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.

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.

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"

We have loved this show from the beginning. It's funny, clever and sweet and the characters are genuinely likable. It might not be for everyone, but if NBC hadn't shoved it to the end of the Thursday lineup and filled in the 8:30 slot with pointless newbies and endless Office repeats, people who don't have a DVR but do have a job to get up for in the morning might have had a chance to enjoy this show.

They announced its demise today along with the addition of four new shows, none of which sound promising.

I'm going to see the suit that makes these decisions in hell, and he isn't going to like the encounter.

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"***