Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein in 'Portlandia'
Well that didn’t take long. The Independent Film Channel used Valentines Day to express its love for newly running original Portlandia by announcing it would pick up the show for a second season. IFC must really be in love as this is the first time that they’ve ever agreed to a second season while the first was still running, according to senior VP of original programming Debbie DeMontreux.
Airing at 10:30 p.m. Fridays, Portlandia is averaging 235,000 viewers among adults 18-49, nearly quadruple IFC’s primetime average in a demo it has aggressively begun courting, and has built upon its lead-in, fellow original series Onion News Network.
When The Oregonian spoke with co-star Carrie Brownstein this morning she was elated at the news. Initially she was worried that viewers outside out bubble wouldn’t get the jokes, but apparently Portland is both popular and infamous enough to make an easy comedic target. But I mean that in the best way. Not wanting to get trapped in the “too self-serious to like it” or the “get over hipsters, I’m not too sensitive to laugh at myself” crowds I have to say it’s a pretty good show, but with room for improvement. And whether or not we like the show Portlanders aren’t shy about what they think should be featured on it.
Brownstein isn’t worried about any lack of material, saying, “I think we have figured out 70 different sketches to write for season two. We don’t feel daunted, we just feel encouraged and inspired.” Portland Mercury readers have put forth a plethroa of their own ideas although I have faith that qPDX readers can be just as creative. To get you started I’ve started a poll below, but feel free to comment with your own ideas as well.
[polldaddy poll=4554388]
Yaaaa!