Why I’m watching “Portlandia”
There’s been quite a lot said about Portlandia (IFC Fridays, 9:30 Central/10:30 Eastern & Pacific/8:30 Mountain), the new sketch show currently two episodes into its six-episode run on IFC. The show has an excellent pedigree, with Fred Armisen (SNL), Carrie Brownstein (formerly of Sleater-Kinney), Lorne Michaels (SNL), Jonathan Krisel (Tim & Eric Awesome Show, Tom Goes to the Mayor), and Doug Lussenhop (also T&E) involved. The concept is novel, to say the least—from what I can tell this is the first sketch show to be based on a particular region to air nationally (Seattle’s classic Almost Live! pioneered the genre back in the 80s) and the only current TV show to be set in Portland.
Basically, Portlandia intends to do to its namesake city’s hipsters, yuppies, and yupsters exactly what Prairie Home Companion has been doing to rural Minnesota Lutherans for over 20 years: make blistering fun of them, albeit warm-heartedly, in a “sometimes this place is pretty damned absurd but hell, we still live here” kind of way. The result is a sketch show that ends up painting a better picture of one of America’s quirkiest places than any gushy, ain’t-they-cute-they-have-light-rail article in the New York Times could ever hope for.
A hazy shot of the Portland skyline with “chillwave” band Washed Out’s “Feel It All Around” starts every episode after the cold-open, setting the perfect tone for the sketches to come. Armisen and Brownstein play most of the main characters with an over-the-top version of the softspoken sincerity and “chill” that has come to define a cool demeanor for which the city is known. Sketches capture the Portland vibe as well, painting it as a sort of parallel universe populated by the over-educated, under-employed twenty-and-thirtysomethings who have come to call the city home over the past decade and now define much of its character—and everyone else.
There’s a lot to unpack in the sketches. A song called “I Dream of the 90s” opens the first episode, introducing viewers to our setting, the queer, bike-loving, light-railing, blogging, crafting, rainy, tattooed, pierced, crunchy food-cart utopia “where young people go to retire.” A feminist bookstore is the setting for a brilliant sketch featuring two hilariously passive-aggressive store clerks and a hapless customer (played by Steve Buscemi) who just wants to use the bathroom. A whiny couple ask a friendly restaurant server a series of increasingly absurd questions about the provenance of the chicken on the menu. Two home-improvement show hosts spruce up a bland gift store in Northeast Portland by adding a silhouette of a bird to all the items, which magically makes them Interesting and Creative (I have seen no better send-up of both the “New Domesticity” crafting/DIY culture and the tendency of “indie” types to view their actions as “unique” when they’re really just following broad social trends*). Perhaps my favorite sketch centers around “Portland’s only adult hide-and-seek league” playing a match in the Portland Community College library. The attention to detail is brilliant, from the uniforms (complete with punning team names) and vintage gym shorts to Brownstein’s bespectacled female hipster constantly asking about the afterparty to a kid dressed in a referee’s uniform sipping a local microbrew along with the other players.
If you’re a fan of Tim & Eric, Jonathan Krisel’s directing style will make you feel at home despite the more representational, less surreal subject matter. You’ll notice some of the choppy edits and hanging onto an awkward pause for just a bit too long that you loved in both Tim & Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! and Tom Goes to the Mayor. There’s even a sketch or two, like the aforementioned “Put a Bird on It!” that feels like it walked right out of TGTTM. The show employs a couple of other neat tricks that work quite well, including the use of a “heads-up” camera during a hilarious sketch featuring a strident fixie rider, and Armisen and Brownstein switch gender presentations (with a neat use of a voice-changing device for Brownstein) for a relationship sketch centered around the use of a “safe word.”
If you happen to be lucky enough to be watching the show from Portland itself, you’ll enjoy the show most of all, appreciating the constant local references that make you feel as if you’re part of a secret club. If you’re watching from a city with a similar vibe, such as Austin, Minneapolis, or—ye gods!—Seattle, you’ll find the satire instantly identifiable. If you’re anywhere else, you’ll still enjoy the wonderfully humorous content and vivid portrayal of a place and time.
*For other manifestations of this, see the recent spate of indie bands with names including the words Black, White, Deer, Twin, Crystal, Bear, and Bells.
