On another note, I'd like to know how when the CEO's tell their upper management what's going down, we don't get to see the trickle down theory take effect. You know darn well those managers tell their employees to be on their best behavior whilst the boss is playing his game. They don't want their part or section of the factory to look bad, or they will lose their jobs too. I lost interest in this show after the first two episodes due to this very fact.

Could there be a more manipulative, predictable show on TV? The correct answer to that is "no!" The rigid formula removes any real sense of spontenaity or honesty.

How come these CEOs all have to change clothes in the same locker room? Why do they have to stay in crappy motels when nobody would know where they are staying anyway? When Joe or Jane Employee is whisked far away to corporate HQ, do you really mean to tell me they haven't been given any reason?

This is little more than a transparent PR opportunity for companies to try to seem sensitive to their employees in tough times. A few token employees benefit as a result.

Please, next season break the formula. Let each story develop on its own, rising or falling on its own merits without pre-scouted employees and locations. In other words, try to bring just a touch of "reality" to your reality TV show instead of such a heavily scripted product.

so please explain to me how season 2 will work? the ruse is up ... people aren't going to fall for the documentary crew following an entry level worker thing anymore.

I wouldn't be surprised at all of the lady from GSI was actually fired. Think about it from a legal perspective, unless they've signed some sort of ridiculously all-encompassing waiver firing her on national television could bring about a number of lawsuits. Best to let the nation think she's just been given a talking to and soon after "left," when in actuality she was let go.

Really enjoyed the show though, looking forward to season 2. It's quite interesting to see businesses we frequent, use regularly or use and don't even know it in these types of situations as well. It's usually entertaining to see what's going on behind the curtain.

Rant all you want but there's no new show I look forward to watching each week (other than The Good Wife) than Undercover Boss. I love everything about it and there hasn't been a week that I haven't ended up in tears. What I particularly like is showing the rest of the country that there are great people out there working in all of these mundane jobs. It's about time that we can look at a show and be proud of the Americans being featured. There's so many good, hardworking people in this country and it's time they were showcased. I just don't know how they can do a second season without the employees of each company becoming suspicious when they're being filmed.

Oh and I think this show is way way more contrived and formulaic than you're thining. I got tired of the 'fake drama' of the boss getting caught. Um...so what. Maybe it would break up the monotony of history-board reveal-visit good store-learn about someones family-reveal-party. And you know these companies painstakingly pick each moment and each worker. Sometimes it feels too much like an ad for the company.

Personally, the parts that resonate with me are when the CEOs have a human moment, when they realize the people working for them aren't just numbers on a spreadsheet but real people with real problems. In their ivory towers, many upper-echelon folks never have that experience, and to me, it's the best part of the show.

I have worked for several companies over my 20 year career and there are more lazy, stubborn, & rude employees than they are airing. I definitely agree in rewarding hard work & loyalty to the deserving individuals, not to the "branch" as a whole. The guy from Roto-Rooter who was only rewarded with the opportunity to share his struggle with alcoholism deserved more.

the only way a Wall Street firm can participate if the CEO goes to a branch in the middle of the country to work as a bank teller...doubt an investment banking unit or investment management will have employees who don't know who the CEO is

They really do need to find a way to change things up a bit. I enjoyed this show for a while, but stopped watching it after 4-5 episodes because the formula didn't change at all from week to week.

Also, it really seems like this show took about 20 minutes of footage and stretched it out for an hour. Between the "here's what you'll see for the next hour" montage at the start of the show, the "here's what you'll see coming up in the next segment" pieces they run before every commercial, and the "here's what you might have missed earlier" segments following the commercials anything that might be relevant to the show ends up getting shown 4-5 times. I hate repetition, and I hate having my hand held while trying to watch a simple TV show. I don't have ADHD and I don't need to be reminded every 60 seconds to keep watching the show that I'm watching. This isn't the only show to do this (Apprentice and Who do you Think you are come to mind too) but it seems to be the worst. I would always watch this show on my DVR and after fast forwarding though all the useless parts, it rarely took me more than 15-20 minutes to get through an episode. Seems to me if they really have a show worth watching, they wouldn't have any trouble putting together an actual 42 minutes of footage to watch.

/rant