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Quicklet on Portlandia Season 1
Quicklet on Portlandia Season 1
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ABOUT THE BOOK
Like the hipster movement it ridicules, Portlandia has its roots in the early 1990s - the Grunge Era. After early innovators like Mudhoney and Tad paved the way, the blockbuster triumvirate of Nirvana, Soundgarden, and Alice in Chains ruled MTV and college radio for half a decade, with Pearl Jam going on to even greater, and more sustained success. Kevin Smith and Richard Linklater made films that idealized underemployment and post-high-school doldrums. Quentin Tarantino pioneered a schizophrenic, heavily referential style of film that seemed designed to mimic the long, drawn-out, conversations of a group of stoned young film buffs with nothing to do and too big of a videotape collection.
Flannel shirts and what Silver Jews frontman David Berman would later describe as "sarcastic hair" were the height of fashion. Every young kid in America since the second World War has probably been called a lazy, good-for-nothing slacker by his or her parents at least once, but in 1993, there was no higher compliment. Everybody was going to be an artist, a comedian, a writer, a filmmaker, an actor, a poet. And in two different grunge havens, separated by half a continent, Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein were starting their long journeys toward that dreamed-of success. Given that they both found their most widely celebrated success working together on a sketch comedy series, it is perhaps surprising that they both started out playing in cult favorite indie rock bands.
MEET THE AUTHOR
Jonathan Nathan is a writer, an editor, and a comedian living in San Francisco. His work has appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle, California Northern, The Rumpus, McSweeney's Internet Tendency, BeyondChron, the Hutchinson News, and other publications. He's written about everything from politics to philosophy, from sports to cinema, from drugs to thugs.
EXCERPT FROM THE BOOK
The structure of Portlandia episodes is similar to that of a traditional sketch comedy show, in that it is built largely around individual, discreet sketches that have little to do with each other beyond the program's overarching themes of authenticity, snobbishness, and prevarication. However, it borrows a key element from narrative television in that each episode has a clear "A-plot." There is a main sketch in each episode which reiterates itself two or three times, sandwiched around unrelated sketches. The main sketch usually gives the episode its name.
The episodes often feature recurring characters and locations. Another departure from sketch comedy convention, which will become apparent in the sketch summaries, is the general lack of a "punchline" or "stinger" at the end of each sketch. The sketches operate more as short comedic drama plays than as traditional sketches.
CHAPTER OUTLINE
Quicklet on Portlandia Season 1
+ “Portland's almost an alternative universe. It's like Gore won, the Bush Administration never happened. In Portland, it's almost like cars don't exist. They ride bikes, or double decker bikes. They ride unicycles. They ride the tram. They ride skateboards.” – Donnie, Episode 1, “Dream of the 90s”
+ The Dream of the 90s: How a Couple of Grungy Slackers Grew Up To Be People Who Make Fun of Grungy Slackers
+ Episodes
+ Portlandians: The Recurring Characters of Portlandia
+ ...and much more
Portlandia Season 1
Like the hipster movement it ridicules, Portlandia has its roots in the early 1990s - the Grunge Era. After early innovators like Mudhoney and Tad paved the way, the blockbuster triumvirate of Nirvana, Soundgarden, and Alice in Chains ruled MTV and college radio for half a decade, with Pearl Jam going on to even greater, and more sustained success. Kevin Smith and Richard Linklater made films that idealized underemployment and post-high-school doldrums. Quentin Tarantino pioneered a schizophrenic, heavily referential style of film that seemed designed to mimic the long, drawn-out, conversations of a group of stoned young film buffs with nothing to do and too big of a videotape collection.
Flannel shirts and what Silver Jews frontman David Berman would later describe as "sarcastic hair" were the height of fashion. Every young kid in America since the second World War has probably been called a lazy, good-for-nothing slacker by his or her parents at least once, but in 1993, there was no higher compliment. Everybody was going to be an artist, a comedian, a writer, a filmmaker, an actor, a poet. And in two different grunge havens, separated by half a continent, Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein were starting their long journeys toward that dreamed-of success. Given that they both found their most widely celebrated success working together on a sketch comedy series, it is perhaps surprising that they both started out playing in cult favorite indie rock bands.
MEET THE AUTHOR
Jonathan Nathan is a writer, an editor, and a comedian living in San Francisco. His work has appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle, California Northern, The Rumpus, McSweeney's Internet Tendency, BeyondChron, the Hutchinson News, and other publications. He's written about everything from politics to philosophy, from sports to cinema, from drugs to thugs.
EXCERPT FROM THE BOOK
The structure of Portlandia episodes is similar to that of a traditional sketch comedy show, in that it is built largely around individual, discreet sketches that have little to do with each other beyond the program's overarching themes of authenticity, snobbishness, and prevarication. However, it borrows a key element from narrative television in that each episode has a clear "A-plot." There is a main sketch in each episode which reiterates itself two or three times, sandwiched around unrelated sketches. The main sketch usually gives the episode its name.
The episodes often feature recurring characters and locations. Another departure from sketch comedy convention, which will become apparent in the sketch summaries, is the general lack of a "punchline" or "stinger" at the end of each sketch. The sketches operate more as short comedic drama plays than as traditional sketches.
CHAPTER OUTLINE
Quicklet on Portlandia Season 1
+ “Portland's almost an alternative universe. It's like Gore won, the Bush Administration never happened. In Portland, it's almost like cars don't exist. They ride bikes, or double decker bikes. They ride unicycles. They ride the tram. They ride skateboards.” – Donnie, Episode 1, “Dream of the 90s”
+ The Dream of the 90s: How a Couple of Grungy Slackers Grew Up To Be People Who Make Fun of Grungy Slackers
+ Episodes
+ Portlandians: The Recurring Characters of Portlandia
+ ...and much more
Portlandia Season 1
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