‘Portlandia’ has unsurprisingly gained success amongst hipsters, bikers and nerds, but who would have guessed that the IFC sketch comedy-like show would have burgeoned beyond its cult following into watercooler status with everyone else?! The show’s success is even more baffling because who in the world has IFC as a cable station anyway?? According to the network, at least 5 million viewers do and if you combine that with the multitude of fans who catch the show on online sources, such as Hulu, you begin to see that the web has definitely helped Portlandia become a household name. Perhaps it was the show’s online appeal that ultimately prompted producers into the early release of the 2nd season’s “One Moore Episode” sketch.
SNL’s Fred Armisen and his co-star/co-creator, ex-Sleater-Kinney frontwoman Carrie Brownstein have their reasons for why the show is such a hit. In an interview with the New Yorker this week, Brownstein explained the show’s success:
“In general, things in a place like Portland are really great, so little concerns become ridiculous. There are a lot of people here who can afford — financially but also psychologically — to be really, really concerned about buying local, for instance. It becomes mock epic. It’s like Alexander Pope’s ‘Rape of the Lock.’ I was standing in line at Whole Foods, and the guy in front of me says, ‘I really wish you guys sold locally made fresh pasta.’ And the cashier says, ‘Look, we do.’ And the guy says, ‘No, no — that’s from Seattle.’ Really? You don’t have a bigger battle?”
Armisen writes in this week’s issue of EW:
“Many of the sketches on Portlandia came from something real. Whenever we need to cast someone with a very ‘Portland’ look, we don’t need costumes. We just use our crew. (Our budget doesn’t allow us to use 50 extras.) In the ‘Dream of the ’90s’ sketch, there’s a guy using this rope yo-yo thing, and that’s our prop guy. He had a ‘503’ tattoo — that’s a Portland area code — and he drove our props around town in an ambulance. He couldn’t have been more Portland.”
IFC released a preview of the “One Moore Episode” online and it stirred up anticipation to see the Battlestar Galactica-themed episode, which is set to air on TV on January 13th. Fortunately for those looking forward to that day, IFC has decided to premier the full episode this weekend online. Above is the poster for the episode, created by Justin Hampton. The hilarious preview of the Battlestar Galactica-inspired Porlandia episode is below in case you haven’t seen it yet.
