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8 perfectly Portland moments in 'Portlandia' Season 7
For the last several years, “Portlandia” co-creators, co-writers and costars Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein have been saying that the comedy sketch series isn’t so much parodying Portland, but making fun of trends and progressive urban areas in general.
It's true that the current Season 7 – the next to last, with the show returning for an eighth and final season in 2018 – has included bits that could happen anywhere. Fred’s character started his own micro cell phone company; Carrie’s character dated a hunky dude; the goth weirdos went to a Bed Bath & Beyond store; and characters embraced fad diets, with dire results. But that doesn’t mean Portland issues aren’t getting the satirical treatment on “Portlandia.” Here’s a look at 8 particularly Portland topics that have turned up so far. -- Kristi Turnquist
Portland's growth
Some Portlanders think “Portlandia” has played a role in the number of people who keep moving here. If the Rose City is so hip and groovy that there’s a whole show devoted to spoofing that, let’s pack up! Armisen and Brownstein have said they don’t necessarily think a TV show is responsible for moving patterns, but the “Portland Secedes” episode winks at civil consternation about “the influx of outsiders” moving into Portland. The fictional mayor (Kyle MacLachlan) tells Fred and Carrie that Portland will secede from the U.S. But things don’t go as smoothly as they all think it will.
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Portland parking problems
Having trouble finding a parking spot? The writers at “Portlandia” noticed. So far in Season 7 there have been two sketches about Portland parking. In one, Fred and his date hit it off so well they want to go back to her place. Each one gets in their car, but neither can find a place to park. Fred drives around in circles, his face contorted in desperation. At about 6 a.m., they pull up next to each other and agree to call it off, on account of lack of parking.
Augusta Quirk/ IFC
Even more Portland parking problems
In another sketch, Kath and Dave, the desperate-to-be-politically-correct couple, are irked when a vehicle is parking scarcely an inch away from their car. They fuss and fret, and decide to leave a note, can’t decide how to phrase it, so just leave a splotchy drawing. Good thing, since the couple who owns the offending vehicle appears, and they’re friends of Kath and Dave’s. Portlanders, “Portlandia” feels your parking pain.
Augusta Quirk/ IFC
Portland protests
Our city has seen its share of protests, especially in recent months. In a “Portlandia” sketch, the so-called “eco-terrorists” -- who are as ineffective as they are easily distracted -– are lying down on a vacant grassy area, protesting plans to turn it into a parking lot. "Parking lot, we think not,” they chant. The group refuses to leave, until a gent in black tie arrives to inform them they’ve won a “Best Protest” award, and they need to dress up and attend the ceremonies, at the “Desi Arnaz Banquet Hall.” But when they go in, they find the hall is empty and -– oops -– there’s a paved parking lot where they had been protesting.
Augusta Quirk/ IFC
Trail Blazer cameo
Back in 2014, members of the Blazers – including LaMarcus Aldridge, Thomas Robinson, Robin Lopez and Damian Lillard – appeared in a “Portlandia” episode. In 2012, Aldridge also turned up in a sketch at the “Women & Women First” feminist bookstore. This season, Lillard came back as himself, for a bit in which he and Carrie become friends.
Augusta Quirk/ IFC
The feminist bookstore closes shop
In Other Words, the real Portland bookstore/community center that served as the location for “Women & Women First,” made a well-publicized break with “Portlandia,” blasting the show for, among other offenses, feminist bookstore sketches that were “trans-antagonistic and trans-misogynist.”
“Portlandia” cast and crew say they were ready to retire the “Women & Women First” bits, anyway. So in Season 7, we saw Toni (Brownstein) and Candace (Armisen) retiring from “Women & Women First.” But Candace had trouble not seeing Toni every day, and grew jealous and possessive when Toni started seeing someone else. After various melodramatic twists and turns, the two agreed to still be friends. If this is the last we’ll see of Toni and Candace, it was a pretty awkward goodbye.
Men's rights activists (wait, in Portland?)
Portland is hardly what you’d call a hotbed of men’s rights groups, but the recurring bit that was intended to take the place of the feminist bookstore sketches is a gentle, but obvious swipe at men who think they’re getting left behind because everybody else is concerned with women and minorities. The music video, “What About Men?” is the most clever, pointed bit, but a men’s film festival held at McMenamins St. Johns Theater & Pub, was also pretty funny.
Augusta Quirk/ IFC
Portland restaurant culture
Portland restaurant culture: In one sketch, Armisen plays a guy who gets a vision. He goes to the Alberta District to open up a sushi place inspired by the fishy, unappetizing sushi that comes in a package at the airport. At “Kuko,” he says, they’re proud to serve “the most borderline not-sushi sushi in the whole world.” Delicacies include Edamame in Styrofoam Cup.
Augusta Quirk/ IFC
Portland movie theaters with a twist
Portland’s not alone when it comes to movie theaters that offer something more unusual than the Cineplex experience. Were the “Portlandia” writers spoofing the eat-and-drink ambience of of Living Room Theaters with the Season 7 sketch featuring Armisen and Brownstein as fuzzy-haired employees instructing moviegoers in how to the most out of “The Home Movie Theater?” Tickets were a pricey $30 each, but for that moviegoers got to sit on funky couches; watch a 36-inch screen; control volume with “Cinema Wands” – which looked just like TV remote control devices; peruse some mail sitting around; go to the toilet while still being in earshot of the movie; and dine on pints of Tillamook Ice Cream. “Every container is almost fully eaten,” as Brownstein’s character said. Why watch Netflix at home when you can pay $30 a pop for that at-home experience?
16 of the most Portland-y moments in 'Portlandia' history
In 2016, as Season 6 was about to premiere, I looked back at some of the most Portland-y moments in all of "Portlandia" prior seasons. Here's the list, which includes such all-stars as "The dream of the 90s is alive in Portland," "Put a bird on it!," and Armisen and Brownstein as restaurant customers worrying about whether the chicken is local.
IFC
Is 'Portlandia' about Portland anymore?
And as Season 6 was nearing its end, I wrote about how, as the show has evolved, the subjects being spoofed in sketches have become less specific to Portland and its people.
Stephanie Yao Long/Staff
'Portlandia' stars say they're not to blame for Portland's growing pains
In October, as filming on Season 7 of "Portlandia" was about to finish, the producers had a media day on location in Northeast Portland. The producers, as well as Armisen and Brownstein, talked about the break with In Other Words, and how it takes more than a TV show to attract newcomers and new development to a city, whether it's Portland or anyplace else.
IFC
It's official -- 'Portlandia' will end with Season 8, in 2018
During the Television Critics Association 2017 winter press tour, IFC made official what Armisen and Brownstein had already said -- that "Portlandia" will end with Season 8, coming next year.
Augusta Quirk/ IFC
Tune in to 'Portlandia' Season 7
"Portlandia" airs on IFC on Thursday nights, at 7 p.m. and repeating at 10 p.m. Season 7 will conclude with the March 9 episode. IFC will air a marathon of Season 7 episodes on Sunday, March 5.
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