Indian Thursday Nights on NBC
February 16th, 2010
I love “Thursday Nights” on NBC. Every week my wife and I meet up with some of our married friends and watch our favorite shows: Community, The Office, and 30 Rock. Every now and then, we watch “Parks and Recreation,” but it is not one of our favorites. Yesterday, it occurred to me that all four of these shows feature something that few other television comedies do, but something that seems to be part of a growing trend; they all have Indian characters in their casts.
For instance:
·On “Community,” Danny Pudi plays Abed Nadir, a pop-culture junkie who aspires to become a director and is currently taking film directing classes at Greendale Community College. The character of Abed is Palestinian descent, but the actor Danny Pudi is of Indian descent.
·On “Parks and Recreation”, Aziz Ansari plays Tom Haverford (born Darwish Sabir Ismael Gani), a sarcastic, underachieving government official for the city of Pawnee.
·On “The Office,” Mindy Kaling plays Kelly Rajnigandha Kapoor, the office chatterbox who likes celebrity gossip, and one-sided conversation about trivial teenage matters.
·On “30 Rock,” Maulik Pancholy plays Jonathan, Jack’s loyal and overprotective personal assistant, who at times appears to be in love with Jack.
What I think people find most refreshing about these characters is how they defy stereotypes, which is always healthy. They don’t assume the more typical roles of doctors, engineers, lawyers, IT workers, or worse yet, convenient store owners like Apu from “The Simpsons.”
Perhaps these casting choices are evidence that Indian culture is making massive headway into U.S. pop culture. After all, Indian clothing, food, music, and religion have been growing in mainstream acceptance and maybe Americans now know just enough about Indian culture to laugh at its portrayal on TV. Or perhaps it is the American ignorance concerning Indians and Indian culture that makes it such a funny element to include in television comedy.
One of the main themes in the humor associated with each of these characters is how ignorant, insensitive, and out of touch their white American counterparts are to their ethnic background. For example, who can forget when Kelly won the “Spicy Curry” Dundie Award on “The Office” or when Michael started talking in a horrible Indian accent and tried to offer her some of his “googy googy” on “diversity day?” Another theme is how out of touch the Americanized Indian characters often are with their own ethnic background or the struggles they have separating themselves from stereotypes.
Two new television shows are taking this Indian infiltration even further. “Never mind Nirvana” on Fox is said to be like “Everybody Loves Raymond “only with all Indian characters, and “Outsourced” on NBC is about a customer service manager training call-center employees in India. I haven’t seen either of these shows yet, but am curious to see what they are like and how popular they become.
So what do you think? Is it coincidence, political correctness, globalization, or are American audiences simply opening up? Has anybody seen “Nevermind Nirvana” or “Outsourced,” and what is your take on these shows?
-Phil Hamer
Entry Filed under: 2010 Student Blogs, India, Misc.
6 Comments Add your own
1. indu | February 16th, 2010 at 10:05 am
I think it is a great venture. I hope it will highlight the normal lifestyle of immigrant and second generation americans. the story line appears to be really interesting.
2. Lindsay Leaver | February 18th, 2010 at 1:06 pm
You make a great point Phil. I never made the connection of the similar Indian characters on these shows. The NBC Thursday night shows are my favorite sitcoms!
I don’t think that we can attribute the popularity of these characters to the American audiences opening up. Maybe audiences are opening up because of these shows.
It feels to me more an issue of globalization. India has over a billion people and everyday seems to be making more moves onto the world stage. America can’t ignore or push them aside anymore. India has their own entertainment industry that is larger than Hollywood many times over. It is natural that Indian characters and shows would be making their way on to NBC or other major networks airways. Because of this, It is also natural that Indian culture become more mainstream in America.
3. Catherine Kristensen | February 18th, 2010 at 6:32 pm
This is an awesome analysis, Phil! But wow, it makes me realize how little TV I’ve watched since starting Business School. I don’t really recognize any of the characters except for Kelly…
I looked up “Nevermind Nirvana” and after sifting through all of the Kurt Cobain references (the band name/album title combo gets a lot of the hits!), I finally found some references to this show. With David Schwimmer as the director, I can imagine that it will have a very “Friends” feel to it. I looked on fox.com and there wasn’t a listing yet, so I would guess the show isn’t out yet…
I’ll be interested to watch the show when it comes out. The ‘first-generation-Indian in America’ perspective reminds me a bit of “The Namesake” (a great book if you haven’t read it!). So much of American TV revolves around Caucasians, which really isn’t representative of the cultural makeup of our country. The Cosby Show and Family Matters brought some diversity, as did The George Lopez Show, but beyond that, there haven’t been any other representations of other family cultures on television. I hope that “Nevermind Nirvana” helps to bridge that gap. I like that the Indian main character is dating a Caucasian - not since Lucy and Ricky have we seen a multi-cultural pair share the silver screen.
4. Jeff Severn | February 19th, 2010 at 3:52 pm
I don’t watch any of the shows you mentioned, but I do watch “Chop Shop” on the Discovery Channel. It teams up Leepu Awila, a Bangladeshi automotive artist, with Bernie Fineman, a mechanic from from England, for a show that takes a P.O.S. car and turns it into a work of automobile art. It has the typical made-up personality conflicts of a reality show, but they’re real characters. Leepu was born and raised in Bangladesh, but was trained at the Venice Design Institute in California. He modified his first car when he was 17 after he attended a car show and wanted to replicate what he saw there. He realized later that he didn’t have the skills to make his creations walk the talk, only look the part. That’s when he teamed up with Berni to fill out his missing skills.
I have to admit, I’m not real impressed with the engineering that is displayed on the show, but then then I’m not that impressed with American Chopper either. What’s interesting to me is how they make something out of practically nothing. No engineering drawings, no NC programs to machine parts, no English Wheels to smooth the sheet metal, just a dozen people with welders, hammers, and LOTS of body filler.
This show is good example of real characters acting almost normal in a real-life situation. I think it furthers the goal of having multi-cultural actors appearing in-character that isn’t stereotypical. It also gives some insight to the drive and motivation of Leetu that enabled him to break into mainstream TV. I think he shares this trait with many others in the India/Asian community. If you want to no more, look at the website below.
http://www.yourdiscovery.com/web/chop-shop-2/crew/leepu-awlia/
5. Danielle Steussy | February 19th, 2010 at 6:55 pm
Wow, I never even realized this and I watch these shows religiously every Thursday night!
Something that I have realized though with these characters is that they are portrayed almost as the social outcasts or the “weirdos.”
Tom in Parks and Rec is so out of touch with reality in his attempts to fit in with the club scene (see the episode where he tries on ridiculous outfits and you’ll know what I mean).
Kelly of The Office bases her entire life on following the lives of celebrities and annoys everyone in the office with her ignorance of reality.
The character of Abed of Community, is trapped in a TV sitcom himself and although I can’t help but love him, I have to wonder if I would have the same sentiments if he were standing in front of me right now.
Finally, Jonathan of 30 Rock desperately wants to be accepted by Jack that he devotes his life to pleasing the guy.
It just makes me wonder why all these characters, although not outright negatively portrayed, are just a little more off than the other characters in the show. It might be better than stereotyping, but is it all that more flattering to the Indian community to have these characters so distant from reality and who are eager to fit in with everyone else?
Although I love each and every one of these shows and some of the characters (Abed) are some of the funniest characters on TV right now, I wonder–are they really being portrayed in a positive light or still as “foreigners?”
6. Michael Minasian | March 5th, 2010 at 4:35 pm
I think this is a really interesting post. I too am a fan of Parks and Community. If you have seen any of Aziz Ansari outside of Parks he is just as funny there as he is on the show. After last nights episode of Community I thought I would add an update to Danielle’s post.
The episode was focused in large part around Abed. I think it is an interesting insight into his character as we figure out that actually, he is smarter than anyone even thought. Everyone thought he was book smart, and talented, but they realize actually, he is so smart, and confident in himself that he was willing to change to make other people happy. All of this to say, I think the writers realize his character is the most dynamic on the show and will start to showcase him more. When I watch the two characters (Abed and Tom Havorford) I think of them as Americans. Immigrants to be sure, but it doesn’t often cross my mind that they happen to be Indian. The point of which is to say, I don’t think it should matter. I think immigrants should be viewed as unique and special, the same way that we all are. I don’t think it reflects one way or another on the countries as a whole.
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