alan sepinwall, television critic for "the star-ledger", said the episode was satisfying, although he felt it was short on laughs, except for jim's antics with the tuxedo and the episode's documentary-style interviews. sepinwall particularly praised the twist of michael quitting and said he looked forward to seeing where the subplot went. jeff labrecque said "watching jim flail for approval [was] one of the episode's most awkward delights", but he said the episode was really about "the type of man michael scott really is". labrecque also said he looked forward to seeing how michael regained his job, and raised the suggestion that the reason michael clashed so much with charles was because he was intimidated by the man's race. brian howard of "the journal news" said, "for 22 minutes of not much fun and only some funny, 'new boss' was a pretty good episode." he particularly liked the ending, which he said he did not see coming and served as a kind of redemption for michael; howard also liked pam's documentary interviews and jim's failed efforts to make a good impression to charles. several reviewers particularly praised the line about the "two-way petting zoo", a zoo in which people pet the animals and the animals pet back.