Reno 911! 

An irreverent look at what goes on behind-the-scenes in Reno, Nevada's Police Department.

Creators:

Robert Ben Garant, Kerri Kenney, Thomas Lennon

Stars:

Cedric Yarbrough, Niecy Nash, Robert Ben Garant

1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Series cast summary:
Cedric Yarbrough	...	Deputy S. Jones / ... 88 episodes, 2003-2009
Niecy Nash	...	Deputy Raineesha Williams / ... 88 episodes, 2003-2009
Robert Ben Garant	...	Deputy Travis Junior / ... 88 episodes, 2003-2009
Thomas Lennon	...	Lieutenant Jim Dangle / ... 88 episodes, 2003-2009
Kerri Kenney	...	Deputy Trudy Wiegel / ... 88 episodes, 2003-2009
Carlos Alazraqui	...	Deputy James Garcia / ... 73 episodes, 2003-2008
Wendi McLendon-Covey	...	Deputy Clementine Johnson / ... 73 episodes, 2003-2008
Mary Birdsong	...	Deputy Cherisha Kimball / ... 42 episodes, 2004-2008

Storyline

The lives of seven incompetent Reno sheriff's deputies are detailed in this "Cops" style parody. Among the colorful characters are Lt. Jim Dangle, the short shorts-wearing, flamboyantly gay supervisor; Deputy James Garcia, who makes police brutality an art form; Deputy Trudy Wiegel, the manic depressive, socially awkward officer; Deputy Clementine Johnson, the skanky former magician's assistant; Deputy Travis Junior, the redneck who is never seen without his kevlar vest and sunglasses; Deputy S. Jones, the semi-competent ladies' man; and Deputy Raineesha Williams, the bootylicious black cop with an attitude.

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Plot Keywords:

pixelated nudity | deputy | law enforcement satire | gay character | police lieutenant | 

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Taglines:

They Might Not Be The Best...But They're The Best We Got.

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Genres:

Comedy | Crime

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Certificate:

TV-14

Details

Official Sites:

Comedy Central

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

23 July 2003 (USA)

Also Known As:

Ugly Americans

Filming Locations:

Carson, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$325,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Artists First, Comedy Central, Jersey Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

22 min (88 episodes)

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The show was originally conceived in 2001 as a sketch show titled "Ugly Americans" for the FOX network. Scenes with the police characters were to be short interstitials between longer sketches. But during filming, the cast realized that they enjoyed playing the police characters so much, that they decided to make the series about them. A pilot was shot, but it was rejected by FOX. Two years later, it was remade for Comedy Central, who picked it up.

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Goofs

Trudy Wiegel's name occasionally changes from 'Wiegel' to 'Weigel.'

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Quotes

Lt. Jim Dangle: [directing traffic school] *You* are the reason why our roads are dangerous! *You* are the reason why we're sitting here today. And because of *you*, we're going to sit here for eight hours. And for this service, we are getting paid a grand total of $31.50. That's right, we'd make more money working at Arby's. So why don't we call it a day and go get some Arby's?

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Crazy Credits

Selected episodes of the series have fake "next week" episodes which shows whats going to be on next weeks episode, but it's not really on the next episode.

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Connections

Referenced in Late Night with Seth Meyers: Eric Stonestreet/Mike Epps/Nick Swardson/Elle King (2015)

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Soundtracks

Reno 911! theme
Craig Wedren
Original Music by Stepehen Phillips and Tim P.

User Reviews

Shots Fired: Comedy Central scores a hit with this hilarious screwball farce

Network: Comedy Central; Genera: Comedy/Sketch; Content Rating: TV-14 (for strong language and sexual content; Classification: Contemporary (Star range: 1 - 4)

Season Reviewed: 5 seasons

From the outset, a full-length parody of 'Cops' wouldn't sound like any groundbreaking comedy. With it's well known traditions and often copied style, 'Cops' has long been the subject of parody for years before arguably becoming a parody of itself. However, 'Reno 911!' does you one better. From Thomas Lennon, Kerri Kennedy and Ben Garant - the creators of 'The State' and the now forgiven and forgotten 'Viva Variety' - 'Reno' takes that 'Cops' mold (and 'Rescue 911!' title sequence) and populates it with a world of realized original characters.

In 'Reno' this comedy troupe has found a perfect cross between the improvisational sketch comedy series and the episodic televisions series. The show, as you might expect, is largely improved which can be good or bad (as seen in last year's disastrous 'Life with Bonnie'). The show's hit-and-miss laugh ratio is lower than it probably would be if it was scripted, but what we gain in the trade-off is this wonderful naturalistic dialog. The crew have an ear for recreating that often witty but just as often dull, monotonous and uncomfortable naturalistic conversation. If 'Reno' were any funnier it would be in the stratosphere. I love the opening title sequences.

The entire cast is note-perfect. We have straight-laced Jonsey (Cedric Yarbrough), Garcia (Carlos Alazraqui), a racist, lonely, complex shell of a man, Clementine (Wendi McLendon-Covey) is the truck stop waitress turned cop "with a full dance card", Junior (Garant) is the incompetent, fully of stories, young cadet and Rainessha Williams (Niecy Nash) is the sassy, booty-licious femme-fetal cop. The show bounces all these characters off each other, matching them up in odd pairs and letting the nuances in them create the sparks. Thomas Lennon and Kerri Kennedy have given themselves the juiciest roles and approach brilliance in them. Kenney's Trudy Weigel is superbly dysfunctional beyond any simple description and Lennon's Jim Dangle is poised to be the breakout character of the show. Like Mr. Garrison in 'South Park' and Stewie Griffen on 'Family Guy', Dangle is a character than can get a laugh from me almost anytime he opens his mouth. It has a knack for creating scenarios where, in an odd way, the set-ups can be funnier than the punch line. Just the idea that Jim Dangle is going to show up to Trudy Weigel's house and "give her the thrill of her life" is funnier than ultimately seeing the Asian man she's hiding in her kitchen.

'Reno' knows its way around the 'Cops' traditions, making ample use of streakers with strategically placed edit blurs (also brilliantly hiding the faces of the cast doubling up), belligerent roadside pull-overs, hookers with bad wigs and crazy domestic disturbance calls that reveal fetishes best kept behind closed doors. But it also knows it needs to be more than that. The episode plots are as hilariously strange as it comes and veiled thinly enough to support any number of tangential gags. In one episode the group is put on suicide watch for Trudy Weigel and she flips out because they look disappointed she didn't go through with it. In another, they venture to the Burning Man festival and get lost along the way in full rave gear. In a particularly inspired episode they compete for 2 tickets to an execution with a suspect scavenger hunt.The bumbling officers get visits from the FBI, Homeland Security, British officers and in 2 classic episodes a religious tele-evangelist and Reading Ron (Brian Unger) featuring a show-stoppping bit with a cat on a roof. Watch continuously and you'll see running gags and continuity coming out in what otherwise seems like randomized chaos. These cops view enforcing the law as a happy side effect to the real joy of holding their power over the citizens of the burned-out Nevada suburb, abusing it gleefully and not above pulling guns on themselves.

'Reno 911!' was originally produced as a pilot for Fox and sat on the shelf for 2 years before Comedy Central came calling (and it became an almost instant hit). Sounds like something Fox would do. It's all for the best as 'Reno' on Comedy Central is given free range to do things every week that would have gotten them throw off the air at Fox. Jokes around rape, accidental shootings, cops planting evidence and screwing with the citizens (in a time when the media loves to put a wedge between cops and the people), red-necks & every racial demographic known to man, discussions on when it's appropriate to use the N-word, terrorists in the post-9/11 world (with the greatest of ease I might add, a subject most shows trip over themselves to run from) and everything else you might imagine would give a network suit a conniption fit are peppered well into the show. It enthusiastically leapfrogs from one set piece to the next in an attempt to offend anyone and everyone it can and getting big laughs with it.

I largely consider Comedy Central a dumping ground, but admire their drive to take chances - which is more than you can say for the networks. 'Reno' is a show that isn't crude for the sake of it or the edgy in appearance only. It is a gutsy, frequently hysterical series in which the gags are expertly delivered (and edited together) by a well developed cast of comic talents. A real screwball farce that roams freely around without politically correct borders or boundaries, the likes of which you just don't see much of on TV today. And you want, silly slapstick? 'Reno' proves that even the age-old kick-in-the-groin gag, if done well, can still be funny. An acquired taste, but well worth it.

* * * / 4