Reality TV, Reno style

Free publicity - like last weekend's ESPN Great Outdoors Games -usually is a tourism official's dream.

Usually.

Next week the cable TV channel Comedy Central will start airing "Reno 911," a new series spoofing the reality cop show genre.

Here's a taste: In the show's opening sequence, a radio scanner blares "Officer down!" A Reno police officer races to the scene, leaps from his car, runs to the door, followed by someone with a handheld camera, a la "Cops." The officer breaks down the door, jumps into the darkened room brandishing his gun, the lights go on, and a roomful of his fellow officers yell "Surprise!" In his excitement, the gun-toting cop shoots one of his colleagues dead.

Says another officer, meekly: "Officer down." "Reno 911" is a half-hour series starting July 23 that parodies cop show reality TV more than it lampoons Reno or the city's police department.

But is it funny? "We were disappointed," said Jim Weston, assistant chief of the real Reno Police Department, who has seen the show's initial two episodes.

"We were expecting something with a lot more comedy, but it dragged on and wasn't as funny as we expected."

In the show, references to Reno are often fictitious, such as Mayor Juarez's drunken son who loses his thumb when dared to snatch a tennis ball from underneath a running lawn mower.

Or unusually green Washoe Canyon, where police officers find an ice cream truck full of illegal fireworks.

After arresting the driver, the crew of cops return at night to set off the pyrotechnics, accidentally blowing up the truck in the fun.

In another scene, Reno police chase a naked reveler running wild in the streets who taunts them as he passes and points to a large "Welcome to California" sign.

Huh? One thing they get right is the pronunciation of Nevada.

Still, the flashy exterior shots that separate the show's scenes give a stereotyped, jaundiced view of the city - all casinos, pawnshops and bail bondsmen, all the time.

"We're trying to diversify our message to include a strong outdoor, recreational focus," said Chris Chrystal, spokeswoman for the Nevada Commission on Tourism.

"But that doesn't mean we don't want people to come here to gamble because we do.

Any national broadcast show that will give Reno more national exposure and make viewers more aware of Reno is positive."

No, she hasn't yet seen the show.

"I don't think there's any other city for being a relatively small town that has a such a big city feel," said Thomas Lennon, one of the show's creators and cast members.

"It pops.

Circus, Circus.

Flashy lights.

And, to some extent, nearby legalized prostitution." "Better than 'Scranton 911,'" he said.

Lennon plays Lt.

Jim Dangle, what the show's publicity department calls "a straight-shooting cop who's not completely 'straight.'" He wears short shorts that Lennon says he bought on Hollywood Boulevard.

"They're for strippers who want to look like cops," said Lennon.

Other characters include Deputy Clementine Johnson, played by Wendy McClendan-Covey, a former topless stripper and magician's assistant; Deputy Trudy Weigel, played by Kerri Kenney, a sort of lonely hearts who collects baby clothes, "Just in case," she says; and Officer Travis Junior, played by Robert Ben Garant sporting a typical cop crew cut, who happened to be at the party when the mayor's son lost his thumb.

Lennon,Weigel and Garant are also the show's creators.

The show is filmed, ironically, in Sun Valley and Carson, Calif.

In Carson, the show shoots in an active police station that continues to conduct its business as the cameras roll.

Lennon says if you look closely you can see clearly marked Los Angeles police cars in some scenes.

Lennon said the show is on a tight budget now, but the creators hope to come to Reno for more filming if "Reno 911" survives its first season.

Will it make into a second season? "If we were to give a prediction on how long it will last," said Reno PD's Weston, "maybe four episodes." In other words, says Weston, it couldn't get arrested.