U.S. Workers Reveal which TV Show Bosses Remind Them of Their Own

RISMEDIA, July 26, 2007–Did you ever watch TV and found one of the characters eerily familiar? More than 5,700 workers participated in a national study by CareerBuilder.com, conducted by Harris Interactive, exploring TV and the workplace. From today’s primetime hits to yesterday’s classics, workers found striking similarities between their real life bosses and TV characters and personas.

When asked which TV boss most reminds them of their own boss, the most popular responses from workers included:

1. Sam Malone from “Cheers”
2. Charlie from “Charlie’s Angels”
3. Judge Judy from “Judge Judy”
4. Donald Trump from “The Apprentice”
5. Simon Cowell from “American Idol”
6. Mr. Burns from “The Simpsons”
7. Miranda Bailey from “Grey’s Anatomy”
9. Michael Scott from “The Office”
10. Tyra Banks from “America’s Next Top Model”
11. Jack from “Lost”

To shed some light on how the respondents’ selections translate to the day-to-day experiences of the workplace, Rosemary Haefner, Vice President of Human Resources at CareerBuilder.com, points to the following traits often associated with these characters/personas:

1. Sam Malone from “Cheers” — amicable, fun
2. Charlie from “Charlie’s Angels” — absentee
3. Judge Judy from “Judge Judy” — no nonsense
4. Donald Trump from “The Apprentice” — demanding, powerful
5. Simon Cowell from “American Idol” — judgmental, insulting
6. Mr. Burns from “The Simpsons” — sinister
7. Miranda Bailey from “Grey’s Anatomy” — tough, but fair
8. Michael Scott from “The Office” — idiotic
9. Tyra Banks from “America’s Next Top Model” — constantly challenging,
quick to point out flaws
10. Jack from “Lost” — smart, looks out for the team

Survey Methodology

This survey was conducted online within the United States by Harris Interactive on behalf of CareerBuilder.com among 5,727 US employees, (employed full-time; not self-employed; with no involvement in hiring decisions), ages 18 and over within the United States between June 1 and June 13, 2007. Figures for age, sex, race/ethnicity, education, region and household income were weighted where necessary to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the population. Propensity score weighting was also used to adjust for respondents’ propensity to be online.

With a pure probability sample of 5,727, one could say with a ninety-five percent probability that the overall results have a sampling error of +/-1.3 percentage points. Sampling error for data from sub-samples is higher and varies. However that does not take other sources of error into account. This online survey is not based on a probability sample and therefore no theoretical sampling error can be calculated.

For more information, visit www.careerbuilder.com/.