changes. For me, the most fun was seeing the CEO right in the dreggs of every day work of the people and filming the problems. It even touched my heart when the CEO shed a tear for a worker that was losing her house -- and he helped her. Would he do it for all workers who had these types of problems? Probably Not. But this made for good TV.
In the weeks to come, we will see the CEO from Hooters, 7-11 and Bakery Express.
You can catch last night's show on On-Demand for CBS. This youtube provides a nice preview. Future shows are on Sunday nights from 9 - 10 ET.
Note: My other favorite new show -- "Men of a Certain Age" on Monday Nights on TNT (10pm ET) with Ray Romano, Scott Bakula and Andre Braugher .
Posts
