Not Funny

Next week, on Thursday (the 23rd), NBC will air one of its new sitcoms. As you probably know, "sitcom" is short for situation comedy. The problem with this particular show is that there is nothing funny about the situation being portrayed.

The show is called Outsourced and is about a company that sends its call center to India. While I'm sure that there will be much to laugh about as we poke fun at the cultural collide that happens when American management invades a foreign country, I just don't think that this is a show that I want to watch or encourage as millions of Americans find themselves the victims of corporate downsizing/rightsizing/outsourcing or whatever else you want to call putting fellow Americans out of work for the Almighty Dollar.

Maybe I just see this as an insensitive way to interject humor into the poor economic atmosphere in which we find ourselves. Maybe it would be a good laugh and a way to lighten the spirits for an out of work or underemployed American worker. Maybe I'm letting my union background get the best of me and I'm over reacting to NBC's joking around about the situation that has caused financial ruin for so many families. Outsourcing of American jobs has caused families to lose health care benefits, homes and even...families as the divorce rates among the financially stressed are high.

With hundreds of channels to choose from (almost all of them with tasteless programming) I'm sure that we can find something else to watch on Thursday nights. Maybe you'd even consider turning the TV off and spend time conversing with your family or reading a good book (or reading The Good Book!). It would please me a great deal if NBC would have to drop this show after a few weeks because Americans decided that there is nothing funny about companies sending our jobs overseas. Maybe the people in India would find it funny and they can ship their show over there.

I don't know what companies will sponsoring Outsourced (and I won't be watching it to find out) but it may be worth letting the sponsors know if you are offended by the program.

As it stands in our grand land, NBC is free to produce this insensitive program and we are free to watch it--or not.

I choose--NOT!

How about you? Thumbs up /\, or thumbs down \/?

John