CBS's Undercover Boss, Hard Hitting, or an Infomercial?

I was counting the days and hours until the premiere of CBS's Undercover Boss. This new show, which first ran in the coveted time slot of directly following the Super Bowl, promised us a realistic look at CEO's going undercover, to see how their company is really working. I was the first to say hooray, somebody finally has the brains to come up with a show that would have a chance to directly impact how Corporate America is run. I'm here to say I was dead wrong.

CBS, for it's part, is proclaiming Undercover Boss as the #1 new show on television. Okay, but I don't know any other new shows. Don't get me wrong, it's been fun to meet the CEO's of Waste Management, Hooters, Seven Eleven, and White Castle. All four of them seem sincere in wanting to know what's happening in their company. But the show has several problems.

First, the show has treated us to a view of the CEO's beautiful homes. Really? Rich guys have nice houses? I didn't know that. Thanks CBS, for clearing that up. After listening to these guys tell us how big their company is, and how long it's been around, we finally get to the good part. The real undercover part. Except for one problem. If you are truly going undercover, should you meet with your executive board, and tell them ahead of time what you are about to do? 3 of the 4 CEOs have done that so far.

I'm not sure, but I bet that by the time they wake up and get going on their first day, thousands of phone calls and e-mails have been sent out to everyone in the field, warning everyone that the 'Big cheese" is out and about? After all, you wouldn't want one of your own "hand picked" hired people embarrassing you with a bad report from the boss. So CBS, tell your CEO's to zip it.

To compound the problem with being "undercover," these CEOs have a camera crew following their every move. It's explained to the people they come in contact with that they are filming a documentary on how a laid off construction worker adapts to an entry level position. I'm not sure, but if the new guy at my place of employment showed up with a camera crew, I might be a little suspicious, and even if I wasn't, I probably wouldn't say anything on camera. Hey CBS, ever hear about all of the modern technology that has been invented? Maybe the CEO of Sony could help you out with that.

If you are wondering if the bosses have caught a lot of bad employees, which they normally would, you'll be disappointed. Of the four companies, we've met a Manager from Hooters who was very disrespectful to the girls on his staff, and a supervisor at White Castle who didn't jump in to help when needed. Do you mean that this stuff really does happen in the real world? I'm surprised! Both employees kept their jobs, by the way.

At the end of each show, all of the employees that the CEO comes into contact with, gets summoned to Corporate Headquarters. If I was called to my company's Headquarters, complete with a limo ride, I'm pretty sure I'd know something is up. Why else would they ever want to talk to me?

Every CEO has promised change to it's employees. Most of them did something nice for the good employees, but were not nearly hard enough on the few bad ones. I visited each of the company websites since the show, and guess what? Not one of them is talking about change. In fact, on the Hooter website, after Coby Brooks promised to improve the image of Hooter girls, they show the girls at a photo shoot on the beach, in their bikinis. That's much better Coby. Maybe they should meet again with their executive boards, and secretly tell them not to mention any internal changes, then we'd hear something.

Come on CBS, we can do better. I hope the show sticks around, and improves on the above mentioned problems. I was right on one thing in my earlier article. I mentioned that I didn't count on too many CEO's raising their hands to volunteer for this duty. That is probably why the next show is about the C.O.O. of Churchill Downs going undercover at all of his race tracks. I hope Mr. Ed isn't still talking. Stay tuned.