Beth Nakamura/The Oregonian/OregonLive

By Kristi Turnquist | The Oregonian/OregonLive

For a small budget show that airs on a low-profile network, "Portlandia" sure has made a lot of noise. When the Portland-filmed comedy series airs its series finale on IFC Thursday, March 22, it will mark the end of eight seasons of accomplishment, including 20 Emmy nominations, four wins, and a Peabody Award, just to name a few accolades.

Co-creators Fred Armisen, Carrie Brownstein and Jonathan Krisel have all gotten significant career boosts from "Portlandia," with Armisen and Brownstein juggling various projects, and Krisel co-creating and serving as showrunner for the quirky FX comedy, "Baskets."

“We wanted to end the show while we all loved doing it,” Armisen said during a “Portlandia” discussion at the Television Critics Association winter 2018 press tour, in Pasadena. “We had good feelings about it, and it just seemed like the right time. And also, eight seasons is a lot. It’s a lot of time.”

For Portlanders, saying goodbye to “Portlandia” means putting to rest a complicated, love/hate relationship. From the beginning, when “Portlandia” premiered in 2011 with the “Dream of the ‘90s” music video and Peter (Armisen) and Nance (Brownstein) wondering if the chicken they’re about to order in a restaurant had a happy life, “Portlandia” has divided Rose City residents.

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Augusta Quirk/IFC

For every fan blissed out by the show’s accuracy in nailing Portland phenomena (waiting in line for hours to eat brunch, geeking out over tiny houses, pickling everything in sight), there have been fist-waving locals who blame “Portlandia” for ruining Portland.

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The Oregonian/OregonLive/file

As one typical OregonLive commenter recently put it, "I find it both sad and ridiculous that 'Portlandia' ever got off the ground. As a 60+ native of Portland, I can't recognize my city in this silly figment of some TV producer's imagination. Now all the people come from far and wide to be part of the Portland scene! Well, there is no scene, and 'Portlandia' does not capture the city at all."

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The Oregonian/OregonLive/file

Why have so many Portlanders so loved to hate “Portlandia?”

While some of the quibbles fall into the everyone’s-a-critic-category – the sketches are too long, not funny, etc. – “ Portlandia ” also became a symbol.

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The Oregonian/OregonLive/file

Most arguments over "Portlandia" weren't really about the show. Instead, it became something to point to when Portlanders got mad about traffic, congestion, housing shortages, expensive housing and everything else.

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"Portlandia" was a scapegoat, with its attention-getting sketches portraying Portland as a kombucha-swilling, artisan knot-loving, bicycle-riding haven of precious, privileged white people with nothing better to do than drink coffee made from responsibly farmed beans.

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The show became an easy target for a variety of constituencies. Portland natives, already frustrated by the changes sweeping across the city, blamed "Portlandia" for attracting newcomers looking for, as “The Dream of the ‘90s” video put it, a place where young people could go to retire.

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Other locals rolled their eyes as "Portlandia" shored up the stereotype of Portland as a locavore paradise, where everybody spends the day being quirkily creative, and nobody drives a car.

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Augusta Quirk/ IFC

Progressives blasted “Portlandia” for its lack of diversity, and for luring self-centered gentrifiers, who moved into the central-city neighborhoods where “Portlandia” filmed.

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In Other Words, the feminist bookstore and community center, made national news when it cut ties with the show, which had filmed the "Women & Women First" sketches there. In a blunt blog post, the In Other Words community proclaimed that "Portlandia" "has had a net negative effect on our neighborhood and the city of Portland as a whole."

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The Oregonian/OregonLive/file, 2015

For their part, Armisen and Brownstein resisted the notion that one TV show was responsible for some of Portland's transformations. On a media day in September, as "Portlandia" was nearing the end of filming, Brownstein said, "I don't think the condos are because of our show." When the show premiered, Brownstein added, "I think the city was well on its way to changing."

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The Oregonian/OregonLive/file, 2016

And though the famous early sketches were spot-on in their Portland satire, “Portlandia” became less Portland-centric, Armisen said.

"As the show's gone on, it feels a little bit like it's been less about the city specifically," Armisen said, "and more about the characters getting to know each other."

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Photo courtesy of IFC

That so much storm and stress swirled around "Portlandia" is ironic, considering that the show itself has always had a gentle touch. "Portlandia" was more absurd than political, happier adding cartoon-style sound effects (cats yowling, silly "Boing!" noises), than in making grandiose statements about modern life.

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For most of this final season, "Portlandia" has gone about comedy business as usual. Sketches have mocked online dating, multi-course prix fixe meals, and office workers surreptitiously texting during a boring meeting. The Mayor (Kyle MacLachlan) and his assistant (played by former Portland Mayor Sam Adams) worried about Portland’s lack of diversity. The Fred and Carrie characters visited “Disaster Hut,” where the proprietor (Kumail Nanjiani, a frequent "Portlandia" guest star) offered advice on stocking up.

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Augusta Quirk/ IFC

Hints of nostalgia crept in for the next-to-last episode, which revisited many of the show’s signature characters. In the series finale, the Mayor is trying to rearrange the Portland Marathon route, so it will be in the shape of a rose. But he has to give into community demands to gain access to certain streets.

What does every group want? “How about you stop building ugly condos in my sightline?” as a worker on the Morrison Bridge puts it.

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Whether “Portlandia” is a cause for the population boom that inspired the condo-building boom, the show’s writers have obviously heard the local complaints. And in its series finale, “Portlandia” is once more very much focused on Portland.

As Brownstein said in September, “ Portlandia ” is “a show that's in conversation with the city,” in “a city that's in conversation with itself.” No wonder Portlanders have loved – and hated – talking about “ Portlandia .”

The “Portlandia” series finale airs at 10 p.m. Thursday, March 22 on IFC.

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Carrie Brownstein at Case Study Coffee, in a 2014 photo. The Oregonian/OregonLive/file

Related: "Portlandia" final season highlights ongoing debate about its impact on Portland

When "Portlandia" debuted in 2011, it was the right show at the right time, with sketches users could share on social media. But as I wrote when the eighth and final season was beginning, it's also clear that much has changed since "Portlandia" began:

"The cutting-edge, hipster-ish culture the show initially found and satirized in Portland has become mainstream, just as the word 'hipster' sounds dated.

The 'Dream of the '90s' music video that kicked off the series, in which Armisen says Portland 'is a city where young people go to retire,' feels like a relic of another era amid the current reality of young Portlanders scrambling to find jobs with benefits, pay down college debt and hunt for housing they can afford."

Read the whole piece here.

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The Oregonian/OregonLive/file

A "Portlandia" tour guide: 21 Oregon locations where the show filmed

Whether you're a Portlander indulging guests, or a tourist looking for that "Portlandia" experience, here's a guide to some of the most notable locations where "Portlandia" filmed since it began, back in 2011. Read it here.

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16 of the most Portland-y moments in "Portlandia" history

In honor of the Season 6 premiere, I pulled together 16 of the sketches that showed how much "Portlandia" got right about Portland.

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