It was 1:00 AM on a Sunday in January 2013. Most people in Seattle were either asleep or grabbing a greasy bag of Dick’s Drive-In burgers. But for a specific subset of Northwest nerds, something weird was happening on KING 5. After the Saturday Night Live credits rolled, a new logo popped up on the screen. The 206 had arrived.
Honestly, it felt like a ghost coming back to life.
If you grew up in the Pacific Northwest during the 90s, Almost Live! was your religion. It was the show that taught us to make fun of Ballard, Kent, and Bellevue before Jeff Bezos turned the region into a giant glass sphere. When it died in 1999, it left a comedy-shaped hole in the rain-soaked soul of the city. The 206 tv show was the scrappy, low-budget, high-energy attempt to bring that magic back.
It wasn't a corporate reboot. It was more like a garage band reunion.
What Really Happened With The 206?
People keep asking if the show is still on. Short answer? No. It wrapped up years ago, but its DNA is everywhere.
The 206 tv show was basically the brainchild of three guys: Pat Cashman, his son Chris Cashman, and the legendary John Keister. For the uninitiated, Keister was the face of Seattle comedy for a decade. Seeing him back on screen with Pat Cashman felt like seeing Lennon and McCartney playing a dive bar in Belltown.
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It premiered on January 6, 2013. The vibes were instantly nostalgic but also kinda biting. They weren't just rehashing the old "High-Fivin' White Guys" bits. They were looking at a new Seattle—one where the Sonics were gone, the Viaduct was a crumbling mess, and pot was suddenly legal.
The Renton Abbey Factor
You can't talk about this show without mentioning "Renton Abbey." It was a pitch-perfect parody of Downton Abbey, except instead of a British manor, it was a trailer in Renton. The characters spoke with posh accents while arguing over missing catalytic converters and the tragedy of the SuperSonics leaving town.
"Father hasn't been the same since the Sonics left," one character says in a hushed, tragic tone.
It was ridiculous. It was hyper-local. It was exactly what we needed.
Why John Keister Left the Building
The show ran for three seasons, but things got rocky during the final stretch. In October 2014, John Keister walked away.
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Why? It wasn't some dramatic feud.
Basically, Keister wanted to do his own thing. He eventually launched The Keister Monologues, a one-man show that was more about his personal perspective on the city's evolution. Pat Cashman later told the Seattle Times that they were all working for "almost nothing."
When you’re making local TV in a world dominated by YouTube and Netflix, the margins are razor-thin. They were doing it for the love of the game, but eventually, you’ve gotta pay the rent in a city that’s becoming the most expensive place on earth.
The Numbers and the Transition
- Episodes Produced: 44 (including 3 specials)
- Original Run: 2013 – 2015
- The Successor: Up Late NW
After Keister left, the show rebranded as Up Late Northwest in September 2015. It kept the basic sketch format and the Cashmans remained involved, but it tried to expand its reach beyond just the 206 area code to include Portland and Spokane. It lasted about a year before the lights went out for good in 2016.
The Legacy Nobody Talks About
We live in a "content" world now. Everything is polished. Everything is meant for a global audience.
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The 206 tv show was the opposite. It was "Seattle-centric" to a fault. If you didn't know where the Mercer Mess was or why people in Lynnwood get a bad rap, the jokes didn't land. And that’s what made it special. It was a private joke between 4 million people.
It also served as a bridge. It connected the old-school broadcast era of Almost Live! to the modern era of digital comedy. It proved that local voices still mattered, even if they were being broadcast at 1:00 AM on a Sunday.
Actionable Insights for the Nostalgic
If you're looking to revisit the glory days or see what the fuss was about, here is how you can still engage with the spirit of The 206 tv show today:
- Check the Vault: A lot of the best sketches, including "Renton Abbey" and the "Pat Cashman Show" segments, are still floating around on the official YouTube channel under the handle @the206tv. It’s a literal time capsule of 2013-2015 Seattle.
- Follow the Cast: Chris Cashman is still very active in the media scene, and Pat Cashman continues to be a Northwest treasure, often appearing on podcasts and local events.
- The Almost Live! Connection: If The 206 feels too short for you, KING 5+ (their streaming app) often runs old episodes of Almost Live! which serves as the spiritual prequel to everything the 206 team tried to accomplish.
- Local Comedy Scenes: The spirit of these shows lives on in Seattle's stand-up and improv scenes at places like Unexpected Productions or the various comedy clubs in the city. Supporting local performers is the only way to ensure the "next" 206 actually gets made.
The era of big-budget local sketch comedy on network TV might be over, but the jokes about the I-5 traffic are eternal.