http://tv.zap2it.com/tveditorial/tve...067|1|,00.html

(Wednesday, October 06 09:29 AM)

LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) Critics may have hated FOX's "My Big Fat Obnoxious Fiance," but after its January premiere, the well-orchestrated reality prank averaged more than 16.6 million viewers. Never a network to rest on its laurels, FOX is trying again, lampooning shows like NBC's "The Apprentice" with "My Big Fat Obnoxious Boss."

Shot in extreme secrecy this summer, "Obnoxious Boss" features 12 overachieving young business professionals who arrive in Chicago ready to impress N. Paul Todd, the founder and CEO of IOCOR, a multi-billion dollar company. They're prepared to do whatever business tasks are necessary to score a plumb job and earn a $250,000 cash prize.

Apparently the contestants are willing to do everything possible except do their research. Mr. N. Paul Todd is actually William August, an actor who wants nothing more than to confuse, humiliate and unnerve the 12 contestants.

At the end of each week's phony tasks, the players will be called to the boardroom and one will be eliminated. Although they all think that N. Paul Todd is making the decisions, it turns out that the real boss is a mystery. FOX isn't ready to spoil that surprise just yet, but the network promises that "in an eye-opening, jaw-dropping turn, the identity of the real boss will be the biggest surprise of all."

"What 'My Big Fat Obnoxious Fiance' did for romance-reality, 'My Big Fat Obnoxious Boss' will do for business-reality," says FOX Entertainment President Gail Berman. "When we saw the footage, we realized it belongs on the funniest night on television, FOXs Sunday night."

"Obnoxious Boss" will premiere on Sunday, Nov. 7 in the 9 p.m. ET time slot originally slated for the legal reality show "The Partner." In an interesting twist, if FOX delays "The Partner" for too long, NBC could actually trump the network by getting its own unscripted legal show "The Law Firm" on the air first.

FOX had best hope that "Boss" producers at Rocket Science Laboratories do a better job of replicating the success of "Fiance" than Rocket Science did with the second season of "Joe Millionaire." Jean-Michel Michenaud and Chris Cowan serve as executive producers.


Hmmm, sounds vaguely familiar..... hmmmmmm



hmmmmm. I just can't quite place it.....


Chris

I'll be interested when it's Big Fat Obnoxious Boss in a Tiny House

Glad to see business "reality" is diving into the shitter too.

Saw a commercial, dude isn' even fat, can someone "False Advertisement"?

"Knock knock."
"Who's there?"
"Get the hell out of my office."

Fiance was one of the best reality shows I've ever seen. Considering how mediocre I think the Apprentice is, this is actually a huge step up imo.

saw the commerical last night.. looked pretty ridiculous.. and i'll be there for the 1st episode

Me too!

I am concerned that all 12 of the contestants are being duped. Fake reality shows seem to work best when only 1-2 people aren't in on the gag (Joe Schmoe, Big Fat Obnoxious Fiance), but when all of the contestants were real (like the WB's American Idol spoof) it didn't work.

With that in mind, Big Fat Obnoxious Boss would probably work better if at least 10 of the contestants are actors playing stereotypical corporate types (the suck-up, the busy-body, the gossip, the blame-shifter etc.).

What are you talking about? WB's Superstar was hilarious, simply for the judges.

I just saw a commercial for this... looks like it might be funny enough for me to try it out for a few episodes.

"When i point to you, speak" -- after which he points to both women at the same time --

Big Fat Obnoxious fiance may have been the best reality show ever. It's great when they run out of basic ideas and then start to just fuck with people.

One of the problems I had with the boss is that he's not big or fat.

good point

One of the problems I have with this show is that it isn't clever or groundbreaking.

what other show has done this before?

As mrpayroll so subtlely hinted, it's the pretty much same concept as "The Assistant."

oh yeah.. that

REMINDER
"Obnoxious Boss" will premiere on Sunday, Nov. 7 in the 9 p.m. ET time slot

Just heard a commercial for this show.
Is it just me, or is this kind of show:
* not really creative; and
* pretty cruel
?

Not only did the guy sound like a jerk [and not even a creative jerk, I mean, "You're short"], but you've got these recent graduates working their butt to get a job, and at the end of the season, they wasted their time kissing butt to get a job, *and* unknowingly look like idiots in front of the American public [assuming they are real people and not actors as well].
This seems to me to be the next in a short, steep decline in television quality and morality.

Wait, you actually feel sorry for the attention whores that are reality contestants? It's the lowest rung of people on tv, slightly below asshats with cell phones who wave at sporting events.

They're not working their butt off to get a job. And if you're thinking they do this over the course of a season, it's not like they're doing this over the course of half a year. These things are shot in weeks.

They're willing to humiliate themselves by being on a reality show, let them be humiliated.

"SHOOTER!"

The difference is that the contestants on "Assistant" pretty much were in on the joke, or at least should've been considering Andy Dick was involved.

If the producers had the balls of the Joe Schmoe team, they would've hired the same actor from 'Fiance' and put him in a disguise to play the boss. Then at least the franchise would have some consistency.

To me, it seems like NBC's upcoming lottery hoax show is more of a sequel to My Big Fat Obnoxious Fiance (at least in spirit) than this show is.

I don't feel sorry at all for the people who purposefully appear on these shows. My understanding of this is they don't know it's a show, or they think they're just being filmed while interviewing or something? Like a 'Candid Camera' thing? If that's wrong, then I stand corrected. I think most people who voluntarily going on these those are, like you say, attention whores, and generally pretty stupid/annoying to boot.

I'm always amazed at how many people wave at the camera at sporting events ; ). Yeah, that's your fifteen seconds of fame.