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The most recent promo for NBC’s new comedy series Outsourced aired last night during the network’s Sunday Night Football and featured an NBC press release’s quote disguised as a critic’s praise. It turns out this was a mistake by the NBC department that cut the promo and pulled the quote without verifying its source. Now the promo has been shelved and will not air again. Here’s a low-quality clip which a viewer posted on YouTube. The voiceover reads: “The critics have made the call: Outsourced is a ‘natural companion for The Office‘, ‘hilarious culture clash’”. Problem is, one excerpt attributed to EW is from a very mixed review. And the phrase, ”hilarious culture clash” attibuted to another media outlet, is in fact from the network’s own description of the show in its upfront press release. Outsourced was and still is at the center of a pre-launch controversy as many questioned its subject matter — outsourcing American jobs to India — and its portrayal of Indians.
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Truly pathetic that Bromsted, Ingold, et al continue to bottom feed for humor. Then the Variety story last week about the brilliant NBC marketers selling fart machines and rubber chickens. Pathetic on so many levels, including Variety deeming it a near full page story.
Dave Manning strikes again! We haven’t heard from him in a while.
I rarely wish failure upon any TV or film production, but this show could not be anymore insensitive or ill-timed. Besides that, the promo I caught the other night was just not funny.
Sounds like another great stunt from the mind of Ed Chung. Why hasn’t Comcast fired this guy yet?
So what is the over-under for how soon OUTSOURCED gets cancelled?
It is not even in the same league as NBC’s COMMUNITY sitcom. That show actually makes you laugh, with its irreverent humor that is straight out of SCRUBS!
“It turns out this was a mistake by the NBC department that cut the promo and pulled the quote without verifying its source.”
Everywhere I’ve worked the quotes for a critic spot has always been provided by the marketing departments. So it was probably provided with someone who knew full well where it came from and using the word “mistake” as a cop-out for getting caught.
This show is disgusting.
Will they ever get their shit together over there? This is embarrassing.
I think “Outsourced” is a pathetic show. I was so very eager to see the first show with Indians forming the major part of the cast. But I found the writing very poor and truly not funny; isn’t this supposed to be a comedy…I didn’t laugh at anything during the second week (I missed the first week). Not only are the sets cheap and tacky (they are supposed to be in which major city ??)they have made a caricature of all the characters (including the “white american” guy). Charcters in 30 Rock and Office are all wacky and quirky, but most importantly they are funny and make the shows very enjoyable. wish i could say the same for the poor actors who potray these unfortunate characters.
Pull the whole show, this show sucks.
Here’s a quote they can use from me: “I refuse to watch ‘Outsourced’ and will avoid all sponsors of this show!” I can’t believe they’re still airing this thing – what do we have to do to let them know that Indian people stealing American jobs is not funny in any way?
Good question. Just the thought of “Outsourced” makes me ill – leave it to NBC to put on a stupid show like this. It says volume about how out of touch they are with the viewing audience.
‘Indian people’ are not stealing American jobs. The corporations that you support by buying their products are.
Your a dumb ass.
The show is a bad idea poorly executed.
…yeah and like the Office, Outsourced is another duplicate of a UK production.
There are just shows that won’t wash in the States as people here just don’t have the right sense of humour for this type of show.
Wow, what a big mistake by the promo team at NBC!
Typical big-brain types grab hold of a movie that had a halfway interesting, quirky presence, and turn it into a really dumb TV show that has no place to go but down the drain.
The actors should have seen this one coming and said “no thanks”.
Corporations wouldn’t be needing India’s cheap labor if America would slash the corporate tax rate.
I adore this show. So many great characters. If they would put this show on at a decent time and give people a chance to discover it, it would be a hit! Really has nothing to do with the outsourcing of American jobs. Really, the haters should actually watch it.
I want Parks and Recreation back instead of this show..
Why is everyone so damn uptight? I watched all 3 episodes on and it’s actually funny, and the acting is better than average. Get a sense of humor people. I can’t believe people find the subject matter “offensive”. And for the person who thinks that “Indian people stealing American jobs is not funny in any way”, I feel really sorry for you. You are really holding onto a lot of bitterness.
I agree. This show is surprisingly funny.
I like the show, no different than the office (or a host of other shows) on how they use people in any way they may be different. Plus I bet they are selling tons of the items from the show as of now. This was a great idea to intro items in the show, then sell after.
This is a comedy about cultural interaction. I’m certainly curious about how Indians might react. But you can find equally broad humor in Bollywood movies. If you pay attention, the cultural commentary in this series is actually quite sublte. I described one scene to a Bollywood screenwriter I know and he thought it was hilarious. Manmeet and Todd are trying to avoid Gupta in the break room, so they abscond to the closet. They start talking about girls. Manmeet asks if Todd knows a redhead. Todd says he used to date a redhead. Manmeet asks “did she say no?” Todd says, “not usually,” but then immediately pulls back–”o you mean…” realizing Manmeet meant no to marriage. Todd explains that in America people date one person, then another, then another, then he realizes how this must sound..perhaps rather offensive to an Indian person. So he says “this must sound awful” But then Manmeet gets this look in his eyes “no…it sounds wonderful…” This is really a quite subtle cultural interaction..which is also done with a great deal of humor. You don’t usually see things like this on TV. It is not just about stereotypes, but about people being aware of stereotypes, and then trying to compensate, and then being even more surprised. That is just what it is really like when people from different cultures really interact. Why do so many people think this is offensive?
The show is funny. Most people want to be so politically correct and so deep about every show on television it’s pathetic. If you are looking for substance and a show depicting Indians in a positive role, why are you watching a comedy show on NBC to fill that void? And yes, I am about to go there……black people are stereotyped on television and in movies much worse and it goes over without a hitch. If a black man isn’t blinged out from head to toe, he has a “trophy white woman” on his arm, or is getting arrested, selling drugs or doing something illegal, OH I and can’t leave out rapping. The truth is that jobs are being outsourced to India and if you bothered to stop complaining during the show and reserved your comments and opinions until the end, you would have picked up on the fact that the show tried to make light out of an otherwise depressing situation all while showing that big business is responsible for dragging a company overseas, not the people. That is no different than saying southerners are stealing jobs from northerners because the cost of living is cheaper in the south and companies can afford to pay less given that cost of living or anywhere else for that matter. So do you blame the people? NO. But that is what Americans do, blame the RACE or NATIONALITY, or even class of people. Because that is all we can wrap our tiny brains around, not the fact that huge corporations, which we continue to patronize no matter how trivial the products, are doing this. So use this show as a reflection of you own prejudices which I know is oh so hard for you and take it for what it is worth …..comedy. Maybe because YOU blame the people that is what YOU got out of the show. I didn’t take that away because I don’t blame the people but business. This just shows how the Indians are affected by this, but since it doesn’t show how Americans feel, then its a bad show, right?Get your lives together!
BRAVO!!! CHEERS!!! Very well written!!!
“Outsourced” is a GREAT show!!! What is all the furor? If you want to watch something offensive, watch Fox “News”. This is not making fun of race. Doesn’t anyone have a sense of humor, anymore? It’s just like “The Book of Daniel” all over again, where stupid people get all upset with prejudgment rather than actually watching. Get a sense of humor. Love everyone. Stop being bigots or over-reacting the other way for fear of being misjudged as a bigot. Can’t we all laugh at ourselves a bit? This is why the rest of the world sees us as a joke now rather than a decent country that I believe we really are at our base.
You guys should rent the Outsourced movie. It’s ten time better than this unfunny “white-washed” version.
My tiny (ivy league) brain can spot damage control when I read it. The last three overwritten comments were obviously from people associated with show. This show is geared toward a mass TV audience; making its subject matter offensive, insensitive and ill timed. You must be TRYING to lose money.
Whose brain is tiny again?
I rarely blog. I wondered if anyone would react. But this I couldn’t have predicted. “associated with the show”? Wow. Well, no, not me.
THIS SHOW IS GREAT!!! @IA200: of course is done on porpoise! Come on the idea is to create characters absolutely exaggerated for
People to laugh about themselves. U just brought a great point mostly for the people that
Keep calling the show racist: “they have made a caricature of all the characters EVEN THE WHITE AMERICAN GUY”. Actually if u analyze (stop with the whole RACIST CRAP and analyze what u are watching) THE SMARTER CHARACTERS ARE THE INDIAN CHARACTERS. The main WHITE GUY is dumb as hell