Outsourced

For the past 3 weeks, my DVR has been dutifully recording episodes of "Outsourced" and I have been skipping watching these episodes even when I have absolutely nothing to watch. My first grouse against this show was that it was replacing my favorite "Parks and Recreation". The second and most important reason is that I am extremely sensitive to criticism (perceived or real) by people who know nothing about it. A year ago, a friend had suggested I read "Two States" by Chetan Bhagat and had insisted that I would enjoy. But about halfway through the book, I was seething with rage. I felt like Bhagat was making a lot of assumptions about Tam Brams and I found it impossible to finish the book. I didn't watch "Outsourced" since I figured it would make me angry and unpleasant and so I let those 3 episodes sit in my DVR and taunt me.

Last weekend, S & I spent the entire weekend rooted to the couch watching endless hours of TV. And then it happened, S refused to watch an old episode of Frasier that we've watched a a million times before and he wanted to watch some new episodes of Outsourced. I braced myself and started watching. And nothing. No anger, no wanting to throw a vase at the TV and I didn't even want to hunt down the phone number of the producers and yell at them on the phone! And I was even able to laugh at the jokes. Which is not to say that they have been kind or factual in portraying India. Which call center in India is located in a building in the midst of a market (with cows roaming around)? Hell the call center buildings in India are much nicer than the building that I currently work out of. And on the subject of cows roaming around, couldn't they have gotten a nice Indian cow rather than showing some fuzzy American cows? And when they want to show that we drink tender coconut water, we do not drill a hole into the coconut and sip out of a straw, we actually slice the top off. My biggest grouse have to be the way the actors talk though. They make the Indian actors say such American phrases in an Indian accent. As though the fake accent somehow makes it sound authentic. Why not just make the Indians use Indian phrases and slang instead? Or actually have an Indian writer, someone who has lived in India for at least a few years? I feel that someone like me could really help straighten things up in Outsourced, since the show has a lot of potential. So are you listening NBC? :-)

In other sitcom news, Running Wilde is in the danger of getting canceled! I am really really disappointed. I really liked the show and Will Arnett is terrific! I really thought that this could be a good replacement for Arrested Development (which is really the best show on TV ever!) Come everyone, we need good shows to stay on TV and which means y'all have to actually watch them.

General Rambles (aka I am Offically Out of Sensible Titles)

I love visiting used book stores. I have written about this in the past as well. I love the smell of freshly minted books as anyone else, but I think that old books have more character. Also the smell of old books take me back to Easwari Lending Library, where I spent many happy hours as a child. Yesterday, I went to Frugal Muse, a new used book store that I had been meaning to check out for a couple of months now. And it was really different than the second hand book sellers that I had been used to in India. All books were in very very good condition. Everything was neatly categorized and sorted alphabetically (which makes me think that more than half the cost of the book is the cost of identifying it and placing it at the right spot) But I missed digging through the piles of books and finding a hidden gem. Or just picking books that looked interesting. I remember when S and I were kids, we went to the platform book sellers near ESI Hospital in KK Nagar (this was back when my husband actually used to read for pleasure!) We spent nearly an hour and I was so happy to dig through piles with S. Once, during my final semester at Pilani, I went to Rungta House to sell the textbooks I couldn't carry home. And digging through the ginormous book stacks filled with textbooks in all editions, I came across a Wodehouse! I was thrilled beyond measure and incredulous that someone would actually sell "Righto Jeeves!" Long story short, that book cost more money than I got from selling my texts, but I still have that book (that is if my mom hasn't thrown it away or donated it very generously).

You all know best that I love watching sitcoms. Back in Hyd, my sitcom watching was whatever was on Zee English and Star World and the DVDs from the US sent by S to me and by K's brother to her. When I landed in the US, Grad living did not permit the time and cash for TV and satellite/cable. So I caught up most of the shows on hulu and other sites on my trusty laptop. Going to Florida to visit S would equate to a TV wonderland for me and I would be loathe to stir out of the sofa to actually go out somewhere in Tampa. Naturally when I got a job and my own apartment, the first thing I did was to buy a decent TV and a get it hooked to Dish. You would think that all is for best and that the reason I don't blog is because I am too busy watching TV. Well you are almost there, except I am watching the same shows over and over and over. I have 15-20 shows that are set to record on the DVR and barring the the current ones which have new episodes almost every week, I always end up watching staples like Seinfeld, King of Queens, Frasier, Will & Grace etc. And I have watched every episode there is of these shows and I am too lazy to try and find reruns of some interesting old shows. This wasn't a problem when I was using my laptop as my primary entertainment device. Since there was no schedule of any sorts, I would dig and find a lot of new things to watch. So gentle readers, do you see my dilema? Since I pay an obscene amount of money to Dish each month, I feel a moral obligation to watch my money's worth of shows on TV. But digging through hundred channels trying to find something new is not easy. This is where you, the readers of this blog who have excellent taste in TV viewing, come in. Suggest shows for me to watch. Doesn't have to very good - these are shows that I would see while cooking or have in the background while getting dressed for work (I know I watch too much TV) etc. So it has to be new content and at least slightly interesting and funny. So suggest away!