Reno famously advertises itself as “The Biggest Little City in the World,” but I have to wonder if they might not get more mileage out of, “Home to the Craziest Sheriff’s Force on the Planet,” courtesy of the popular long running Comedy Central series Reno 911. I recently reviewed the fair to middling MTV comedy sketch series The State, and noted that several State alumni went on to greater glory in Reno 911, among them Thomas Lennon, Kerri Kenney-Silver, and Robert Ben Garant, who just happen to also be Reno 911’s co-creators. The artistic growth of this trio is evidenced by Reno 911’s almost perfect blend of mockumentary send-up and extremely finely detailed character work, always the foundation of solid comedy. The marvel of Reno 911, at least for those of us who have watched the show for years, is not just the fact that the level of writing and performance has stayed consistently high, but there’s no clear indication of how much of this series is scripted and how much is ad libbed on the fly. It’s one of the many things that makes Reno 911 so unpredictable and frequently laugh out loud hilarious.
For those of you who somehow have managed not to catch even one episode (or the attendant feature film) of Reno 911, the show is a near perfect parody of police enforcement “ride along” reality shows like Cops. A (mostly) never seen camera crew trails the somewhat hapless members of Reno’s Sheriff’s Department, both in the department offices and on the road. We have a grand assortment of rather odd (and at times surprisingly touching) characters, including Kenney-Silver’s dimwitted and neurotic Deputy Trudy Weigel, Lennon’s hilarious “hot pants” wearing Lieutenant James Dangle (and I’ll let you guess what’s “dangling” from those unbelievably short shorts), Niecy Nash’s boisterous Deputy Raineesha Williams, whom it’s not hard to imagine as a Jerry Springer guest shouting “Talk to the hand, talk to the hand,” Garant’s redneck Deputy Travis Junior, and Cedric Yarbrough’s lugubrious Deputy Sven Jones (and how many African American men do you know named Sven?). These extremely brief character summaries can’t even come close to detailing how much brilliant character information these superb performers bring to their work, and the interaction, forged over several seasons of the show, is simply priceless most of the time.
Reno 911’s fifth season ended with a literal bang that meant the demise for several long-running characters. Replacing them in this sixth season, more or less anyway, are two new characters, Ian Roberts’ big teddy bear of a Sergeant, Jack Declan, and, perhaps more interestingly, Joe Lo Truglio’s (another State alum) hilariously sleazy Deputy Frank Rizzo, who opens the season with some shall we say questionable tactics that leave his character’s various propensities in an amusingly ambiguous state.
While some may argue that this season offers simply more of the same old Reno 911 shenanigans, I would say something along the lines of “When it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” This is one of the finest ensemble comedies in recent memory, and when one takes into consideration the fact (or at least what I’m assuming is fact) that at least some, if not most, of the show is improvised, it makes the proceedings all the more amazing. Little throwaway moments (some of which are too explicit—especially in this “uncensored” DVD release—to reprint on a family site like this) will leave you howling with laughter. Even set-ups that aren’t fully developed, let alone anything approaching politically correct, such as when the deputies take a blind prisoner to a restaurant they want to eat at and attempt to convince him he’s really in jail (where he should be), there is certainly always something there to at least bring a smile or giggle to your lips.
As always, there are some appealing guest star turns this season, including the return of George Lopez as scandal-ridden Mayor Hernandez, a civic “leader” who could give recent headline grabbers like Mark Sanford or John Ensign a tutorial on extra-curricular romantic adventures. But it’s the core cast that makes Reno 911 the joy that it is, and it’s to these gifted performers’ credit that there’s still this much comedic energy apparent six years into the series.
As mentioned above, this is the “uncensored” version of the show, and some fairly explicit sexual situations and innuendo, not to mention unbridled use of expletives, dot these 15 episodes, so this is certainly not family viewing fare for those of you with delicate sensibilities. For those of you with somewhat jaded palettes, eager for sharply written (and/or improvised) and performed ensemble comedy, Reno 911 may be just your ticket (pun intended). Reno 911 remains one of the comedy jewels on television and I for one hope this hapless Sheriff’s Department continues to enjoy misadventures for many years to come.
Video: Unlike its broadcast form, Reno 911 is presented on DVD in an anamorphically enhanced 1.78:1 image that is amazingly sharp and detailed for television fare. Colors are all deeply saturated and lifelike, and contrast and detail are excellent. No compression artifacts of any kind were noticed.
Audio: The DD 2.0 mix is equally excellent, with excellent fidelity and surprising dynamic range (this show does not avoid multiple explosions and frequent gunfire, often to great comedic effect). All dialogue is crisp and clear and always front and center.
Extras: There are two brief featurettes, called "Profiles in Valor," of the new Reno 911 personnel, Deputy Frank Rizzo and Sergeant Jack Declan. Extended scenes and outtakes are also included, as is audio commentary from the cast, which can be just as amusing (and raucous) as the actual show.
