# Best Boss / Worse Boss On TV **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 7, 2010, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-boss-worse-boss-on-tv/559824 "2010-11-07T22:33:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Greg\_Charles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/839c29/32.png) [@Greg\_Charles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greg_Charles)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2010, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-boss-worse-boss-on-tv/559824/41 "2010-11-09T00:53:41Z")
Worst: Ron Howard from the Twilight Zone episode, an omnipotent eight-year-old, who will punish any grumble by turning you into a human jack-in-the-box and sending you into the corn field. You can’t even quit! Best: Scorpio from The Simpsons. Door always open, quick with praise and encouragement, and rewards success by giving you the Denver Broncos. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2010, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-boss-worse-boss-on-tv/559824/42 "2010-11-09T01:15:22Z")
> [@Greg\_Charles](#): > > Worst: **Ron Howard** from the Twilight Zone episode, an omnipotent eight-year-old, who will punish any grumble by turning you into a human jack-in-the-box and sending you into the corn field. You can’t even quit! Billy Mumy. ---
**Author:** ![Gil-Martin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Gil-Martin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gil-Martin)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2010, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-boss-worse-boss-on-tv/559824/43 "2010-11-09T01:19:14Z")
Captain Picard doesn’t seem too bad. ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2010, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-boss-worse-boss-on-tv/559824/44 "2010-11-09T01:25:54Z")
Jimmy James of Newsradio could be the best or the worst. Totally arbitrary, he would give unending support for something and totally forgiving of anything and be the best boss ever at times. But at other times he was just a fickle, mind-screwing ass. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2010, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-boss-worse-boss-on-tv/559824/45 "2010-11-09T01:40:50Z")
> [@Bob Ducca](#): > > Worst boss… How about Murphy Brown? The turnover at that desk… It’s unfair to place that entirely on Murphy, though. MOST of it goes to the people who keep hiring them, despite the track record. Once they’re discounted, the blame is pretty evenly split between Murphy and the secretaries. The secretaries, who range from incompetent to potentially good at the job, but temperamentally unsuited to do it for Murphy. Murphy, who could really dial the hardass back a bit. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Jeffrey\_Lebowski](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_jeffrey_lebowski/32/215_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Jeffrey\_Lebowski](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Jeffrey_Lebowski)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2010, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-boss-worse-boss-on-tv/559824/46 "2010-11-09T01:42:21Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Worst: Arthur Carlson of WKRP. Never let your children run your business. The worst? Really? I think that the big guy would’ve been a terrific boss - he was comassionate and treated his workers like family. How could that possibly qualify him as someone for whom you wouldn’t want to work? ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2010, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-boss-worse-boss-on-tv/559824/47 "2010-11-09T01:55:15Z")
Arthur Carlson would have been a great boss. His mom on the other hand… bitch on wheels. ---
**Author:** ![StGermain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stgermain/32/2868_2.png) [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2010, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-boss-worse-boss-on-tv/559824/48 "2010-11-09T02:15:03Z")
Worst has to be Greg House. StG ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2010, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-boss-worse-boss-on-tv/559824/49 "2010-11-09T03:10:34Z")
> [@wolfman](#): > > Jimmy James of Newsradio could be the best or the worst. > > Totally arbitrary, he would give unending support for something and totally forgiving of anything and be the best boss ever at times. > But at other times he was just a fickle, mind-screwing ass. I thought the same thing. He might get you arrested for helping in one of his schemes or give you a helicopter because he liked a joke you told. J.R. J.R. Ewing could be a great boss if you were an attractive '70s type willing to put out. Otherwise he was probably a monumental prick. George and Louise Jefferson were excellent bosses to Florence. He must have doubled her pay about three times during the run of the series. Likewise Mr. Sheffield in _The Nanny_ was rather generous and not terribly demanding of domestics. ---
**Author:** ![waterj2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/858c86/32.png) [@waterj2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/waterj2)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2010, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-boss-worse-boss-on-tv/559824/50 "2010-11-09T03:24:24Z")
OK, more commanding officer than boss, but Col. Potter of MASH has to be up there in the running for best boss. Someone who really goes out of their way to be fair to those under him, go to bat for them when they’re right, and discipline them when deserved. ---
**Author:** ![Pandoranoid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce73a5/32.png) [@Pandoranoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pandoranoid)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2010, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-boss-worse-boss-on-tv/559824/51 "2010-11-09T04:17:20Z")
Best: Dave Nelson on ‘Newsradio’, because he was just adorable. Plus the rest of the staff set the bar for performance nice and low. Worst: Whomever is in charge of Paddy’s pub in "It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2010, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-boss-worse-boss-on-tv/559824/52 "2010-11-12T02:55:53Z")
Another good boss (with a great name): Admiral Chegwidden of JAG. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-boss-worse-boss-on-tv/559824.md?page=2)