Reno 911-
The Complete First Season
(Paramount Region 1 NTSC DVD)
(2003)
review by Catwalk

In an effort to gain veteran status among the Horrorview staff as the Comedy Central guru, I’ve now taken it upon myself to hit yet another of the offerings from said basic cable network. This time around, the subject is “Reno 811!: The Complete First Season” DVD, released early 2005.

As a faux reality show, Reno 911! Was built on the premise of taking a group of complete nut jobs, slapping badges on them, and then filming a somewhat handicapped take=off of COPS. The cast has certainly managed to fill out the bill.

Leading off is Lt. Jim Dangle (Lennon), bearing his uncomfortably short shorts and affection for other men. He is joined by former showgirl Clementine Johnson (McLendon-Covey), racist Garcia (Alazraqui), stereotypical head-bobbing black woman Raneesha Williams (Nash), token black man Jones (Yarbrough), bumbling Junior (Garant) and hypochondriac Wiegel (Kenney).

What truly astounds about the cast is the sheer quantity of additional roles played by each member. Among the gems of the DVD is finding out exactly how many times Garant shows up as arrestees, convicts, witnesses, and any other role for which the cast couldn’t pay extras.

The first season launches with some interesting information about Dangle in Episode One, followed by an unrelated series of mishaps and stupidity through its fourteen episodes. Highlights include Clementine’s marriage proposal from convict trucker Steed in the third episode, confiscation and explosion of fireworks in Episode Four, a scavenger hunt, the FBI, a mistaken pregnancy test, a foiled suicide attempt to a foreign language tape, and the inevitable visit from the Department of Homeland Security.

Extras include a ton of deleted or alternate scenes and some very insightful commentary tracks over four episodes. Fans will realize exactly how much (little?) effort went into some of the shows and get some great insight into gags such as the “Next Week on Reno 911!” spots which were never aired the following week.

Anyone who enjoys the show will benefit from the extras, and anyone who just likes to watch cops re-enacting the effort of four monkeys trying to fuck a football will greatly enjoy this initial offering from Comedy Central.