# Does the real Reno Sheriff's department watch Reno 911? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 25, 2009, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-real-reno-sheriffs-department-watch-reno-911/504197 "2009-07-25T04:14:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![No\_Wikipedia\_Cites](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@No\_Wikipedia\_Cites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/No_Wikipedia_Cites)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2009, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-real-reno-sheriffs-department-watch-reno-911/504197/1 "2009-07-25T04:14:07Z")
Does the real Reno Sheriff’s department watch Reno 911? Do they like it or hate it? Any cops from there on here, unleash your frustration ! ---
**Author:** ![drastic\_quench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e36b37/32.png) [@drastic\_quench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drastic_quench)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2009, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-real-reno-sheriffs-department-watch-reno-911/504197/2 "2009-07-25T05:35:44Z")
I don’t think there is a real Reno Shefiff’s Department, only Reno Police Department and Washoe County Sheriff’s Office. ---
**Author:** ![medstar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f07891/32.png) [@medstar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/medstar)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2009, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-real-reno-sheriffs-department-watch-reno-911/504197/3 "2009-07-27T02:20:39Z")
This show is one of my guilty pleasures. It’s a wonder all those loser deputies don’t shoot each other in the ass. ---
**Author:** ![Harvey\_The\_Heavy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Harvey\_The\_Heavy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harvey_The_Heavy)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2009, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-real-reno-sheriffs-department-watch-reno-911/504197/4 "2009-07-27T04:02:15Z")
Probably the most realistic cop show since Barney Miller. ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2009, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-real-reno-sheriffs-department-watch-reno-911/504197/5 "2009-07-27T11:34:06Z")
> [@Harvey\_The\_Heavy](#): > > Probably the most realistic cop show since Barney Miller. What about Police Squad? (I’m not a cop but…) I like Reno 911. The thing that gets anoying is that many of the scenes seem hit or miss. It’s the nature of the beast though, right? ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2009, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-real-reno-sheriffs-department-watch-reno-911/504197/6 "2009-07-27T16:51:54Z")
The real question is did the Reno Sheriff’s Department watch _Viva Variety_? ---
**Author:** ![drastic\_quench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e36b37/32.png) [@drastic\_quench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drastic_quench)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2009, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-real-reno-sheriffs-department-watch-reno-911/504197/7 "2009-07-27T19:36:09Z")
> [@garygnu](#): > > The real question is did the Reno Sheriff’s Department watch _Viva Variety_? I don’t think anyone did. ---
**Author:** ![TV\_time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f17d59/32.png) [@TV\_time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TV_time)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2009, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-real-reno-sheriffs-department-watch-reno-911/504197/8 "2009-07-27T22:22:41Z")
I know quite a few people in law enforcement and most of the ones I respect say that Reno 911 is frighteningly true to life. ---
**Author:** ![Skylark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@Skylark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skylark)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2009, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-real-reno-sheriffs-department-watch-reno-911/504197/9 "2009-07-27T23:27:07Z")
> [@garygnu](#): > > The real question is did the Reno Sheriff’s Department watch _Viva Variety_? No but they were big fans of _The State_. I’m outta heeeerrre. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2009, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-real-reno-sheriffs-department-watch-reno-911/504197/10 "2009-07-27T23:53:55Z")
Every cop I know loves Reno 911, just loves it. I think it must be kind of like musicians and _This is Spinal Tap_; obviously over the top parody, but a lot of the jokes hit pretty close to home. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2009, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-real-reno-sheriffs-department-watch-reno-911/504197/11 "2009-07-28T14:45:25Z")
> [@pravnik](#): > > …but a lot of the jokes hit pretty close to home. I read [a story](http://www2.statesville.com/content/2009/jul/15/arrest-mix--raises-questions/news-local/) about an undercover county sheriff being arrested for selling drugs to undercover city police. I thought of the Reno 911 episode where the same thing almost happened. I recently spent a few weeks in Reno. The depiction of the city’s extensive… uh… underprivileged population, is likewise over-the-top and spot-on at the same time. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2009, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-real-reno-sheriffs-department-watch-reno-911/504197/12 "2009-07-28T15:22:27Z")
There are things I do and things I know about way more than the average person. Invariably, when Hollywood tries to treat them seriously, I count myself damn lucky if I get to say “Well, they didnt royally screw it up”. Most times it borderlines on gag worthy. However, when they exagerrate it and make fun of it and/or the people who do it, I really don’t expect it to be right (because it isnt supposed to be) and there is often enough of a grain of truth in it, which just makes it funnier. I suspect most cops feel the same about Reno 911. BTW, wasnt there a poster here that once said their SO actually though Reno 911 was “real”?! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2009, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-real-reno-sheriffs-department-watch-reno-911/504197/13 "2009-07-28T15:30:31Z")
The creators (Thomas “Dangle” Lennon, Kerry “Wiegel” Kenny-Silver and Robert Ben “Travis Jr.” Garant) deliberately made it a fictional sheriff’s department. I think in the show the non fictional Reno is situated in fictional Reno County. Is the show filmed in Reno or in southern California? For some reason the [recruitment video](http://www.dailymotion.com/relevance/search/reno+911/video/x9qe3k_comedy-centralys-reno-911-season-6_shortfilms) just floored me, one of the funniest things I’ve seen in years. (The whole episode leading to it and the fact I know the “mini mall” guy whose ad went viral helped.) The department’s reaction to the ad was the funniest part of the episode. (“If you wanna be a deputy/touch yourself- awkwardly…”.) ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2009, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-real-reno-sheriffs-department-watch-reno-911/504197/14 "2009-07-28T15:31:44Z")
> [@billfish678](#): > > BTW, wasnt there a poster here that once said their SO actually though Reno 911 was “real”?! 🙂 That was me and to be fair she was up super late one night and only saw like ten minutes of an episode and hit record on the DVR before she went to bed because she thought that they were so damn goofy and wanted me to watch it the next day. Her son and I will never let her hear the end of it. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2009, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-real-reno-sheriffs-department-watch-reno-911/504197/15 "2009-07-28T15:41:37Z")
I’ve been forwarded the [“drunk driver stop”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UgJKRvgWTwA) skit several times by people who seem to think it’s real. ---
**Author:** ![fiddlesticks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddlesticks/32/18129_2.png) [@fiddlesticks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fiddlesticks)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2009, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-real-reno-sheriffs-department-watch-reno-911/504197/16 "2009-07-28T15:56:34Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > Is the show filmed in Reno or in southern California? The actual street scenes are done in California, with actual bits of Reno and environs in the transition clips, obviously. I always look for the black and white street name signs to know that a particular shot is somewhere in LA. The out-in-the-country bits are probably done in the mountains and deserts north and east of LA. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Jeffrey\_Lebowski](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_jeffrey_lebowski/32/215_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Jeffrey\_Lebowski](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Jeffrey_Lebowski)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2009, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-real-reno-sheriffs-department-watch-reno-911/504197/17 "2009-07-28T16:12:23Z")
> [@fiddlesticks](#): > > I always look for the black and white street name signs to know that a particular shot is somewhere in LA. Street signs in Los Angeles are blue and white, though another giveaway are trash receptacles - in L.A., black for trash, green for landscaping, and blue for recycling; not sure what color or shape they are in Reno. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2009, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-real-reno-sheriffs-department-watch-reno-911/504197/18 "2009-07-28T16:39:12Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Jeffrey\_Lebowski](#): > > Street signs in Los Angeles are blue and white, though another giveaway are trash receptacles - in L.A., black for trash, green for landscaping, and blue for recycling; not sure what color or shape they are in Reno. Recycling containers are green. In the neighborhood I stayed, there weren’t specific containers for trash. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2009, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-real-reno-sheriffs-department-watch-reno-911/504197/19 "2009-07-28T17:55:25Z")
> [@garygnu](#): > > I recently spent a few weeks in Reno. While you were there, did you shoot a man just to watch him die? I understand it’s legal. ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2009, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-real-reno-sheriffs-department-watch-reno-911/504197/20 "2009-07-28T18:07:56Z")
I had a deputy friend and he told me that all his coworkers watched and loved the show. He said that sometimes the goofy stuff happens for real. Like a cop calling in for backup because he locked himself out of his car. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-real-reno-sheriffs-department-watch-reno-911/504197.md?page=2)