Another Novelty Office Show?

“Outsourced”, the newest addition to NBC’s Thursday night lineup – Thursdays at 8:30 p.m. – strives to stay afloat amongst this Fall’s lineup of comedy with it’s social humor of the culture clash of East meets West.  

As the opening credits roll, the soundtrack of the show fills an American living room with the foreign sounds of Indian music, something Americans in some select areas may not be used to. The opening credits are similar to a Bollywood production - chock full of grungy posters and Hindi music that is refreshing and energetic.

           The show is set overseas, in a call center for Mid America Novelties, a novelty mail-order company, located in Mumbai, India.  The setting of the show is beautiful and interesting, as it puts the viewer in the office where the windows peer out into the day-to-day life of the bustling cityscape of Mumbai. The set is filled with a sea of extras going about their day, filled with street vendors carting around their wares and foodstuffs, to sacred cows passing by. One may smell the curry outside the walls of this unique office area.

           The writing of the show shows promise, if one can look past the usual clichés of the laughs pointed at the brogue of the east. The show does attempt to point out the major differences in cultures by showing the audience there is more at play than just the usual American simple-minded social commentary.

In the show’s second episode, “Measure of a Manmeet,” Todd Dempsy, played by Ben Rappaport, has been transplanted into a foreign land where he feels the need to connect with the culture of his employees while struggling to keep his job at the same time. Todd has been instructed by his boss to give performance reviews to each of his employees. He later finds that he has to perform evaluations of his employees, and give the axe to the ones who don’t produce enough sales.

The likable character of Todd as the open-minded and culturally aware manager from Kansas City thrives to understand his employees and struggles with figuring out the eastern culture. The topic of social class and pre-arranged marriage is placed in this episode.

Todd learns that one of his employees, Manmeet, played by Sacha Daiwhan has been taking every opportunity to connect with the female callers looking for novel items by flirting with them. Instead he finds himself getting lost in the conversations he has and the relationship he makes with women from as he puts it, “exotic places Des Moines, Fresno, Chattanooga.”

Once his cover has been blown and his job is at risk, Manmeet confides in Todd about his actions, telling him the casualness of American women gives him the confidence that he finds is lacking at home here in Mumbai. As it turns out, these conversations with his “girlfriends” makes him feel that he doesn’t have to worry about such class struggles as his caste, or what his father does for a living when talking to a person of the opposite sex.

Having the tables turned on the American, and putting Todd’s character on the other side of having to figure out the culture of the East is a welcome and refreshing twist on Thursday night television.

           Another highlight of the show is in the comic relief and tightly wound viewpoint the culturally clueless Charlie Davies character, played by Diedrich Bader. Todd can be found confiding in Charlie during his lunch breaks, giving him advice about how to deal with his troops overseas. But the wit of his conversations usually show the callousness that comes with men who live in caves – the type of American who has never tried a cuisine other than a Lean Cuisine purchased in the frozen section of the local grocer.

While the shows writing can show glimpses of promise, brought to life with the great performances by a mostly Southern Indian cast, most of the laughs can be rooted in laughing at the Indian culture and the way that they speak and their lack of intelligence in all things Americana - which the writing seems to lean on. Then again, NBC’s Thursday night lineup mostly consists of the back-asswardness, mindless, unethical and yet, loveable characters on such shows as “The Office,” “30 Rock,” and “Community.”

The timing of this new show may be appropriate – as more and more American-based companies are turning to the more cost-effective route of outsourcing customer relations to overseas locales. But, the timing of the cliché jokes can be rather heavy handed in the eyes of the viewers during such times of unemployment.