There’s no doubt that America is growing obsessed with India. Slumdog Millionaire was just the beginning: Indian food, Hindi music, and Bollywood dance are all trending skyward, and Oprah has even had Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan on her glorious couch. Julie Roberts just shot Eat, Pray, Love in Gurgaon. And now NBC has jumped on the bandwagon with Outsourced: a comedy about an American sent to work at a call center in India.
One thing is clear: judging from this promo, they already stole my joke about Frogger. Eagle-eyed readers will have to see if they used any other jokes from this site.
Hey readers, what do you think about portrayals of India like this? It’s clear they’re going to make jokes about “funny” headwear and “silly” names, but they’re also going to take their digs at the American lifestyle as well. Based on this four-minute promo, readers, what are your thoughts?
I want to like it, and NBC has of course a stellar track record with comedy, but everything they’ve put out related to it has been just miserable.
Hi Dave and Jenny,
Just found your blog and needless to say, liked it a lot. Your website is now bookmarked
That Manmeet fellow reminded me of the following scene from British comedy about foreign names:
It me reminds me of my struggle with American names (and other’s with my name
)
Best of luck to you guys.
Sumit — thank link is terrific! We’ve never seen that show before. We’re going to spend the next couple hours on Youtube, I think…
wasn’t there a movie called outsourced? that one wasn’t half bad.. let’s see how this turns out
I have watched the movie and the promo looks quite *exactly* like the movie. I liked the movie, lets see how do they make it into a series.
You do know, just like ‘The Office,’ this show is inspired from a British comedy on the same concept, called ‘Mumbai Calling.’
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mumbai_Calling
I have seen the movie Outsourced and I think some of it was a bit stretch but most part of it was quite funny. We live in a global world and are becoming tolerant of each other. Moving work from one location to another is never easy. Americans are great at adopting to this reality and constantly moving up the value chain.
I am happy to help any BPO employee struggling in their first job through free advise on my blog.
http://www.digitalpost.org/2010/02/first-kpo-job-survival-guide.html
We happened to LOVE the movie … tongue in cheek and cliche … and very light-hearted, but we really enjoyed it (both before we moved to Delhi and having watched it during our time here).
(Obviously the new series is taken from the core of that movie … same lead character name, same “oriental trading company” type products)
If NBC can pull off repetitive shows in a series … and keep the humor from both the US and the India side … and restrain from showing the “Ugly American” side … it might be quite entertaining!
going by all the pooh-poohing that Joel Stein got about his Edison article, my guess this one’s not even going to make to the pilot. Too many clichés and clearly picking all of it from the movie version…NBC needs to realize that its 2010 and not 2003. If they can make it smarter then there maybe hope.
This is a bit ironic, but the american Indian cast needs speech training to get the right Indian accent
for the roles they are playing. Right now they just sound like bad copies of Appu from the Simpsons
Ooh this looks fun! Will watch it.
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I loved the preview!
Seems like very directly inspired by Outsourced, the movie. I saw the movie a few months ago, and had lots of hearty laughs.
http://www.outsourcedthemovie.com/
Just amazin.. cant wait to wait to see the series.. your blog is just out of the world.. keep up the good work..
I saw the movie version and enjoyed it. It’s nothing earth-shattering or profound, but just a fun, light-hearted movie. If the NBC show can keep up that tone, it should be a fun watch. Too bad Hulu doesn’t quite work in Mumbai.
I know it’s cliched comedy but that’s how any two cultures start learning each other.
I like it and will wait for the show in Sep.
PS I am also waiting to buy your book.
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