Beth Nakamura/The Oregonian

By Kristi Turnquist | The Oregonian/OregonLive

As "Portlandia" prepares to air its eighth and final season, it's clear that it was the right show at the right time. The series created by Fred Armisen, Carrie Brownstein and Jonathan Krisel premiered in 2011, just in time for digital media users to share favorite "Portlandia" moments on Facebook or Twitter.

The show’s sketch structure was also perfect for social media, as fans could use their smart phones to watch bite-size bits, such as Armisen and Brownstein putting a bird on it, asking about the provenance of Colin the chicken, or shutting down the patriarchy at the feminist bookstore, Women and Women First.

But it’s equally clear how much has changed since the January 2011 debut of “Portlandia.” 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.

"Portlandia" has never been a show watched by millions of people. For example, Season 7 broadcasts on IFC averaged 276,000 total viewers (a number that doesn't reflect viewing on Netflix or other sources), according to IFC.

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But “Portlandia” boasted a much bigger pop culture footprint than its modest ratings or budget would indicate.

Over the years, “Portlandia” became shorthand for a certain kind of politically correct, artisanal, twee behavior. The show won awards, inspired countless trend pieces and was a favorite in entertainment circles.

In 2014, for example, Jerry Seinfeld called "Portlandia" "beyond brilliant," "the best comedy on TV right now," and "easily one of the best comedies of all time."

And, like so many fans, Seinfeld saw a direct link between the show and the city where it filmed. "I was just in Portland," Seinfeld told Vulture, "and everywhere you go, it's like, is this a sketch, or is this the real show?"

That connection between Portland and “Portlandia” is unavoidable – and complicated.

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For many locals, “Portlandia” isn’t just a TV show. By making the city look cool and fun, the theory goes, “Portlandia” has inspired new residents to flock to the Rose City. The in-migration has helped spur the congestion and development longtime Portlanders say destroys the livability that “Portlandia”-loving newcomers were chasing.

The most dramatic example of Portland distancing itself from "Portlandia" happened in 2016, when In Other Words, the Portland feminist community center and bookstore, cut ties with "Portlandia."

The show had, up until then, filmed its popular sketches featuring Armisen and Brownstein as the female proprietors of the feminist bookstore, Women and Women First, at In Other Words.

But after a change in leadership, In Other Words posted a message on its website announcing it would no longer allow "Portlandia" to film there. The show, according to the message, was "diametrically opposed to our politics and the vision of society we're organizing to realize," and "has had a net negative effect on our neighborhood and the city of Portland as a whole."

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“Portlandia” has also drawn criticism – much like the city where it’s set – for lacking diversity.

Tim Williams, executive director of the Oregon Governor's Office of Film & Television, has heard both praise and complaints about "Portlandia."

“There are many people who vehemently blame ‘Portlandia’” for changing Portland, says Williams. “There are people who are angry about it,” just as there are people who love it, and those who don’t care about the show, one way or another.

Even though Armisen, Brownstein, Krisel and the show’s writers have, in the past, talked about gradually shifting the focus on “Portlandia” to the kinds of trends that can be found in any progressive enclave, “Portlandia” is still seen as a reflection of Portland.

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“The city is named in the title of the show,” Williams says. Even people who didn’t watch “Portlandia,” he says, are aware that it satirizes the Rose City as a place where liberals love public radio, look down on grocery shoppers who don’t bring their own re-usable bags and obsess over having the proper outdoors equipment.

In Williams’ view, “Portlandia” isn’t the single biggest driver of Portland in-migration. “But it’s a fairly big part of it,” he says. ”It’s in the popular culture zeitgeist.”

In terms of helping build Portland’s reputation as a filming location, Williams says the show has been more influential than we might think. Between 2010 and 2017, “Portlandia” spent close to $40 million in Oregon – a small sum compared to the nearly $300 million the higher-budgeted NBC series “Grimm” spent in its six seasons filming in Portland.

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Augusta Quirk/ IFC

But “Portlandia” has helped establish a brand for Portland, Williams says, which has helped generate interest from production companies looking for the indie, off-kilter spirit “Portlandia” exemplifies.

Williams points to the offbeat Netflix series "American Vandal" -- the true-crime parody that will film its second season in Portland -- as an example of the kinds of projects that look to Portland as a location in part because of "Portlandia."

Shows like “Portlandia” and “American Vandal” seem to live in the same world, Williams says. “We’ve got another few sketch shows that are sniffing around” Portland as a potential location, Williams says, though he can’t yet reveal any details.

“Portlandia” has shown, Williams says, “that Portland doesn’t mind laughing at itself.”

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And even though “Portlandia” will air its final season as an IFC series beginning Jan. 18, Williams says Armisen and Brownstein are still enthusiastic about working in Portland.

“I know they both personally value Portland a great deal, and what it did for them personally,” says Williams. “They both really love Portland and Oregon, and both want to do more work here.”

If “Portlandia” and its impact on Portland are a complex subject, the show has been a gift for the IFC channel, says Jennifer Caserta, IFC president and general manager.

“IFC and ‘Portlandia’ in so many ways feel synonymous,” says the New York City-based Caserta. IFC was transitioning to a new identify as a comedy-centric channel when “Portlandia” was getting started.

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Caserta says “Portlandia” helped reinvigorate the sketch comedy series format, and cites as evidence of the show’s reach how it intersected “with music, and art, and food,” and “became a significant part of pop culture.”

When Armisen, Brownsein and Krisel were first pitching “Portlandia” – which has its roots in online videos made by Armisen and Brownstein as a duo called ThunderAnt – Caserta recalls not being sure the sketches would transcend their Northwest origins.

“Is this a Portland thing?” Caserta remembers wondering. “A Pacific Northwest thing? Will it translate across the country?”

But Caserta walked out of the meeting, thinking, “I know people like this. I give them credit or having the foresight” to gently spoof the progressives populating not just Portland, but Brooklyn, Austin, Boulder, and more.

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In interviews during the past few years Armisen and Brownstein have resisted the notion that “Portlandia” is responsible for the growth that is disrupting Portland.

"When people look out and they see the differences in the city, our show is kind of an easy target," Brownstein said during the final "Portlandia" media day in September of 2017.

Brownstein, who grew up in Washington state and first came to fame as a member of the band Sleater-Kinney, lived in Portland for the past several years, and now spends considerable time in Los Angeles, juggling various projects.

The population growth and building boom that Portlanders have witnessed is a phenomenon happening all over the West Coast, Brownstein said.

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"It was inevitable that Portland would suffer, if you want to use that term, or benefit, from the same sort of growth that those other cities have," Brownstein said.

It’s not surprising that locals have strong opinions about “Portlandia,” Brownstein said. The show has "been a focal point for people, and because it's a show that's in conversation with the city, and a city that's in conversation with itself, it's hard not to see it as intrinsic to some of the changes."

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Beth Nakamura/The Oregonian

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