Reno 911!
Also known as	Reno 911! Defunded(season 8)
Genre	Mockumentary Sitcom Workplace comedy Police procedural
Created by	Robert Ben Garant Thomas Lennon Kerri Kenney-Silver
Starring	Cedric Yarbrough Niecy Nash Robert Ben Garant Thomas Lennon Carlos Alazraqui Wendi McLendon-Covey Kerri Kenney-Silver Mary Birdsong Ian Roberts Joe Lo Truglio
Theme music composer	Craig Wedren
Composers	Stephen Phillips & Tim P.(seasons 1–6) Craig Wedren(seasons 7–8)
Country of origin	United States
No. of seasons	8
No. of episodes	124(list of episodes)
Production
Camera setup	Single camera
Running time	21–23 minutes (seasons 1–6, 8) 7 minutes (season 7)
Production companies	Jersey Television(2003–09) High Sierra Carpeting(2009, 2020–22) Comedy Partners MTV Entertainment Studios(2020–22)
Original release
Network	Comedy Central
Release	July 23, 2003 (2003-07-23) – July 8, 2009 (2009-07-08)
Network	Quibi(2020) The Roku Channel(2022)
Release	May 4, 2020 (2020-05-04) – February 25, 2022 (2022-02-25)

Reno 911! is an American television sitcom created byRobert Ben Garant,Thomas Lennon andKerri Kenney-Silver forComedy Central. It is amockumentary-style parody of law enforcementdocumentary shows, specificallyCops, with comic actors playing thepolice officers. Lennon, Garant and Kenney-Silver all starred in and are billed as creators of the series.

The series initially aired from 2003 to 2009 on Comedy Central. Arevival premiered on May 4, 2020, on streaming platformQuibi, which was renewed for an additional season (the show's eighth) on September 3, 2020.^[1][2] Quibi later announced in October 2020 that it would be shutting down^[3] while the eighth season was in production.^[4] According to starNiecy Nash, the eighth season would debut on another platform, which was later revealed to beThe Roku Channel.^[5][6] The eighth season, entitledDefunded, premiered on February 25, 2022, on The Roku Channel.^[7]

The show is a directparody of the reality showCops, which follows actual police officers through their daily duties, such as chasing criminals, and intervening in domestic disputes.Reno 911! features members of the fictitious, massively inept "Reno Sheriff's Department" (in reality, Reno is under the jurisdiction of theReno Police Department and the Washoe County Sheriff's Office).^[8] In the course of their duties patrolling both the city ofReno and the rest ofWashoe County, Nevada, the deputies sometimes address the camera directly (as though being interviewed for a documentary). The show deals heavily inpolitically incorrect and racy humor, including many jokes aboutrace,sexual orientation,substance abuse,rape,pedophilia, andmental disorders. Another main comedic aspect of the show is the outlandishly severe incompetence of the deputies—often resulting in their being outsmarted by the criminals they are attempting to control.

UnlikeCops, which the show parodies,Reno 911! Sheriff's deputies are constantly cursing, causing much of their dialogue to be censored for broadcast. The actors often perform their own stunts. Criminals on the series are portrayed by a variety of comedians, and sometimes by main cast members performing a dual role; in these instances, the cast member's face will be blurred in the style ofCops.

The show's characters occasionally refer to their own program. They insist that the show's producers told them the videotapedfootage was going to be used for aFox Televisiondocumentary series titledHeroes on Patrol, and often say in frustration that they have no control over what is aired, and that the show only seems to capture their moments of incompetence. The many "good" incidents, they allege, are left out of the (show-within-a-show's) final edit. Also, some suspects in the show refer to the film crew, and the program being aired on television; occasionally, they will attempt to get arrested just to be on TV.

In Lennon's words,Reno 911! came about, "like the best of ideas, through total desperation."^[9] Following the end ofViva Variety,The State alumnus worked on a series of pilots for theFox Broadcasting Company, one of which, after a year's worth of dedicated writing, was terminated the day before shooting. It was scheduled to begin in the fall of 2000.^[9][10] With a month left before the pilot was expected to be due (and half of the budget still unused), the team asked if they could produce another pilot with the remaining resources, and the Fox executives agreed. Working quickly to take advantage of this, the initialReno 911! pilot was conceived and shot in five days.^[9]Cedric Yarbrough, who had been hired for the cast of the canceled pilot, said that the cast was advised to "come up with [their] own characters" and return for filming.^[10]

As originally written, the sheriff's department material would have served as link material between traditional comedy sketches; the canceled project was being considered for the Fox Saturday lineup, and the team thought at the time that theCops format was a natural framework for sketch comedy. However, during the shooting—and especially the editing—they realized the police element was more interesting than the sketches, and the finished pilot was, according to Garant, "remarkably similar" to the series that eventually aired.^[9] Nevertheless, Fox turned down the completed pilot. According to Lennon, their decision not to pick the show up was influenced by a scene, preserved in the eventual Comedy Central pilot, involving Lt. Dangle passionately kissing a man. It was another two years before Comedy Central greenlit the project.^[10]

Establishing shots were filmed on location inReno, with everything else inLos Angeles andCarson, California, with some parts inOregon.

Starting from the fifth season onward, certain segments are also shot in the small town ofPiru, California. The exterior and interior shots of the Reno Sheriff's Department station were filmed on location at the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department substation in Carson. Many of the main scenes of the show were shot over the course of many hours, such as the briefing room scenes. According to the third seasonDVD commentary, all morning briefing scenes for a season may be filmed on one 10-hour day with different basic plot elements to be used in different episodes. Actors would contribute their dialogue as they were inspired to do so.

Reno 911! continued for two additional seasons with a special, entitledOff Duty, on March 21, 2004.

The first half of the fourth season, comprising 7 episodes, began on July 9, 2006. In February 2007, a theatrical film,Reno 911!: Miami, was released in North America, featuring the complete series cast. It was a moderate box office success, grossing $22 million worldwide. The second half of season 4, another 7 episodes, drew 1.3 million viewers during the week of March 26 to April 1, 2007.

On October 9, 2006, Comedy Central confirmed 13 new episodes to make up a fifth season, though the season actually contained 16 episodes. Production started in January and wrapped in April. Season 5 premiered on January 16, 2008.

On March 27, 2007,Superstation WGN acquired the first four seasons for a two-year run. The syndicatedReno 911! is a part of their late night comedy block. Reruns are syndicated to broadcast stations. Lennon and Garant later appeared in-character on a comedy compilation CD,Comedy Death-Ray, released on September 11, 2007, singing a song about why not to use drugs.

On November 10, 2008, Comedy Central confirmed 10 new episodes to make up a sixth and final season. Principal photography was done between November and December 2008.Carmen Electra was a guest star on an episode filmed December 5, 2008 atGrant High School in Los Angeles. Season Six premiered on April 1, 2009, on Comedy Central. Season 6 consisted of fifteen episodes. Cast members Alazraqui, McLendon-Covey and Birdsong did not return for the final season and their characters' absences were explained as fatalities from an explosion in the fifth season finale. Additionally, actorsIan Roberts andJoe Lo Truglio were added to the principal cast as Sergeant Jack Declan and Deputy Frank Salvatore Rizzo, respectively.

On August 13, 2009, Lennon announced throughTwitter that the show had ended its six-year run.^[11] In response to the cancellation, Reno residents and officials petitioned to save the show.^[12]

In October 2011, a story broke that the producers were in negotiations with the streaming serviceNetflix for a revival.^[13] The primary reason producers wanted to revive the show was because only 88 episodes were produced, and they and syndicating networks would have liked for the show to reach 100 episodes.^[14] However, at the time, Comedy Central, who still held sole rights, had not been involved in any negotiations. Furthermore, Lennon and Garant were attached to other projects.

It was announced on December 6, 2019, that the series would be revived in 2020 on streaming platformQuibi.^[15] The revival featured the return of the original series creators Lennon, Garant and Kenney-Silver. In a statement, Lennon said: "Reno 911! holds a special place in our hearts, and it will be a delight to get the original cast back together for 're-boot goofin'. HopefullyNick Swardson can still roller skate. Quibi's short format seems custom made for our show."^[16]

Filming of the seventh season started in early 2020, where the production crew was spotted inPiru, California on February 23, 2020. On April 10, 2020, it was announced that the revival was set to premiere on May 4, 2020.^[17] On September 3, 2020, the show was renewed for an eighth season.^[2] On October 23, 2020, it was announced that Quibi would be shutting down. The eighth season, titledReno 911! Defunded, made its debut onThe Roku Channel on February 25, 2022. On September 7, 2023, it was reported that the series was removed from the service.^[18] All seasons ofReno 911! are currently available on the streaming service Paramount+.

Season six newcomers Joe Lo Truglio and Ian Roberts had appeared as guest stars in past seasons, and both also appeared inReno 911: Miami. As a member ofThe State, Lo Truglio is an old friend of the three creators and has worked with them on numerous projects. Roberts is a founding member of the popularUpright Citizens Brigade improv comedy troupe, who had their own Comedy Central sketch show from 1998 to 2000. Other members of the troupe (Matt Besser andMatt Walsh) also appeared in recurring guest roles throughout the seasons.Amy Poehler is the only member of the "UCB 4" to have never appeared on the show in any form.

Throughout the show's run, all three main cast members fromStella (who were also fromThe State) made appearances as characters. WhileMichael Showalter was the exception on the TV series, he appeared in thefilm, along with all of the cast members ofThe State.

• Danny DeVito – executive producer
• Michael Shamberg – executive producer
• Stacey Sher – executive producer
• John Landgraf – executive producer
• Peter Principato – executive producer
• Paul Young – executive producer
• Robert Ben Garant – creator
• Kerri Kenney-Silver – creator
• Thomas Lennon – creator
• Michael Patrick Jann – director

The series spawned a film released in 2007. In the film, the deputies are called in to save the day after a terrorist attack disrupts a national police convention and locks over 2,000 police officers in a hotel inMiami Beach during spring break.

In December 2017, Nash said another film is in the works, but it is unknown if it evolved into anything that came after.^[23]

On December 23, 2021,Reno 911! The Hunt for QAnon was released onParamount+. The film involves the deputies of the Reno Sheriff's Department as they hunt for Q, the one behind all of the QAnon conspiracies. Their efforts cause them to get stuck at a QAnon convention at sea.^[24]

On October 28, 2022, a third movie was announced to be released on Comedy Central. A Christmas movie titledReno 911! It's a Wonderful Heist: it premiered December 3, 2022.^[25]

Best of Releases

Wikiquote has quotations related toReno 911!.

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• Official website
• Reno 911! atIMDb 
• Reno 911! atRotten Tomatoes

• 2000s American LGBTQ-related comedy television series
• 2000s American mockumentary television series
• 2000s American parody television series
• 2000s American police comedy television series
• 2000s American single-camera sitcoms
• 2003 American television series debuts
• 2009 American television series endings
• 2020 American television series debuts
• 2020s American LGBTQ-related comedy television series
• 2020s American mockumentary television series
• 2020s American parody television series
• 2020s American police comedy television series
• 2020s American single-camera sitcoms
• 2022 American television series endings
• American television series revived after cancellation
• Comedy Central sitcoms
• American English-language television shows
• Quibi original programming
• Reality television series parodies
• Reno, Nevada in fiction
• Television series about television
• Television series by MGM Television
• Television shows adapted into films
• Television shows set in Nevada

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