Watch Portlandia

Portlandia is a television program based in and around Portland, Oregon (it is also filmed here on location also). The program airs on Independent Film Channel (IFC) and is headlined by former Saturday Night Live cast members Carrie Brownstein and Fred Armisen. The television program has gone onto win numerous awards, including a Peabody.

The production initially started as an Internet based sketch comedy show by the two SNL cast members. They just wanted to have a bit of freedom outside of the stricter realms of broadcast television, so they decided to produce an Internet streaming Web series known as Thunderant. They filmed and based the show out of Portland, and as the Internet series continued, the show became more and more Portland based, with many of the sketches appearing throughout the city. Because of this, the two decided to rename the show "Portlandia."

As the two saw increased viewership with the Internet crowed they decided to pitch the television program to executives at IFC for a full sketch comedy show, based on the same antics and comedy the two do on the Internet based series. IFC purchased the program and it has since signed up for the third season of the show.

There is no real direct storyline with the television show. It, like other sketch comedy shows, such as SNL and MadTV all have different stores and sketches based on events happening in modern pop culture. This is essentially what Portlandia, although most of the sketches occur in different facilities and establishments around Portland. Viewers of SNL are probably familiar with the different filmed segments of the show, not just the live segments. This is basically what Portlandia is. The segments do not go on live but are instead filmed out. Many of the skits have loose dialog, allowing the actors to make most of it up as they go, as long as the reach the necessary tent poles in the story line. With the ability to retake scenes and shots, it gives a bit of a cleaner take on the sketch comedy genre.

Portlandia has received a good amount of success, especially for appearing on a television station such as IFC, which does not have a large viewership. However, with the current cast and excellent writers on staff (including the former head writer for The Colbert Report), there are some rather entertaining and professional writers on staff.