How Will ‘Undercover Boss’ Stay Undercover?
Will CBS be able to keep “Undercover Boss” undercover next season?
CBS entertainment president Nina Tassler told TheWrap the crew has some new tricks up its sleeve — but she won’t spill the beans until taping is completed.
“I’m not going to give away any secrets,” she told The Wrap.
At first she said the average employee in the field is too busy to be looking over their shoulder to see if the chief executive of the company has infiltrated their ranks. And then she said even if a camera is following a new employee, “If you hear hoof beats, you don’t necessarily see the horse.”
Then adding to the intrigue, she said, “The show has a very smart production team. I don’t think the employees will realize.”
When asked point blank if that meant hidden cameras, she paused and said, “I don’t want to give any secrets away, but it will be smartly done.”
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‘Undercover Boss’ tribute race part of Arlington Park opening
Since becoming a jockey valet in 1988, Kenny Rice has spent a lot of time in the Arlington Park winner’s circle.
His job has him there often to help collect the riders’ equipment when they dismount their horses after each race.
But when Arlington Park opens its doors to start its 2010 meet today, Rice will be in the winner’s circle for a very special moment.
Thanks to an episode of the CBS television series “Undercover Boss,” there will be a race run today in honor of Rice’s daughter Meghan Samantha, who was born with a heart defect and died in March 2009 at the age of 20.
While going undercover to work with Rice on his job at Arlington Park last summer, Churchill Downs Chief Operating Officer Bill Carstanjen bonded with the valet’s story about his daughter during the taping of the show.
Carstanjen noticed the picture of Rice’s daughter and then realized it was in memoriam.
Read the full story on Daily Herald
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Undercover Boss Looks to Wall Street Firms
Undercover Boss, CBS’ unexpected reality hit, is heading to Wall Street, according to the Wall Street Journal. The show has reportedly begun calling financial firms hoping to find a senior executive willing to appear on the show, in which CEOs go “undercover” to see what it’s like to be an low-level employee at their firms.
Source: NY Magazine
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‘Undercover Boss’ season finale recap: 1-800-Flowers wilts our sympathy
The season finale of Undercover Boss told us the thorny story of 1-800-Flowers. The show pumped up a rivalry between the two brothers who head up the company, Jim and Chris McCann. Jim (the CEO) asked Chris (the company president) to go undercover.
When we arrived at the show’s standard doling-out-the-rewards final segments, Undercover Boss seemed to address some of the criticisms that have aimed at the series. Instead of just giving Nciole, the employee lucky enough to come into contact with the (co-)boss, a raise, Chris announced an “incentive system” to be implemented for people throughout the company who exceed their goals.
Read the full recap on EW.
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- Brilliant PR Move for 1-800-FLOWERS.COM – Lessons from “Undercover Boss” (pamil-visions.net)
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Marist alumnus is ‘Undercover Boss’ on season finale
Chris McCann, president and CEO of 1-800-flowers.com and a 1983 graduate of Marist College, goes undercover during the season finale of the CBS television show “Undercover Boss” on Sunday.
McCann’s turn on the show features an unexpected twist when his true identity is discovered by one of his employees.
“I am so grateful for CBS providing me with this exceptional opportunity,” McCann said in a prepared statement. “The opportunity to experience our company at all levels makes me a stronger leader and enables 1-800-flowers.com to continue to be the best in the business. Also, the show reaffirmed my appreciation for all our employees and their hard work — they are invaluable to us in our mission to help deliver smiles every day.”
Read the full story on Poughkeepsie Journal
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TV Ratings: ‘Undercover Boss’ rules Easter Sunday for CBS
A holiday Sunday led to yet another low-rated primetime, but CBS’ lineup still triumphed, led by America’s love for the second half-hour of “Undercover Boss.”
In the 9 p.m. hour, CBS got a 7.3/12 for “Undercover Boss,” which also did a 3.9 demo rating. We’re a bit amused that “Undercover Boss” leaps from a 6.6/11 to an 8.0/13 half-hour to half-hour, as viewers tune in for the tear-filled ending. ABC’s “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” was up to a 5.2/9 in its second hour, better than the first hour of NBC’s “Celebrity Apprentice.” FOX was fourth with a repeat of “Family Guy” (2.7/4) and a new “Sons of Tucson” (1.9/3).
Source: HitFix
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“Undercover Boss” Gets Emotional
Rick Arquilla, the president and COO of the plumbing and drain cleaning company Roto-Rooter, went undercover and saw the dirty part of his employees’ jobs – and revealed emotional parts of his own past – on Sunday’s “Undercover Boss.”
“This is probably more than I had bargained for,” the executive admitted after cramming a power water hose down a pipe leaking raw sewage in a New Orleans parking lot. When his co-worker, Chris, stepped away from the scene for a few minutes, Arquilla stopped working. Chris was surprised by his colleague’s lack of work ethic.
The revelation that Chris was a recovering alcoholic caused an emotional reaction for Arquilla, who admitted that his father, who had once worked on the factory floor at a Roto-Rooter plant, also battled alcoholism but died before he could turn his life around.
Read the full story on CBS News
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Undercover Boss GSI Commerce Episode “Villain” Danielle Campbell Tells Her Side
Danielle Campbell, the call center employee that was deemed rude by GSI Commerce Undercover BossMichael Rubin this past Sunday night, shared her side of the story on Associated Content:
What is it that you feel was left out on the Undercover Boss GSI Commerce episode concerning your side of the story?
One, Mr. Rubin spent all of 10 minutes with me and never asked me about my personal life at all, or my background. Two, the call was almost 10 minutes long, and the woman had done some yelling and crying, as well. Three, Mr. Rubin had no control of the call and kept saying “umm,” which was unprofessional and did not sound confident. Four, at GSI, there is a chat software, and the managers were listening to the call, they could have IMd me and advised that there was something I could do for her. I only had a couple weeks of training on the job. In addition, in the reveal part of the show, he had mentioned to me that my managers had said how great I was, but it was cut out for television.
Were you ever told why you spent so little time with Michael Rubin at the call center? Were they looking to cast someone as “a villain” and your call with the woman was timed just right?
I believe my time with Mr. Rubin was cut short because he was not happy with how I handled the call. The call was not a set-up, it just happened, and there was no scripting.
What happened to you after you had your meeting with the CEO of GSI Commerce regarding the re-training you were supposed to get?
He had told me he was going to implement a retraining program, and in January I demoted myself. By the beginning of the 2nd week of March I was no longer with the company due to some “unwritten” policy (not in the company handbook that I could find) and procedure mess, not related to the show, so I never experienced the so-called retraining in the three months following the show.
You appeared happy at the employee rally with Michael Rubin. Is that because the GSI Commerce CEO told you that you’d did a good job off camera and even on camera, which you say was cut out?
As far as why I looked happy, because I was, due to not being canned. Mr. Rubin had said that the reason I was not canned was because my managers said what a good job I had done.
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“Undercover Boss” Amuses Theme Park CEO
Joel Manby, president and CEO of Herschend Family Entertainment, the largest family-owned theme parks in the nation, learned that it takes a lot of hard work to keep the fun and excitement alive on CBS’ “Undercover Boss.
While undercover, he meets a kid-friendly captain who loves his job conducting the “Ride the Duck” tour and learns that it might be easier to run a boardroom than to keep the attention of a boat full of kids.
Manby also works the front gate at Silver Dollar City Theme Park, where he learns that first impressions and a warm welcome make all the difference.
He also meets a young man aspiring for his job. A roller-coaster enthusiast, Manby’s employee shares his passion along with some ideas he hopes to implement when he takes over the company.
“Albert does overwhelm me a little bit, but you can channel that,” Manby says.
His employee speaks highly of Manby as well, saying, “He is an awesome guy.”
Read the full story on CBS News
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What ‘Undercover Boss’ Teaches Us All
With far too many Americans out of work, and employers cutting another 20,000 last month, many people have come to blame chief executive officers for not having the pulse of their own companies. Undercover Boss has done nothing to change that impression.
In the first episode Larry O’Donnell, the CEO of Waste Management, poses as “Randy Lawrence,” a construction worker supposedly being filmed for a story about down-on-their-luck Americans in search of entry-level employment. O’Donnell, who earns nearly $3 million a year according to company filings, experiences the backbreaking work of the company’s frontline employees. He’s even fired during his seven-day stint after failing to fill a trash bag.
During his undercover week O’Donnell sees an employee stretched impossibly thin by performing eight different jobs and also finds that he can’t keep up sorting cardboard and recyclables. “I’m going to approach the whole way I do my job differently,” he says on the show. “I don’t want to be doing things that are going to cause disruption. The things I’ve learned could change the way we do business forever … and make things better for our frontline employees.”
His experience shows why leaders who focus solely on the balance sheet can’t succeed. If executives look only at numbers, they can’t make the most of honest feedback, recognize the limits of their knowledge or avoid repeating mistakes. When leaders see their shortcomings as a chance to learn and grow, they gain the ability–and credibility–to help others do the same.
…
It will take a while to see if any of the leaders featured onUndercover Boss fulfill the promises they’ve made on the show, but that the program is on at all illustrates that CEOs are beginning to understand that they’ve got to change if they’re going to truly succeed in a postrecession world.
Read the full story on Forbes
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