Advanced Search >
Help Me Search

TV

2009-10 Midseason
2009 Fall Season
2009 Summer Season
2008-09 Midseason
2008 Fall Season
2008 Summer Season
Best Of 2009
Best Of 2008
Best Of 2007
Best Of 2006
Best Of 2005

Recent/Upcoming
Movies & Specials

59 The 39 Steps
PBS, 2/28

79 Reporter
HBO, 2/18

84 Temple Grandin
HBO, 2/6

83 Soul Train: The Hippest Trip in America
VH1, 2/6

52 A Family Is a Family Is a Family: A Rosie O'Donnell Celebration
HBO, 1/31

40 Live for the Moment
CBS, 1/28

38 The Pregnancy Pact
Lifetime, 1/23

Recent/Upcoming
Series Premieres

34 High Society
CW, Wednesday

54 Who Do You Think You Are?
NBC, Friday

77 Southland Season Two
TNT, Tuesday

61 Parenthood
NBC, Tuesday

49 The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
NBC, Weekdays

40 The Marriage Ref
NBC, Thursday

62 The Ricky Gervais Show
HBO, Friday

59 How to Make It in America
HBO, Sunday

64 Prison Wives
Investigation Discovery, Wednesday

62 Survivors
BBC America, Saturday

43 Past Life
Fox, Tuesday

56 Celebrity Fit Club: Boot Camp Season Seven
VH1, Monday

59 Undercover Boss
CBS, Sunday

44 The Michael Vick Project
BET, Tuesday

44 Kell on Earth
Bravo, Monday

82 Damages Season Three
FX, Monday

60 La La Land
Showtime, Monday

72 The Inbetweeners
BBC America, Monday

77 Emma
PBS, Sunday

72 Caprica
Syfy, Friday

54 Spartacus: Blood and Sand
Starz, Friday

40 The Deep End
ABC,

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed shows.

Undercover Boss

EMAILPRINTSERIES: CBS, Sunday 10:00p (60 minutes)

Undercover Boss
59
6.7 User Score:

Mixed or average reviews

Based on 13 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

Based on 18 votes
Read user comments
Rate this show >

Show Info

Genre(s): Reality (Non-Competitive)

Created By: Stephen Lambert

First Air Date: February 7, 2010

Summary

Starring Mark Keller

Bosses go undercover as new rank-and-file employees of their own companies to discover how it is like for the average worker.

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

88

Chicago Sun-TimesPaige Wiser

The personalities are so appealing, and the jobs are so humbling, that this would have been a great one-shot documentary. Can they keep up the impact week after week? Or will we suffer from empathy fatigue sooner rather than later?

Read Full Review >
80

Deseret NewsScott D. Pierce

It'll bring a smile to your face and, yes, warm your heart a bit.

Read Full Review >
80

Hollywood ReporterBarry Garron

If one can get past the certainty that, like most reality shows, the reality here has been sanitized for everyone's protection, one should enjoy meeting these salt-of-the-earth workers with good hearts, the kind of people who normally are everywhere except on TV.

Read Full Review >
80

New York Daily NewsDavid Hinckley

Undercover Boss isn't spectacular TV. But its real appeal lies in the exercise itself: watching a CEO meet actual workers and realize they work hard at jobs often made harder by petty rules and policies.

Read Full Review >
75

San Jose Mercury News/Contra Costa TimesChuck Barney

A contrived, yet effective, piece of feel-good television.

Read Full Review >
58

Boston HeraldMark A. Perigard

Undercover presents a wonderful tribute to the working man and woman. Middle managers are the villains here, sitting at desks and docking workers for clocking in late at lunch. The hour ends with the predictable reveal.

Read Full Review >
50

VarietyBrian Lowry

The presence of camera crews is explained by saying it's for a documentary about entry-level jobs, allowing the CEO to secretly interact with several parts of his company before the big reveal. There's some power in that, but the premiere's emotional crescendos come across as surprisingly muted.

Read Full Review >
50

New York PostLinda Stasi

A "reality" show so huggy-weepy that it will put even the most enraged domestic abuser to sleep.

Read Full Review >
50

People WeeklyMichelle Tauber

I want to root for a reality series that uplifts, but for this one to work, it either needs to be more fun or more real. [15 Feb 2010, p.43]

50

The New York TimesAlessandra Stanley

Undercover Boss, a CBS reality show that turns the tables on management, seems tailor-made for the anticorporate rancor of the times, but if anything, it paints too rosy a picture of white-collar benevolence.

Read Full Review >
42

Entertainment WeeklyKeith Staskiewicz

Instead of being uplifting, Boss feels opportunistic and condescending in a way that something like Dirty Jobs never does.

Read Full Review >
40

SalonHeather Havrilesky

You'd have to have ice water flowing through your veins not to enjoy this elaborate P.R. experiment in spite of yourself.

Read Full Review >
30

Washington PostHank Stuever

What we get instead is a hollow catharsis for a nation already strung out on the futility of resenting those who occupy CEO suites.

Read Full Review >

What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this show is 6.7 (out of 10) based on 18 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

john john gave it a10:
Amazing show! I was very touched by the stories and I can't wait till next week!

Brett R. gave it a0:
How condescending! And what happens in the end. The workers get a "taskforce" and the boss goes back to his millions a year because he forgot that working is hard. So contrived I couldn't believe it. Odd that not a single one of the workers he was strategically placed with was terrible at their job. Also, shouldn't you be working instead of talking to neighbors all day? What kind of policy will you implement to let me socialize whenever I want?

Kaye B. gave it a10:
Undercover Boss feature the hard-working American woman and man, who do the grunt jobs and then are not recognized by the upper management as being the ones who make the company successful. It makes a great point that every person in society can feel good about themselves if they are being productive.

Kevin C. gave it a10:
Was a great show, not overly intense but refreshing change from current reality shows.

Ben C gave it a9:
Outstanding!

Popular on CBS sites: College Signing Day | March Madness | TV | iPhone | Cell Phones | Video Game Reviews | Free Music

About CBS Interactive | Jobs | Advertise

© 2010 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. | Privacy Policy (UPDATED) | Terms of Use