Perhaps you’ve heard, but maybe you haven’t… either way, Portlandia, a 6 part original sketch comedy series, premieres on Friday, Januray 21, 2011 on the IFC network.
Portlandia was created, written and stars Fred Armisen of SNL and Carrie Brownstein. The series is based on the creators’ hilarious and fairly absurd rendering of our fair city and promises to create laughs, but not at our expense. Portland is known for being hip and chock full of creative types, but even to some Portlanders, the image conjured up by the media of who and how Portland is can be obnoxious. Portlandia plays on these stereotypes while following the lives of fictional characters: a feminist bookstore owner, a glass blower, and so on. The series is shot on location around PDX and producers have made every effort to fill open positions of all types with local talent and crew. Most of the scenes are improvised rather than using a strict script and will feature guest appearances by Heather Graham, Jason Sudeikis, Steve Buscemi, Kyle MacLachlan, and more.
From Oregon Live:
“Portlandia” features Armisen, Brownstein and guest stars satirizing such alternative-culture types as the owners of a feminist book store, a bike messenger, a punk-rock couple, and an arty duo obsessed with putting little cut-outs of birds on anything they lay their hands on. Each half-hour episode will consist of interwoven short films, with some characters recurring from week-to-week.”
If you get a chance to check out Portlandia, feel free to share your reviews and thoughts with us. Cheers to the Rose City!
p.s. — Portlandia is a sculpture by Raymond Kaskey located above the entrance of Michael Graves’ Portland Building in downtown Portland, Oregon at 1120 SW 5th Avenue. It is the second-largest copper repoussé statue in the United States, after the Statue of Liberty. [so sayeth the all-knowing Wikipedia]
Tags: ifc network, portland or, portlandia
I caught the premier. As a born and raised Portlander, they definitely have Portland down, but it’s so extreme! I kept thinking, oh gosh, that is just so over the top … but all too true of Portlanders. Good watch!