Reno 911!

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For the 2007 film Reno 911 film, see Reno 911!: Miami.
Reno 911!
Image:Reno911.PNG
The "cops" of Reno 911!
Genre Comedy
Running time 22 minutes + (8 min of commercials)
Creator(s) Robert Ben Garant
Thomas Lennon
Kerri Kenney-Silver
Starring Carlos Alazraqui
Mary Birdsong
Wendi McLendon-Covey
Robert Ben Garant
Thomas Lennon
Niecy Nash
Kerri Kenney-Silver
Cedric Yarbrough
Country of origin USA
Original channel Comedy Central
Original run July 23, 2003–present
No. of episodes 50 (plus one special)
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

Reno 911! is an American comedy television series on Comedy Central. It debuted in 2003.

Contents

[edit] Premise

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Reno 911! is in some respects a parody of the long-running television show COPS and to a lesser extent Rescue 911. The show features the fictional members of the fictional Reno Sheriffs Department (a non-existent law enforcement body created so as not to offend the Reno Police Department or Washoe County Sheriffs Department), who are videotaped during the course of their duties, sometimes addressing the camera directly as though being interviewed. The force also has problems with racism, unrequited attractions, promiscuity, passive-aggressive feuds, drug use, and other dysfunctional troubles that supply a lot of the show's humor. It was nominated as Outstanding Comedy Series at the 2004 GLAAD Media Awards.

Only the basic plot elements of the show are scripted, with the dialogue improvised. This enhances the illusion of reality.

On March 21, 2004, Comedy Central ran a special of the show entitled Reno 911!: Off Duty.

The cut scenes in between plot are filmed in Reno, but the show itself is filmed around Southern California, including the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department's Carson Station in Carson, California, and around Sun Valley and North Hollywood in the San Fernando Valley.

The fourth season began on July 9, 2006 and will comprise 14 episodes. Comedy Central has already aired the first 7 episodes and is scheduled to resume in early Spring 2007.

On October 9, 2006, Comedy Central confirmed 13 new episodes to make up Reno 911! Season Five. Production will resume in January 2007.

[edit] Cast

  • Robert Ben Garant as Deputy Travis Junior, a trailer trash redneck who likes beer, NASCAR, firearms, Lynyrd Skynyrd, and perhaps most of all, his moustache. He trains police dogs for the department and is almost never seen without his trademark sunglasses and bulletproof vest, which is always outside of his shirt, often seen as a tactical error by real police officers. He also has very bad vision without his sunglasses. Junior often performs the functions the other officers are unwilling to do. He also has a running gag in which he pulls over a driver, and as he approaches the vehicle, he gets knocked out or is otherwise rendered incapacitated by the car door opening or something falling off the car. He has three brothers, Henry ("Hank") Junior, Jr., from Panama City, Florida, Lance Corporal Junior who serves in the U.S. Marine Corps, currently stationed in Tikrit, Iraq, and Tater Junior from Sparks, Nevada.
  • Kerri Kenney-Silver as Deputy Trudy Wiegel, an emotionally unstable, heavily-medicated hypochondriac, with multiple psychological disorders. She is a generally odd, slow-witted officer with low self esteem and a special love for cats (she owns over eight; one named "Tigger" is dead and stuffed). She also enjoys crafts, and is infatuated with Lieutenant Jim Dangle. She generally distracts the other officers with her flakiness. She frequently visits her mother's grave to have one-sided conversations with her, even planning picnics in which she brings two lunches. She began dating a man named Craig Pullin, only to discover he was the Truckee River Killer after discovering a severed human foot in his fridge. After turning him in, she continued their relationship even after he was sentenced to death. At one point she tried to help him escape by leaving a hacksaw in the cake she gave him, but he was unable to understand the various verbal clues she was giving him. On the day he was sentenced to die, the two got married. She also seems to have a hatred for Koreans, as hinted during the 2nd season when she took a machine gun and shot at a Korean's house. She has shown other racist tendencies as well, such as when the black cops showed discomfort in using the term "colored person", she asked "What if I said, 'Which nigger took the last donut?'" At the beginning of the 4th season, after six months of personal leave, she returned pregnant. She later explained that her child was not Craig Pullin's baby--she went to a sperm bank and had herself artificially inseminated. At the mention of the sperm bank the camera panned to every guy in the room and each of them gave a little info on the sperm bank, leading the viewer to wonder which, if any, of them is her child's "father".
  • Thomas Lennon as Lieutenant Jim Dangle, a deputy who holds the highest rank and is always seen wearing his trademark shorts, which are actually hotpants. Dangle is also the subject of a running gag in which his police bicycle is stolen or vandalized after walking away from it for only a minute. It is hinted that Travis Junior is responsible for at least some of these bicycle incidents. It has also been heavily implied that Dangle is gay, harboring a strong sexual attraction towards Jones which he sometimes makes obvious, the special relationships he has with certain male suspects and witnesses, and several nude and cross-dressing incidents in the 1st season. At one point he got married to a woman named Debbie, the heiress of a vacuum cleaner fortune, because she was morbidly obese and he believed she would die soon, rendering him a rich widower. The two separated, after which she underwent gastric-bypass surgery which turned her into "something the old Deb would have eaten," as Dangle put it, and the two divorced at her request. Dangle displays varying levels of frankness regarding his sexuality: in one episode, he asks a confused-looking Deputy Junior whether or not he comes off as gay, but in another episode he admits that he intended to use a contested jet ski to move rapidly from one gay bar to another. He also does not dispute and later refers to himself as "Gay Cop" in a scene where he and Deputy Johnson respond to a noise complaint at a fraternity house party.
  • Wendi McLendon-Covey as Deputy Clementine "Clemmie" Johnson, a promiscuous, blonde female officer. She always wears her uniform partially unbuttoned to expose her cleavage. She is also an ex-magician's assistant, Wiccan, pothead, and one-time Steely Dan groupie. She has been married numerous times. She has a tattoo on her back which once said "Steed," a one-time boyfriend, which she later had changed to "Steely Dan" after the two broke it off. She offered to have that removed if Deputy Garcia would pay to have his name tattooed in its place.
  • Niecy Nash as Deputy Raineesha Williams, a loud and boisterous cop who regularly maces men. She broke up with Jones before the show premiered, but still occasionally answers his booty calls. She once joined the Nation of Islam in order to get the month of Ramadan off. She often yells, "Hahh?" after making a blunt statement for effect. Raineesha is a single mother who in one episode is claimed to not know the parentage of her three children, though in another episode says that "only one of my babies' daddies, he can read good".
  • Mary Birdsong as new (3rd season) Deputy Cheresa Kimball, an efficient rookie cop that no one seems to know anything about, although they suspect that she is a lesbian, despite her denial when asked bluntly in a morning meeting. Her profile on the official site[1] states that she joined the force because: "My past is filled with sin and small time crimes and misdemeanors. Enforcing the law is my way of righting all my wrongs, cleaning up my karma. Also, they give good benefits." She is the only member of the force even remotely competent.
  • Cedric Yarbrough as Deputy S. "Jonesy" Jones, a black, semi-successful ladies man. He is partners with Deputy Garcia. He was raised in Mound, Minnesota, a suburb of the Twin Cities. It is implied that he is Raineesha's ex-boyfriend, and he is in an on-again, off-again relationship with Clementine. He is also a talented singer and dancer, and works part-time as a stripper (in a police uniform). Jones commonly uses the expression, "You're a regular Jay Leno," as a response to a perpetrator making a joke. Other than the initial "S," Jones's first name is never said. During an infomercial for New Year's Eve blanks, he is called Ron by Kimball. However, during another infomercial, Junior is called Bill, so the informercial does not reflect the character's true names. During the 4th season premiere, it is implied that he is the father of one of Deputy Williams' children.
  • Carlos Alazraqui as Deputy James Oswaldo Garcia, a racist, sexist, miserable second-generation (at least) Mexican-American. The other Deputies often poke fun at his private off-duty life, involving lonely, angry bowel movements (Dangle once said him alone in the Men's room sounds like "Normandy"), frustrated masturbation, and reruns of Hill Street Blues. He is usually partners with Deputy Jones, and they have an oddly healthy working relationship, despite Jones being black and Garcia a racist. His healthy working relationship with Jones seems to be crumbling as of late. This is evident whenever Garcia makes a racist remark that causes Jones to assault Garcia because of the remark. From a couple episodes in Season 2, it is implied that he harbors a homoerotic attraction to Kenny Rogers.

In addition, the cast members frequently play the roles of criminals with censored faces. Kenney-Silver, Lennon and Garant also write and produce the series.

[edit] Producers and creators

[edit] DVD releases

DVD Name Release Date Ep # Additional Information
The Complete First Season June 22, 2004 14 Alternate Scenes, Audio Commentary From The Entire Cast.
The Complete Second Season June 14, 2005 16 Over 90 minutes of Alternate/Deleted Scenes, Director and Cast Commentary, Drug Arrest Prevention Seminar - Live Performance from HBO's 2004 U.S. Comedy Arts Festival.
The Complete Third Season July 11, 2006 13 Deleted scenes, extended outtakes, and commentary with the cast and crew.
Reno's Most Wanted Uncensored February 13, 2007 N/A A compilation of Reno 911!'s best scenes from the past four seasons.

Comedy Central has recently released the Third Season DVD that offers audio commentary with cast and crew, deleted scenes, and extended outtakes.

[edit] Other characters

  • Andrew (Played by Jim Rash). A homeowner that the police periodically visit due to complaints from his neighbors.
  • Bachelorette Party women. A group of raucous young women who conduct numerous wild bachelorette parties and repeatedly attempt to lure in male cops to strip for them. On one occasion Deputy Garcia responds to a call and berates them, only to discover Junior and Dangle in the room wearing nothing but their underwear, boots and gun holsters. On another occasion, Deputy Williams arrives, much to the party-goers' disappointment, and then traumatizes the bride-to-be by drawing attention to her own ample waist and posterior and promising that such bodily changes await the party's guest of honor once she becomes a wife and mother.
  • Big Mike (Played by Toby Huss). Reno resident dirtball and “Captain of Suspicious Behavior." Reno deputies frequently respond to Big Mike's house to investigate complaints of domestic violence and disturbance of the peace. In the opening credits of the fourth season, Dangle and Kimball assist Big Mike because he has a lawn dart embedded in his skull. In Season 1, Dangle and Junior go to Big Mike's because they believe he has an animal tattoo they need for a scavenger hunt.
  • Citizens Patrolman "Rick", played by Paul Reubens. Shown first in the fourth season, he's always one step ahead of the Reno officers when investigating a series of murders, only to unfold that he himself committed the crimes. He is seen multiple times making a get-away on a city "Metro" bus.
  • Craig Pullin a.k.a. "The Truckee River Killer" (played by Kyle Dunnigan). A convicted serial killer on Death Row who is also boyfriend and eventual husband to Dep. Trudy Weigel. While both he and Weigel appear to be shy, conservative people, as a couple, their extremely unsuccessful sex life includes (seemingly almost by necessity) sexual role-playing and sexual fetishism.
  • "Delicious Milkshake Man" (played by Nat Faxon). In Season 2, after attempting to evade a severe beating at the hands of Reno Deputies, he accidentally runs into the path of an 18-wheeler. His death leads to an investigation, termination and incarceration of all the Reno Sheriff's Department Deputies. Using comments from the DVD commentary, visual cues from the surrounding scenery, and Google Earth, it is possible to tell that the scene in which Milkshake was beaten is around the corner from where Rodney King was beaten in 1991. One can assume that this location siting was intentional, though of course no one from the show has said so.
  • Fantasy (role-playing) game geek (played by Patton Oswalt). Often badly hurts his opponents while playing fantasy games. Then, when the police respond, he claims that his opponent's real injuries are a result of fantasy attacks during game play with things like "magic missiles" (Dungeons & Dragons) or "Goblin Sappers" (Warcraft) - and not actual physical violence on his part. In a deleted scene from Season 2, he is revealed to be Dangle's cousin. Patton Oswalt also plays the derranged local fan who attempts to assassinate Kenny Rogers. While never mentioned in the show, according to the DVD commentary, the creators of the show assume he is the same citizen of Reno.
  • "Fast Eddie" McLintock (voiced by Jeff Foxworthy). A (fictional) famed drug runner and recidivist speeder who has been involved in multiple high-speed car chases with the Reno Sheriff's Department. Famous in the region for always outrunning the law, the Reno Deputies desire to apprehend him seems to be more about having their pictures taken with him than in actually charging him with a crime. The episode in which he appears contains numerous references to the cult classic Smokey and the Bandit.
  • Firefighters of the Reno Fire Department. Unlike the Reno Sheriff's Department, the members of the Reno Fire Department are competent, popular and well-respected - leading to tremendous feelings of bitterness and inadequacy in the cops (as well as secret admiration). While the cops feel they are feuding with the firefighters, the firefighters (who are confident in their own abilities) seem to have no such feelings in return.
  • French mime (played by Robert Ben Garant). Is reported for harassing customers outside a convenience store. To the delight of Deputy Jones, the mime performs a silent parody of Deputy Garcia. He is then assaulted by an enraged Garcia.
  • Frisbee (played by Zach Galifianakis). A "white trash" resident of Reno who lives with his family in an abandoned school bus. Owns a .30 cal Browning 1919 machine gun which he uses to shoot at soda cans, oranges, and UFOs. Deputy Garcia once used the gun and accidentially destroyed his squad car. His children's names include Chandler, Ross, Joey, Dharma and Greg after characters from the popular television sitcoms Friends and Dharma & Greg.
  • Gigg LeCarp (played by Los Angeles radio DJ Brian Phelps). A petty criminal-turned televangelist who, while hosting a show from the Reno County jail, locks the officers in the same cell where Garcia had previously beaten him with a nightstick.
  • Guy Gerricault (Played by Paul Rudd). Wiegel’s creepily enthusiastic, inappropriately hands-on Lamaze coach, he seems a little too enamored of the pregnant female form to maintain a proper professional distance. In class, he often massages his students, brings up the subject of sex and makes unfounded, bizarre statements like “even whales will 69 from time to time.”
  • Jackie (played by Kerri Kenney-Silver). A drug-addicted prostitute with herpes whose face is always obscured. She is known for spitting pickle juice.
  • Joe. The cameraman who documents the Reno Sheriffs Department's activities. He is shown on camera playing the drums when the Sheriffs respond to a noice complaint about a bad garage band in season 2, episode 12, and is also shown in the episode which includes the "second take" of Deputy Junior being thrown through a glass window.
  • Kenny Rogers (as himself). A famous American country music singer and actor. Deputy Garcia thinks he should "focus more on his film career."
  • Ku Klux Klan (Reno Chapter of). A group of presumed bigots who ostensibly try to end bigotry and racism by burning lowercase t's ("for tolerance") and opening a lemonade stand with a sign reading "FREE LEMONADE FOR NIGGERS".
  • Maria Storm (played by Lisa Lo Cicero). A local TV reporter who has extensively covered the Reno Sheriff's Department. She is frequently hit upon by her male interviewees. Actress Lisa Lo Cicero is married to the show's director Michael Patrick Jann
  • Mike Powers (played by Mather Zickel). The former district attorney responsible for putting the entire Reno Sheriff's Department staff behind bars at the end of Season 2. He is later revealed to be a murderer who decapitates prostitutes. In Season 3, Episode 2, Powers tries to kill the then former Reno cops after their release from prison. By the end of the episode, he is arrested but seems to have resolved his issues with the former officers. On a few occasions, members of the Reno Sheriffs Department visit him in prison to ask him questions about operations of the District Attorney's Office under his tenure, and it is implied that he committed many more crimes and used his power to hide the evidence, such as the Mug Shot files from 1987-92.
  • Puppeteer at children's events (played by Jack Plotnick). A sexual pervert/exhibitionist who uses a puppeteer's booth with an extra flap which, when down, reveals the fact that his pants are down and his penis is exposed.
  • "Reading Ron" (played by comedian Brian Unger). A children's TV host with a checkered past who attempts to profile the Reno Sheriff's Department on his television show. However, because of the deputies' total incompetence, he relapses into a cocaine habit and his career is destroyed.
  • "Spanish Mike" Alverez a.k.a. Cpt. Duane Hernandez, and Sammy Heung a.k.a. Lt. Suzy Kim (played by Oscar Nunez and Cathy Shim). "Hernandez" and "Kim" are criminals who pose as United States Department of Homeland Security agents in order to get their hands on the Reno Sheriff's Department's money and evidence in the two-part episode "Terrorist Training". Weigel falls for Hernandez in the plot arc. Spanish Mike later returns, in police custody, and the Sheriffs have to hold him until the FBI can pick him up.
  • Steed Lankershim (played by Timothy Brennen). Deputy Johnson's criminal ex-husband.
  • Stevie (played by comedian Brian Posehn). The Reno medical examiner. He first determines that Sheriff Chechekevitch dies from a poison delivered orally. He later finds that Chechekevitch dies of a peanut allergy only after Dangle and Junior ask him to find out. A later promo for the next episodes show that he is arrested for being under the influence of medical marijuana.
  • TeeTee (played by Niecy Nash). A bra-less, hysterical black woman whose face is always obscured. She constantly screams nonsensically about things that did not happen, such as her winning of the lottery. When Garcia and Jones encounter her, she often steals one of their nightsticks because the stick reminds her of her father - "really thin and really black".
  • Terry Bernadino, the gay prostitute (played by comedian Nick Swardson). Often seen around the jail and other local establishments. He consistently denies any illegal activity and often tries to misdirect the officers with outlandish tales of bizarre crimes. His excuses, like his clothes, are always flimsy. He is typically seen wearing roller skates.
  • Unnamed Chinese boy (played by Kit DeZolt). A poor Chinese boy who drives a rickshaw.
  • Unnamed couple (played by Charlie Day and Mary Elizabeth Ellis) who call police over a domestic dispute where he is threatening to rip the head off her (plastic "squeaky") baby. Their relationship is ambiguous: she at first calls him her husband, and then he says that she is his sister. Taken into custody by Dangle after they French kiss and are further assaulted when she dry-humps her companion in the back seat of the squad car.
  • Unnamed middle-aged insane woman (played by Wendi McLendon-Covey). Seen dragging a water heater through the streets while not wearing any pants. She refuses to get into a squad car until after the deputies load the water heater in the back seat. When she finally does attempt to enter the car, the officers drive off with the water heater. She has been in other episodes, sans appliances.
  • Principal Manderville, school principal at safety assembly (played by Kristina Hayes), who usually makes an announcement to the students before the Reno deputies begin their show.
  • Unnamed redneck (played by Robert Ben Garant). Usually seen with his pants down and his penis in an inappropriate object (pumpkin, birdhouse).
  • Unnamed sex offender (played by Michael Ian Black). A man who moved to Reno and goes from house to house (followed by Deputy Johnson) telling neighbors they have to sign "this thing" saying they're aware he's moving into their neighborhood, "forgetting" to tell them he is a convicted sex offender.
  • Sheriff Walter Chechekevitch (played by Tracey Walter). The Deputies' aloof and absentee boss. Dies from a combination of peanut allergies and a self-inflicted candy bar.

[edit] Cast history

[edit] Reno 911!: Miami

Principal photography for the film Reno 911!: Miami was completed in March 2006. The movie was shot in Miami (Florida) and Southern California. The plot involves the deputies being called in to save the day after a terrorist attack disrupts a national police convention in Miami Beach during spring break.

A rough edit of the film has been shown to test audiences in Southern California[citation needed].

Reno 911!: Miami is scheduled for release in theaters February 23, 2007[citation needed].

The trailer for Reno 911!: Miami appears before the movie Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan.

[edit] External links

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