'Undercover Boss' makes for good TV—and bad management

New reality show may elicit shouts of ‘What the hell? What about me?’ from employees

Once the Super Bowl—the most-viewed television program of all time—ended, 38.6 million people (about 36 percent of the Super Bowl audience) stuck around for the premiere of CBS’s new “reality” show, “Undercover Boss.”

In case you’ve just emerged from a coma and aren’t aware of the show, the premise is simple: Company leaders go undercover on the front lines of their companies to discover what it’s really like to do the heavy lifting. Surprised at what they see—from abuses to the horrific consequences of their own policies—their humanity bubbles to the surface and they initiate changes to improve the lives of front-line workers.

(As of right now, you can watch the full episode on the CBS Web site.