By Bailey Barnett

After eight months of anticipation, “Portlandia” fans were ready to see what Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein had in store for them during the show’s fifth season. The season premiere featured one of the audience’s favorite duos, Toni and Candace, and utilized the episode’s full half hour to tell the backstory behind the founding of their business, the Women and Women First Bookstore.

Such a shift from the show’s original episode format of 30 minutes of various skits may have come as an unpleasant surprise to some viewers, but others saw it as a much-needed and welcomed change. While some fans of the show have complained about the absence of skits to break up the presence of intentionally exaggerated characters, others see a lot of opportunity in the show’s new direction.

Armisen and Brownstein have set up multiple strong character pairings throughout the past four seasons, and full-length episodes will allow characters to be even further enhanced through deeper storylines. A single storyline for each episode will also allow for a closer audience familiarity with individual characters’ goals, making the storylines slightly more investing while still maintaining “Portlandia’s” signature lighthearted feel and odd antics.

After four seasons on the air, it seems as though “Portlandia” has discovered the changes it must make in order to stay fresh and entertaining for faithful viewers without abandoning its original characters or tone. The show has continued this formatting change in the other six episodes that have aired for Season 5 thus far.

Only time will tell if this format will stick for the remainder of the season. For now, however, it seems as though converting “Portlandia” from a skit-comprised show format into a series with more focused episodes and plot lines seems to be a move in the right direction.