Portlandia: Seasons One and Two
Created by and starring Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein.
SYNOPSIS:
A character-based sketch show taking place in “Portlandia”, a dreamy and absurd hipster rendering of Portland, Oregon where 90’s culture reigns supreme and political correctness is all the rage.
Going in to Portlandia, I knew nothing about this series. Never heard of it, never seen it. I’m positive I haven’t been living in a box and I’m unsure why I raised my hand initially to review. I think it’s due to the word of “comedy” in the synopsis; yes I’m sure that’s what swung it for me. I like a good laugh as much as the next person.
Season One arrived a week before the Season Two disc, and the synopsis informed me that this was a hipster-baiting US comedy starring Saturday Night Live’s Fred Armisen and musician/singer Carrie Brownstein from the bands Sleater-Kinney and Wild Flag. I’ve never watched any SNL nor heard of both bands. I had begun to worry what dropped through my door. Below you shall read my feelings on these hipster-baiters – let it be known I may drop in a few references from these two seasons to make it more enjoyable on the read after you’ve watched the boxset yourselves.
Season One
Season One reminded me of early Monty Python. There is no insane animation in Portlandia, but there are a lot of sketches that while Fred and Carrie clearly found funny themselves with all of the absurdity going on, as a viewer I didn’t really laugh. Don’t get me wrong the first season isn’t all bad, but it is very much “hit, miss, miss, hit, miss, hit, miss, miss”. You are left hoping that the next sketch will be funny because you like this show and you don’t know why. Certain sketches stand out in Season One – e.g. Put a Bird On It, Portland Hide and Seek and also the Secret Reggae Playing Kyle MacLachlan Mayor Who Dislikes Seattle. These are the wheat in the abundance of chaff.
Season One just reached the mildly enjoyable bar and Season Two was on its way. I wasn’t hanging around the door mat for the (cursed) postie to arrive, but he did and here is what I thought of Season Deux.
Season Two
In the time between seasons it appears that Fred and Carrie discovered the episodes that they had created aren’t just for them but for the whole world. The jokes couldn’t just be for their amusement. They had been given another season and decided to let other people in on the odd bits of their mind and I am very much glad they did. This season opens better and continues to outperform itself each episode. The chances of finding a “miss” in this season are very rare indeed. It’s smarter, funnier and much more hipster-baiting (Cycle Delivery Guys Wedding or The Brunch Village). Stand out episodes are the “One Moore Episode” (BSG) and “The Brunch Village”. The special guest stars are subtle and great; take Jeff Goldblum’s knot seller – this alone is funny, but the homage clothes, wig and moustache that Fred is wearing leaves you grinning like a fool.
Season Two alone is worth handing over your cash for this boxset of the first two seasons and you’ll be happy and chuckling a lot. That being said, don’t just ignore Season One (or pickle it) based on my view – give it a look first to see the characters take form.
I’m looking forward to Season Three of Portlandia making its way over to the UK and I will be raising my giddy hand like a tiny man holding a balloon when it is offered.
Villordsutch is married with kids and pets. He looks like a tubby Viking and enjoys science fiction. Follow him on Twitter.
Originally published June 24, 2013. Updated April 11, 2018.
