Comments on: “Outsourced” – Something to Look Forward To?

By: John Jacobi

John Jacobi — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 20:39:25 +0000

I thought the second episode was hilarious and the jokes were more original this time. I’m rooting for this to succeed. Who cares is the accents are not authentic. Thats not the point of the show.

By: Orville

Orville — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 02:19:38 +0000

I’m going to watch the show and give it a chance. I heard some news about this new show Outsourced. Thanks for posting the blog entry. I will check it out.

By: Lindsey

Lindsey — Sun, 26 Sep 2010 05:09:14 +0000

"If an American moved to India and tried speaking Hindi, he'd probably have a funny accent too. "

I can vouch for that. I DO have a funny accent when I speak Hindi. I try hard, I really do. But sometimes when I talk, people stare at me blankly... like "whoa what is THAT?" even though I am know I am speaking grammatically correct Hindi.

Accents are accents. We all got 'em. And I have heard some pretty hilarious mimicking of American accents by my friends in India.

By: Alina

Alina — Sun, 26 Sep 2010 04:52:24 +0000

"Americans actually came to associate Indians with 711, curry, brown skin, and that funny accent."

What's wrong with associating Indians with brown skin and curry? Most South Asians have brown skin, and it's not like curry came from the Eskimos. Same reason Irish people are associated with white skin and potatoes. And obviously most immigrants have accents of some sort, don't know why you're acting like it's wrong. If an American moved to India and tried speaking Hindi, he'd probably have a funny accent too.

"Granted, Indians are not the most aesthetically pleasing group of people to inhabit the planet"

Speak for yourself, please : )

"Personally, I think Indians should band together and protest against this racist bigoted scrapheap being passed off as "comedy."

It didn't seem racist at all to me, but I agree calling it a "comedy" is pushing it - it wasn't exactly funny. The Office is a good NBC show if you're looking for a comedy.

By: Alina

Alina — Sun, 26 Sep 2010 04:43:59 +0000

To me, the accents sounded pretty authentic. What's funny is I've heard a number of Indians complain about the accents of Indians on TV/movies, saying they don't sound accurate, but they do. What I mean to say is when I hear the average Indian open his/her mouth and speak in English, it sounds pretty much like the accents I hear on Outsourced, or other TV shows. Yeah, I know it varies a lot by region and where the person learned English, but still. For example, I've heard Indians complain that Russell Peters Indian accent it's terrible, but to be blunt, these people sound exactly like Russell Peter's imitation to me. Maybe they don't realize they sound like that, I don't know.

I tuned in for the premiere but I don't think I'll watch again. The writing was kind of lame to be honest, not really that funny at all.

By: New Yorker

New Yorker — Sat, 25 Sep 2010 03:56:40 +0000

The “Simpsons” gave Desis – especially Indians – a really bad rep. That show was so off the mark it was beyond disgusting – nevertheless, given how naive Americans are about the rest of the world (+other cultures), the same (non Asian) Americans actually came to associate Indians with 711, curry, brown skin, and that funny accent. If you’ve seen the Big Bang Theory, its only slightly better, e.g. Raj is actually portrayed as intelligent. I haven’t seen “Outsourced” yet, but the last thing I want is to see some show about Indians produced by directors who are totally clueless about Indian culture. I don’t want to have to go to work and hear dumb jokes that stem from the show. Let’s be realistic – they (white producers) wouldn’t dare make a show that negatively portrayed Blacks. Granted, Indians are not the most aesthetically pleasing group of people to inhabit the planet, but still – if Americans don’t particularly care for Indian culture (which I’m pretty sure is the case), why make a show based on stereotypes? Plus the stereotypes start vanishing when the generations increase. Personally, I think Indians should band together and protest against this racist bigoted scrapheap being passed off as “comedy.”

By: hema

hema — Sat, 25 Sep 2010 00:42:22 +0000

You know what I found really offensive, even beyond the lame cow-out-of-pasture jokes and mediocre writing? The fact that an actor of Indian origin can't pronounce "Ramayana" properly. I appreciate that Sacha Dhawan didn't grow up in India, and the Ramayana may not have been part of his cultural upbringing or whatever. But good grief, don't they have writing/dialogue consultants on the show who can fix the accent/pronunciation issues?

Failsauce.

By: Pravin

Pravin — Sat, 25 Sep 2010 00:16:52 +0000

Mediocre show. I don't mind some fun at the expense of stereotypes. Still, some of these jokes are outdated by a decade. And what is with these Indian origin actors wo have so much trouble faking an Indian accent? THe accents are awful. There are some genuine indian accents that can be funny.

The tone is an odd mix of offensive(though not offensive enough to make me want to protest) and patronizing to the Indian characters. The only characters that have some promise are the overly talkative insecure guy and the mousy lady. Even then, the good moments are very fleeting.

The biggest offense of the show is the mediocrity of the writing.

By: Preetham

Preetham — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 22:13:03 +0000

All i heard was the show sucked!!!

By: charles

charles — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 21:46:51 +0000

Don’t know where to begin- the parts I disliked the most were where they had the Indian characters reinforcing American stereotypes by stating that the cow is holy or making statements about caste or by talking with funny accents. And the already budding romance with that Australian chick- seems so predictable…