in its original american broadcast on march 19, 2009, "new boss" was watched by 7.95 million overall viewers and received a nielsen rating of 3.9 among adults aged between 18 and 49, and 4.4 among ages 18 to 34. the episode received generally positive reviews. marc hirsh of national public radio said the addition of the no-nonsense charles miner character infused a sense of reality into "the office", which he said was growing increasingly wacky and out of control: "[the episode] may, in fact, have been one of the most important episodes of the entire series, acting as a corrective to the show's increasing flirtations with ridiculousness. the characters of "the office" have lived in a bubble for long enough." travis fickett of ign said "new boss" brought a badly needed change to the series, which he said had been in a "stagnant state" over the last several episodes. fickett said steve carell gave "a tour de force" as michael saw his power slip away, and he called the final scene when michael quit as one of the show's biggest moments. he said, "watching miner work like a monkey wrench thrown into the works is the most fun i've had watching this show in a long time." shahzad abbas of "tv guide" said, "overall, this was a terrific episode, tightly structured, some nice laugh-out loud moments, and a genuine shocker at the end that was completely consistent with michael's personality."