An unfolding scandal threatens to rock Reno, Nevada to its core. It's not the clueless Officer Wiegel's new boyfriend, who just may be the Truckee River Killer. It's not the shooting of singer Kenny Rogers while under the neglectful watch of Garcia and Wiegel. No, it's the caught-on-tape pummeling of "Milkshake Man" at the hands of Jones and Garcia that will place Wahoe County's finest (certainly funniest) under investigation by an ambitious District Attorney (he his eye on becoming Comptroller). "Reno 911"'s sophomore season is even more savagely funny than the first, as witness the various humiliations suffered weekly by the hapless squad. When they're not being one-upped by the Reno fire department, which has scheduled its annual pancake dinner the same night at the policeman's ball, they are being outsmarted and disrespected by the various lowlifes and misfits who populate their beat. "Reno 911" seems to have outlawed pathos. In the season opener, Lt. Dangle, still outfitted in those "plum-smuggler" short shorts, finds his "farewell" dinner conflicts with a local women's basketball championship. An especially inspired touch this season are a series of hilarious "Layin' Down the Law" PSAs featuring the squad, as well as a series of traumatizing visits to the local children's hospital (at one point, Wiegel overenthusiastically barges in wearing clown makeup and waving her gun).
Presenting the episodes "Uncensored" is something of a mixed blessing. The closer "Reno 911" hews to the "Cops" template, the funnier it is. Unlike Chapelle's Show" or "The Osbournes", "Reno 911"'s episodes are arguably funnier with the profanities bleeped (not an option on this three-disc set). Happily, the exposed body parts are still blurred. Commendations are due the entire ensemble, as well as the B-list doppelganger cast (among them, Martin Mull, Sean Young, and Wayne Brady) that replaces them in the season cliffhanger, for "keepin' it real... real funny." Take the advice of executive producer Danny DeVito, who introduces episode 13: "I've never seen the show," he confesses, "but I've heard good things about it. I'm really going to watch the show this year." "--Donald Liebenson"