Portlandia (TV series)
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''Portlandia'' is an American
sketch comedy Sketch comedy comprises a series of short, amusing scenes or vignettes, called "sketches", commonly between one and ten minutes long, performed by a group of comic actors or comedians. The form developed and became popular in vaudeville, and is ...
television series starring
Fred Armisen Fereydun Robert Armisen (born December 4, 1966) is an American actor, comedian, writer, producer, and musician. With his comedy partner Carrie Brownstein, Armisen was the co-creator and co-star of the IFC sketch comedy series ''Portlandia''. He ...
and
Carrie Brownstein Carrie Rachel Brownstein (born September 27, 1974) is an American musician, actress, writer, director, and comedian. She first came to prominence as a member of the band Excuse 17 before forming the rock trio Sleater-Kinney. During a long hiatus ...
, set in and around
Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...
, and spoofing the city's reputation as a haven for eccentric hipsters. The show was produced by Broadway Video Television and IFC Original Productions. It was created by Armisen and Brownstein, along with
Jonathan Krisel Jonathan Krisel (; born January 4, 1979) is an American director, producer, writer, editor, and occasional actor. He is best known for co-creating the series ''Portlandia'' (for which he also directed and co-wrote in the majority of episodes), ...
, who directs it. It debuted on IFC on January 21, 2011. The show shared its title with the sculpture of the same name that sits above the entrance of the
Portland Building The Portland Building, alternatively referenced as the Portland Municipal Services Building, is a 15-story municipal office building located at 1120 SW 5th Avenue in downtown Portland, Oregon. Built at a cost of US$29 million, it opened in 1982 ...
on Fifth Avenue in
downtown Portland Downtown Portland is the city center of Portland, Oregon, United States. It is on the west bank of the Willamette River in the northeastern corner of the southwest section of the city and where most of the city's high-rise buildings are found. ...
, which appears in the show's
title sequence A title sequence (also called an opening sequence or intro) is the method by which films or television programmes present their title and key production and cast members, utilizing conceptual visuals and sound (often a opening theme song with visu ...
. The show has won a
Peabody Award The George Foster Peabody Awards (or simply Peabody Awards or the Peabodys) program, named for the American businessman and philanthropist George Peabody, honor the most powerful, enlightening, and invigorating stories in television, radio, and ...
. In January 2017, the series was renewed for an eighth and final season, which concluded on March 22, 2018.


Production


Conception and development

Brownstein and Armisen first met in 2003 and began collaborating on a series of comedy sketches for the
Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...
in 2005 titled ''ThunderAnt''. The sketches became increasingly Portland-centric, with premises ranging from irate diners at a popular Hawthorne District restaurant registering ridiculous complaints on the review website
Yelp! Yelp Inc. is an American company that develops the Yelp.com website and the Yelp mobile app, which publish crowd-sourced reviews about businesses. It also operates Yelp Guest Manager, a table reservation service. It is headquartered in San Fra ...
to a character's disastrous one-man performance at the city's Hollywood Theatre. In July 2009, the duo pitched their idea for a full-fledged
sketch comedy Sketch comedy comprises a series of short, amusing scenes or vignettes, called "sketches", commonly between one and ten minutes long, performed by a group of comic actors or comedians. The form developed and became popular in vaudeville, and is ...
show to IFC and
Lorne Michaels Lorne Michaels (born Lorne David Lipowitz; November 17, 1944) is a Canadian-American producer, screenwriter, and comedian. He is best known for creating and producing ''Saturday Night Live'' (1975–1980, 1985–present) and producing the '' La ...
'
Broadway Video Broadway Video is an American multimedia entertainment studio founded by Lorne Michaels, creator of the sketch comedy TV series ''Saturday Night Live'' and producer of other television programs and movies. Broadway Video also held the rights to ...
production company, and the project was quickly approved. Some of the content on the show first appeared in the web series; the "Women & Women First" feminist bookstore sketch and its owners' characters, Toni and Candace, originated there.


Filming and production

The series is set and filmed on location in Portland, Oregon. Production for the first season, consisting of six episodes, began in August 2010 and was completed in September 2010. The budget for the first season was set at less than $1 million (US). Along with
Allison Silverman Allison Silverman (born February 17, 1972) is an American comedy writer and producer, known for her work on Russian Doll, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, and Late Night with Conan O'Brian. She was the head writer and executive producer for ''The Colb ...
, a former head writer and executive producer for ''
The Colbert Report ''The Colbert Report'' ( ) is an American late-night talk and news satire television program hosted by Stephen Colbert that aired four days a week on Comedy Central from October 17, 2005, to December 18, 2014, for 1,447 episodes. The show focuse ...
'', and ''Portlandia'' director
Jonathan Krisel Jonathan Krisel (; born January 4, 1979) is an American director, producer, writer, editor, and occasional actor. He is best known for co-creating the series ''Portlandia'' (for which he also directed and co-wrote in the majority of episodes), ...
, Armisen and Brownstein wrote the sketches that appear in the first six episodes.
Lorne Michaels Lorne Michaels (born Lorne David Lipowitz; November 17, 1944) is a Canadian-American producer, screenwriter, and comedian. He is best known for creating and producing ''Saturday Night Live'' (1975–1980, 1985–present) and producing the '' La ...
served as executive producer. The series stars
Fred Armisen Fereydun Robert Armisen (born December 4, 1966) is an American actor, comedian, writer, producer, and musician. With his comedy partner Carrie Brownstein, Armisen was the co-creator and co-star of the IFC sketch comedy series ''Portlandia''. He ...
and
Carrie Brownstein Carrie Rachel Brownstein (born September 27, 1974) is an American musician, actress, writer, director, and comedian. She first came to prominence as a member of the band Excuse 17 before forming the rock trio Sleater-Kinney. During a long hiatus ...
in various roles. Guest stars include:
Kirsten Dunst Kirsten Caroline Dunst (; born April 30, 1982) is an American actress. She made her acting debut in the short ''Oedipus Wrecks'' directed by Woody Allen in the anthology film ''New York Stories'' (1989). She then gained recognition for her rol ...
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; Ed Begley Jr.;
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;
Portland Trail Blazers The Portland Trail Blazers (colloquially known as the Blazers) are an American professional basketball team based in Portland, Oregon. The Trail Blazers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Con ...
players
LaMarcus Aldridge LaMarcus Nurae Aldridge (born July 19, 1985) is an American professional basketball player who last played for the Brooklyn Nets of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for two seasons with the Texas Longhorns. ...
,
Damian Lillard Damian Lamonte Ollie Lillard Sr. (born July 15, 1990) is an American professional basketball player for the Portland Trail Blazers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Weber State Wildcats and earned ...
,
CJ McCollum Christian James McCollum (born September 19, 1991) is an American professional basketball player for the New Orleans Pelicans of the National Basketball Association (NBA). During his third year in the league in 2015–16, he was named the NBA Mos ...
, and
Robin Lopez Robin Byron Lopez (born April 1, 1988) is an American professional basketball player for the Cleveland Cavaliers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was selected with the 15th pick in the 2008 NBA draft by the Phoenix Suns, was trad ...
as themselves; and
Kyle MacLachlan Kyle Merritt MacLachlan (; ' McLachlan, February 22, 1959) is an American actor. He is best known for his role as Dale Cooper in ''Twin Peaks'' (1990–1991; 2017) and its film prequel '' Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me'' (1992), as well as roles ...
as a fictional
mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...
of Portland. Actual Portland mayor
Sam Adams Samuel Adams ( – October 2, 1803) was an American statesman, political philosopher, and a Founding Father of the United States. He was a politician in colonial Massachusetts, a leader of the movement that became the American Revolution, and ...
is also featured as an assistant to the mayor. Another episode, including a fictionalized music festival similar to Portland's actual
MusicfestNW MusicfestNW (MFNW) was a multi-venue music festival that took place every fall in Portland, Oregon from 2001 to 2018. In 2014 the format of the festival changed to a two-day waterfront music festival. The festival was organized by the alternative we ...
, featured a rock band played by
Colin Meloy Colin Patrick Henry Meloy (born October 5, 1974) is an American musician, singer-songwriter and author best known as the frontman of the Portland, Oregon, indie folk rock band The Decemberists. In addition to vocals, he performs with an acousti ...
and
Jenny Conlee Jennifer Lynn Conlee-Drizos (born December 12, 1971) is an American musician, best known as the accordionist, pianist, organist, keyboardist, melodica player, and occasional backup singer and harmonicist for the indie rock quintet The Decemberi ...
of
The Decemberists The Decemberists are an American indie rock band from Portland, Oregon. The band consists of Colin Meloy ( lead vocals, guitar, principal songwriter), Chris Funk (guitar, multi-instrumentalist), Jenny Conlee (piano, keyboards, accordion), Nate ...
; James Mercer of
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; Brownstein's
Sleater-Kinney Sleater-Kinney ( ) is an American rock band that formed in Olympia, Washington, in 1994. The band's current lineup features Corin Tucker (vocals and guitar) and Carrie Brownstein (guitar and vocals), following the departure of longtime member J ...
bandmates
Corin Tucker Corin Lisa Tucker (born November 9, 1972) is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist best known for her work with rock band Sleater-Kinney. Tucker is also a member of the alternative rock supergroup Filthy Friends, and previously recorded ...
and
Janet Weiss Janet Lee Weiss (born September 24, 1965) is an American rock drummer, best known as a former member of Sleater-Kinney and a current member of Quasi. She was the drummer for Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks, leaving after the album ''Mirror Traffic' ...
; and
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. On February 14, 2011, IFC ordered a ten-episode second season, which began airing in January 2012. On March 21, 2012, IFC announced its renewal of the show for a third season. On June 12, 2013, the network announced its renewal of ''Portlandia'' for fourth and fifth seasons, of ten episodes each, that aired in early 2014 and early 2015. On February 10, 2015, it was announced that IFC had picked up ''Portlandia'' for sixth and seventh seasons. In January 2017, the series was renewed for an eighth and final season to debut in 2018. Filming for the final season began in Portland in June 2017.


Series overview


Characters

Most of the sketches on ''Portlandia'' feature Armisen and Brownstein playing one of a variety of pairs of characters, most of which appear in multiple episodes. One of those pairings is "Fred and Carrie", a naturalistic depiction that is supposed to represent versions of the actors as if they were friends living together in a house in Portland. Most of the others use makeup, costumes, and wigs to depict pairings both young and old of various types. Sometimes
cross-dressing Cross-dressing is the act of wearing clothes usually worn by a different gender. From as early as pre-modern history, cross-dressing has been practiced in order to disguise, comfort, entertain, and self-express oneself. Cross-dressing has play ...
is used, as when Armisen portrays Candace, co-owner of the Women and Women First bookstore, Brownstein plays Andy, a men's rights activist, or when Armisen and Brownstein swap genders to play the couple Nina and Lance. There are also a small number of recurring characters played by other actors, such as the Mayor of Portland and his assistant (played by
Kyle MacLachlan Kyle Merritt MacLachlan (; ' McLachlan, February 22, 1959) is an American actor. He is best known for his role as Dale Cooper in ''Twin Peaks'' (1990–1991; 2017) and its film prequel '' Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me'' (1992), as well as roles ...
and
Sam Adams Samuel Adams ( – October 2, 1803) was an American statesman, political philosopher, and a Founding Father of the United States. He was a politician in colonial Massachusetts, a leader of the movement that became the American Revolution, and ...
, the actual mayor from 2009 to 2012), Fred and Carrie's landlord (played by
Steve Buscemi Steven Vincent Buscemi ( ,As stated in interviews by Buscemi himself, some may insist that his pronunciation of his own name is "wrong" because it does not match the original Italian pronunciation as well. It is not uncommon for people to pronou ...
, who also directed several episodes), Angel (played by Angel Bouchet, who appears in multiple episodes as herself), a swinger couple (played by
Ebbe Roe Smith Ebbe Roe Smith (born June 25, 1949) is an American actor and screenwriter, who wrote the film '' Falling Down''. As an actor, Smith has appeared in such films and television series as '' Outrageous Fortune'', '' The Big Easy'', '' Fatal Beauty'' ...
and Kristine Levine), an owner of many quirky shops (played by
Jeff Goldblum Jeffrey Lynn Goldblum (; born October 22, 1952) is an American actor and musician. He has starred in some of the highest-grossing films of his era, such as ''Jurassic Park'' (1993) and '' Independence Day'' (1996), as well as their sequels. ...
) and Carrie's mom (played by Mickey Ronningen, seasons 2, 3, and 5). Actor Jedediah P. Aaker has appeared on more episodes of the series than any other actors, not including the series' two leads.


Reception

''Portlandia'' debuted on IFC on January 21, 2011. IFC "cheered" the first episode's
Nielsen ratings Nielsen Media Research (NMR) is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre, films (via the AMC Theatres MAP program), and newspapers. Headquartered in New York City, it is best known for the Nielsen rat ...
of 263,000 viewers (live plus same day); factoring in repeats and three days' worth of DVR viewings, the number grew to 725,000, a figure that does not include an estimated 500,000 online preview viewings on IFC.com,
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and
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during the days before the official IFC premiere. As of May 1, 2012 the series was available to watch on Netflix in Ireland and the UK. The show has received mostly positive reviews from television critics. Review aggregator site
Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
has given the first season a rating of 71 out of 100, and the second season a rating of 75 out of 100. Both of these ratings fall within the site's range of "generally favorable reviews". Robert Lloyd of the ''
Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
'' called the show "funny and charming." Verne Gay of ''
Newsday ''Newsday'' is an American daily newspaper that primarily serves Nassau and Suffolk counties on Long Island, although it is also sold throughout the New York metropolitan area. The slogan of the newspaper is "Newsday, Your Eye on LI", and f ...
'' awarded the series an "A" grade and called it "hilarious". He noted that "Brownstein and Armisen move so effortlessly between characters, then execute their riffs, tics, styles and voices with such skilled abandon that before long this doesn't seem like satire any longer but a fun house mirror reflection of intensely real people." Contrarily, Brian Lowry, writing for ''Variety'', noted that the show was "clearly on a shoestring budget" and said that it featured an "array of tiresome characters" that provided "further proof not everyone deserves a sketch comedy showcase - especially when the premise cuts no deeper than vignettes inspired by the wheat-germy, hippie-ish environs of Portland, Ore." Comedian
Jerry Seinfeld Jerome Allen Seinfeld ( ; born April 29, 1954) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, and producer. He is best known for playing a Jerry Seinfeld (character), semi-fictionalized version of himself in the sitcom ''Seinfeld'', which he ...
is a fan of the show. In a 2014 interview he said, "I think that's the best comedy on TV right now, and it's easily one of the best comedies of all time". The sketches set in the
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"Women and Women First" were filmed in an actual
independent bookstore An independent bookstore is a retail bookstore which is independently owned. Usually, independent stores consist of only a single actual store (although there are some multi-store independents). They may be structured as sole proprietorships, cl ...
, In Other Words; this name can be seen on the chalkboard listing in-store events behind the cash register. At one point the real bookstore and community center used the show to promote itself, but the relationship broke down in 2016. The volunteer board wrote in a blog post that the bookstore and staff were mistreated during a filming session, and went on to say that "the Women and Women First segments ... are trans-antagonistic and trans-misogynist and have only become more offensive as the show goes on."


Awards and nominations

''Portlandia'' won a
Peabody Award The George Foster Peabody Awards (or simply Peabody Awards or the Peabodys) program, named for the American businessman and philanthropist George Peabody, honor the most powerful, enlightening, and invigorating stories in television, radio, and ...
in 2011 "for its good-natured lampooning of hipster culture, which hits the mark whether or not you’re in on the joke." ''Portlandia'' also won an
Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...
in 2011 for Outstanding Costumes for a Variety Program or Special and was also nominated for Outstanding Directing for a Variety Series and Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series in the
64th Primetime Emmy Awards The 64th Primetime Emmy Awards, honoring the best in prime time television programming from June 1, 2011 until May 31, 2012, were held on Sunday, September 23, 2012 at the Nokia Theatre in Downtown Los Angeles, California. ABC televised the cere ...
. Former Portland mayor
Sam Adams Samuel Adams ( – October 2, 1803) was an American statesman, political philosopher, and a Founding Father of the United States. He was a politician in colonial Massachusetts, a leader of the movement that became the American Revolution, and ...
(2009 to 2012) also appeared on the show and proclaimed January 21, 2011, Portlandia Day. The proclamation included a decorative bird, referring to a joke in the TV series. A bicycle tour company began offering Portlandia tours. For the
66th Primetime Emmy Awards The 66th Primetime Emmy Awards honored the best in U.S. prime time television programming from June 1, 2013 until May 31, 2014, as chosen by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. The ceremony was held on Monday, August 25, 2014, at the Noki ...
, the show received nominations in Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series for Fred Armisen, Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series, Outstanding Directing for a Variety Series for Jonathan Krisel, and Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series for
Steve Buscemi Steven Vincent Buscemi ( ,As stated in interviews by Buscemi himself, some may insist that his pronunciation of his own name is "wrong" because it does not match the original Italian pronunciation as well. It is not uncommon for people to pronou ...
for the episode "Celery".


Home media and international release

''Portlandia: Season One'' was released on Region 1 DVD and Blu-ray on December 6, 2011, and Region 4 on August 1, 2012. The one disc set consists of all six episodes of its first season. Special features include; Extended Scenes, Bloopers, An IFC Behind-the-Scenes Featurette, "Thunder Ant" Sketches, and Audio Commentary by Armisen and Brownstein. Portlandia: Season Two was released on Region 1 DVD and Blu-ray on September 25, 2012, and Region 4 on August 7, 2013. The two disc set consists of all ten episodes of season two. Special features include; "Portlandia: the Tour: Seattle" Featurette, "Inside Portlandia" Featurette, "Feminist Bookstore" Deleted Scene, "Brunch Village: the Director's Cut", Excerpt from the ''Portlandia'' book and Audio Commentary by Armisen, Brownstein and Krisel. There is also a combination set of both seasons available. Portlandia was also distributed in some countries on the
iTunes store The iTunes Store is a digital media store operated by Apple Inc. It opened on April 28, 2003, as a result of Steve Jobs' push to open a digital marketplace for music. As of April 2020, iTunes offered 60 million songs, 2.2 million apps, 25,00 ...
,
Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...
and
Amazon Video Amazon Prime Video, also known simply as Prime Video, is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming and rental service of Amazon offered as a standalone service or as part of Amazon's Prime subscription. The service pri ...
. In Australia it is screened on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's station ABC2 and on its iView video streaming service. The series was premiered in Latin America on March 27, 2012 on the channel
I.Sat I.Sat (contraction of the Spanish phrase ''Imagen Satelital'', which means "Satellite image") is an Argentine cable television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery International. It airs movies, series, music and shows. It is headquartered in ...
. Season 3 through 6 DVDs are widely available in the used market. Seasons 7 and 8 DVDs, while available for rent in video stores, are difficult to find. All seasons are available for streaming on multiple streaming channels.


See also

*"
The Day the Earth Stood Cool "The Day the Earth Stood Cool" is the seventh episode of the twenty-fourth season of the American animated television series ''The Simpsons''. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on December 9, 2012. Plot Homer becomes up ...
", a 2012 episode of ''
The Simpsons ''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, ...
'' featuring Armisen and Brownstein *''
Lady Dynamite ''Lady Dynamite'' is an American comedy series starring Maria Bamford, and is loosely based on her life. It was created by Pam Brady and Mitch Hurwitz, on Netflix. The twelve-episode first season was released in its entirety on May 20, 2016. The ...
'', a television series starring
Maria Bamford Maria Bamford (born September 3, 1970) is an American actress and stand-up comedian. Her work has drawn critical acclaim and controversy because her humor often uses self-deprecating and dark topics, including her dysfunctional family, depression ...
that crossed over with ''Portlandia'' at the end of season seven


References


External links

* * {{IFC programming 2011 American television series debuts 2018 American television series endings 2010s American satirical television series 2010s American sketch comedy television series 2010s American surreal comedy television series Cross-dressing in television English-language television shows IFC (American TV channel) original programming Peabody Award-winning television programs Television series based on Internet-based works Television series by Broadway Video Television shows filmed in Oregon Television shows set in Portland, Oregon Television shows set in Oregon