Outsourced

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?

Outsourced is Hilarious!

Granted that one who has more insight on Indian culture would find it funnier than someone who is still coming to terms with real-life outsourcing, any viewer with an open mind would easily find an easy laugh out of this story.

The protagonists have not yet been fully developed but with each new episode, more comedic talent is displayed and each so far has been better than the last. This show has the building blocks of a solid comedy, interesting and funny characters, fresh ideas, and a different setting from our typical abstract-humor based comedies like Frasier.

The biggest gripe that non-fans have with this show is that it seems insensitive to those who may have lost their jobs to actual outsourcing. Perhaps if the show went a different way, where a bunch of Indians came to open a gag-prop business in America, they would feel less insulted.

Regardless of ones taste for comedy, the show has its own merits and gives promise of great potential but hey,

IT CANT BE ANY WORSE THAN ***"THE CLEVELAND SHOW"***

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.

outsourcing is a hot and happening subject and this is a series totally based on that.it did start of well with a bang only to lose its flair midway,but did come back strong around the end of the season.sadly its heard that there wont be any further seasons of this indo-us combo due to viewer ship issue.but tell u what being an Indian i personally don't feel the series as offensive,even though only the poorer parts of Mumbai have been emphasizes and shown in the series.

Ben rappaport as Todd/manager does an excellent job,Gupta and Charlie are probably the most comic characters in the show with Charlie coming up with some rave ideas and Gupta being as dumb and disgusting as possible.also the Indian accent and u.s culture blending with Indian culture makes it a good watch.

well all in all a good series with a brilliant concept which should be given a try by all of them out there and truly deserves one more season at least.....

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.