Jamie Weinman, Macleans TV Critic, and a writer I often read and agree with, has me shaking my head in disagreement this morning, in a post where he roots for the demise of NBC's Outsourced, which is set to premiere this fall.
I really enjoyed the movie, and when I heard it was being turned into a TV show, I thought it was about time that we got a few South Asians on a show in North America. There have been sprinkles so far, with Anil Kapoor on the last season of 24, Kal Penn on House before he was hit by the politics bug, Reshma Shetty on Royal Pains, Aziz Ansari on P&R, and Archie Panjabi on The Good Wife, but the roles like that are few and far between for South Asian actors in North America, and especially in Canada.
At least in the UK there have been shows like Goodness Gracious Me, and The Kumars at No. 42. Toronto itself has a huge Bollywood scene (next year one of the major Indian movie awards shows will take place in Toronto), and yet when it comes to TV, as my South Asian actor friends tell me, it is a desert out there.
Personally I would like to see something like Outsourced turn that ship around and start to click. Amy Pohler is just fine and dandy, but I think I'd prefer to see more Russell Peters out there.
I'm not sure if I'm actually rooting for "Outsourced" to be canceled (though I disliked the pilot); just that I think it probably will be.
ReplyDeleteI don't disagree with you about the pilot. I guess I am jut reacting to the way in which you stated your opinion.
ReplyDelete"Alan Sepinwall’s interview with Parks and Recreation co-creator Mike Schur is something that can tide us over while we’re waiting for Outsourced to be canceled and P&R to be brought back..."
It sounded a little blase, a little "Hey Gramps! Hurry up and die so I can inherit the Porsche!"
I guess I am a little sensitive lately, what with all the 18 to Life hate coming from down south this week.
A great post, James!
ReplyDeleteReshma Shetty is the best part of Royal Pains, and I like the interracial romance they have set up between her and the documentary film-maker. The whole show has presented an interesting look at arranged marriages -- my question to you is how common is arranged marriage in India these days? Also, I think there may be a South Asian actor on the new series Covert Affairs, but I'm not sure ... the US has such a large South Asian population that I don't know why they have been so excluded from television ...