My Big Fat Obnoxious Boss

My Big Fat Obnoxious Boss
Starring William August
Jamie Denbo
David Jahn
Tamara Clatterbuck
Kent Sublette
Country of origin United States
Original language(s) English
No. of episodes 10
Production
Running time 60 minutes
Release
Original network Fox
Original release November 7 – December 12, 2004 (2004-12-12)
Chronology
Related shows My Big Fat Obnoxious Fiance, The Apprentice

My Big Fat Obnoxious Boss was a television show on the Fox Network that was filmed in July 2004[1] and aired from November–December 2004. Similar to My Big Fat Obnoxious Fiance, it was a parody of shows such as The Apprentice. The contestants performed several tasks that they were all told would help them win a job at the Chicago-based conglomerate IOCOR and a $250,000 prize. However, none of the contestants knew that the company - and the position - were fake.

The show was usually punctuated by the actions of the "boss" Mr. N. Paul Todd, whose name was an anagram of that of Donald Trump. The contestants learn about his multibillion-dollar venture capital firm IOCOR, and in any episode, he or a member of his "family" could usually be found doing something either to unsettle the contestants or to test the limit of their blindness to truth.

Fox advertised the show, along with another Apprentice-inspired show called The Rebel Billionaire, during the 2004 Major League Baseball playoffs. But the show received low ratings in the United States and was cancelled after five episodes. Fox released the remaining 5 episodes online in late March 2005. All 10 episodes were broadcast in full in the UK on Channel 4 (and on Channel 4's sister station E4), in Australia on Channel 7 and later Fox8, in Singapore on Channel 5, in Poland on TV4 and Polsat, in Malaysia on 8TV and in Denmark on SBS Net. In 2008, the entire series - including the five unaired episodes in the USA - aired on Fox Reality Channel.

Rules

The rules of the game were similar to The Apprentice. The contestants were split into teams, with a team boss immune from elimination. The teams would then compete in a challenge to determine which would be eliminated. Some of the tasks endured by the contestants included selling hot soup on a hot day, creating and selling art they made out of scraps, and selling other ridiculous products. The members of the losing team met Mr. Todd in the boardroom on the next day, where he derided their performance. The team boss nominated two teammates for elimination—because Mr. Todd explained that, in real life, the boss is never held responsible. The player not eliminated became the team boss, and the winning team named a new team boss.

The audience would then see N. Paul Todd referring to "the real boss" for the decision on who was to go. The real boss was not seen or heard until the final episode, and was kept a complete secret from the contestants. The official website suggested that the real boss could be Donald Trump's ex-wife Ivana Trump or Oprah Winfrey, although David Hickman did refer to the boss as a "him." The real boss gave no reason for the decision, so Todd was given free rein to make it up as he went along.

In the final episode, "the real boss" was revealed to be a monkey (actually a chimpanzee) who responded to the name of "Mowgli" and who made his decisions by spinning a wheel with the names of the contestants.

N. Paul Todd

N. Paul Todd was played by actor William August, a graduate of Harvard University and an experienced California attorney.

August described Todd as a man who "probably has a number of sexual harassment lawsuits pending."

Todd's catchphrase for elimination was "Get the hell out of my office." Another of his catchphrases was "Welcome to my world."

A variety of assistants helped Mr. Todd with his contests. His alleged Vice President Jamie Samuels is sent to hate the women, while the COO David Hickman is "a little too excited about these fresh-faced young men." Mr. Todd also relies on his wife Lynn and his son Kent to help judge the competition when a member of the executive team is not available.

Cast

Role Real name "Position"
N. Paul Todd William August The Obnoxious Boss
Jamie Samuels Jamie Denbo Executive Vice President, IOCOR
David Hickman David Jahn Chief Operations Officer (COO), IOCOR
Lynn Todd Tamara Clatterbuck Wife of N. Paul Todd
Kent Todd Kent Sublette Son of N. Paul Todd
Danielle Todd Danielle Schneider Daughter of N. Paul Todd
Shannon Shannon Hall Executive Assistant to N. Paul Todd
Jason Jason Kollar Bodyguard to N. Paul Todd
Michael Delaney Michael Keenan IOCOR Board Member
John Benjamin John Gilbert IOCOR Board Member

Contestants

Team 1 Team 2
Femron Concad
Candidate Age Hometown Result
Annette Dziamba - Sales 24 Whippany, New Jersey Winner of $350,000
Michael Gregorio - Liquor Sales 34 Reading, Massachusetts Runner-up; winner of $200,000
Kerry McCloskey - Marketing Director 29 Jersey City, New Jersey Eliminated in episode 10
Damien Scott - Entrepreneur 29 Chicago, Illinois Eliminated in episode 9
David Harper - Financial Advisor 25 Atlanta, Georgia Eliminated in episode 8
Douglas Dennard - Investment Banker 24 Greenville, North Carolina Eliminated in episode 7
Whitney LaBelle - Sales Director 26 Atlanta, Georgia Eliminated in episode 6
Robert Hospidor - Mortgage Broker 28 Middlesex, New Jersey Eliminated in episode 5
Tonia Jacobs - Construction 35 San Marcos, Texas Eliminated in episode 4
Elli Frank - Entertainment Marketing Company Owner 26 Jacksonville, Florida Eliminated in episode 3
Christy Hollie - Sales 30 Austin, Texas Eliminated in episode 2
Daniel Richardson - Financial Manager 29 Lewisville, Texas Eliminated in episode 1

Teams

The contestants were initially split into a male and female team. Each team was responsible for naming their opponent. The men named the female team Femron, a portmanteau of female and Enron. The women named the male team Concad, a portmanteau of con and cad.

The teams were re-organized in episode 4. At the beginning of episode 8, the remaining five players were combined into a united team for an elimination, where Damien was named team boss. Afterwards, the four players left over were split into two teams for the episode's challenge. Following that challenge, the three finalists were on their own.

Candidate Episode 1 team Episode 4 team Episode 8 team Result Team Boss (Win/Loss)
Annette Dziamba Femron Femron Femron Winner 1-2 (win in task 5, loss in tasks 2 & 7)
Michael Gregorio Concad Femron Concad Runner-up 0-1 (loss in task 1)
Kerry McCloskey Femron Concad Femron Eliminated in episode 10 0-2 (loss in tasks 3 & 5)
Damien Scott Concad Concad Concad Eliminated in episode 9 2-0 (win in tasks 3 & 7)
David Harper Concad Concad Eliminated in episode 8 1-1 (win in task 6, loss in task 4)
Douglas Dennard Concad Femron Eliminated in episode 7 0-1 (loss in task 6)
Whitney LaBelle Femron Femron Eliminated in episode 6 1-0 (win in task 4)
Robert Hospidor Concad Concad Eliminated in episode 5 1-0 (win in task 2)
Tonia Jacobs Femron Concad Eliminated in episode 4 1-0 (win in task 1)
Elli Frank Femron Eliminated in episode 3
Christy Hollie Femron Eliminated in episode 2
Daniel Richardson Concad Eliminated in episode 1
Elimination chart
Candidate 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
Annette IN LOSE IN IN WIN BR LOSE IN WIN IN WIN
Michael LOSE IN IN IN IN IN BR IN BR WIN FIRED
Kerry IN BR LOSE BR LOSE IN ININ WIN FIRED
Damien IN IN WIN IN IN IN WINWIN FIRED
David IN IN IN LOSE BRWININ FIRED
Douglas IN IN IN IN IN LOSE FIRED
Whitney IN IN BR WIN IN FIRED
Robert BRWIN IN IN FIRED
Tonia WIN IN IN FIRED
Elli IN INFIRED
Christy IN FIRED
Daniel FIRED
     The contestant won the competition.
     The contestant won as team boss on his/her team.
     The contestant lost as team boss on his/her team.
     The contestant was brought to the final boardroom.
     The contestant was fired.
     The contestant won a task granting him/her immunity.

Episodes

Episode 1: How Low Can You Go?

Episode 2: The Sword and the Soup

Episode 3: That's Fascinating

Episode 4: Craptacular!

Challenge: Sell bogus products to the public and the most sales wins. Products include canned oxygen gas, "natural" tampons, and reusable toilet paper.

Episode 5: Thanks, I Appreciate That

Challenge: Teams raced to perform certain office tasks while under fire from paintballs that Mr. N. Paul Todd shot at them. Members had to shield the team boss from getting hit or be penalized. A tie breaker came down to a 10 ball shootout.

Episode 6: Next Stop, the Guggenheim!

Challenge: Make works of art out of garbage and sell them at an art gallery they run themselves. One of the members of each team has to masquerade as the artist who made the works of art.

Episode 7: Drop Dead Gorgeous

Challenge: Design an advertising campaign for 1 of 3 products. They include home security land mines, breast milk, and plastic surgery for the deceased.

Episode 8: Blowin' in the Wind

Challenge: Sell as much distribution of T-shirts, baseball hats, and mugs that had written on them "Chicago is for losers", "The windy city blows", and "I hate Chicago" to real shop owners as possible.

Episode 9: My Kingdom for a Chicken

Episode 10: The Real Boss is...

After the show

Annette became a professional model, and ironically, later appeared as "Trump's Executive Assistant" (boardroom lobby receptionist) on several episodes of The Celebrity Apprentice.[2] Kerry wrote a book. As of 2007, Elli remained the president of Eye5.[3] Jamie Denbo and Kent Sublette both moved on to late night television programs, with Denbo being featured on The Late Late Show and Sublette joining the writing staff of Saturday Night Live in 2007. Robert appeared on the 2014 reality show Utopia.

References

  1. ↑ The month was identified as July in Episode 2. The contestants demonstrate knowledge of The Apprentice, which aired in 2004, the same year as this show.
  2. ↑ IMDB
  3. ↑ Richard Johnson, Please Don't Call Her Madam, New York Post, September 13, 2007

External links

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