Portland has been buzzing about IFC’s new made-in-Oregon show Portlandia since the series began shooting in the late summer of 2010. The network choose to release the show’s first episode before its official television premiere on Hulu and the official IFC show page, but those lucky enough to get a ticket to last Friday night’s sold-out world premiere screenings at the Hollywood Theater got the chance to see the first and second episodes of Portlandia on the big screen.
We’re not here to tell you about the world premiere screening, though… The Oregonian’s Shawn Levy provides much better coverage of the event than we ever could, and Just Out’s Erin Rook did a fine job of covering the Q&A session after the screening (let’s not leave the Portland Mercury’s Sarah Mirk off this list, either – she had a very Portland question for series star Carrie Brownstein!) We haven’t run into a good summary of the after-party at Portland’s @Large films, but once we find one you can bet we’ll edit this article to include a link…
No, the topic of conversation amongst the Oregon Film and TV Dollars team is how well the series will be received by the public-at-large; whether the show’s ratings will be high enough to prompt IFC to “green-light” a second season that hires another 220 Oregon film-workers (or more!)
Reactions to the show have been largely positive – sure, some Portlanders are nettled by the show’s satiric take on the Rose City, and not everyone is as tuned-into Portlandia’s style of comedy. Generally speaking, though, the buzz is high for the upcoming series.
Whatever buzz is being generated by these early-previews of the series, though, the television business is based on numbers. IFC’s decision on whether a second season of Portlandia will film in Oregon – or not – hinges on the show’s ratings once it begins playing on the cable channel. We’ll be watching those ratings closely as the series officially premieres Friday night at 10:30, hoping that the rest of the country will fall in love with Portland’s quirks that way those of who live here have.
You might want to tune in yourself, even if you’ve seen the first epsiode online (or on the big screen) and encourage your friends and family nationwide to do the same. A big premiere night might go a long way to helping IFC make its decision.
Originally posted at http://OregonFilmandTVDollars.com
