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Well, it looks like Outsourced has met its demise sooner than expected. Outsourced suffered greatly from a poor time slot (10:30 pm) in an otherwise solid NBC line up (30 Rock, The Office, etc.). While these other shows also have Indian characters as part of their show (30 Rock – Jonathan, Jack’s assistant; The Office – Kelly, played by the ever-hilarious Mindy Kaling; Community – Abed; Parks and Recreations – Tom played by Aziz Ansari), Outsourced was completely set in India with a predominantly Indian cast.
Outsourced’s downfall can be directly correlated to a lack of creativity in the writing. There was no problem with the actors – each did justice to their characters as written. However, these characters lacked enough depth to attract consistent viewership. The writers ended up turning each character into a caricature of stereotypes – both American and Indian. With the number of talented actors the show had, and a fairly good general concept, there was much that could’ve been done to spice the show up. Unfortunately, the show became too predictable and the gags turned into stale curry by the time the season finale (and now series finale) was aired.
It’s very unfortunate because Outsourced had the potential to do for the South Asian community what Cosby Show did for the African American community. Hopefully, NBC and other networks won’t close the door to shows that revolve around the Indian community.
