I have come up with some theory as to the state of affairs.
In India the people who buy Television are usually high earning people in the upper middle-class ( though this situation is rapidly changing ). In US almost every household has a TV. So it happens that the intellectual level of an average Indian having a Television is greater then that of an average American having a TV. (Note that it does not mean Indians are more intelligent than Americans - I have to be politically correct in US ). So the ads, sitcoms etc. are made w.r.t. this average person and the features in India end-up being less silly. Ref: The Good Guys Ad of VCR programming.
In terms of movies the opposite exactly works. Ever realized that 99% of art movies in India are never successful commercially !
The amount of brainwashing that one undergoes is clear from the fact that I am one of the avid watchers of Seinfeld and Home Improvement.
Just as an aside, here is Television put in Calvins' words -