Outsourced

In the pilot of Outsourced, Todd (played by Ben Rappaport)arrives at his workplace one morning to find the Midwestern joke catalog callcentre he manages desolate. Todd is told he can either follow the work, which has been outsourced to India or find another job. Rather than face job hunting in this economy, he chooses India.

The utter charm of this show is in the storytelling from Todd's point of view; Rappaport's simple, untraveled Todd embraces the vast cultural differences he encounters in his new home with mystified delight. As a long time American ex-pat in a different culture, I remember that feeling of discovery.

Some people have complained of stereotyping and at the beginning of the show, the characters did come off as stereotypes; Todd, like us (the American audience for whom the show is written), is uninitiated and meets several new people on the same day just as we meet them in the first half hour. Due to some of the best sitcom scriptwriting EVER, characters have developed, Todd's POV has dampened and the show has become a true ensemble.

I could write several more paragraphs about Outsourced, rhapsodizing the scriptwriting, superb ensemble cast, direction and arc of the show- but I will instead tell you this; outsourced is a show about Joy- about reveling in our differences and sameness and foibles and strengths.

The only reason I didn't give it 10 stars is that is reserved for M*A*S*H* and the first few years of Taxi.

Before the first episode even aired, I've already heard from people how this show is supposed to negatively stereotype Indian people and that it's a kind of show that shouldn't be encouraged. So I started watching it with low expectations...

It's actually very, very good. Hilarious, even! My family's from the Indian continent and I watch tons of Bollywood movies, and I did not see anything that could be construed as negative stereotypes. The show got a lot of the cultural aspects and mannerism right, and the jokes I've seen have appeared in Bollywood flicks as well. But I guess in the naysayers' mind, they watch only the previews and think, "There's a lot of Indians on the show - there MUST be stereotypes going on!" This is simply NOT true. If anything, a lot of people I know are ecstatic that Indians are finally making a foray into American television - and during primetime, no less (Although I've heard there's hope the show will reflect more modernized/westernized aspects of Indian culture as well, but I think we'll get there). The Indian characters are portrayed as equals to their American counterparts, and in some cases are more sympathetic and likable while an American character (Diedrich Bader) is portrayed as being close-minded. The Indian assistant boss, Rajiv, might seem a little over-the-top and cruel, but I have seen his type of character in Bollywood flicks many times and he occasionally shows flashes of his good side (when he yelled at Madhuri to stay after work as a clever ruse to give her a place to sleep for the night).

Yes, there's the unfortunate side story of Americans losing their jobs overseas, and some who were personally affected may look at this show with disdain for that reason. They have my sympathy. That's the ugly side of free-market capitalism at work, but CEOs and stockholders who are demanding higher returns by pressuring for cheaper labor are more to blame than anyone else. Did people boycott Charlie Chaplin's "Modern Times" because manual jobs were being lost to factory machines?

Back to my point. This is a very decent show with a lot of promises as the show matures. "The Office" started off very weak and was almost cancelled, but it was given a chance and look how successful it became. Same with "Park & Recreation", it had a horrible 1st season and now it's just hilarious. Just put away whatever misconceptions you have about the show. Give it a chance. It will grow on you. We always ask TV execs to come up with more original ideas. This is it - a bold foray into the lives of people from another culture that is just as unique as it has surprisingly similar parallels with our own culture. If it fails, they'll just go back to their bland cookie-cutter shows based in LA or New York and accompanied with a cheap laugh track and all-Caucasian characters. Is that really what you want?

I would never have guessed that this show would be as funny as it is! I actually watched each episode back-to-back and it continued to get funnier as the shows progressed. It's great formula comedy and the characters have fantastic comedic timing!! If you haven't yet -- give this one a chance! I was expecting the story lines to be staid and predictable. So far, so good -- not a one yet has been anything I expected. The principal interacts with his counterparts so well it makes it seem that the work environment could be real! I've never been to India, but this would almost entice me to visit. The people in this sitcom are very watchable. You'll find yourself laughing out loud - promise!

Watched this completely by accident and I am Hooked,The cast are all well thought out and each member plays their roles very nicely. I have always been a fan of "mind your language" and this sitcom comes very close to a modern version,i.e. a sitcom that encompasses different cultures and is extremely funny. Hope this sitcom continues for a while, and the writers continue doing such a superb job. Would definitely recommend it!!!! One fun thing we do is we sit down with a couple of my Indian pals and watch this show. its hilarious, plus we get to make fun of all my pals (added bonus). All in all, i wish there were more shows like this and if anyone in the networks is reading this..... Please do another "mind your language"

While I'm against outsourcing by Big Business, I must confess that I loved this show. NBC snagged me at screen-side while with this charming cast of Ben Rappaport, Rizwan Manji, Sacha Dhawan, Rebecca Hazlewood, Parvesh Cheena, Anisha Nagarajan, Diedrich Bader and Pippa Black (our Aussie poor girl Nicole Kidman), who portray the different facets of the Indian working-class and their non-Indian counterparts.

"Outsourced" highlights the misconceptions that staff and management hold when East and West meet at Mid-America Novelties in India. And while it's not all PC (thank you!), it's good to see a genuine multi-cultural cast, rather than the token Asian or African-American tacked onto the cast credits. I'm usually not a big fan of the station, but Gupta's chatty talk, Manmeet's wonder at American dating customs, Todd's confusion about local customs, and Charlie, his bluff-and-bluster friend, prove that opposites do attract. I applaud NBC for taking this small but vital step towards this meaningful celebration of cultural diversity.

It's a shame that NBC chose to cancel this little diamond in the rough, in favor of the usual Primetime Pablum.