Fall TV Preview – “Outsourced”

From the clichéd cow jokes to the cultural clash of East and West, Outsourced is not only boring and bland but also a vastly inaccurate misrepresentation of call centers.When I first saw the commercial (being Indian), I was excited for a show that exploited the actual hilariousness of talking to “American” tech support located in India. But Outsourced just falls flat. Each joke is a simple one-liner, meant to attract the least educated, most primitive of viewers. It fails to deliver the same intelligent comedy that makes How I Met Your Mother fun, yet intriguing.Outsourced follows the journey of an American call center manager, Josh Anderson, who has been sent to India to train the new, cheaper labor force. And while the material is evidently available, something (or everything) went wrong. My first qualm, before watching the show, was that it follows the story of a novelty store sales center, when, in reality, the most relatable and inherently funny call centers are the tech support centers.The script offers no life vest and is boring and attempts to offer cheap laughs. The script only highlights the terrible acting of the cast that is neither entertaining or convincing except for occasional scenes where the acting is at least acceptable. Admittedly, I did laugh once at a joke about arranged marriages, solely because of my own first hand experience.Outsourced feels like the script was written by the same writers that wrote the overtly dramatic script of Pacifica. It is over the top and nears blatant racism. With the quality of comedy shows available (Two and a Half Men, How I Met Your Mother, and even The Big Bang Theory), don’t waste a minute of your T.V. time on Outsourced.Nishok ChettyStaff Writer