Undercover Boss

[Rudee]

This show is so staged it's ridiculous. Let's see, some inexperienced middle aged stranger shows up at your work place to shadow other employees and is followed around everywhere by multiple cameras and boom mikes. Yeah, that's normal. Another thing that's so ridiculously staged is the "personal time" these undercover bosses get with other employees, who for some reason feel they have to disclose to the these strangers all their life's problems over a coffee break. "I've always wanted to go to art school but couldn't afford the tuition" or "My kids medications are so expensive I have to work two jobs" or "I wish they would promote me because I have lots of great ideas that would help the company". Just utter staged BS.

 

[SZLiao214]

I would like just one time for the person to be like, "I have a pretty good life. My family is healthy and i am pursuing higher levels of education through the company tuition reimbursement program. I like how the company promotes from within."

 

[wiredspider]

Well, that doesn't make for good TV.

 

[7window]

dont forget that one employee cries with the boss. One emplyees has to ridicule the boss saying he is not qualified.

 

[sixone]

I enjoy watching the bosses fail when they try to do the bottom-level jobs. While I realize that they'd probably do well with a few weeks training, it's still satisfying.

And when they busted that fat call center hag for being rude to callers? Oh, yeah....

 

[nageov3t]

I always feel bad for the employees who don't get to work with their undercover boss and get free shit just for doing their jobs.

 

[BoomerD]

Good concept, poor implementation.

The show seems to be so heavily scripted that it just doesn't seem realistic.

 

[homercles337]

Absolutely staged, its advertising for the company "featured." However, their premise is that it is a documentary about two new recruits that are being retrained and the worker has to pick one.

 

[ultimatebob]

Well, that doesn't make for good TV.

It also doesn't happen as much as it should in real life, either.

 

[shopbruin]

There was one episode where he came across one crappy employee and in the follow up they nicely put it as "he went through re-training."

 

[Train]

Saw the first episode and was convinced the whole thing was fake/scripted.

You don't share your cancer story with the new guy right after he walks in and then invite him to dinner so he can meet Tiny Tim.

 

[dfuze]

Just like all "reality" tv, it's all scripted or they wouldn't have anything worth airing

 

[CurseTheSky]

Many, many shows lose their appeal if you stop to think about the fact that it takes a camera / sound crew (and often, a studio) in order to get decent imagery and audio results. Most shows that try to be "real" in one way or another are just a big joke.

One of my favorite examples of the opposite effect was on Survivorman. In one episode, Stroud gets evacuated early due to melting ice around his location (which may have made later evacuation impossible, and openly admits that in that situation, he may not have survived. In other, he stops filming prematurely one day, because he is too tired to keep setting up and tearing down camera equipment. Being a viewer, you don't think about the fact that for the shots of him walking away in the distance, he actually has to set up the camera, walk away, then walk back, pick up the camera, and walk the distance all over again. 3x the distance just to get a good clip.

Of course, that's not to say that Survivorman or any similar shows are "real," but I give credit where I think it's due.

 

[D1gger]

A friend of mine had them come into his office. It was a courier company and two guys came in followed by a bunch of camera people. They passed it off as they were doing a training video. After the brief interaction with the secretary, they left, but then a producer came back and explained it was for UnderCover Boss and had the people in the office on camera sign releases.

I don't know if that segment every aired or if it hit the editing room floor.

 

[OutHouse]

I always feel bad for the employees who don't get to work with their undercover boss and get free shit just for doing their jobs.

this.

i liked the first couple episodes then it lost is appeal. you have a executive getting ridiculed for a menial labor job that he has never done in his life. then like other people said these employees spill their life's darkest secrets and failures to a complete stranger over a 15 min coffee break oh and lets not forget to throw in some egregious infraction where the "under cover boss" has to blow his cover to correct the situation right there on the spot....

 

[Imp]

It's entertaining. Probably, definitely stages. Like how non-TV do you have to be to not know that such a show exists anymore?

And the premise they usually used is "Don does not know Mark is really the CEO because he's been told that this is a reality show about a retiree trying to compete for a new job".

It's free advertising for the company...

 

[DrPizza]

Go to a company - ANY company with a lot of entry level jobs in the U.S. Poll the employees and see how many of them have heard of Undercover Boss. For the premise of "this is a documentary" to work, you have to find a company where no one has heard of Undercover Boss. Sure, it might have worked for one season, but after that, you'd have to be pretty naive to believe it isn't highly scripted (more highly than in the first season.)

 

[CPA]

My company was on the first season of Undercover Boss (won't tell you which one, you'll have to guess). I am close enough to some of the higher-ups, some that were on the show, that I can tell you it wasn't staged.

 

[natto fire]

I prefer watching cartoons. At least the outlandish situations in those are exaggerated to the point of hilarity.

 

[OutHouse]

My company was on the first season of Undercover Boss (won't tell you which one, you'll have to guess). I am close enough to some of the higher-ups, some that were on the show, that I can tell you it wasn't staged.

i know i know!!!

 

[Drako]

My company was on the first season of Undercover Boss (won't tell you which one, you'll have to guess). I am close enough to some of the higher-ups, some that were on the show, that I can tell you it wasn't staged.

Hooters!

 

[OutHouse]

Hooters!

he wishes.

 

[Platypus]

My company was on the first season of Undercover Boss (won't tell you which one, you'll have to guess). I am close enough to some of the higher-ups, some that were on the show, that I can tell you it wasn't staged.

How do they explain the camera crew to the employees then? Just curious.

 

[insect9]

Even if it isn't scripted, I'd think it would be hard to pull off after the first couple seasons.

 

[coxmaster]

How do they explain the camera crew to the employees then? Just curious.

They explain that IN the show.. They say that the boss and the employees are part of a reality TV show where they swap jobs.