Portlandia: Season One

This sketch-comedy series—from indie rocker turned actress Carrie Brownstein (of Sleater-Kinney fame) and Saturday Night Live regular Fred Armisen—practically made Portland the capital of comic cool in America when it premiered on IFC in 2011. Brownstein and Armisen skewer slackers, yuppies, counterculture types, activist bicyclers, and extreme political correctness of all stripes in their tribute to the city where “the dream of the '90s is still alive.” While the show was not a major ratings hit by network standards, it became IFC's most talked-about original series ever, and the cable network fed the fandom by posting clips to YouTube, where some of the skits have been seen by over a million viewers. Portlandia's popularity reaches well beyond the channel's subscribers, and it's become a cult favorite among teens and young adults (it's also a rarity among cable comedy shows in that it doesn't resort to sexual innuendo or crude gags for laughs). Compiling all six episodes of the first season on DVD and Blu-ray, extras include episode commentaries, deleted scenes, and outtakes. Recommended. (S. Axmaker)