I thought there was a thread to this effect, and wanted to post in it, but I can't find one. So I started one.

Anyway, my intent was to agree with a post I saw in which someone praised the competent and inspiring Lt Van Buren of Law and Order, who must be one of the best people to work for anywhere in TV land.

Another candidate for that category must be General George Hammond of Stargate SG-1: knows exactly when to maintain his authority and when to allow latitude, knows exactly when a subordinate's extra expertise should and shouldn't trump his rank, definitely cares about the people under his command, superb at judging resources, the list goes on.

A worst boss. Lewis from ER; I mean I like her and all, but she does not run the department well.

David Brent owns this thread.

Come on, name me any other tv boss whose idea of a practical joke is to tell the receptionist that she fired for stealing post-its that she didn't steal.

Best Boss: Delores Herbig from Dead Like Me. I want a boss who will let me leave any time of day with the most unbelievable excuses. She may be a flake, but what a honey of a boss!

Lou Grant as a double (though I'll only post once): Mary Tyler Moore Show and the eponymous Lou Grant. I'd also nominate Nancy Marchand of the latter, as his boss. Remember her before Livia Soprano days?

Lou was the boss you wanted to have, tough, soft when you need him to be, smart as a whip, someone who would actually mentor you, and nurture you when you needed it, kick your ass when you needed it, and promote you when you deserved it, without being threatened by his employees' success. Needless to say, this single girl was in for a rude awakening when she entered the work force. Though I'm lucky enough to have had different pieces of Lou in male bosses I did have.

And Nancy Marchand? Again, smart, supportive of her reporters, hands off except when they needed the support, a classy broad (clearly patterned after the wonderful Katharine Graham.)

I know I'll come up with other ideas, but these jumped into my head so quickly, that they have to be my number 1 picks for best.

For worst, well, Montgomery Burns has to be on the top 10 list (sorry, Smithers!). The potential for dogskinning alone puts him in this company. Sunless Nick, you don't think Kerry or Romano beat Lewis scalpels down?

There's a biggie that's on the tip of my tongue, but I just can't pin it down yet.

I don't know, I think Monty Burns would be a great boss if I were like Homer. I'd be able to show up late, take naps, nearly destroy the city on more than one occasion, but my boss would never fire me. I think that's a pretty sweet deal!

Yeah, Susan's not really much of an authority figure. I'd much rather have her lackadaisical approach than be under the Weaver/Romano iron fist. I would have beaten Romano with his own arm if I had to work for him. I don't go for that sexual harrassment crap. I would have called Kerry a fascist douchebag, but probably not to her face. Because, that bitch is scary.

Best boss? Leo from That 70s Show. He doesn't really care if you show up or not, and he's always holding. Awesome.

After acknowledging a heaping pile of word to the Bad Boss pile-on I'm envisioning crushing Susan Lewis right now, I'd like to give the Best TV Boss award to...

Carlos Bernard's Tony Almeida from 24. Fair, caring, reasonable, discerning and wise, C.B.'s Tony was just the right mixture of strong leader, excellent decision-maker and good friend, which is everything you want in a great, likeable but still effective supervisor. He was (almost) never rude to those under him, never disciplined them unless it was necessary, was helpful and supportive when employees were in distress and was in general an all-around stand-up guy. Bernard once said in an interview that he thought his character was the only person on 24 who was doing his or her job "the right way," and I agree. Well, up until that whole committing treason thing in season three. And even during that debacle, he was as compassionate as possible...with regard to his subordinates, anyway. As for the Americans put at risk via his actions, er, compassionate probably isn't the perfect word to describe his attitude toward them at that time. But hey, Great Boss doesn't have to equal Perfect Boss and rarely does. The Good Mr. Almeida is still a-okay with me, treason and all, 'cause hey, this is America, and we practically love traitors here. Especially where matters of national security are concerned. Now if Tony could only get rid of his schmucky ex-wife, who was skimming dangerously close to a Jack Bauer level of assholishness as a character and a boss in 24's last season. My beloved Tony could really do quite a lot better.

Angela Bower on Who's the Boss. Not sure if she was best or worst though. Probably worst. Highlights of being employed for her included.... cleaning up for mother who's in a seperate building on same property; expected free babysitting of her boy, having to be flashed at by employer in the shower; eventually liaisons with the employer. List can go on and on.

Ooooh, good submission, Bobbalouie78. Angela Bower isn't exactly one of the better bosses from the world of television. I used to have a soft spot for this series, because of the interesting female executive/employer/breadwinner with a male housekeeper/single father angle--an interesting presence on the '80s line-up in terms of gender roles. Even if they did obnoxiously title the damn thing "Who's the Boss?" But, your post reminds us not everything about Angela or Tony's situation was terrific. At all.

Yeah, he did suck.

What about Dr House? Is he a good boss or a bad one?

Demented hayseed Jimmy James, aka Macho Business Donkey Wrestler. He bought most of the staff Miatas and "above average hats"

YES. Jimmy James ruled. Best of the sardonic but ultimately well-meaning good t.v. bosses, right up there with my beloved Rip Torn as Arthur on The Larry Sanders Show.

I guess that depends on if you are a glutton for abuse ;) If you're a not-on-TV normal human being, bad boss. Between the comments to solely get under your skin, the arrogance, and the forced illegal searches, I think any self respecting person would quite. But damn, he is sure fun to watch!

I wholeheartedly second this. I recently saw an episode of Stargate: Atlantis that guest-starred a General Hammond who was really the chosen form of a non-corporeal being who was causing the Atlantis team to hallucinate a false reality. I'm usually not the sharpest potato in the loaf when it comes to things like that, but in this case from the moment the character came on-screen I was all "Hey, what's wrong with General Hammond? He's being all mean and unreasonable! I bet that's not really Hammond at all!" I couldn't believe that Hammond would ever act that way of his own free will (and hey - I was right!)

Slightly OT question: are the above spoiler tags necessary? Has the full first season of SGA aired in the States? (In which case, no tags necessary, right?)

Damn! Someone else thought my thoughts and posted first! Yes, Lou Grant was a great boss, twice -- and all the better a character for his imperfections. I don't mean the "crusty yet benign" part, which I suppose is a bit of a TV standby and has been seen in other characters; but the fact that he was an old-fashioned guy who'd learned his job in a prefeminist era and whose thought were not always up to date. And yet, when something came up that mattered for his employees or workplace or anybody he cared about, he always "got it" just fine, and better than you might have expected.

And yes, the great Nancy Marchand (won't they bring out all 4 seasons of Lou Grant on DVD please? I won't even demand any extras, I just want to see the shows). Mrs. Pynchon was a fantastic character, a dilettante socialite who had inherited the paper from her husband and who surprised everyone (including herself) by becoming a tough, knowledgeable, principled boss.

Another one who comes to mind: Hal Linden as Barney Miller. He supervised his detectives with humanity and discipline, never tolerating unprofessionalism or discourtesy to civilians.

Best: Delores Herbig "Brown Eyes" - Dead Like Me

Worst: That seedy man, David Brent

Okay...someone's going to have to help me with their names (I'm TERRIBLE with names, even for shows I've watched faithfully for years)...but:

1. One of the best bosses is the leutenant from Law & Order: SVU. Can't remember his name, but he used to be on LA Law? He's fantastic. Challenges the people working for him, but is always there to defend them. He's supportive and encouraging. Love him!

2. Worst boss? Best boss? You be the judge. Some days I'd love him, other days I'd want to smack him! He was the big boss on the old Law & Order (original) shows...a crotchety older gentleman, who sat back & provided wise ass comments to the DAs in his fancy schmancy leather-bound book lined office.

3. Funny that people dissed Angela from Who's The Boss, because I was thinking what an EASY person she'd be to work for! She was fairly wishy-washy, and easily manipulated. If she was ever being unreasonable, I think you could fairly easily make her see that. Overall, quite a nice job, I'd think. Very nice place to live, great food to eat, and the benefits weren't bad either for Tony and his daughter.

4. Arthur (?) on WKRP in Cincinnati would be a GREAT boss! Same reasons as listed in #1 and #3 above. A big teddy bear of a guy, very kind-hearted and generous.

Oh, that was Adam Schiff (played by Steven Hill). I loved him...especially compared to that idiot that is the district attorney now.

Jimmy James (the man so nice they named him twice)! Ok, so he's kind of blathering and off-topic sometimes, but he's a nice, silly guy-- oh, and gives sports cars for Xmas!

ITA with many of the vote here, especially Barney Miller and Jimmy James (after all, don't mess with the man with the wayback machine).

I have to toss in a nom for Homicide: Life on the Streets' Lt. Al Giardello, the man who took no crap from anyone (including Pembleton); bucked against the brass on everything from his squad's clearance rates to his beloved Addidas Samba sneakers that he wore on duty; and constantly reminded his detectives that X almost never marked the spot, the obvious answer was rarely the right one, and you didn't always get your man; and all the while did his best to be a benevolent boss and get the best out of his squad and teach them how to be the best detectives they could be.

Hello? Arvin Sloan? Had his employee's fiance killed? And if that weren't bad enough, there's all the inoppropriate touching....ick

I agree with Barney Miller and Lt. Al Giardello, they were good bosses. IMO the.worst.boss.ever was the Lt. on Starksy and Hutch. He gave orders that nobody followed and make threats regarding disciplinary actions that never happened.

My worst boss nomination: Steve Carell's character on "The Office" (U.S. version). His "bad boss" character just seems more dismayingly real than some of the others.

Have to give worst boss award to Louis DePalma. Many, many, many years ago I worked a summer job for a skanky, lech like Louis. Not at all fun.

Best boss? If I had been drafted, I would have liked to report to Col. Sherman Potter. He knew and trusted the skilled medical folks, didn't second guess, was fair and would let slide by the sillier military rules.

I do have a bit of a crush on Gil Grissom

How about Tony Soprano? Yes, he's a great character on TV, but I think he qualifies as a bad boss (decapitation, limb removal, to name a few quirks).

Judge Bone from Picket Fences count? He was pretty bossy, and he was the boss of them in his courtroom. He kicked ass on a daily basis.

Also, the Dancing Bandit was enjoyable (atleast, for a bit) as the mayor in Picket Fences. Seemed like she'd be fun to work for. But then, I enjoy Marlee Matlin in anything.

Worst - Arvin Sloane. He had his employer's fiance killed, another employer's wife killed, made them all believe they were working for the good guys, and was responsible for the terrible deaths of countless innocent people all in the name of discovering the mysteries of long-dead Italian prophet. Whew.

Ditto on Arvin Sloane. Additionally, he was Uncle Inappropriate with someone he thought was his daughter. He wasn't much better with his real daughter. And he is apparently inescapable. Even if you change allegiances or sides in the spy game. He will always be there to boss you.

Harry Pearce on MI-5/Spooks is a great boss (at least in Season 1, which is as far as I've gotten).

The last episode of season 1 has a wonderful illustration of his greatness -- his underlings have defied his orders and gone behind his back on their own agenda because they think he's gone irrational over a particular issue, and he finds out and furiously calls them into his office. He stands there, fuming, arms crossed, while they explain themselves (articulately and convincingly), and you think he's going to rip them some new ones.....and then he visibly deflates. Sits down calmly, hears them out further, agrees with their decision and findings, praises them, and then sends them on their way with a "forgive me if I don't hug you all."

So reasonable, forgiving, magnanimous....why can't my boss be like that?

Sherman Potter would be a good boss, but I'd prefer Henry Blake. A pushover who doesn't like confrontation-that's my idea of a good boss!

Worst has to be Weaver. I know Lewis sucks and a lot of people didn't like Romano, but at least they're honest. Weaver will lie, cheat, and hang you out to dry if it serves her purposes and covers up her own incompetence ( leaving her pager in the ladies room? Treating a patient without making a chart and then making shit up when he dies?) while all the time telling you to trust her and that she's covering for you. She's the coworker you can't turn your back on.

Yeah, that was really fucked up. One of the worst things any character on that series ever did.

You'd think that'd be a good thing, onlyinPV; unfortunately, you'd be wrong. I work for a Henry Blake and everyday is pure torture. The insane truly run the insane asylum where I work!

I'd say David Addison on Moonlighting would be a good, or at least a fun, boss to have. Maddie possibly less so. It's difficult to think of the good bosses actually. I agree with the mentions of Harry from Spooks/MI5 above, and I'd say Foyle from Foyle's War.

The worst? Well, David Brent obviously, Edina Monsoon on Ab Fab (although you could probably get away with anything with her as a boss), and the Watchers Council on BtVS/AtS, who collectively sucked (apart from Giles, obviously). And working for Basil Fawlty on Fawlty Towers wasn't exactly a picnic for Manuel and Polly!

In my undecided category, Angel on AtS. He had many faults as a boss (firing his whole staff, trying to strangle Wesley to death, accepting the Wolfram & Heart offer on his staff's behalf and more), but when it came down to it, he would often do whatever it took to save his team's lives (even though... well, most if not all of them died by the end of the series). And he even gave Harmony a letter of recommendation after she's betrayed him!

Amen to that!



And reads terrible poems to her. Not to mention that he thinks he's a "born entertainer". Shudders. But he is a funny character.

Monty Burns: Well, he never seems to remember his employees' names, so that would be good in case you did something incredibly stupid (like Homer often does). On the other hand, he is "el Diablo". So who knows?

Judge Harry Stone on Night Court was a good boss. A little too friendly with the employees sometimes, but nobody's perfect.

ITA. Plus, I ahem, liked Romano - so his inappropriate advances would have been fine with me. *Blushes* Moving on.....

Also agree with the mentions of Foyle from Foyle's War. He would be a boss you could really respect and trust, I think.

Best boss Sam Malone from Cheers, there's guy that was okay to hang out with.

Worst Boss: Mel Sharples from Alice, did that guy ever talk with a normal tone of voice? The guy did nothing but screamed at everybody, waitresses and costumers alike. How the heck did he stay in business?

Unless you were female. I used him as the sexual harassment poster boy in a Pixel Challenge about a million years ago. It was a tie between him and Niles Crane (though I know technically Daphne never worked for Niles, all that hair-sniffing was still disturbing).

What about Donald Trump? Now there's a guy whose jokes you HAVE TO laugh at, and they suck rocks. Also, you have to keep smoothing his ego that he's "yooge" and everything he owns is "biggest in the world".

I get enough of him from my weekly dose of The Apprentice. Imagine that Carolyn works for him. *Shudders* Brave woman.



Hee! Also, he beats ppl up with phones a lot. Or just one guy. But he will pay your hospital bill if he beat you up, talk about a health plan.

Btw - how can we know Donald Trump doesn't do any of those things?

Javier from Felicity is the singlemost greatest boss ever. Simply for his accent.

However, I would also love working for Chief Reilly from Rescue Me (but not The Grinch). Reilly would do anything for any of his guys, I suspect, even if he acts like he hates them.

aquariphonics, re: Chief Reilly. I love watching him, but as a female, I'm not sure I'd want to work for him. I think he's extremely supportive of his guys, but not as much of women (well, Laura, in this case). 'Course, this is a moot point. I have about as much chance of being a firefighter as I do of being Cat Woman.

But Javier wants to know every single thing about your private life. And keeps asking you if he looks fat. I actually thought he was pretty annoying. Warm-hearted, but annoying, and kinda stereotypical.

Still, much better than Monty Burns.

A good boss I'm surprised to see nobody mentioned yet: Assistant Director Walter Skinner from The X-Files, played by Mitch Pileggi. He put up with a LOT of insubordination from Fox Mulder, but he respected Mulder as an agent and always defended him to the top brass. He wasn't afraid to get his hands dirty, especially if it meant protecting Mulder and Scully, and ended up being one of their only allies.

More good bosses:
Rupert Giles from Buffy (at least through the first three seasons, excluding the awful "Helpless" -- I'm only on season four so far).
Judge Harry Stone from Night Court.
Tony "Soulpatch" Almeida from 24.

Somewhere in between:
Dr. Perry Cox from Scrubs (an abrasive and abusive jerk, but had the potential to be a great mentor at times).
Michael Bluth from Arrested Development (he was an honest guy who meant well, but his employees didn't respect him or take him seriously, and who could blame them?).

Bad bosses:
Michael Scott from The Office (NBC).
David Brent from The Office (BBC).
The woman from season 4 of 24 (I forget her name, but she was the completely irrational boss with the crazy daughter).
Mr. Burns from The Simpsons.
Mr. Pitt from Seinfeld.

I didn't see anyone say G.O.B. on Arrested Development. He might be the worst boss in history. Started off constantly showing how much more money he had by buying increasingly expensive suits and culminated in firing the entire staff at the X-mas party. That's pretty bad.

G.O.B. was so bad that he was technically speaking fired by one of his employees. But the Bluth Company employees must be used to extreme abuse. Even Michael strikes me as a pretty bad boss.

Although he could be a pain in the neck, Mel Cooley from The Dick Van Dyke Show was a pretty good boss to Rob, Sally, and Buddy - they teased him mercilessly, played practical jokes on him, and got loads of laughs in their scripts at his expense; yet they still had jobs to go to every day despite the fact that he could have fired them (plus his brother-in-law Alan Brady could have axed him at any time!)

Lots of good choices already. How about Louie De Palma? I'm not crazy about Danny De Vito, but a lot of people loved that character. The really lousy bosses are the ones with no real power who think they're kings. Like Mr. Wick. Drew Carey had a lot of bad bosses, but Mr. Wick was the worst. Drunk, incompetent, and he forced Drew to marry him. And poor Johnson getting fired.

Drew was low-level management, so I guess he counts as a boss. He was actually quite good, always putting his employees first, and working hard to save the store.

Sloane's got to be the worst boss, mass murder and all that. I remember one scene this past season when Dixon questioned Sloane, and Sloane dumped all over him. A few episodes later, Dixon questioned Jack Bristow (who was temporarily in charge), and Jack laid down the law, but then explained his thinking. Jack was a good boss. Dixon wasn't that good a boss from what I remember.

James Caan is a good boss on Las Vegas.

House is like an evil school teacher. He stands at the whiteboard trying to get answers. As a boss, it depends on what quality of House you are referring to. His favorites are the ones he belittles the most; for example, at the beginning it was Foreman then Chase. He just likes to be mean to them and every once in awhile he does something worthy of Great Boss hood. Like when he was trying not to fire one of his ducklings. I think he even tried the suggestion of a pay cut that Cameron (?) came up with. Not a lot of bosses would do that.

I have to get on the Lou Grant bandwagon as the World Best Boss. He is tough but still has a cuddly side. Like when Mary was robbed twice, he gave her a new coffee pot. He of course said it was an old one that made terrible coffee.

Oh, seriously! What a great pick. He was a nightmare.

I've got to agree with those who've mentioned Lou Grant from MTM. As long as you aren't intimidated by people like that (which I'm not), then you'd do just fine. Love him! And the thing is, guys like that love people who are spunky & stand up for themselves. They get a kick out of it. Particularly if you're a cute female who does it, and who also does a good job. (I know, I know...non-PC, but true.)

I think that Frasier (in the early years) was funny to watch on the sitcom, because you'd see the behind-the-scenes of why something was funny. But living and working in that situation? Would probably NOT be very funny. And I wouldn't want to work for someone as fussy as that. You could try as hard as you wanted to get everything 'right', but chances would always be VERY good that you were annoying him in one way or another.

Most two-faced boss? Larry Tate from "Bewitched."

Typical client meeting:

Darrin (finishing a presentation): So what do you think?

Client: I'm not sure it'll work...

Larry: You're fired, Darrin - clean out your desk!

Client: ....but I love it!

Larry: Did I say fired? I mean promoted! Move your stuff into the corner office, partner! Let's have another drink to celebrate!


Tool.