"Outsourced" Debuts to Lukewarm Reviews

"Outsourced" premiered Thursday night on NBC.

/ NBC

NEW YORK (CBS) "Outsourced," the comedy about a man from the Midwest who gets sent to run a call center in India, debuted as the newest part of NBC's popular Thursday night lineup.

The half-hour show received mixed reviews from critics, some of whom wondered if the show's punchlines were demeaning towards Indians.

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Entertainment Weekly's Jeff Jensen sarcastically suggested that the show "one day may evolve into a sharp, irreverent satire about consumerism and prejudice that doesn't punt to cheap jokes about Indian names, Indian accents, and Indian food," and said to "Call us when it gets there."

"Insensitive during this generation's Hard Times? Possibly. An excuse to mock Indian people and culture? Could be," wrote Erik Pedersen of The Hollywood Reporter, who noted that NBC took a risk on the show by putting it in the coveted post-"Office" time slot.

Others praised the show for its cheerfulness and take on today's economy.

The New York Times' Alessandra Stanley called the show "neither embarrassing nor deeply offensive" and added that "once it gets rolling, the show is actually quite charming."

Similarly, Robert Lloyd of the Los Angeles Times called it "the mostly deftly realized sitcom of the new season."

Did you watch "Outsourced"? Is it a good addition to NBC's Thursday lineup? Cast your vote below and share your thoughts in the comments.

[Jess6783]

I LOVE this show. Watch every episode. I like it cause I can relate to it as I often have to go to India for my job. Our website outsources there as well. It's funny, clever, and accurate. And to be honest...helped clear up some questions I had..but was too scared to ask anyone there..like the "Indian Head Shake" for one. :) Hope to see this show run for a long time.

[HeySweetieDear]

This show is great! I can honestly say it's the only show that really makes me chuckle. I am a 20 year old female originally from Europe and watching this show teaches me so much about both of those cultures. Maybe it's not funny for you Americans because you're so judgmental about everything and everyone. I just enjoy the mostly clean comedy. It's nice to have something silly to watch filled with simple humor. I just wish this show and more other shows took out all those sexual jokes which I find unnecessary and offensive.

[desi_guy]

As an Indian, from an Indian's perspective, I think it's a unique way of introducing a new culture to Americans, who don't seem to know much about the rest of the world. And to know more about India than the fact that there are cows on the streets.
And Americans are as fascinated by Indian marriages and dating (or rather the lack of it) just as Indians are fascinated by Americans dating any random person, without knowing much about them. And it's funny how I've met many American's who met there spouses in their "church". That sounds kinda "arranged"...... !

[lovlisa]

We thought it was very funny. I agree w/ roachlamotte. Of course some of the negative comments were true but when a group of people begin to be accepted in this culture is when they are admitted into our humor. Silly yes but hilarious.

[roachlamotte]

I liked "Outsourced". I saw the movie and was interested in seeing how they could expand on the idea in a TV series. It is sort of like this decade's "Gung Ho".It does show how disposable we all are, though. I didn't need a TV show to illustrate this, because I see it every day. I am nearly 50 and will very soon be considered unemployable for a living wage. I understood "Outsourced" to be a caricature type show. With an ensemble cast, everyone had to stand out. The author started his story with the obvious conflicts of language, culture, and personalities. I have done that as an exchange student. The interesting part is watching the relationships evolve as it becomes less of US and THEM, and more about understanding ourselves and them. By the way, if anyone chooses to see the movie, the ending shows how fluid our global economy is.

[mica-]

This show could have been really funny - but it's horrible. I can't believe someone got paid to write this crap. It makes both Americans and Indians look stupid.

[dava86]

Mica: they are not INDIANS. People from India are called HINDUS.

[KayC_2010]

@dava86: Why do you keep saying people from India are called Hindus? In Kerala, there are alot of Christians. To call them Hindus would be offensive, since they don't practice Christianity. To call a Punjabi Sikh a Hindu would also be offensive, since, again, they practice a different religion. But they are all from India, so they are all Indians. Hindus might be from India, but not all Indians are Hindus. Is that a "typical" example of American ignorance?

[George_Jetson]

What a piece of crap show not only does it laugh in the face of the current economic situation, it is done poorly, whoever is responsible for allowing this to air needs to have their head examined along with everyone they work for. Who was the rocket scientist that allowed this to happen, I wold revoke the H1 Visas of the actors and send them packing back to India or Pakistan this is a sad day for television.

[dbjs]

Prejudice has nothing to do with my dislike of the show. The hard painful truth is obvious, more US jobs are going overseas and never coming back. More Americans will slip from their current stations in life, i.e. middle class to a lower rung of society because of it. As such watching a show which depicts this seems ridiculous to me. Heck you may not be able to afford cable to watch the damn show after your job is scrapped and shipped off. It is a sobering truth that I am well aware of and hardly require a 30 minute weekly show to remind me.
Perhaps it is a test conducted by mass media to see just how many bobus Americanus are willing to watch ANYTHING put in front of their eyeballs, even this show.

Get rid of it. Americans need something uplifting something that speaks to core values and happiness.

[biggdogg]

I watched with an open mind, the series premiere of Outsourced on NBC. This show does have very sophisticated humor mixed in with enough superficial Jr. High funny to keep the mindless part of our mass population happy.

I like this show for one primary reason: we need to have this conversation. The world has always been the customer of the products from the US. The US however, has up until recently not been a nation that consumed more than it produced. The rest of the world got smarter, and learned how to make things better and cheaper. We allowed our tariff protections to drop in the name of ?free trade? and gave huge tax breaks to companies in the US to build their manufacturing operations on foreign soil. Did we think that outsourcing would be so unbalanced as to hire obviously UNqualified workers in foreign countries to take the place of US workers in such a wide range of tasks? If these people who do call center work in foreign countries were to come to the US and apply for work in one of our call centers, would they be hired? The answer is NO. Why? Because their speech impediments are typically so outrageous they would NEVER be considered serious candidates.

Bottom line, it is ALL about the MONEY. If you could find a way to pay US workers 1 dollar an hour, with no benefits, some of these jobs would start coming back to the US. This is the eventual goal. A solid 2 tier economy with a 99% mass of poverty stricken US workers, and a golden 1% superclass that owns everything!

If you like this sad Bottom line scenario, Vote with the Tea party or the Republicans ?as they are all about the return of the ?robber baron? society, where the rich get richer, and the rest of us are treated as some kind of disposable utility (non-human). If you think they are all about ?conservative? issues ? think again. Their ruse is to bring enough ?moral? issues into their plank as to put some in the middle class into a zombie-like state to do their bidding for them. Nothing will ever be done with these conservative moral issues. The zombie-tea-publicans will be thrown overboard with the rest of us when the new superclass gets their way. Any idea who will be the first to cry for help from government then???

For the record: I am college educated, and I am UNemployed? with many of my opportunities outsourced as well!

About the TV show Outsourced. How do you write for a show like this? I think they made their point. Are there 100 shows in this storyline? Will they serialize it, like Drew Carey? SO far its ratings are better than 30 Rock. What say you?

[faucets]

I'm not surprised that CBS news users didn't like the show. The show is very funny and it pokes fun at both the Indians and the Americans.

Best Line: "We Right Sized." "There is no one here!" "I know now we are the right size."

[dava86]

People from INdia are called HINDUS, not indians

[KayC_2010]

People from India are indeed called Indians. Hindus are people who practice the religion of Hinduism, no matter what country they are from. And since there are alot of people that live India that do not practice Hinduism, you wouldn't call all people from India Hindus. That would be like calling all Americans Christians just because alot of Americans are Christians. Doesn't make since. Indians are from India, no matter what religion they are.