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Pointy-Haired Boss: Difference between revisions
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** The few times [[Jerkass|Frank]] [[The Neidermeyer|Burns]] was put in charge, he was literally a criminally incompetent leader (as well as a doctor, but that's another trope there), bordering on [[Bad Boss]] turf.
** Hawkeye himself, while regarded as the best surgeon, did not do well when put in charge of the unit. Anytime that situation presented itself, his friends would have reactions in the realm of "oh god NOOOOO"
* Lieutenant Brass comes off very much as an incompetent and biased boss in the first episode of ''[[CSI]]'', but it may just be that his promotion put him in over his head—when he is demoted to Homicide in the second episode, he becomes every bit the equal to the crime lab folks in professional competence. His demotion to a position of competence is actually a ''violation'' of [[The Peter Principle]]; something that is even
* ''[[Homicide: Life on the Street]]''
** Detective Gharty is incompetent both as a beat cop ''and'' as the head of IAD, but turns out to be proficient when he finally lands as a homicide detective. When he is finally re-promoted to head the homicide division in the finale movie, he loses some of his competence again, becoming a shill for the department brass. It is noted that he's not entirely incompetent in the role, but in Giardello has some pretty big shoes to fill—and many of the other detectives note that "he ain't no Gee." Gharty is treated as a rather sympathetic case. While he is intelligent and capable, it has been shown on multiple occasions that he really isn't suited for the rough life of a Baltimore police officer and should have retired years ago (he has earned two citations for Bravery in the past). Gharty also seems painfully aware of how unsuited he is but still helps the main characters and tries to protect them from Gaffney.
** Averted cynically with Roger Gaffney. He is shown as an incompetent detective, especially when compared to the main characters and is rerouted to a dead
* The bosses of ''[[The Office]]'' are exemplars of two different kinds of PHB. Michael Scott of the American version is a classic illustration of [[The Peter Principle]]: he was (and is) a genuinely superb salesman, but was promoted to the post of Regional Manager—a job he is absolutely unqualified for. His UK counterpart, David Brent, evidently never had ''any'' skills to begin with, making his promotion an enigma... or an illustration of the Dilbert Principle, wherein the incompetent are quickly [[Kicked Upstairs]] to a position where they will do less harm to the productive parts of the organization.
** Although it's not made as clear as in the American series, in the final episode of the British series it is suggested that Brent actually ''is'' a pretty good salesman, but is definitely not management material or as talented as he thinks he is. As for the enigma, [[Word of God]] responded to criticisms that Brent would never reach a management position with a retort that a brief look around any kind of corporate-style organisation ([[Biting the Hand Humor|including]] [[The BBC]]) would reveal that major positions were being filled by people who were even ''worse'' than Brent.
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* Dougie in ''[[Enlightened]]'' is a sort of example. While he is actually rather good at programming, his people-management skills are horrible, and he is pretty socially inept.
* ISO Administrator Mike Goss in ''[[Defying Gravity]]'' is shaping up to be this, grinding subordinates faces in their mistakes while refusing to admit to or back away from his own.
* ''[[The Brittas Empire]]'' revolves around one of these running a previously ordinary leisure center. Gordon Brittas ([[Hey, It's That Guy!|played by]] [[Red Dwarf|Chris Barrie]]) can, through sheer tactlessness and incompetence, induce psychological breakdown in pretty much anyone who
* Arthur "Big Guy" Carlson, of ''[[WKRP in Cincinnati]]''.
* In ''[[Are You Being Served?
* ''[[The Wire]]'' has several outstanding examples, both in city government and the Baltimore Police Department, with almost all authority figures fitting in somewhere between [[Corrupt Corporate Executive]] and Pointy-Haired Boss. Special note has to given to Maj. Valchek, however, who is rewarded for his incompetence by {{spoiler|being made police commissioner}}.
* This is how Major Norton was portrayed in [[Disney]]'s ''[[Davy Crockett]]'' mini-series, though he may have just seemed this way against [[Badass|Davy]].
* In [[HBO]]'s miniseries [[Chernobyl (miniseries)|Chernobyl]], Chief Engineer Dyatlov is portrayed this way due to his insistence to run the fateful security test that caused the explosion despite other plant personal trying to warn him that the conditions for that test were the incorrect ones, and then his stubborn denial that anything wrong ever happened at the place (even after, or maybe ''because of' seeing the ruins of the exploded reactor) and trying to obstruct any action to control the disaster. In a scary turn, they only sightly exaggerated the antics of the real person, mostly by removing the mention of an incident that served as the [[Freudian Excuse]] for his radioactive stubbornness.
== Music ==
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