News

Some of the nation's leading business barons will accept demotions for a new TLC reality series. The cable channel will grease the rungs of the corporate ladder with Now Who's Boss? -- a hourlong primetime series that transplants CEOs into entry-level jobs at the companies they run. TLC bought the format rights to a BBC series Back to the Floor to create Boss, which is produced by New York Times Television. In the premiere, Loews Hotels chairman and CEO Jonathan Tisch finds himself working as a housekeeper and bellhop at one of his own hotels. The experience was such an eye-opener for Tisch that it motivated him to mandate that his own executives spend one day each year doing the same. "The conceit of the series is to show an honest experience from both the executive and employee sides," said Michael Klein, who will executive produce Boss with NYTT's Matthew Gould. Other executives scheduled to trade their white collars in for blue ones include Skip Sherman, senior vp entertainment at Universal Orlando; Dan Brestle, group president of Stila Cosmetics at Estee Lauder Cos.; John Selvaggio, president of Delta Airlines' Song Air Service; Larry Flax and Rick Rosenfield, co-founders of California Pizza Kitchen; and John Vanderslice, president and CEO at Club Med Americas. Boss will begin its six-episode run in March in a time slot to be determined.