Since sampling a couple of episodes of The Real World back in the early 1990s, I’d had no desire to see another reality TV show. I lasted 17 years, until Undercover Boss. The show’s connection to social sustainability and internal branding is what swayed me; in other words “it’s for work”.
In the show, a large corporation’s CEO spends a week working as an entry-level employee at the bottom of his company’s hierarchy to find out how things work (or not). Each day, he (the first 5 episodes all feature a male boss) visits a different location to see a variety of operations. In each episode, the CEO informs the management team about going undercover; the CEO pretends to be a Regular Joe as he works in different locations, in each with a particular employee; the CEO debriefs the management team; the CEO reveals himself to the former “co-workers” and shares how he will fix things; the CEO addresses a large group of employees in a pep rally.
As expected, the show has all the gimmickry of reality television: annoying narration; lots of repetition (as in, ‘tell them what you’re going to tell them, tell them, then tell them what you’ve told them’), the elimination of which could cut the show in half without losing any content; cheesy emotional pull; extreme editing; fake unscriptedness and everything else; cruelty inherent in setting unsuspecting people up; and so on.
What’s more, because each episode is devoted to a single corporation, its 40+ minutes represent a massive advertisement, perhaps even inventing a new form, realitymercial. Sure, various failings of each company are on full display, but in the end, in his wisdom the boss sees what’s wrong and fixes it. See? We’re the good guys.
I weighed whether to write this review: giving room to a reality show would just perpetuate its business model, which isn’t something I want to do. This particular show’s content shortcomings are also too transparent to warrant analysis – it’s easy to see beyond the feel-good veneer. As a cultural artifact, however, Undercover Boss demands attention. Having experienced the Great Recession, it may feel redemptive to some viewers to see a big boss humbled by little people. Except it’s fake and the impact questionable.
Fake is what reality TV does. The truly sad part is what the bosses do in response to their experience. When the boss reveals himself to the former “co-workers”, the solution to the problem he encountered while working with them mostly takes a form of a reward and feels like a master throwing a bone to the dog – you did well, so here’s a resort vacation for your family, here’s a promotion, here’s a raise, here’s some time off, here’s a franchise, here’s a 5-figure donation in your name. The bad performers get a lecture and a training (yes, even Jimbo, who made female servers at his Hooters restaurant eat beans off plates with no hands so they could leave early).
There is little, if anything, by way of systemic change. For the most part, the featured employees are the ones benefiting. What larger changes take place remain narrow. Walter the diabetic at Waste Management gets to work as a motivational speaker for sick coworkers. People think Hooters exploits women? Let’s create a marketing campaign to educate them about our business. Dolores inspires a kidney donor awareness program. From the looks of it, much else in the profiled companies remains the same. And the boss returns to his mansion.
I’ve seen all three episodes so far. To my surprise, I’m going to continue watching, despite all the big and little problems with it, if only to learn. You know, for work.
***
Undercover Boss, airs Sundays at 6 Pacific on CBS, available online.
Image credit: AMERICAN ARTIST BEN MURPHY
