{"id":429697,"date":"2026-01-24T06:43:23","date_gmt":"2026-01-24T06:43:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/429697\/"},"modified":"2026-01-24T06:43:23","modified_gmt":"2026-01-24T06:43:23","slug":"why-did-wnbas-fire-tap-portlandia-for-its-schedule-release-it-felt-uniquely-portland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/429697\/","title":{"rendered":"Why did WNBA\u2019s Fire tap \u2018Portlandia\u2019 for its schedule release? It \u2018felt uniquely Portland\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Portlanders were treated with a hint of nostalgia on Wednesday, as Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein stepped back into their \u201cPortlandia\u201d<\/a> roles as part of a promo video to debut the Portland Fire\u2019s inaugural WNBA schedule<\/a>. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s been eight years since the sketch comedy show last aired, showcasing Portland\u2019s hipster culture. But Kimberly Veale, Portland Fire senior vice president of marketing and communications, said \u201cPortlandia\u201d was a great way to make local fans nostalgic while sharing the culture of the city with a national audience. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe set out to do something that felt uniquely Portland, and set the tone for our debut season,\u201d Veale told The Oregonian\/OregonLive. \u201c\u2018Portlandia\u2019 has such a strong connection to this city, and celebrating what it represents for Portland was the perfect way to unveil our schedule.\u201d<\/p>\n

The promo didn\u2019t hit all of the traditional notes from the original show, but harked back to the show\u2019s classic \u201cDid you hear?<\/a>\u201d skit where Armisen and Brownstein quickly list off news articles that they\u2019ve read at each other. <\/p>\n

The skit also includes Easter eggs, like Brownstein reading a copy of Fire coach Alex Sarama\u2019s book, \u201cTransforming Basketball.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not at the end, so I don\u2019t know what it transforms into but it\u2019s a pretty great book,\u201d Brownstein says as the first punchy joke of the promo.<\/p>\n

The skit also ends with a cameo by Fire assistant coach Sylvia Fowles<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey coming back,\u201d Fowles calls out, while also reading a copy of Sarama\u2019s book. \u201c2026 is their debut season.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"PortlandSylvia Fowles makes a cameo in a Portlandia-style skit that announced the Portland Fire’s 2026 season. Fowles will be one of the Fire’s assistant coaches.Courtesy of the Portland Fire<\/p>\n

Veale said the duo of Armisen and Brownstein were wonderful to work with.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve long been beloved faces of the Portland community that working with them was a perfect fit from the start,\u201d she said. \u201cThey are both fans of the team, and were immediately on board. We\u2019re incredibly grateful for their partnership \u2013 and of course their comedic wit \u2013 in bringing it all to life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brownstein and Armisen have also worked with the Portland Trail Blazers<\/a> in the past. In an early season of the show, Armisen and Brownstein\u2019s characters give a locker room pep talk<\/a> to Damian Lillard, LaMarcus Aldridge and other Trail Blazers players about the importance of dunking. <\/p>\n

In a later season, Lillard is invited to a house party<\/a> despite not actually being friends with Armisen\u2019s character. <\/p>\n

The schedule launch was planned by the WNBA, but a source familiar with the team told The Oregonian\/OregonLive that the teams were given full creative control for their own rollouts. The New York Liberty released their schedule as part of a \u201990s-style television broadcast<\/a>. The Seattle Storm posted a promo video that included a tour of Pike Place Market<\/a>. <\/p>\n

The Chicago Sky did not release a video, but instead posted a series that included pictures from past games next to classic art<\/a> in the vein of the ArtButMakeItSports<\/a> account. <\/p>\n

The Portlandia skit was met with heavy praise on Wednesday. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe schedule release by which all schedule releases shall be measured,\u201d wrote CBS Sports writer Carter Bahns on X<\/a>. \u201cMasterpiece.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is incredible,\u201d wrote Yahoo Sports NFL editor Joey Gulino<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Veale told The Oregonian\/OregonLive that the Fire staff \u201care thrilled the fans have enjoyed watching it as much as we enjoyed making it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Portlanders were treated with a hint of nostalgia on Wednesday, as Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein stepped back…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":429698,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[629],"tags":[49,48,82,630],"class_list":["post-429697","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-sports","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/429697","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=429697"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/429697\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/429698"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=429697"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=429697"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=429697"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}