By Manuel A. Sigüenza ’12
THE ROUNDUP
Being a fan of NBC’s Thursday comedy lineup of shows, it was a no brainer for me to watch the premiere of the network’s newest addition, “Outsourced.”
After watching the pilot of this show that stands next to powerhouses like “30 Rock,” “The Office” and second-season “Community,” it seems like the sitcom will come together slowly but surely.
The comedy, featuring newcomer Ben Rappaport, Diedrich Bader and Rebecca Hazlewood, is worth spending 30 minutes watching.
The show starts with a newly promoted manager Todd Dempsey (Rappaport) leaving the United States for India, where he has been sent to manage a catalog-based novelty company.
He meets his employees and an over achieving assistant manager eager for anything at hand. As Dempsey gets to know his employees, he finds that none of them know anything about American culture. At the same time, the employees find that Dempsey does not know of Indian culture either.
He meets a patriotic American working in the same building (Bader) and realizes the job is tougher than it seems. But with the novelty items finally arriving and a positive attitude, he is able to make sales in the first few days and get to know the employees better.
I will not lie, the show is almost a copy of “The Office.”
Although it does not address the camera in a mock-umentary style, it has a similar plot: personable manager with an overachieving assistant manager working at a minor corporate company.
However, the show is unique in certain ways.
For one, the fact that the manager moves to a completely different culture interests me.
The culture shock for both the employees and Dempsey are very fascinating because American television tries to stay, for lack of a better term, American. Because of this, I was very entertained by the awkwardness that the majority of the cast presented.
Another great addition is the mixture of the kinds of employees. There is the quiet one, the talkative one, the cool guy, the pretty one and even the one who seeks success in all forms.
Even though there is a difference in culture, it shows similarities in personalities, something that unifies people.
Despite this mixture of different people, the show stereotypes each type of person to an extreme. The talkative person is too talkative; the quiet one is far too quiet, etc.
I still think this is a great show because it shows how people are able to interact, even if the barrier of culture surrounds them.
Because of the different cultures, the characters will be able to learn from each other and gain more knowledge of different parts of the world.
I highly recommend this show to anyone who enjoys “The Office” and to anyone who likes to spice up their Thursday nights.
