After reading the wires, my heart sank- yet I wasn’t as shocked as I could have been, after a season long of pinching myself and not letting myself get too attached, thinking its simply too good to be true!

But the real shame was that Outsourced was actually getting really really good, and more people were starting to warm up to it. What might have hurt ratings was the mid-season time shift, which is a KNOWN network practice to try to silently shuffle out a show by forcing a shifting audience pattern.

However, this is show business and NBC’s Broadcasting Chairman Ted Harbert hit the point home by saying 2011 is going to be about “a little less reinvention of the wheel and more broadcast 101.” (Translation: ‘no money– different new not bring money, old tested bring money, Ted promotion time, raawr/yaay!’)

However, the show did go out with a Bollywood Bang that I don’t really want to spoil as we are all going to rush out and buy the Season 1 Director’s Cut Special Edition box set on BluRay combo pack with collectible Gupta bobble head doll when it comes out right…RIGHT!??!

In addition, NBC also canceled the lukewarm series The Event which I had forced myself to watch, regardless of how bad it was, because I didn’t want to get left behind not watching from the start (like when Lost got big). Damn you NBC, that’s two reasons now that you are on my shit list!!

Keeping with a Ghandian approach to compassion in this post, and not shaking my fists at the NBC execs too furiously, I am happy to share NBC’s exciting new roster of cool shows for the fall. All is not lost, I am also un-reasonably excited about the upcoming Are Your There Vodka, It’s Me Chelsea project, based on Chelsea Handler’s best selling memoir coming this fall.

So NBC, you messed up real bad with cancelling Outsourced which means you’ll be sleeping on the couch this next season. If you want to get out of the doghouse, you better deliver with some Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang action soon, real soon.

Now you know how I feel about these changes, hit us back with your thoughts!

Well, Nicki was born on December 8^th, 1984 on the island nation of Trinidad and Tobago (an area known for a predominant population of South Asian Indians) and is actually ¼ Indian.

Nicki confirms her South Asian heritage in a DesiHits.com interview with ‘Arun and Doctor P’ where she responds to the question of her Indian heritage by saying: “My father is half Indian, yes!”

During the course of the interview, Arun goes on to mention that even her nick-name Nicki is Indian, meaning “little.” Nicki goes on to say, “My real last name is Maraj, and that means king…so Little King- I like that better!”

Although Maraj doesn’t speak Hindi or is in touch with the Desi culture, as seen in the interview, she is open and willing to dive in to her Desi roots. She even shows her fondness for her father’s curry chicken, rotis, and Bollywood heartthrob, John Abraham. One thing is for sure, anytime Nicki Minaj is mentioned, I will make sure to stop and remind people that “Hey, did you know she is part Indian?” So much for her alter egos Roman, Martha Zolanski, and Nicki Teresa; Nicki Minaj is the one that I like best!

It started early last week during the Ryder cup, where Tiger Woods fowled a shot and ended up sending the ball directly at Daily Mail photographer Mark Pain (that’s his real name). Pain may have suffered a nice shiner, but scored a classic photo with the ball mid air and the crowd’s delayed reaction—but one mustachioed individual stood out and became an instant hit with his goofy expression, an elaborate get up of a red pony tailed wig, ridiculous Super Mario mustache, and a cigar that will go down in the annals of web meme history.

It turns out that his get-up was in effort to honor Spanish golfer Miguel Angel Jimenez. Rumors filled the web as people thought he was a Photoshop hoax or an elaborate prank, but Rupesh admits he had no intention of pulling a prank or becoming a quasi-celeb.

Regardless, the Internet had its fun with this meme while it lasted, which resulted in a series of discussions, a place in the digital pages of Wikipedia, and some good old-fashioned Photoshop love.

Fore!

The first pick is a film by freshman director Punit Malhotra, July 2010′s I Hate Luv Storys. The film stars Imran Khan, nephew of the lauded Aamir Khan, and Sonam Kapoor, daughter of Anil Kapoor from Slumdog Millionaire.

The story is very modern, and an Indian rendition of a romantic comedy. In fact, the whole movie is poking fun of the sappy, overly pretentious world of Bollywood love stories. There are some references of ultra cheesy Bollywood classics from the 90′s added in that you might miss if you are not a Bollywood fan, but its a great look at the formula and style of making a romantic Hindi film.

The film centers are ‘J’ (not Jay!) who is working as an assistant director to one of the industries most famous directors known for his love stories, even though he despises cheesy love stories and doesn’t even really believe in true love himself. On the opposite end, Simran relishes the opportunity to work on the latest love story hit in the making, as a set designer, and her whole life not only revolves around Bollywood fairytale love stories, but actually is one.

Eventually while working for the relentless director, and equally cheesy film, the two become best of friends, and a romance starts to take root between Simran and J. Unfortunately, those feelings were not mutual, and J was not going to give up his playboy lifestyle to settle down for love.

As J re-evaluates his decision, the signs all around him seem to point out that he has made a major mistake, and perhaps he should have been paying attention to all of those love sagas, as he has been missing the signs for years. When his friends prove to him that he is as helpless in love as any of the cliched heroes in any Bollywood love story, J has to make a decision.

The soundtrack of this film was exceptional, and the single “Bahara” become a breakout hit, and a personal favorite. Although the film’s pacing tends to slump towards the middle and climax, you can’t help but root for the mischievous scoundrel that J is, and the story picks up in cuteness factor towards the end.

The average Netflix rating was 3/5 stars, but I gave it 4/5 for its fresh approach and ability to poke fun of the industry, while maintaining a realistic dialogue on behalf of modern day Indians.

Add it to your queue here (available for Instant Streaming / also available in Bluray HD) and tell me what you think!

20 year old R&B singer, Sean Kingston, has re-released his 2007 hit single “Beautiful Girls” in India, re-working the lyrics to change the song to “Bollywood Girls.”

The track names notable Bollywood beauties such as Aishwarya Rai, Bipasha Basu, Shilpa Shetty, Preity Zinta, and more. When asked why the re-release of his chart topper, three years after the fact, he said:

“I have a lot of Indian friends, Bollywood’s is a big deal, and people love girls from B-Town,” he says. “I’ve seen some Bollywood girls and they are beautiful, with good personalities. So I thought of recording something for them.”

The rest as they say, is history!

We have come a long way- Asians in the media, especially from an era of “Fu Manchu,” Mickey Rooney’s “Mr. Yunioshi from Breakfast at Tiffany’s, and of course Apu on The Simpsons.

Yes, the first ever American sitcom to star a primarily South Asian cast has managed to slip under the radar, as it was expected to be so much more, in this ‘”post Apu era.” Last week’s premiere of Outsourced on NBC was an adaptation of a sleeper-hit film of the same name, which was released in 2006.

With the show being a “moon-landing” of sorts, I hosted a private premiere party for some of my closest desi (South Asian) and non-desi friends (complete with samosas and all, of course!). We watched the premiere, and while there were undoubtedly some funny knee slapping moments when the room burst into laughter, there were also some very awkward moments that left the room silent– like when Rizwan Manji’s character “Rajiv” suggests to fire one of the employees because she is of a lower caste. Ouch. Un-necessary.

We sat in silence for about 30 seconds after the credits, milling over the appropriate critique. The words “too safe,” “cautious,” “confusing,” “cop-out,” “lazy,” and “un-funny” entered the room.

It took me an entire weekend to mill over my thoughts and to explore how I really felt about it all. Some of the critics had the following to say:

“Nope, I didn’t cry exactly, but I definitely frowned. My eyebrows wrinkled. The show struck me as more irritatingly lazy than out-of-touch, considering most of the bits that could be labeled offensive were also just unfunny.”

Malika Rao, Entertainment Weekly, Pop Watch

“Some of the show’s humor is predictable, like the bit centering around names.”

Tripti Lahiri, The Wall Street Journal

“I said Outsourced was careful — too careful, probably, to be very funny.”

Ken Tucker, Entertainment Weekly

In a more positive note, our very own 8Asian John Lin had to say,

“Overall, our 8Asian bloggers found the sitcom bad to awful, but I thought it was okay and had potential. I’d like to give the show the benefit of the doubt, especially since one episode does not make the show.”

From our 8Asians Facebook page, Lloyd Quinto asserts,

“It wasn’t as offensive as I thought – just juvenile and tragically unfunny. The film had heart, the tv show was missing that….And let’s be honest, you watch The Office because it’s funny – not because the white characters are stereotypical and one dimensional and don’t represent the entire spectrum of the caucasian race. Outsourced just needs to be funny and have heart. In the end, it’s a sitcom – laugh.”

As Jay Sean says, let’s bring it back: It’s 1994, and Margaret Cho’s All American Girls debuts on ABC. Was America ready for an Asian family to enter their homes weekly via TV? Margaret received notes from producers and critics about being “too Asian.” Due to poor ratings, producers fired the entire Asian cast, with the exception of Margaret, and replaced them with white co-stars. 16 years later, can we say Americans are ready for South Asians to enter their homes weekly via TV? Are people going to say that Manmeet, played by Sacha Dawan is “too Indian?”

At any rate, we live in a “Post Apu era” where Mindy Kaling can be a dramatic Valley Girl-esque airhead on The Office, where Aziz Ansari can be the urban inspired woman crazy sly talker in Parks and Recreations and where Archie Punjabi can win an Emmy for her role on The Good Wife for being a sexy and cunning PI.

Some people may think that NBC’s Outsourced can go either way on the scale, tipped into the realm of a hack-ish racial quagmire or an eye-opening introduction of Indian culture to a mass who has been conditioned to associate the typical South Asian to the Quickie Mart’s lovable (yet grossly degrading) Apu.

I’m currently personally reserving judgment on the premiere, but I do have to say that I am quite happy that Americans are getting more exposure to the clothing, colors, and sounds of our culture. The soundtrack is my favorite part thus far. Whether it will resonate with the rest of America…We shall wait and see.

I was shocked, I was angered, I tried to find the real purpose of this “piece,” but then I was just plain offended.

Here are excerpts of Mr. Stein’s eloquently written reflection of his hometown, after being invaded by “dot heads:”

“For a while, we assumed all Indians were geniuses. Then, in the 1980s, the doctors and engineers brought over their merchant cousins, and we were no longer so sure about the genius thing. In the 1990s, the not-as-brilliant merchants brought their even-less-bright cousins, and we started to understand why India is so damn poor.”

“Eventually, there were enough Indians in Edison to change the culture. At which point my townsfolk started calling the new Edisonians “dot heads.” … In retrospect, I question just how good our schools were if “dot heads” was the best racist insult we could come up with for a group of people whose gods have multiple arms and an elephant nose.”

First of all, that’s “Gods,” not “gods.”

Second of all, this is the highest degree of editorial recklessness. Sure, I believe in the freedom of speech as strong as the next Berkeley-born-vegan-liberal-hippie –all of which I am, proudly — but this kind of tone and language is not acceptable just because you are a ‘journalist’ for TIME Magazine, and are reflecting on how your town has changed, for the better or the worse.

What if Mr. Stein took the word “Indian” and replaced it with “Mexican?” Would he be as brave to make such bold statements as, “we started to realize why Mexico is so damn poor?”

Obviously many people are not happy with this ‘article’ either: Google Joel Stein, and this shows up in his Wikipedia:

Joel’s latest Tweet reads: “Didn’t meant to insult Indians with my column this week. Also stupidly assumed their emails would follow that Gandhi non-violence thing.”

Doesn’t really sound like an apology.

So what’s the moral of the story? THINK BEFORE YOU WRITE. Asian Americans, as polite and quiet as some may think we are, also have feelings — and we also have a voice. And Joel Stein’s attempts be funny ends up looking like a major league jackass.

After stumbling through some Tivo suggestions, I found this new show on The CW called Fly Girls. Hot flight attendants living under one roof! Sweet!  Asian chick in the picture — double sweet!

It was an interesting show, with the vibe of The Hills on MTV, a very dramatic styled “reality” (questionable?). The show follows the life of 5 young women who leave behind their normal lives to pursue working for Virgin America Airlines as Flight Attendants.

Of course, the Chinese-Vietnamese American, Louise, had a sobby back-story about how her Asian family had dreamed of her growing up to become a nurse. We are later introduced to her older sister, Yung, who is the epitome of the stereotypical concerned Asian elder who does not approve of the life of glitz and glamour over the fundamental Asian-American dream of going to school, becoming a nurse, and being apart of the well assimilated Asian American collective/model minority.

What made me look twice was the sparse use of Vietnamese when the two enter a Vietnamese restaurant here in Hollywood. The awe-inspiring two-liner translated to: “What’s the house special — is it the fish?” OOOhhh, how exotic!

But in all seriousness, It raised a few points in my mind: A) That’s probably the most Vietnamese a regular viewer of The CW has ever heard before, B) Aww man, here we go picking at the model-minority thing again, and C) Damn- sounds like my older siblings…

When I thought back at when I told my parents that I didn’t want to be a doctor (…or lawyer… or engineer) and wanted to work in Television instead, they almost passed out. My dad asked me [seriously concerned for life] “But, how will you live?”

Breaking the Bamboo Ceiling is not easy, and we are the most important generation of Asian Americans yet; how we stand up to our families to find our true paths in life, will affect the types of jobs we can get, how often we are portrayed in media as something other than “the good, obedient ones”, and how future Asian Americans will be able to live in a world where we too can become explorers, journalist, television producers, and heck- even flight attendants!

So, the tip of the captain’s hat to you, Louise — thanks for being you. Unless, its just in the script.