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TV Alert! Joel Manby CEO of Herschend Family Group


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Hopefully Dollywood, Silver Dollar city, and Wild Adventures

 

This would make sense seeing as how the show seems to highlight three different locations that the CEO visits. As for filming, my guess would be last year at the latest.

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^Good point, never thought about just doing a few different departments at one park. I hope they would at least visit more than one property though. It will certainly be interesting to see what positions they cover.

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Here is the Announcement...

 

Four new CEO’s become an ‘Undercover Boss’ on CBS

March 12, 2010 by admin

Filed under: Undercover Boss News

Easy AdSense by UnrealCBS announced today the four remaining companies who are participating in the first season of UNDERCOVER BOSS. The series airs Sundays (9:00-10:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network.

 

The remaining Season One companies are:

 

Roto-Rooter (Rick L. Arquilla, President and COO): The largest plumbing provider in North America

1-800-Flowers (Chris McCann, President): One of the world’s largest florists

GSI Commerce (Michael G. Rubin, Chairman, President and CEO): The e-commerce giant behind numerous top U.S. retailers

Herschend Family Entertainment (Joel Manby, President and CEO): A leader in the world of family theme parks and attractions

The air schedule for upcoming episodes of UNDERCOVER BOSS follows:

 

Sunday, March 14: Churchill Downs (Bill Carstanjen, COO)

Sunday, March 21: GSI Commerce (Michael G. Rubin, Chairman, President and CEO)

Sunday, March 28: Herschend Family Entertainment (Joel Manby, President and CEO)

*Airdates for the two additional episodes will be announced at a later date.

 

Each week, UNDERCOVER BOSS follows a different executive as they leave the comfort of their corner office for an undercover mission to examine the inner workings of their companies. While working alongside their employees, they see the effects their decisions have on others, where the problems lie within their organizations and get an up-close look at both the good and the bad while discovering the unsung heroes who make their companies run.

 

The companies whose chief executives have already made the undercover journey during the first season are Waste Management (Larry O’Donnell, President and C.O.O.), Hooters (Coby G. Brooks, President and C.E.O.), 7-Eleven (Joseph M. DePinto, President and C.E.O.) and White Castle (Dave Rife, Owner/Executive Board Member). This week’s episode of UNDERCOVER BOSS (Sunday, March 14) follows the COO of the world famous horse racing company Churchill Downs, Bill Carstanjen, as he travels to the backstretch of his company where he will walk, wash and feed the massive thoroughbreds and discover what life is like for the cleaning crew after hours.

 

UNDERCOVER BOSS is the number one new series of the 2009-2010 season, averaging 18.74 million viewers, 8.0/17 in adults 25-54 and 7.1/17 in adults 18-49.

 

Stephen Lambert and Eli Holzman are executive producers for Studio Lambert, Ltd.

 

(source: CBS)

 

http://undercoverbossmba.com/ceos-undercover-boss-cbs

 

BTW this is Joel for those unfimilar

 

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Silver Dollar City just posted where the show was filmed at.

Here is what Silver Dollar City posted...

 

"Herschend Family Entertainment’s President and CEO, Joel Manby is featured on the CBS Hit Show UNDERCOVER BOSS, Sunday March 28, 8 PM CST. Each week, UNDERCOVER BOSS follows a different executive as they leave the comfort of their corner office for an undercover mission to examine the inner workings of their companies.... See Joel at work alongside other employees at Silver Dollar City and The Showboat Branson Belle."

 

Should be fun to watch. I LOVE SDC!

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At the end of Last nights episode they showed clips of this show

 

From what I saw was:

 

Silver Dollar City

Dollywood (may have been SDC, it was a quick clip)

The Duckboat tours (I am pretty sure it was Stone Mountain's tour, but could very well have been Chattanooga as well)

 

I cant wait to see the Duckboat tours section of the episode.

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^I doubt they would go to three different parks, I can see them focusing at one park and several aspects. Ride Op, Food, Maintenance, etc. Perhaps even some of the more white collar jobs behind the scenes.

 

Well I can definitely see them doing a few different places because that is normally how the show is set up, and if he did a few different departments at one park or location it might "blow his cover", as it would be odd to have someone train in so many different places over a few day period.

 

I like this show. It is a little scripted in some parts, obviously, but overall it is pretty decent. I am excited to get my amusement park fix next week with this show coming up.

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Well I can definitely see them doing a few different places because that is normally how the show is set up, and if he did a few different departments at one park or location it might "blow his cover", as it would be odd to have someone train in so many different places over a few day period.

 

Like having a massive camera and lighting crew following him around won't give him away.

 

The teaser is on Youtube here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhSECPw3py4

 

Seems like they added quite a bit of drama, but there's some good shots of SDC!

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^They say they're filming a documentary about entry level jobs (or seasonal jobs as the last episode did) to explain the cameras and sudden appearance of this person on the job for a day. I don't think it's scripted, but I do think they knew the right people to choose (everyone has a freakin' sob story!) And may take a few takes of the CEOs to get them to say something camera worthy.

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Saw this article from the Detroit Free Press and thought I would share it with everyone. Looks like I'll have to set my Tivo!

 

Michigan native hides his identity as an amusement park boss

 

BY PATRICIA MONTEMURRI

FREE PRESS

 

"Step right up!" The boss of an amusement park goes incognito -- to the amusement of his employees -- on the next episode of CBS' popular new series, "Undercover Boss."

 

Joel Manby, a Michigan native who helped launch the Saturn brand, sold Saturns from the showroom floor and ran Saab for General Motors, will be featured in Sunday's episode.

 

He's now the CEO of a Georgia-based company of theme parks and aquariums called Herschend Family Entertainment. On the show, he dons oversized glasses and a beard to hide his identity from workers who take tickets, wash the streets, run the rides and serve the hungry masses at the company's entertainment venues.

 

The show films corporate executives working in entry-level positions to gain a better understanding of the company's weaknesses and strengths. CBS says "Undercover Boss" has averaged almost 19 million viewers per episode since its debut after the Super Bowl. The show has featured the CEOs of companies such as Waste Management hauling trash and the top guy of White Castle flinging sliders.

 

"I never worked the front line jobs in the industry, and I really wanted to do it," said Manby, speaking by phone Tuesday from his Georgia office. His company operates venues in nine states, including aquariums near Philadelphia and Cincinnati and Dollywood in Pigeon Forge, Tenn. Manby filmed the episode last fall, working at several of the parks.

 

Manby, 50, grew up in Battle Creek. At Albion College, he played baseball and was the class of 1981 valedictorian.

 

He joined General Motors and attended Harvard Business School on a GM scholarship.

 

Throughout "Undercover Boss," Manby comes into contact with employees weighed down by personal hardships. He says the experience moved him and inspired him to improve some of the programs the company offers employees.

 

At the Silver Dollar City theme park in Branson, Mo., Manby got up at 3:30 a.m. to wash the streets with an employee named Richard. Richard, said Manby, reminded him of the work ethic of his own father, who lost a business selling farming equipment and struggled to provide for his family, ending up as a factory worker late in life.

 

Manby also worked as a waiter on a dinner showboat called the Branson Belle.

 

"I've never been a waiter and it scared me to death," said Manby. "I didn't drop anything. I really learned the value and how important tips are."

 

The recession, says Manby, has meant no raises for company employees, cutbacks to 401(k) contributions, and pay cuts for top executives.

 

"If you have a heart, and you can care, you tend to withdraw. You almost don't want to face the pain that some of your decisions are going to cause," he said. "You have to keep the company profitable or everybody loses their job."

 

Because of the show, Manby says, he can't imagine making decisions that will affect employees without seeing the faces of some of his front-line workers.

 

"Forget the TV part. I will definitely go out and put my uniform on again," he said. "If anybody gets the opportunity, they should do that."

 

Contact PATRICIA MONTEMURRI:313-223-4538 or

 

pmontemurri@freepress.com

 

ADMIN EDIT: I have gone ahead and merged your new thread with our existing thread for this topic. In the future, please use the search function to ensure that you aren't creating a duplicate thread--the existing thread was on the same page of the forums when you posted this.

Edited by jedimaster1227
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Well I can definitely see them doing a few different places because that is normally how the show is set up, and if he did a few different departments at one park or location it might "blow his cover", as it would be odd to have someone train in so many different places over a few day period.

 

Like having a massive camera and lighting crew following him around won't give him away.

 

The teaser is on Youtube here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhSECPw3py4

 

Seems like they added quite a bit of drama, but there's some good shots of SDC!

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhSECPw3py4

 

Looks like it will be a pretty good episode and hopefully he will do some work in Ride Operations.

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I'm curious as to how they came about following Herschend and not another company. Why not Merlin, Parc or even Six Flags since its well known. I wonder if most of these companies were approached by CBS of if there was any time where a company could have went to them. More than likely all the companies were asked by CBS but I would still like to know if they had other theme park companies on their mind first.

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I'm curious as to how they came about following Herschend and not another company. Why not Merlin, Parc or even Six Flags since its well known. I wonder if most of these companies were approached by CBS of if there was any time where a company could have went to them. More than likely all the companies were asked by CBS but I would still like to know if they had other theme park companies on their mind first.

 

I would suppose other operators in addition declined because:

 

Merlin is not an American Corporation (along with Parque Reunidos)

 

PARC is not "popular" enough (Would you have ever heard of Magic Springs/Darien Lake/Elitch Gardens if you were not an Enthusiast; Everyone has heard of Dollywood and Branson MS.)

 

As for Six Flags... I really don't know why they wouldn't say yes or be contacted. It would have been a great promo for the parks while pulling in a larger audience due to the fact everyone has heard of Six Flags. Maybe there are still some Warner ties at Six Flags. And no one knows ehat shapiro looks like.

 

Cedar Fair- Dick Kinzel is too old to have a reality show

 

Busch Parks- A subsidiary of Blackstone, dont know if this would have anything to do with that.

 

CBS probably did not approach Disney due to conflicts of Intrests.

 

Herschend kind of surprises me, but I would not have been suprised if it was Six Flags...

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