Portlandia | |
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Genre | |
Created by | |
Based on | ThunderAnt by Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein |
Written by |
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Directed by |
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Starring |
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Opening theme | "Feel It All Around" by Washed Out |
Country of origin | United States |
Original language | English |
No. of seasons | 8 |
No. of episodes | 77 (list of episodes) |
Production | |
Executive producers |
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Production location | Portland, Oregon |
Camera setup | Multiple camera |
Production companies |
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Original release | |
Network | IFC |
Release | January 21, 2011 – March 22, 2018 |
Portlandia is an American sketch comedy television series starring Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein, set in and around Portland, Oregon, and spoofing the city's reputation as a haven for eccentric hipsters. [1] The show was produced by Broadway Video Television and IFC Original Productions. It was created by Armisen and Brownstein, along with Jonathan Krisel, who directs it. It debuted on IFC on January 21, 2011. [2]
The show shared its title with the sculpture of the same name that sits above the entrance of the Portland Building on Fifth Avenue in downtown Portland, [3] which appears in the show's title sequence. The show has won a Peabody Award.
In January 2017, the series was renewed for an eighth and final season, which concluded on March 22, 2018. [4]
Brownstein and Armisen first met in 2003 and began collaborating on a series of comedy sketches for the Internet 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 Yelp to a character's disastrous one-man performance at the city's Hollywood Theatre. [5]
In July 2009, the duo pitched their idea for a full-fledged sketch comedy show to IFC and Lorne Michaels' Broadway Video production company, and the project was quickly approved. [5]
Some of the content on the show first appeared in the Internet series. For example, the "Women & Women First" feminist bookstore sketch and its characters, Toni and Candace, originated there. [6]
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. [7] The budget for the first season was set at less than $1 million (US). [5] Along with Allison Silverman, a former head writer and executive producer for The Colbert Report , and Portlandia director Jonathan Krisel, Armisen and Brownstein wrote the sketches that appear in the first six episodes. Lorne Michaels served as executive producer. [8]
The series stars Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein in various roles. Guest stars include: Tim Heidecker; Kirsten Dunst; Olivia Wilde; Selma Blair; Chloë Sevigny;Roseanne Barr; Steve Buscemi; Claire Danes; Kristen Wiig; Rose Byrne; Andy Samberg; Rachel Bloom; Ed Begley Jr.; Aimee Mann; Johnny Marr; Sarah McLachlan; k.d. lang; Jello Biafra; Kurt Vile; Heather Graham; Parker Posey; Michael Nesmith; Glenn Danzig; Aubrey Plaza; Rashida Jones; Anna Gunn; Jane Lynch; Kumail Nanjiani; Jason Sudeikis; Ehren McGhehey; Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam; Greta Gerwig; Edward James Olmos; Brigitte Nielsen; J Mascis of Dinosaur Jr.; Kate Pierson, Cindy Wilson and Fred Schneider of The B-52's; Josh Homme of Queens of the Stone Age; [9] Gus Van Sant; Tim Robbins; Martina Navratilova; Jeff Goldblum; Juliette Lewis; Joanna Newsom; Annie Clark of St. Vincent; Jack White; Paul Simon; Henry Rollins; Krist Novoselic; Portland Trail Blazers players LaMarcus Aldridge, Damian Lillard, CJ McCollum, and Robin Lopez as themselves; and Kyle MacLachlan as a fictional mayor of Portland. Actual Portland mayor Sam Adams is also featured as an assistant to the mayor. [2] [10] Another episode, including a fictionalized music festival similar to Portland's actual MusicfestNW, featured a rock band played by Colin Meloy and Jenny Conlee of The Decemberists; James Mercer of The Shins; Brownstein's Sleater-Kinney bandmates Corin Tucker and Janet Weiss; and Isaac Brock of Modest Mouse. [11]
On February 14, 2011, IFC ordered a ten-episode second season, which began airing in January 2012. [12] On March 21, 2012, IFC announced its renewal of the show for a third season. [13] 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. [14] On February 10, 2015, it was announced that IFC had picked up Portlandia for sixth and seventh seasons. [15]
In January 2017, the series was renewed for an eighth and final season to debut in 2018. [4] Filming for the final season began in Portland in June 2017. [16]
Season | Episodes | Originally aired | ||
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First aired | Last aired | |||
1 | 6 | January 21, 2011 | February 25, 2011 | |
2 | 10 | January 6, 2012 | March 9, 2012 | |
3 | 11 | December 14, 2012 | March 1, 2013 | |
4 | 10 | February 27, 2014 | May 1, 2014 | |
5 | 10 | January 8, 2015 | March 12, 2015 | |
6 | 10 | January 21, 2016 | March 24, 2016 | |
7 | 10 | January 5, 2017 | March 9, 2017 | |
8 | 10 | January 18, 2018 | March 22, 2018 |
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 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 and Sam Adams, the actual mayor from 2009 to 2012), Fred and Carrie's landlord (played by Steve Buscemi, 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 and Kristine Levine), an owner of many quirky shops (played by Jeff Goldblum) 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. [17]
Portlandia debuted on IFC on January 21, 2011. [18] IFC "cheered" the first episode's Nielsen ratings 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, Hulu and YouTube during the days before the official IFC premiere. [19] As of May 1, 2012, the series was available to watch on Netflix in Ireland and the UK. [20]
The show has received mostly positive reviews from television critics. Review aggregator site Metacritic 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". [21] [22] Robert Lloyd of the Los Angeles Times called the show "funny and charming." [23] Verne Gay of Newsday 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." [24] 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." [25] Comedian Jerry Seinfeld 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". [26]
The sketches set in the feminist bookstore "Women and Women First" were filmed in an actual independent bookstore, 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." [27]
Portlandia won a Peabody Award in 2011 "for its good-natured lampooning of hipster culture, which hits the mark whether or not you’re in on the joke." [28] Portlandia also won an Emmy Award 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. [29] Former Portland mayor Sam Adams (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. [30] A bicycle tour company began offering Portlandia tours. [31]
For the 66th Primetime Emmy Awards, 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 for the episode "Celery".
Year | Award | Category | Nominated work | Result | Ref. |
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2011 | Primetime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Costumes for a Variety, Music Program, or Special | Amanda Needham and Nichole Dimitras (for "Farm") | Won | |
2012 | Primetime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Directing for a Variety Series | Jonathan Krisel (for "One Moore Episode") | Nominated | |
Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series | Fred Armisen, Carrie Brownstein, Jonathan Krisel and Karey Dornetto | Nominated | |||
Peabody Award | Area of Excellence | Portlandia | Won | ||
Writers Guild of America Awards | Comedy/Variety (including talk) series | Fred Armisen, Carrie Brownstein, Karey Dornetto, Jonathan Krisel, Bill Oakley | Won | ||
2013 | Primetime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Directing for a Variety Series | Jonathan Krisel (for "Alexandra") | Nominated | |
Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series | Fred Armisen, Carrie Brownstein, Jonathan Krisel and Bill Oakley | Nominated | |||
Outstanding Costumes for a Variety Program or a Special | Amanda Needham (for "Blackout") | Won | |||
Writers Guild of America Awards | Comedy/Variety (including talk) series | Fred Armisen, Carrie Brownstein, Jonathan Krisel, Bill Oakley | Nominated | ||
Art Directors Guild Awards | Multi-Camera Unscripted Series | Tyler Robinson, Schuyler Telleen and Katherine Isom | Won | ||
2014 | Primetime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series | Fred Armisen | Nominated | |
Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series | Steve Buscemi | Nominated | |||
Outstanding Directing for a Variety Series | Jonathan Krisel (for "Getting Away") | Nominated | |||
Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series | Fred Armisen, Carrie Brownstein, Jonathan Krisel, Graham Wagner and Karey Dornetto | Nominated | |||
Outstanding Art Direction for Variety, Nonfiction, Reality or Reality-Competition Program | Tyler B. Robinson, Schuyler Telleen and Katherine Isom (for "Celery") | Nominated | |||
Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Comedy Series | Bill Benz and Daniel Gray Longino (for "Getting Away") | Nominated | |||
Online Film & Television Association Award | Best Direction in a Comedy Series | Portlandia | Nominated | ||
Best Guest Actor in a Comedy Series | Steve Buscemi | Nominated | |||
2015 | Primetime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Variety Sketch Series | Portlandia | Nominated | |
Outstanding Production Design for Variety, Nonfiction, Reality, or Reality-Competition Programming | Tyler Robinson, Schuyler Telleen, and Katherine Isom ("Dead Pets") | Won | |||
Critics' Choice Television Awards | Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series | Carrie Brownstein | Nominated | ||
Online Film & Television Association Award | Best Male Performance in a Fiction Program | Fred Armisen | Nominated | ||
Best Female Performance in a Fiction Program | Carrie Brownstein | Nominated | |||
Best Ensemble in a Fiction Program | Nominated | ||||
2016 | Primetime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Variety Sketch Series | Portlandia | Nominated | |
Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series | Fred Armisen, Carrie Brownstein, Jonathan Krisel, Graham Wagner and Karey Dornetto | Nominated | |||
Outstanding Production Design for a Variety, Nonfiction, Reality, or Reality-Competition Series | Schuyler Telleen and Katherine Isom (for "Family Emergency," "Pickathon," "Weirdo Beach") | Won | |||
Online Film & Television Association Award | Best Variety Program | Portlandia | Nominated | ||
Best Female Performance in a Variety Program | Carrie Brownstein | Nominated | |||
Best Ensemble in a Variety, Reality or Non-Fiction Program | Nominated | ||||
Best Writing of a Variety Program | Nominated | ||||
Art Directors Guild Awards | Variety, Reality or Competition Series | Schuyler Telleen | Nominated | ||
2017 | Primetime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Variety Sketch Series | Portlandia | Nominated | |
Outstanding Costumes for Variety, Nonfiction or Reality Program | Amanda Needham, Jayme Hansen and Jordan Hamilton (for "Carrie Dates a Hunk") | Nominated | |||
Outstanding Production Design for a Variety, Nonfiction, Reality, or Reality-Competition Series | Schuyler Telleen and Katherine Isom (for "Fred's Cell Phone Company") | Nominated | |||
2018 | Primetime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Variety Sketch Series | Portlandia | Nominated | [32] |
Outstanding Directing for a Variety Series | Carrie Brownstein (for "Riot Spray") | Nominated | |||
ACE Eddie Awards | Best Edited Comedy Series for Commercial Television | Heather Capps, Ali Greer and Jordan Kim (for "Amore") | Nominated | [33] | |
Art Directors Guild Awards | Variety or Competition Series/Awards or Event Special | Schuyler Telleen (for "Portland Secedes", "Ants", "Fred’s Cell Phone Company") | Won | [34] | |
Writers Guild of America Awards | Comedy/Variety - Sketch Series | Fred Armisen, Carrie Brownstein, Karen Kilgariff, Jonathan Krisel, Graham Wagner | Nominated | [35] | |
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. [36] [37]
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. [38]
There is also a combination set of both seasons available. [39] Portlandia was also distributed in some countries on the iTunes store, Netflix and Amazon Video. [40] In Australia it is screened on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's station ABC2 and on its iView video streaming service. [41] The series was premiered in Latin America on March 27, 2012, on the channel I.Sat.
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 much of the pre-1974 Rankin-Bass library and Lassie from 1988 to 1996 before they sold the rights to Golden Books Family Entertainment.
William Lloyd Oakley is an American television writer and producer, known for his work on the animated comedy series The Simpsons. Oakley and Josh Weinstein became best friends and writing partners at St. Albans School; Oakley then attended Harvard University and was Vice President of the Harvard Lampoon. He worked on several short-term media projects, including writing for the variety show Sunday Best, but was then unemployed for a long period.
Carrie Rachel Brownstein 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.
Fereydun Robert Armisen is an American actor, comedian, musician, and writer. With his comedy partner Carrie Brownstein, he co-created and co-starred in the IFC sketch comedy series Portlandia. He also co-created and starred in the mockumentary IFC series Documentary Now! and the Showtime comedy series Moonbase 8.
In Other Words Feminist Community Center was an independent non-profit feminist bookstore, community center and events space in Portland, Oregon. Its mission statement read: "In Other Words inspires and cultivates feminist community, nurturing social justice." Founded in 1993, it closed in 2018.
The first season of the television comedy Portlandia premiered on IFC in the United States from January 21 to February 25, 2011 for six episodes.
The second season of the television comedy Portlandia premiered on IFC in the United States on January 6 and ended on March 9, 2012 with a total of 10 episodes.
"The Day the Earth Stood Cool" is the seventh episode of the twenty-fourth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. The episode was directed by Matthew Faughnan and written by Matt Selman. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on December 9, 2012.
Documentary Now! is an American mockumentary television series created by Fred Armisen, Bill Hader, Seth Meyers, and Rhys Thomas, and premiered on August 20, 2015, on IFC. Armisen and Hader star in many episodes, and Thomas and Alex Buono co-direct most episodes. Hosted by Helen Mirren, the series spoofs celebrated documentary films by parodying the style of each documentary with a similar, but fictitious, subject. The third season premiered on February 20, 2019. On April 8, 2019, the series was renewed for a fourth season, which premiered on October 19, 2022 and was also released on AMC+.
Jonathan Krisel is an American director, producer, writer, editor, and occasional actor. He is best known for co-creating the series Portlandia, and he is also known for the 2016 FX series Baskets. Krisel has collaborated with the comedy duo Tim & Eric, beginning with Tom Goes to the Mayor and later directed most of the episodes of both Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! and Check It Out! with Dr. Steve Brule. He has executive produced several other TV series, including Kroll Show, Man Seeking Woman, and most recently the Showtime series Moonbase 8. He executive produced the Fox pilot Ghosted and has also collaborated with The Lonely Island on several SNL Digital Shorts.
The third season of the television comedy Portlandia aired on IFC in the United States on December 14, 2012 and concluded on March 1, 2013, consisting a total of 11 episodes with the season kicking off with a special Christmas episode.
The fourth season of Portlandia premiered on IFC in the United States on February 27 and concluded on May 1, 2014 with a total of 10 episodes.
The fifth season of the television comedy Portlandia began airing on IFC in the United States on January 8, 2015, consisting a total of 10 episodes. The series stars Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein.
The sixth season of the television comedy Portlandia began airing on IFC in the United States on January 21, 2016, consisting a total of 10 episodes. The series stars Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein.
The seventh season of the television comedy Portlandia premiered on IFC in the United States on January 5 and concluded on March 9, 2017 with a total of 10 episodes. The series stars Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein.
The eighth and final season of the sketch comedy series Portlandia premiered on IFC in the United States on January 18 and ended on March 22, 2018 with a total of 10 episodes. The series stars Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein.
Jedediah P. Aaker is a musician, performer and a theatrical producer. He is also the cofounder of the Portland Beardsmen. He has worked as bartender for a failing club featured on the fourth season of Bar Rescue and as host of Barfly Bus Tours. Alternative newspaper Willamette Week dubbed him a "beard-about-town". In a 2018 feature article titled "Twilight of the Hipsters", the French edition of Rolling Stone introduced Aaker as an "actor, concert booker, chauffeur for rock stars, and distributor of the Lucky Egg vending machines that he installs in bars."
The series gets its name from the Raymond Kaskey sculpture above the entrance of the Portland Building on Fifth Avenue.
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