Yes, this! I've seen so many reviews and recommendations to watch this show that I finally gave in and watched the first few episodes, despite the misgivings that had kept me away from the show initially. Yeah, I think I was right to trust my misgivings as I was only able to make it through the first three episodes or so.

I think the biggest problem is that you really, really have to have met and experienced the type of people that are lampooned in this show. I mean they are really, really specific. I don't even mean specific to an ideology, political leaning, or even rural versus city biases. They seem to focus specifically on the pacific north west. I live about fifteen miles southwest of Chicago, so you can probably say I have a fair understanding of how some of these aspects blend.

I'm talking about city versus suburbs, crumby suburbs versus affluent areas of the city, and western suburbs versus suburbs that actually are minutes away from the city proper. Yeah, I compared city versus suburbs when talking about both Chicago and Portland, but seeing as Chicago has been known as Second City, I think there is more of a blending in suburbs to the city in Chicago than in Washington.

Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that most of this stuff is so specific to one region, one city, and probably a couple of counties. Yeah, you can really get some weird crap going on in City A out in the boonies or City B that caters to this or that industry/way of life/view on society. The problem is that unless you have some experience with it, or some other frame of reference, almost all of this either flies over your head (in regards to the very specific parody of the intricacies that make it all work to those "in the know") and just makes you annoyed.

Of course most people are going to get annoyed at the constant questioning of how organic and free range the chicken is that you are going to order. Of course most people are going to be annoyed at the actions of a book dealer and their obscure quirkiness. Yeah, it all is abnoxious and annoying, but most people just want to smack these people in the head instead of disecting the specifics of what they all do that is a hallmark of living in Portland.

Anyway, this just means that unless you are in the know about the very specific things that make Portland weirdos stand out among the other weirdos, you'll probably just be annoyed at how fucking annoying people can be, especially when they hold to some ridiculous set of ideals and dogmas.

And I'm spent.