“I’m a toucher!” – Todd
Earlier this week, to the dismay of television critics everywhere, news broke that NBC has ordered a full season of Outsourced. What is still unclear is how this news will affect the return of Parks & Recreation, which was slated to return mid-season.
How did the folks at Outsourced celebrate the news that they will be sticking around for at least another half season? By airing a complete stinker, even by the show’s already low standards.
“Touched by an Anglo” is an episode we have seen done a dozen times before, and usually done better. Every workplace sitcom has its “sexual harassment episode” and this is Outsourced’s. When a delivery of bachelorette party novelties arrive at the call center (penis lollipops, Pecker Pistols, you get the idea), Todd (Ben Rappaport) is put in the awkward position of having to explain what a bachelorette party is. Manmeet is particularly intrigued by the concept of male strippers.
The women in the office are clearly uncomfortable with the explicit sexual nature of some of the products they are being asked to sell. Todd calls his boss for some guidance and he suggests that Todd should hold a seminar on sexual harassment. An American, clueless about Indian culture, holding a meeting on a sensitive topic, what could go wrong?
Todd starts the meeting by telling the staff about a hot line they can call and make an anonymous report if they ever feel harassed. He then pops in a video that depicts a bunch of scenarios and asks the staff to decide whether or not each is appropriate for the workplace. The female employees bail when the video shows a couple kissing in the break room. What Todd doesn’t realize is that in India it is very taboo to show kissing in movies and television, and his sexual harassment video turns out to be racier than anything Bollywood has produced.
Of course, someone makes a complaint on the hotline and Todd spends the rest of the episode trying to figure out who it was and what he did to harass them. The audience is supposed to think that Rajiv (Rizwan Manji) made the call in order to get Todd fired, but Outsourced likes to think it is a clever show, so that’s just a red herring. The strange thing is that Todd never even considers that Rajiv might be the one making the complaints. At first I thought the character was just naive about his new country and its inhabitants, but now it seems like he is a Michael Kelso-esque moron.
Todd consults the show’s resident expert on Indian culture, Charlie (Diedrich Bader), but he’s no help. “Who knows what offends these people. They don’t kiss in public but they have an open air fertility temple with a statue of a big old dong.” Fortunately, Asha (Rebecca Hazlewood) is bit more helpful. She notices that Todd has a habit of touching people while he talks to them. “I’m a toucher!” he exclaims when it dawns on him. He apologizes to the ladies and everyone has a good chuckle about the big misunderstanding. Everyone except the people on their couches watching the show.
Aren’t you glad you are getting more of this while Ron “F-ing” Swanson and the rest of the crew in Pawnee sits on the shelf getting staler by the day? I sure am. Thanks NBC.
This review originally appeared on TV Geek Army.