From the creators of the flamboyantly fabulous Viva
Variety (and when will that be released on DVD?) comes Reno
911, Comedy Central's most arresting comedy series. Ride along with the
cluelessly cracked squad of the Wahoe County Sheriff's Department, who cross the
proverbial thin blue line with impunity. "That's how we do it in Reno," exults
Lt. Dangle (Thomas Lemmon), after absent-mindedly rear-ending a car whose trunk
pops open to reveal a cache of marijuana. Reno 911 has Cops's
gritty documentary feel and Police Squad's straight face in subverting
cop show conventions. The hapless officers get no respect, not from the citizens
they encounter, from their colleagues in the FBI, or even from themselves. Kerry
Kinney's unfortunate Det. Wiegel is the squad's odd girl out. "She's like a bad
casserole" is one of the more polite things said about her. In one
episode, a misunderstanding leads to her being put under a suicide
watch, and she so loves the attention, she doesn't bother to inform
her brethren that she, in fact, did not try to kill herself. The
forays into black comedy are about as subtle as a S.W.A.T. assault.
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