Portland: "Where Gore won and the Bush Administration never happened."
Kari Chisholm
This is pretty funny. True to life, or totally bogus? Discuss.
The video is promoting a new TV series called Portlandia, a sitcom filmed and set in Portland. It will star Saturday Night Live's Fred Armisen and Sleater-Kinney's Carrie Brownstein. The show is produced by Lorne Michaels, the longtime executive producer of Saturday Night Live.
According to the Oregonian, the pilot episode will include a cameo by Mayor Sam Adams - as an assistant to the mayor.
In September, the producers told the O that it "won't be making fun of Portland":
Fred Armisen, Carrie Brownstein and the producers of "Portlandia" want to stress that the TV series, which has been filming in town for the past several weeks, won't be making fun of Portland.
Brownstein, who moved here in 2001 from Olympia, says there's no single, simple way to depict Portland.
The image that has taken hold in national media -- of our town as terribly hip and creative -- "even Portlanders find obnoxious," Brownstein says.
We'll see about that. The show debuts on January 21 on the IFC channel.
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10:17 a.m.
Dec 27, '10
There was one funny line (where young people go to retire was hilarious!) and that was it. I didn't find Armiston or the woman to be funny at all. So this is them NOT making fun of Portland?
10:45 a.m.
Dec 27, '10
Almost ineresting enough to get me to pay the extra $140 per year that my cable company would charge me for IFC (if I'm willing to buy all of the other useless crap that comes in that package). Someone with a subscription will have to let me know how it all turns out....
10:47 a.m.
Dec 27, '10
WooHOO, take it and run w/ it, gang. If it's a little off, off color or off-putting, so what? Showcasing our town is all good, and hey, it's not Reno-911!
11:52 a.m.
Dec 27, '10
in re: "showcasing our town is all good,..."
Ever see the chamber of commerce of any city promote "Cops" filming in their city. There is such a thing as bad publicity being bad for cities. This video tease doesn't bode will for PDX.
12:13 p.m.
Dec 27, '10
If it won't be making fun of Portland, how will it be funny?
Come on folks lighten up. It's cute, moderately funny and it captures the LA versus Portland distinction.... through silly stereotypes. Roll with it. All publicity is good publicity.
There's a name for sociologically accurate PC humor, you know. It's called "unfunny."
12:35 p.m.
Dec 27, '10
I actually think that in this video at least, they walked the line perfectly.
Is it making fun of Portland? Yes.
Does it showcase many of the reasons I love Portland (and to a similar extent, Eugene). Yes.
I think this is one of those rare videos that someone who hates everything that Portland is about will love, while also make a person who loves the city burst with pride.
As for me, I love it.
1:01 p.m.
Dec 27, '10
Hmmm.... "the Bush administration never happened"?
I'm not from Portland, but I'll bet that even there, they'd like the Clinton economy back.
1:07 p.m.
Dec 27, '10
The establishment business types don't like it because they think it reinforces the stereotypes about Portland they don't like. (They keep trying to make us like Seattle.) Must make me a damn revolutionary because I love it.
3:17 p.m.
Dec 27, '10
My perception of reality is that PDX is a little more like the portrayed stereotypes of PDX than are other cities but that these types exist to a large degree in all major West Coast cities (except, maybe, San Diego).
7:13 p.m.
Dec 27, '10
Without political comment, this video is damn funny. Embrace your wiedness Portland!
10:18 p.m.
Dec 27, '10
I don't know. That part in the beginning set in LA, with the woman walking the dog, looked more like most of Portland than some of the other scenes actually filmed in Portland. You get the landmarks in other scenes, but most of Portland is pretty standard fare. But if Armisen and Co. want to make a sitcom that might drum up some possible tourist revenue, I won't argue.
10:37 p.m.
Dec 27, '10
Wow. That was cool. It was the kind of video Portlanders would make to mock themselves. I literally laughed out loud, which is exceedingly rare. It's not true, but it's almost true!
10:45 a.m.
Dec 28, '10
After spending most of my life back east in generally conservative places, the acceptance/tolerance of the different/weird really stuck out upon arriving in Eugene. Obviously the same holds true for Portland and it looks like this show has grabbed onto that. I think a show on Portland culture, even satire, is good for Portland and good for the world. Here’s another short clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIyI94acJv4
How about a similar show based on a conservative stronghold like maybe Houston……the place where young people go to be born again?
3:47 p.m.
Dec 28, '10
I thought that was called "King of the Hill"?
1:40 p.m.
Dec 30, '10
An excellent item from the New York Times about "King of the Hill" Democrats
11:25 a.m.
Dec 31, '10
The video's funny, but "Portlandia" appears never to have left a ten-block stretch of Hawthorne. I hadn't even heard of IFC (and I DO have it on my cable package) until I heard of this video, so I suspect it'll be watched by 34 people and two cows outside the metro area. No big deal.