Hail to "Portlandia": Keep Portland Weird!

Thanks to my personal content editor (Tommy...the only son), I have been turned on to an exquisitely strange and awesome comedy sketch show on IFC called Portlandia. Every episode
starts with a few soothing strains of smooth jazz and a montage of the Pacific Northwest city that is known for coffee bars, indie rock and artist communities (and not much more). Frankly, Portland has never even remotely been on my radar screen, but it sure is now. If I turn up suddenly missing someday, it's because I packed my bags and cats to go be a cafe barista in Portland.

Portlandia stars Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein and is executive produced by Lorne Michaels. Every single episode is filmed on location in Portland. Fred and Carrie play a whole host of quirky, freaky, surreal characters, some of whom appear on a regular basis. Most irritating = the lesbian duo running a Women's bookstore. Most fascinating, a pair of Japanese Harajuku girls drinking coffee from microscopic cups. They've already spawned buckets of catch phases, including..."cacao", "put a bird on it" and "we can pickle that". Portlandia has also attracted a constellation of wonderful guest stars, including Kyle MacLachlan (Twin Peaks) who plays the mayor of Portland and Jeff Goldblum who was a joy as a crafty dude who specializes in vintage and modern art knots. It's like minimalist macrame. They also featured my favorite new band "The Decemberists" as a fake indie band called Echo Echo.

You can catch up with Season One on Netflix or On Demand if you have IFC. Season Two just premiered last Friday night on IFC at 10:30pm. Run as fast as you can to watch the best new comedy series on TV!

The dream of the 90's is alive in Portland!

David Cross IS Todd Margaret, on IFC!

With the deluge of new programs coming at us for the past month, it's easy to overlook some interesting choices which are a little off the main track. I submit IFC's The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret to you in that spirit, starring the droll yet equally manic actor/comedian David Cross as an American duck out of water in Britain. The show, developed as a co-venture by IFC and the UK's Channel 4 (who showed the pilot there last year), features Cross as an American energy drink marketer charged with starting up the London office, a job he obtained under mistaken circumstances and for which he is completely unqualified. Not the first time a show's been built around a bumbling boss, but what makes this one different is Cross' talent and the lure of seeing something with a British comedy sensibility over here.

Those of you who already like and know British TV will recognize the name of Shaun Pye, Cross' collaborator on Todd Margaret, as Ricky Gervais' acting rival Greg Lindley Jones on Extras, but Pye's probably better known over there as a talented comedy writer. Frequent Cross collaborator Will Arnett is onboard for cameos as his U.S. boss, actress/writer Sharon Horgan starred in her own hit show Pulling over there, and co-star Blake Harrison starred in the series The Inbetweeners. You'll also see Cross' real-life girlfriend Amber Tamblyn show up, as well as other familiar faces.

Here's the official IFC promo for the series:



Will you like Todd Margaret? Do you like uncomfortable comedy? If so, you'll like it. If you're looking for a family sitcom or something with singing kids, then maybe not. While Cross' Margaret doesn't quite plumb the depths of comic despair exhibited by Ricky Gervais in The Office, say, he's on somewhat the same track. It's of course his indomitable American can-do confidence that stops his character from becoming either truly pathetic or really lovable in the end, but if you like Cross and you like the notion of an idiotic American abroad, you'll like this.

I quite like it, but then I love British comedy and was thrilled to see Felicity Montagu in Episode 3; she played Alan Partridge's secretary Lynn in Steve Coogan's several masterpiece series built on that character. The first Todd Margaret pilot for the UK was filmed with a different actor as Todd's second-in-command, and there were subtle differences from the first pilot and the second. For just a taste of Todd Margaret's over-the-top antics, take a look at this from the first pilot, where Todd ingests some of his own Thunder Muscle product and goes mental, as they'd say over there. Much profanity so be forewarned, but also very funny!

The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret airs Fridays at 10pm, with encores later that night and at other times. Check out IFC's Todd Margaret site for more details! If you missed earlier episodes, they are available on various commercial sites and others more mysterious and subterranean...

Darkon on IFC

You know how you can think you're catching everything good to watch, and then you find out you missed something great? Well, even though it premiered on IFC last week, the newish documentary Darkon will be playing several more times this week, and I know I'll be watching!

It's about people who play a real life version of something like Dungeons and Dragons in the fields near Baltimore, Maryland, the realm of Darkon. The tagline "Everybody Wants To Be A Hero" says it all. Part re-enactor-play, part Renaissance Faire, part action-adventure chase, the world of Darkon is generously celebrated (reportedly, I haven't seen it yet) in the documentary, and we get to meet some of the charming folks who take time from the grind of everyday life to live and die gloriously on this fanciful field of battle.

Naturally I'm totally sympathetic and envious of anybody who plays like this. Give me a guy with a fake sword and a battle helmet over some corporate lawyer with a tennis racket any day!

Check out the Darkon website on IFC and especially play around with their Ye Olde Name Generator which is silly and fun. Consult the schedule here for dates and times for Darkon and a behind-the-scenes special on the making of the film. Darkon plays this week on Thursday, Nov. 22nd, several times, so be sure to catch it!