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Thu. Jul 24, 2003

A Parody of Reality

A Parody of Reality – “...an officer is summoned over the radio to his surprise party with the urgent words, ‘Officer down,’ and enters the darkened motel room gun drawn. He fires, shooting a comrade before anyone can shout out ‘surprise.’ There is a beat, then one of the men picks up his radio and calls, ‘Officer down.’ ”

It’s not a tale from the Darwin Awards, it’s a new TV show on Comedy Central, called “Reno 911!”, best described as a “sustained deadpan mockery of Fox’s long-running ‘Cops.’ ” I saw the premiere last night, and I don’t know if they can maintain that level of parody through a whole season, but the pilot was well worth the time. Of course, I’m one of those people who views “Cops” as a comedy, not a reality show, so I may have a warped view of all this.

They still haven’t hit on my favorite “Cops”-cliche; after a 20 mile 100 mph chase ending in a crash ejecting the suspect from the car, where he is attacked by a police dog, and pepper sprayed by officers, he is asked “Why’d you run from us, boy?” Invariably, the suspect replies …

“I was scared.”