PILOT REVIEW: Outsourced

OUTSOURCED

Starring: Ben Rappaport, Anisha Nagarajan, Diedrich Bader, Parvesh Cheena, Pippa Black, Rebecca Hazlewood, Rizwan Manjt, Sacha Dhawan
Based on the movie "Outsourced." Developed for television by Robert Bordern
Written by George Wing and John Jeffcoat, Directed by Ken Kwapis

Outsourced is a new culture-clash comedy on NBC that focuses on Todd (Ben Rappaport) - a young new manager for an American novelties company whose call center is outsourced to India. When Todd reluctantly goes to India, he is met with a group of "B list" callers who know very little about American culture or why Americans would want such odd novelties such as fake vomit. Among the call center employees are a co-manager (Rizwan Manjt) who is eyeing Todd's job, Madhuri (Anisha Nagarajan) who speaks so softly she can barely be heard, and Gupta (Parvesh Cheena) who will talk anyone's ear off.

To be honest, I actually expected Outsourced to be worse than it was. The timing is good, the acting is decent, but the content is not. The show managed to be mildly offensive to both Indians and Americans. It's too bad the content couldn't rise above culture jokes and sex jokes because the talent is there. Ben Rappaport is solid in the lead role and there were some promising performances from the call-center crew. There's also a nice rapport between Todd and his staff. It's a unique show in a unique setting but too often takes the easy way out with the jokes.

This is another niche show for NBC that is unlikely to be broadly appeal. And on top of that, it doesn't seem likely that many Americans in this time of economic troubles and high unemployment would want to watch a show about outsourcing to India. On top of that, the writing needs to get better. Outsourced is never going to be a big hit but it could be a cult favorite if it can find its voice. It's got a ways to go to even achieve that though but all hope is not lost.