'Portlandia': Where young people come to retire

 
After months of waiting, it's time for Portland's latest turn in the national spotlight. The cable TV series "Portlandia" debuts Friday on IFC. Lori and I watched a sneak peek of the first episode tonight on Hulu and I'm pleased to say it was pretty good at poking fun at Portland's urban stereotypes while also giving glimpses at so many familiar sights around the city. Kinda cool.

The trailer has been out for a while, featuring clips from the music video "I Dream of the '90s," which was filmed on the Eastside Esplanade and features Fred Armisen of "Saturday Night Live" and Carrie Brownstein, who used to play in the all-girl band Sleater-Kinney.

In the video, the co-stars are "joined by a colorful group of local clowns, tall-bike riders, hot girls wearing glasses and asserted pierced people, all singing about Portland -- a place where the 'tattoo ink never runs dry,'" The Oregonian's Kristi Turnquist writes in a piece that previews the show and questions whether it will reinforce perceptions that it's a place "where young people come to retire."

In Portland, Armisen gushes, "locals are content to sleep until 11, hang out with friends and have no occupations whatsoever, except maybe working a couple of hours a week at a coffee shop."

For those of us who live or work here, the show gives us a chance to laugh at characters ranging from humorless feminist bookstore owners to organic food devotees obsessed with the farm-to-table background of the chicken they're about to eat at a restaurant. For those less familiar with our city, I suppose it will make some people wonder if we're all freaks.

One thing is for sure. The debut episode is glaringly absent of any people of color. I hope that's not the case in subsequent episodes. Otherwise "Portlandia" will come off just as "Friends" did: A cast of young white people living in New York City in the near-complete absence of black, Asian or Latino people.