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The Movie: With the buzz of "South Park" starting to wear off, Comedy Central has managed to develop a trio of stellar shows: "The Daily Show", "Dave Chappelle's Show" and finally, "Reno 911". While "Reno"'s off-beat sense of humor may take a little while for some to get used to, the show is often a wickedly funny take on "COPS", coming up with material that's subtle and delivered with incredibly brilliant throwaway style by the cast. Characters include Deputy Raineesha Williams (Niecy Nash), Deputy Trudy Wiegel (Kerri Kenney),Deputy James Garcia (Carlos Alazraqui), Deputy S. Jones (Cedric Yarbrough) ,Deputy Travis Junior (Ben Garant), Deputy C. Johnson (Wendy McLendon-Covey) and Lieutenant Jim Dangle (Tom Lennon). The best moments of the first season took near-brilliant plots and ran with them. In one episode, the staff of the Reno police department found out that they've been awarded two tickets to a local execution. The officers decide to give them out via their traditional way: a scavenger hunt where the officers must seek out certain criminals to bust for various points. The second season continues to expand upon the antics of the force, with performances that are even funnier because the cast has gotten further into their roles throughout the first season. There are definitely quite a few highlights throughout the season, such as: the first episode, where Dangle makes everyone attend a party for his promotion, only to later realize he didn't read the entire letter regarding his promotion; an episode where the deputies spend essentially the whole episode planning ways to get rid of a ten commandments momument the city says must be moved; Kenny Rodgers guest stars in an episode, as deputy Garcia is called in to provide security at an appearance; an episode where the deputies in Reno are assigned traffic control for a presidential visit, a bit where a weasel has gotten loose in the wall of some woman's trailer and the deputies are clueless as to how to get it out, and finally, the DA investigates the sheriff's department when it appears two of the officers are responsible for the death of a guy wearing a milkshake outfit. The second season episodes are presented uncensored here - all of the curse words are unbleeped, but the nudity is (thankfully, in several cases) still blurred. 15. 2- 1 9 Jun 04 Episode 15 (aka Dangle Retire) 16. 2- 2 16 Jun 04 Episode 16 (aka Wiegel's New Boyfriend) 17. 2- 3 23 Jun 04 Episode 17 (aka British Law) 18. 2- 4 30 Jun 04 Episode 18 (aka Dangle's Ex Visits) 19. 2- 5 7 Jul 04 Episode 19 (aka Religion in Reno) 20. 2- 6 14 Jul 04 Episode 20 (aka Fire Fighters Are Jerks) 21. 2- 7 21 Jul 04 Episode 21 (aka Not Without My Mustache) 22. 2- 8 28 Jul 04 Episode 22 (aka Security for Kenny Rogers) 23. 2- 9 4 Aug 04 Episode 23 (aka More FBI Help) 24. 2-10 11 Aug 04 Episode 24 (aka Raineesha X) 25. 2-11 18 Aug 04 Episode 25 (aka Clementine and Garcia Are Dating) 26. 2-12 25 Aug 04 Episode 26 (aka Undercover Drug Bust) 27. 2-13 1 Sep 04 Episode 27 (aka President Bush in Reno ) 28. 2-14 8 Sep 04 Episode 28 (1) (aka Accidental Marriage) 29. 2-15 15 Sep 04 Episode 29 (2) (aka Milkshake Man's Death) 30. 2-16 22 Sep 04 Episode 30 (3 aka Investigation Concluded) The DVD VIDEO: "Reno 911" is presented in 1.33:1 full-frame during these second season episodes, which is the show's original aspect ratio. The show looked terrific on this DVD set, with excellent sharpness and detail. The picture maintained fine definition and clarity, with no softness, even in some of the dimly-lit moments. Light shimmering did show up on a few occasions, but no compression artifacts were visible. Colors remained vibrant and bold throughout, with no smearing or other faults. SOUND:The show's 2.0 audio is pretty satisfactory, with fine audio quality - dialogue remains clear and clean throughout, while music and sound effects sounded well-recorded. EXTRAS: The third disc offers the "Drug Arrest Prevention Seminar", which is a bit that the actors did in-character at the 2004 Comedy Arts Festival. It's an extremely funny two-part program (about 42 minutes) that has the officers involving the audience and coming up with improv bits that are often priceless. Next are thirteen deleted/extended/alternate scenes, some of which are definitely pretty amusing. Commentary by the cast and director is also offered on episodes, 10,11, 14 and 16. Final Thoughts: The second season of "Reno 911" is even funnier than the first season, as even the lesser bits still get solid laughs. Paramount's DVD set provides good audio/video quality, along with a very nice helping of supplements. Highly recommended. |