In the pilot for the new NBC sitcom “The Office,” Dunder Mifflin paper supply company manager Michael Scott (Steve Carell) managed to:
– Make inappropriate comments to his female supervisor and slap her bare knee.
– Lie to his staff about imminent downsizing.
– Offend co-workers of various races.
– Make his receptionist cry in a fake firing “joke.”
– Show off the “World’s Best Boss” mug that he bought for himself.
That’s just scratching the surface. Things didn’t get any better in the second episode when Scott led employees through diversity training.
The show begs the question: What’s the precedent for bad bosses on TV and in the movies? Here’s a list of other bad bosses from big- and small-screen history.
David Brent (Ricky Gervais), manager for the Wernham Hogg paper company
From: BBC’s original “The Office”
Boss type: The completely inept, uninformed nincompoop
MO: Brent makes Steve Carell’s Michael Scott a manager-of-the-year candidate, and that takes some doing. He’s more socially inept than Scott, and he also butchers Latin phrases in an attempt to make himself sound smart.
Bill Lumberg (Gary Cole), office manager at Initech
From: The movie “Office Space”
MO: He tells you he’s “gonna need you to go ahead and come in Saturday” and Sunday too.
Catchphrase: “Ummmm, yeeahhh”
Pointy-Haired Boss
From: “Dilbert” comic
MO: PHB randomly assigns meaningless and often impossible tasks to his weary subordinates. He works with evil human resources director Catbert to keep employee morale as low as possible.
Catchphrase: “Work smarter, not harder.”
Fighting back: Slips on a shield of denial whenever employees point out his stupidity.
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C. Montgomery Burns
From: “The Simpsons”
Boss type: Devilishly clever
MO: He blocks out the sun and steals the Simpson kids’ puppies in order to make a coat out of them. His finger is always near a trapdoor. He has found far too many ways to hide the nuclear waste from his power plant.
Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini), boss of the Soprano/DiMeo New Jersey crime family
From: “The Sopranos”
Boss type: The sociopathic goodfella
Rap sheet: Murder, extortion, bribery, grand larceny, tax evasion, illegal gambling, racketeering, money laundering and more murder
Defining moments: In Season 1, he nearly kills his therapist after a “breakthrough.”
In Season 2, he kills his best friend. In Season 4, he kills his “best earner.”
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Edited by Lara Weber ([email protected]) and Kris Karnopp ([email protected])