Does Someone Have to Go?

I watched it without knowing the premise beforehand.

The owners of Velocity Merchant Services should be put out of business for allowing their employees to be subjected to the mean-spirited drubbing which is at the core of this show. So how does the show work? The premise is if something is not right where you work, the problem isn't the owners or the management — heaven forbid — the problem is you, the worker, or one of your lazy, shiftless coworkers. So go find a co-worker to blame!!! The show encourages employees to badmouth each other in seemingly private interviews — which it then shares on air — and the show reveals every participating worker's salary. This show is a nightmare which seems like it was hatched by the stogie-chomping, scotch-swilling miscreants on Wall St. "Let's punish the workers if something is amiss, but there will be no consequences for owners and managers!" When this country had a broadcasting Fairness Doctrine 30+ years ago, I bet I could have used this show to get control of the license for the local Fox station. This wreck of a show sure isn't in the public's best interest! LOL

So wrong, very demeaning of the human spirit, bad idea! It's unfair to make employees throw each other under the bus. it was more about personal conflicts and agendas than business. I was amazed how little everyone was paid and at the same time how desperate they were about the possibility of loosing their job, I felt their pain. If this is what is going in in America's small businesses, we need a big change. If our 2008 crash is making small business owners take advantage of their employees by underpaying them and treating them without dignity, we're in trouble. Hopefully tonight's program from DFX company is an exception and not the norm. Bottomline this program is a terrible idea.

I think it was a bit obnoxious of Fox to once again copy television shows in other countries and assume what worked there would work here in the United States.

The original format in England is quite different in the delivery, this did not not appeal to "bleeding hearts", induce empathy or anything else for the very reasons you probably experimented with in "Americanizing" the concept. What you thought would have created any sort of sentimental reaction or controversial "movement" in the American psyche backfired on you, and the producer really ought to be fired. Just an example of carbon copying without proper assessment of the staunch differences in culture. What a disaster of a show.

I'll start by saying that I'm catching this for the first time 10 years after it originally aired. I feel like it has aged well with the exception of what a good salary was considered in 2013. I don't find the premise as ridiculous as some others do. As a boss, I think when you struggle with employee issues, you're willing to think outside of the box at some point. However, I think it's quite plausible that some may do the show for some free advertising. I'm not sure a reality show has ever existed that wasn't at least partially scripted or staged. This show is no different, but I personally felt like the emotions among the employees were genuine. Anyone who has worked in an office setting knows how volatile it can be. I will just say in conclusion that I think if the premise were tweaked and the show made today, a lot more could be done with it.