Undercover Boss

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Season 1
  • Network: CBS
  • Series Premiere Date: Feb 7, 2010
Season #: 35, 20, 10, 10, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1
Metascore
59

Mixed or average reviews - based on 14 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 6 out of 14
  2. Mixed: 7 out of 14
  3. Negative: 1 out of 14
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Critic Reviews

  1. Boston Herald
    Reviewed by: Mark A. Perigard
    58
    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.
  2. Variety
    Reviewed by: Brian Lowry
    50
    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.
  3. New York Post
    Reviewed by: Linda Stasi
    50
    A "reality" show so huggy-weepy that it will put even the most enraged domestic abuser to sleep.
  5. People Weekly
    Reviewed by: Michelle Tauber
    50
    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]
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  6. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Alessandra Stanley
    50
    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.
  7. Entertainment Weekly
    Reviewed by: Keith Staskiewicz
    42
    Instead of being uplifting, Boss feels opportunistic and condescending in a way that something like Dirty Jobs never does.
  8. Salon
    Reviewed by: Heather Havrilesky
    40
    You'd have to have ice water flowing through your veins not to enjoy this elaborate P.R. experiment in spite of yourself.

Awards & Rankings

80
#80 Best TV Season of 2010
68
#68 Most Discussed TV Season of 2010
80
#80 Most Shared TV Season of 2010

User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
6.4

Generally favorable reviews- based on 23 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 13 out of 23
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 23
  3. Negative: 6 out of 23
  1. oliver1h
    Dec 10, 2012
    1
    Empty posturing of millionaires...
  2. BrettR.
    Feb 8, 2010
    0
    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 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?… Full Review »
  3. killing4blood
    May 26, 2015
    5
    It can be fun watching what they do. But sometimes it is stupid and it is unreal like talking about personal life and about the changes at theIt can be fun watching what they do. But sometimes it is stupid and it is unreal like talking about personal life and about the changes at the end of it it is just to unreal.… Full Review »
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