Outsourced (TV series)

Outsourced
Genre	Comedy
Format	Sitcom
Created by	Ken Kwapis
Starring	Ben Rappaport Rizwan Manji Sacha Dhawan Rebecca Hazlewood Parvesh Cheena Anisha Nagarajan Diedrich Bader Pippa Black
Country of origin	United States
Language(s)	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	22 (List of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Ken Kwapis Robert Borden
Camera setup	single-camera
Running time	21 minutes
Production company(s)	Universal Media Studios In Cahoots Productions
Broadcast
Original channel	NBC
Original run	September 23, 2010 (2010-09-23) – May 12, 2011 (2011-05-12)
External links
Website

Outsourced is an American television sitcom set in an Indian workplace. It was based on the John Jeffcoat film of the same name and adapted by Ken Kwapis (In Cahoots Productions) and Universal Media Studios for NBC. The series originally ran from September 23, 2010 to May 12, 2011.^[1] The show was officially picked up by NBC on May 7, 2010^[2] and on October 18, 2010, the show received a full season order.^[3] Outsourced was filmed at Radford Studios in Studio City, Los Angeles, California.^[4]

When the renewal of the show was not announced with renewal of other NBC shows, the cast and crew started a campaign for fans of the show to request its renewal.^[5] On June 22, 2011, NBC announced that Outsourced was canceled.^[6]

Premise

Outsourced is set in a call center in Mumbai, India, where an American novelties company has recently outsourced its order processing. A lone American manages the call center and must explain American popular culture to his employees as he tries to understand Indian culture.

Episodes

Main article: List of Outsourced episodes

Season		Episodes	Originally aired		DVD release date
			Series premiere	Series finale	Region 1	Region 2	Region 4
	1	22[7]	September 23, 2010 (2010-09-23)	May 12, 2011 (2011-05-12)[8]	September 13, 2011 (2011-09-13)	N/A	N/A

Cast

Main article: List of Outsourced characters

The show focuses on Todd Dempsy and a number of his employees working for the Mid America Novelties call center, along with other call center managers in the same building.

• Ben Rappaport as Todd Dempsy, a Kansas City native who is transferred to India to run the call center for Mid America Novelties.^[9] He quickly strikes up a friendship with Charlie (due to him being the only other American in the building), and finds himself at the center of a love triangle between Asha and Tonya.
• Rizwan Manji as Rajiv Gidwani, Todd's mischievous assistant manager at Mid America Novelties. He is hard-nosed and unapologetic, and desires Todd's job, either by Todd's promotion or failure. He is promoted to manager when Todd is promoted to Executive Manager.^[10]
• Sacha Dhawan as Manmeet, a call center employee who dreams of the United States (especially American women and sexual freedom) and quickly becomes good friends with Todd.^[11]
• Rebecca Hazlewood as Asha, an employee and love interest of Todd, who is frequently the voice of reason in the office and plans to pursue an arranged marriage.^[12]
• Parvesh Cheena as Gupta, the overly-talkative office misfit, who constantly yearns to be the center of attention.^[13]
• Anisha Nagarajan as Madhuri, a shy and soft-spoken employee whose income alone supports her entire family.^[14]
• Diedrich Bader as Charlie Davies, call center manager for a company called All-American Hunter,^[15] and Todd's best friend in India. Insensitive and often crude and boorish, Charlie frequently hangs around with members of Todd's staff, despite lacking rapport with his own employees.
• Pippa Black as Tonya, an Australian call center manager for the company Koala Airlines. Tonya is easygoing and adventurous; by mid-season, she and Todd are romantically involved. However, she breaks up with Todd near the end of the season.^[16]

Reception

The show has received mixed reviews, reaching a 46 out of 100 on review aggregator Metacritic.^[17] Joel Keller of TV Squad in a review of the pilot episode stated, "As long as the show can examine the cultural divide, show how all offices are the same no matter where they are, and stay away from the easy jokes, NBC could have another Thursday comedy hit."^[18] Alessandra Stanley of The New York Times stated "The fact that it's neither embarrassing nor deeply offensive—once it gets rolling, the show is actually quite charming—is a credit to the cast and the writers."^[19] Critics such as blogger Mikey O'Connell have accused Outsourced of being racist.^[20]

Season	Episodes	Timeslot	Original airing			Rank	Viewers (in millions)
			Season premiere	Season finale	TV season
1	22	Thursday 9:30 pm (2010) Thursday 10:30 pm (2011)	September 23, 2010	May 12, 2011[21]	2010–2011	#108[22]	5.2[22]

Awards and nominations

Year	Presenter	Award	Result
2011	People's Choice Awards	Favorite New TV Comedy	Nominated
2011	NAMIC Vision Awards	Best Performance - Comedy for Anisha Nagarajan	Nominated
2011	NAMIC Vision Awards	Comedy	Nominated

International broadcasts

Outsourced was picked up in Canada, for broadcast on Global at the same time as the American broadcast.^[23]

Outsourced is being broadcast in Asia on Universal.^{[citation needed]}

In Australia Outsourced is being broadcast on Seven Network.

In Brazil Outsourced is being broadcast on Rede Record, premiered on November 5, 2011, with title Aprontando na Índia.

In New Zealand Outsourced is being broadcast on FOUR.^{[citation needed]}

In the Philippines, Outsourced is being broadcast on 2nd Avenue.

In Norway Outsourced is being broadcast on MAX.

In South Africa Outsourced is being broadcast on SABC 3

In Sweden Outsourced is being broadcast on TV3^[24] and TV6^[25].

In Denmark Outsourced is being broadcast on TV3+.

In Poland Outsourced (Dostawa na telefon) is being broadcast on Comedy Central Poland.^[26]

In the Middle East Outsourced is being broadcast on OSN COMEDY.

In Latin America Outsourced is being broadcast on Warner Channel

In Malaysia Outsourced is being broadcast on RTM's channel tv2.

In Italy Outsourced is being broadcast on Mediaset Premium channel Joy.

See also

• Mumbai Calling, a 2007 British sitcom with a similar premise.
• Outsourced (film), a 2006 movie from which the TV show takes its basis.

References

1. ^ Gorman, Bill (July 15, 2010). "NBC Announces Series Premiere Dates For Fall 2010 Schedule". TV By the Numbers. http://tvbythenumbers.com/2010/07/15/nbc-announces-series-premiere-dates-for-fall-2010-schedule/57220. Retrieved 2010-07-15. 
2. ^ Seidman, Robert (May 7, 2010). "NBC Picks-Up Three Scripted Series: 'Love Bites,' 'Outsourced' and 'The Event'". TV By the Numbers. http://tvbythenumbers.com/2010/05/07/nbc-picks-up-three-scripted-series-love-bites-outsourced-and-the-event/50806. Retrieved May 23, 2010. 
3. ^ Seidman, Robert (18 October 2010). "NBC Orders Full Seasons of ‘The Event,’ ‘Outsourced’ and ‘Law & Order: Los Angeles’". TV By the Numbers. http://tvbythenumbers.com/2010/10/18/nbc-orders-full-seasons-of-the-event-outsourced-and-law-order-los-angeles/68521. Retrieved 19 October 2010. 
4. ^ "'Outsourced' Brings Jobs to Studio City". Studio City Patch. http://studiocity.patch.com/articles/outsourced-brings-jobs-to-studio-city. 
5. ^ The Times Of India. http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-05-09/art-culture/29524950_1_show-nbc-entertainment-e-mail. 
6. ^ Rice, Lynette (May 13, 2011). "NBC cancels 'The Event' and 'Law & Order: L.A.'". Entertainment Weekly. http://insidetv.ew.com/2011/05/13/nbc-cancels-the-event/. Retrieved May 13, 2011. 
7. ^ Seidman, Robert (October 18, 2010). "NBC Orders Full Seasons of 'The Event,' 'Outsourced' and 'Law & Order: Los Angeles'". TV By the Numbers. http://tvbythenumbers.com/2010/10/18/nbc-orders-full-seasons-of-the-event-outsourced-and-law-order-los-angeles/68521. Retrieved October 19, 2010. 
8. ^ Seidman, Robert (March 8, 2011). "NBC Announces Season Finales for Spring 2011 + '30 Rock' 100th Episode on April 21". TV by the Numbers. http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2011/03/08/nbc-announces-season-finales-for-spring-2011-30-rock-100th-episode-on-april-21/85013. Retrieved March 20, 2011. 
9. ^ "Outsourced Bios/Cast: Todd played by Ben Rappaport". NBC. http://www.nbc.com/outsourced/bios/ben_rappaport/. Retrieved 2011-03-25. 
10. ^ "Outsourced Bios/Cast: Rajiv played by Rizwan Manji". NBC. http://www.nbc.com/outsourced/bios/rizwan_manji/. Retrieved 2011-03-25. 
11. ^ "Outsourced Bios/Cast: Manmeet played by Sacha Dhawan". NBC. http://www.nbc.com/outsourced/bios/sacha_dhawan/. Retrieved 2011-03-25. 
12. ^ "Outsourced Bios/Cast: Asha played by Rebecca Hazlewood". NBC. http://www.nbc.com/outsourced/bios/rebecca_hazlewood/. Retrieved 2011-03-25. 
13. ^ "Outsourced Bios/Cast: Gupta played by Parvesh Cheena". NBC. http://www.nbc.com/outsourced/bios/parvesh_cheena/. Retrieved 2011-03-25. 
14. ^ "Outsourced Bios/Cast: Madhuri played by Anisha Nagarajan". NBC. http://www.nbc.com/outsourced/bios/anisha_nagarajan/. Retrieved 2011-03-25. 
15. ^ "Outsourced Bios/Cast: Charlie played by Diedrich Bader". NBC. http://www.nbc.com/outsourced/bios/diedrich_bader/. Retrieved 2011-03-25. 
16. ^ "Outsourced Bios/Cast: Tonya played by Pippa Black". NBC. http://www.nbc.com/outsourced/bios/pippa_black/. Retrieved 2011-03-25. 
17. ^ "Outsourced – Season 1 Reviews, Ratings, Credits, and More at Metacritic". Metacritic.com. http://www.metacritic.com/tv/outsourced/season-1. Retrieved 2011-03-25. 
18. ^ Keller, Joel (July 6, 2010). "Pilot Watch: 'Outsourced'". TV Squad. http://www.tvsquad.com/2010/07/06/pilot-watch-outsourced/. Retrieved 2010-07-11. 
19. ^ Stanley, Alessandra (22 September 2010). "At Call Center, Cultural Clash in Reverse". The New York Times. http://tv.nytimes.com/2010/09/23/arts/television/23outsourced.html. Retrieved 29 March 2011. 
20. ^ Buncombe, Andrew (29 September 2010). "US Sitcom about Indian outsourcing is racist". The Independent (London). http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/tv-radio/us-sitcom-about-indian-outsourcing-is-racist-say-critics-2092548.html. 
21. ^ Seidman, Robert (2011-03-08). "NBC Announces Season Finales for Spring 2011 + ’30 Rock’ 100th Episode on April 21". TV By the Numbers. http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2011/03/08/nbc-announces-season-finales-for-spring-2011-30-rock-100th-episode-on-april-21/85013. Retrieved 2011-03-25. 
22. ^ ^{a b} http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2011/06/01/2010-11-season-broadcast-primetime-show-viewership-averages/94407/
23. ^ "Global Fall Preview". Globaltv.com. http://www.globaltv.com/fallpreview/index.html. Retrieved 2011-03-25. 
24. ^ "New Comedy series on TV3 Sweden". tv3.se. http://www.tv3.se/program/outsourced-1. Retrieved 2011-04-01. 
25. ^ "Outsourced on TV6 Sweden". tv6.se. http://www.tv6.se/program/outsourced-1. Retrieved 2011-09-27. 
26. ^ "Nowe seriale w Comedy Central". media2.pl. http://media2.pl/media/76102-nowe-seriale-w-comedy-central.html. Retrieved 2011-04-14. 

External links

• Official website
• Outsourced at the Internet Movie Database