Reno 911!: The Complete Fourth Season

Though the movie wasn’t the greatest indication, the television version of Reno 911! is more condensed and faster paced, still running strong in its fourth season. Based on a certain reality cop show, viewers are taken on numerous response calls from the Reno Sheriff’s Department, which happens to be staffed by less-than-intelligent offices but to their credit, they also have some of the worst luck in the world. The reoccurring characters are often amusing, such as Patton Oswalt’s medieval nerd at the local Renaissance fair, as well as Nick Swardson’s classic Terry, a roller-skating Tacos Tacos Tacos Tacos employee who also turns tricks on the side. The random, non-plot-related scenes are usually the most enjoyable (such as using the "jaws of life” to crush canned tomatoes) and even though there are actual storylines they tend to never overshadow the random absurdness. There’s the poisonous peanut murder of the Sheriff, which leads to a rather memorable funeral, as well as a double question mark finale, as Garcia comes out of the closet only to be followed immediately by a delivering Wiegel hinting to a gay Dangle that her baby is his. Sometimes the show is corny and sometimes it’s hilarious — the department gets sponsored by a hot wings restaurant, with dinner specials being lumped in with the reading of your rights — but because the characters are so diverse and the actors work well together it’s hard not to love. The DVD doesn’t contain many extras, which is surprising for an adlibbed show, but it has good commentary tracks for multiple episodes that are thankfully delivered by the cast out of character. There are character profiles for the entire department, which are worth watching, even though they are mainly made up of clips. It’s rather impressive that this season, which originally aired its final episode in May, is already out on DVD. Most likely to coincide with the film’s DVD release as well, so if you want to tune in or catch up it’s nice to know the entire series is now on DVD.