Reno 911!: The Complete First Season

Like a giddy wino clutching a $20 bill in a well-stocked liquor store, I find it difficult to choose my favorite Reno 911! character amongst the seven pseudo-sheriffs in this mock-COPS series airing on Comedy Central, collected here in a 14-episode double-disc first season set. Meet Lt. Dangle (short-shorts-clad), and deputies Jones (the tall “everyone agrees is cute” one), Williams (a loud-mouthed sista), Junior (sidekick-ish joker), Garcia (the irate hothead), Johnson (the makeup-laden tramp), and Weigel (the certified space cadet). Rude, crude, lewd, and decidedly lowbrow, these officers are the antithesis of law enforcement excellence: causing car accidents, beating up bad guys, and getting frisky with criminals--as well as each other. Memorable moments include a surprise birthday party gone awry (faking that an officer is down results in…an officer down), hampering a federal homicide investigation (bored with getting the FBI agents' coffee, the gang plays with the body in the morgue), stripper stings (one of which involves Johnson's mom!), Weigel's chatty visits to her mother's grave, a madcap Halloween (Jones pretends to be dead), and a lesson in Homeland Security (failing an anthrax test miserably, they take turns tasting white powder from a mysterious envelope--until a “Praise Allah!” note falls out). Definitely better at pranking and partying than protecting the public, this twisted series about a dysfunctional police squad is not for children or the meek, but is one for the ages. DVD extras include cast/director commentaries and alternate/deleted scenes. Highly recommended. (J. Williams-Wood)