LAST EDITED ON 03-01-10 AT 12:48 PM (EST)

I agree Kid. They'll never show us any of the mean, ugly rude employees (well, except for that Hooters manager - & he didn't even get canned!).

As for the camera, the only way this could work would be a hidden camera on the guy. No way is anyone going to be completely natural with cameras around.

Also, these companies have thousands of employees - all with different stories; wonder how all the others feel that their store didn't get visited and they didn't get to share their life story.....

I've been wondering just how much advance location scouting is involved to make sure the boss happens to run into just the right amount of both sad stories and camera-ready people willing to talk about them.

LAST EDITED ON 03-01-10 AT 01:50 PM (EST)

>I've been wondering just how much advance location scouting is involved to make sure the boss happens to run into just the right amount of both sad stories and camera-ready people willing to talk about them.
>

Have watched all the episodes of this show...and we are now beginning to see the "pattern" that you so correctly identified in your comment. Things are looking just a little too "pat" now. And yes, I'm sure the cameras have something to do with the way people behave.

As for the White Castle guy last night, we thought the same thing about the rewards he gave out. We don't have White Castles in our state, nor have either of us ever tried their burgers--which, frankly, didn't look appealing at all.

We have Krystal which is very much like White Castle.
DH is from Yankee White Castle country - he's says they are very similar.
Even tho very small, the rolls are what really makes them tasty - very fresh & soft.

Hi Jbug

OK, if a new employee showed up for work followed by a camera crew, I would have the best sob story I could think of ready.

My poor crippled little girl, wait, no - twins - Conjoined twins - and me with my $5/hr burger flipping job and no way to pay for the operation and the six month rehab in a Bimini resort that the doctors say would be best.

Because of the smooth ride, a Mercedes is the only vehicle that they can travel in, and even then, they need their own jet for long distances.

"And how can I afford those Hooter girls that I need to nurse me the twins back to health? What am I to do?"

...each location is vetted in advance to make sure the boss gets hir daily recommended dose of sob story. But the producers also claim the boss hears those stories for the first time upon meeting his designated coworkers.

In any case, don't plan meeting the CEO unless you've had at least two fatal illnesses in the last three months.

Too cookie cutter to keep me interested in the series.
Profile the CEO at home. Check
CEO tells info to shocked board of directors. Check
CEO checks into sleezy hotel. Check
Alarm goes off at 5 am. Check
Drama, drama, drama
CEO washes his face. Check
Drama, drama, drama
CEO meets returns to meet with board again who don't seem to really care what he found. Check

I have to say that the man at Churchhill Downs with the daughter that passed away was very touched by having a race named after her. That was nice.

A long time ago (pre reality TV!) we had a show called "Back to the Floor" where someone senior from a company worked at a very low level for a week although this wasn't done in an undercover way. As I say it was pre reality TV so we didn't have many of these personal dramas.

My favourite moment from that though was the board meeting after the boss of the building company had spent a week housebuilding.

Imagine the faces of the marketeers when he said everyone in the company would be spending at least a week on site from then on in!

"Has anyone considered it'll be virtually impossible for this series to run two domestic seasons?"

I think that, sadly, this could go on for a long time because it's nothing more than a hour long infomercial for the company of the week.

LAST EDITED ON 03-22-10 AT 09:44 AM (EST)

I meant it as 'You can get away with one pre-airtime year of this filming trick and after that it's 'Documentary series about people trying out entry-level jobs, my minimum-wage rear.''

I got you but I meant: Is it really a filming trick or is it all packaged to make the companies look good? I wonder if we should follow the money and see how much commercial time those companies or their affiliates paid CBS to be "chosen".

I can see a CBS salesman go to a company and say: "Instead of paying us so many millions for a bunch of 30 second commercials, how about you double that amount and we'll give your company 1 hour of airtime on a show we'll do our best to turn into a hit? We could, I don't know, premiere it after the SuperBowl."

I have noticed that every location chosen for filming looks great (kitchen are clean, etc.). Not real life by any means. I've been to Churchill Downs for work and in that episode they only showed the newly contructed areas. Some are the other areas of Churchill are run down and seedy.

Capn2patch put me in motion!