"Reno 911!" (2003) TV series 2003-2009

User Rating:

8.2/10   

Creators:

Robert Ben Garant
Kerri Kenney
Thomas Lennon

Seasons:

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6

Release Date:

23 July 2003 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Crime

Tagline:

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

Plot:

An irreverent look at what goes on behind-the-scenes in the city of Reno's police department.

Plot Keywords:

City Name In Title | Mock Documentary | Pixilated Nudity | Sitcom | Bleeped Dialogue

Awards:

1 nomination

US TV Schedule:

Tue. Nov. 10	5:00 AM	WGNAMER	We Don't Want the Pope	#6.6
Tue. Nov. 10	6:30 PM	COMEDY	Junior Runs for Office	#5.14

Cast

Cedric Yarbrough	...	Deputy S. Jones / ... (86 episodes, 2003-2009)
Niecy Nash	...	Deputy Raineesha Williams / ... (86 episodes, 2003-2009)
Robert Ben Garant	...	Deputy Travis Junior / ... (86 episodes, 2003-2009)
Thomas Lennon	...	Lieutenant Jim Dangle / ... (86 episodes, 2003-2009)
Kerri Kenney	...	Deputy Trudy Wiegel / ... (86 episodes, 2003-2009)
Carlos Alazraqui	...	Deputy James Garcia / ... (71 episodes, 2003-2008)
Wendi McLendon-Covey	...	Deputy Clementine Johnson / ... (71 episodes, 2003-2008)
Mary Birdsong	...	Deputy Cherisha Kimball / ... (40 episodes, 2004-2008)

Runtime:

22 min (88 episodes)

Country:

USA

Language:

German | Japanese | Mandarin | Spanish | English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Singapore:M18 | USA:TV-14 | Hungary:18 | Australia:M

Filming Locations:

Carson, California, USA

Company:

Jersey Films

Trivia:

In Season 2, the artist sketched wanted posters in the squad room are all modeled off of the crew members of the show.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: The police radio that is heard in the background is broadcasting LAPD radio transmissions, not Reno Sheriff Department transmissions.

Quotes:

Deputy James Garcia: The entire station is about to fall apart. It's like we're playing a game of twister and someone is about to spin that left foot yellow and everything is going to collapse.
Deputy Travis Junior: It's like some terrible game of twister where it's all boys and they kill you when you lose.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Ten (2007)

Soundtrack:

Reno 911! theme

Glad Comedy Central believes in this

A feeling of pride wells in me when I think of this show. I recall when this show premiered in the Summer of 2003. I've watched a lot of Comedy Central over the years,and I've sen a lot of shows come and go on that channel,some good,some not-so-good. Outside of Chappelle Show(which imploded under CC's unreasonable production demands after just threes successful seasons),Win Ben Stein's Money(which was quietly shelved)and The Man Show(which disassembled itself after five seasons),the network has retained few shows it has rolled out since 1996,the year the Daily Show was launched. But this show has survived,and the quality of the product bears it out.

A film crew follows the round-the-clock gongs on of seven Reno,Nevada Sheriff's deputies: Lt.Dangle(Thomas Lennon),Deputies Jones(Cedric Yarborough),GArcia(Carlos Alozraqui,spelling?),Johnson(Wendi McLendon-Covey),Junior(Ben Garant),Weigel(Kerri Kinney-Silver) and YAtes(?)(Mary Birdsong),a la the FOX TV institutional hit "Cops". Of course,nearly all of these deps have little good sense about them,and all seem to have increasing difficulty conducting their jobs as enforcers of the law with each episode. Naturally,one hopes that the REAL Reno police is not nearly this incompetent.

The improv talents of each actor is SUPERB,and the camera-work and seamless "documentation" of the events unfolding make this comedy that one has to stay acutely attuned to. For me,that is the sign of a strong comedy that's willing to allow gags and plot lines to hang back and let the viewer come TO it,rather than vice-versa. And as per my previous favorable critiques of comedies,one of the more favorable qualities of it is this show's lack of a laugh track,which would be absolute poison to it(even more so than some more "conventional" sitcoms),anyway.

With this show most recently going to the big screen--and the jury's out on if I want to see Reno 911!:Miami--I feel pretty good about this show's status on CC(perhaps wrongly so). Still,with four seasons in the books,I'm glad CC invested in this hilarious,smart show.