Quirky 'Portlandia,' with Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein, heads for the exits with a jam session
The dream of the '90s is no longer alive, at least in Portlandia.
IFC's quirky sketch comedy series starring Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein is putting one last bird on it with an eighth and final season premiering Thursday (10 ET/PT).
The show, which Armisen and Brownstein co-created with former Saturday Night Live writer Jonathan Krisel, lovingly spoofs hipster culture and the more eccentric denizens of Portland, Ore. — from a couple who requests the name and bio of the poultry they're about to order for dinner to snooty parents reprimanding their kids' teacher for not knowing the Clash.
But the series also dials up everyday situations to hilarious extremes, as characters grapple with trying to avoid TV spoilers and awkward run-ins at four-way traffic stops. That viewers can relate to these sketches is part of the reason Brownstein thinks Portlandia has been embraced by its small yet passionate audience.
"People see themselves in these characters," she told journalists at the Television Critics Association in Pasadena, Calif., last week. "They're versions of people who we know. There is an openness and earnestness with which we portray and write these people, which I think allows a way in."
This season, they'll be bringing back fan-favorite characters such as shopping goths Vincent and Jacqueline, and MacGyver-like spouses Dave and Kath. Because each season is written and produced months ahead of time, the final batch of 10 episodes doesn't address the recent flood of sexual-harassment allegations in Hollywood and other industries. Although, there is some political commentary sprinkled throughout, as disparaging feminist bookstore owners Toni and Candace hatch a plan to open a women's health clinic.
With those characters, "the idea was to explore two women who were sort of holding onto a certain amount of ideals, and you would assume a kind of inclusiveness, when really they were making things very exclusive," Brownstein said. "What I love about Toni and Candace is for a while, it really felt like (we channeled) a certain kind of feminism, or brand of feminism, into these weird, acerbic superheroes."
They also managed to recruit Black Flag singer Henry Rollins, Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic and Fugazi drummer Brendan Canty for Thursday's season premiere, in which punk rocker Spyke (Armisen) tries to reunite his bandmates, who have since taken up antiquing. Getting those musicians together was a series highlight for Armisen, who's also the bandleader on NBC's Late Night With Seth Meyers.
"For the very last season, we put this band together for someone who wanted to relive his punk days," Armisen said. "Because of our current administration, punk can come back and be an angry type of music again." Wrangling them "was sort of impossible to do for a while," but "that was a great group to put together."