"Reno 911!" is shaking up its cast for its sixth season (starting 10:30 p.m. EDT Wednesday, April 1, Comedy Central).
Three favorites are gone -- Carlos Alazraqui, Wendi McLendon-Covey and Mary Birdsong. Two new cast members have been added: Joe Lo Truglio and Ian Roberts. Lt. Jim Dangle (Tom Lennon) explains in the opener that the missing officers were blown up.
"We certainly loved those people and hated to part with them," Lennon says of the decision to switch up the cast. "But we also took the sad opportunity of the parting to bring in two guys who are titans in the comedy world."
Lennon, Ben Garant and Kerri Kenney-Silver are co-creators of the comedy and executive producers. The three also have roles in it. Lennon's Dangle heads the department, Garant is redneck Deputy Junior and Kenney-Silver is fumbling Deputy Wiegel.
Garant says Birdsong, in particular, was "an underappreciated" member of the cast when it came to fans.
By the time she came to the series in 2004, "fans were manic about the show," says Garant, and didn't take to change easily.
Changes, Garant says, will "reinvigorate" the series in its sixth season. Also, the new characters will allow "Reno" to play more into the "cops" aspect of its stories.
"The idea of having (new) characters in the show who are cops ... that have their own cop stories ... is very funny," Garant says. "Improv is a tricky game, and our new guys are there to do that."
"Reno" is largely improvised. Scenes are discussed in advance, with points to be made throughout it, but the actual words are made up on the fly.
One of Comedy Central's most durable hits, "Reno" came into its own last season, Lennon says. "It took us five seasons to figure out how to make this work," he says.
Lo Truglio plays Officer Franky Rizzo, who has a history of misdeeds, and Roberts is Sgt. Jack Declan, a hard-nosed type who plays by the rules.
"As opposed to a major introduction of all the characters, Ian and I are written in as if we've been there for a while," says Lo Truglio, "and that helps. It takes off the pressure."
Roberts' film credits include "Step Brothers," "Talladega Nights" and "Anchorman." He is also a founding member of the comedy group Upright Citizens Brigade. "My character is kind of crazy and aggressive," says Roberts. "He kind of sits on his anger whether he needs to or not."
Lo Truglio is best known for film roles in "Pineapple Express" and "Superbad." He was a founding member of The State comedy troupe on MTV. Garant, Kenney-Silver and Lennon also belong to the group.
"My guy is a bit of a loose cannon," Lo Truglio says of his character. "As are most of the characters in 'Reno,' he is the bottom of the barrel."
(E-mail Terry Morrow of The Knoxville News-Sentinel in Tennessee at morrow2(at)knews.com.)
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, http://www.scrippsnews.com)
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It Stinks!
Reno 911 is/was one of my favorite shows -- what happened? Did they quit? Were they fired? I'm in shock -- the opener was awful. Telling the camera the deputies were blown up in a car wreck is beyond awful. They could have handled this so much better. Those were excellent performers and I can't believe the show lost them. Was it a question of money?!?!?!?!
The new actors were really not funny in their debut. It was just tedious to watch.
At least when Isaac Hayes quit South Park, the writers handled the loss in a far better fashion.
This is just plain bad, bad, bad!
I completely agree. I know
I completely agree. I know Wendi Mclendon-Covey did not quit. She was let go without very much notice. I Think Carlos was also fired. I am not sure if Mary Birdsong left on her own or was let go. I thought it sucked as well. The show is probably getting canned this year. They should have finished the show with the old cast. I like how Thomas Lennon's quote doesn't make it seem like he is to blame for the cast changing. They don't want to lose all their fans by letting them know how everything really went down. Crappy
cast losses
What a disaster. Garcia was as good or better an actor than any of the others--how priceless to see him mimicking certain policemen by holding harmelss neighborhoold guy Mmike face down at gunpoint and screaming, "Get down! Get down!" like the doofs on Dateline NBC. I gave up on the new show after two episodes--at least there still are DVDs and reruns.
Bring them back!!
I agree with all the other comments so far; the show has really lost something key with the loss of Deputies Garcia, Johnson, and Kimball. I wasn't too receptive of Mary Birdsong at first, but I really grew to love her character - I've actually known some police officers just like Dep. Kimball!!! I'm trying to give the new guys a chance, but the show just isn't as good anymore; I'm afraid Fonzie has jumped the shark.....
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