We need to talk about Portlandia.

More specifically, we need to talk about how we need to stop talking about it.


IFC's Portlandia is a novel concept. Portland, Oregon is ripe for parody. Everything about our seedy, ecological self-righteousness is practically self-parodying already. Which is writers/creators/stars/ Carrie Brownstein and Fred Armisen first problem. The jokes they're telling are ones Portland has been telling about itself for decades. But tiredness is not the show's problem, as almost all of the skits begin with a genuinely funny premise.

The show's problem is escalation. Every sketch in the show follows a similar structure, which boils down to exactly this:

1. State insightful fact about Portland, Oregon.
2. Repeat insightful fact ad nauseam.
3. Increase volume.

And it doesn't work. It's not funny. Seeing Brownstein and Armisen's conversations devolve into shouting matches 6 times is not an interesting way to spend 22 minutes.