Very well executed

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

I've watched half a dozen episodes. Yes, it's funny. But it's also repetitive. You can only make fun of hipsters so much until it runs out of steam. The main problem - for me - is that there is no plot, no running situation for these characters. It's all sketches. Sure, it works well for SNL, and maybe that's what you want. This rating is just from my viewpoint, that most people probably want something more from a series than one unrelated sketch after another.I think the current IMDB rating of 7.2 reflects that fact that the sketches are funny...but in the end that's all they are - sketches. For me, the former doesn't make up for the latter.

This show is Golden. I discovered Portlandia in March of this year when I caved and purchased a Netflix Sub. This, naturally, caught my eye. Having foreground on the culture and mainstays of Portland, I found this series to be a profound satirical whimsy of the rustic town. There's a beautiful vibe to this show, I can't quite voice as it eludes me. Nevertheless, Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein(admittedly new to their acumen) do an exemplary job of gunning laughs from the audience while punching subliminal character to each skit-piece performed. Some of my personal favorites are the cacao, drone-concert watching, spike the hipster, Hunk vs Nerd, Mayor McSpermInACryogenicCoffeeCan, Portland vs Seattle, and The Wedding scenes. I do believe you have to have an outlandish sense of humor to truly grasp every slurp of this amazing show, and I know most of my peers wouldn't find this humor too attracting. This is a show I can put on at any time, and still laugh my butt off. The new season is fresh, and hasn't lost any momentum from the beginning. For me, this show is a breath of fresh air, much like you'd find in the beautiful woodland town of Portland.

Because this is what people in Portland are really like(!) How hard is it to just write skits when you are just documenting people from real life...at least with Seinfeld, most people would agree it was actually funny and would make you actually laugh. Portlandia just makes me and my ex local bf cringe big time. Portland like the show is love or hate and it depends if you are doing a fly by visit or have to live in that long-term. The people there (especially the pretentious try hard hipsters or the downright overeducated coffee shop bums) are annoying as hell, JUST LIKE THIS SHOW. The only thing Portland's got going for it is the organic food scene and the cheap $2 movies!!!(Disclaimer: My review is formed from the fact I have only ever managed to see one episode - the first with the farm chicken- in its entirety - subsequent episodes were just too boring or annoying to sit through so only snippets were seen).

Just from the commercials alone I really didn't want to watch this. However, I decided to give it at least a good try. I ATTEMPTED to watch several different episodes but could not stomach the stupidity and lack of acting talent. This is probably the most awful show to ever grace the TV screen. Not only does it have very bad acting the whole idea of the show is just comedy gone wrong. I'd really rather watch old Charlie Chaplin silent movies, at least I'd get some laughs.I did my best to find something funny in Portandia but everything I watched seemed more like someone took all the cut scenes from the floor and pasted them into a nightmare. The show just goes way beyond ridiculous.If IFC has some wise people running their network then they'd drop Portlandia like a hot rock.