Anna Daniels
Break out your short shorts, because Reno 911! is officially back from the dead. The latest in a long line of cancelled or concluded shows to be resurrected in the streaming era, Reno 911 season 7 is heading to Quibi, the yet-to-launch mobile viewing platform which aims to provide episodic short form content in approximately 10-minute chunks. And there’s good news for longtime fans of this series: creator/stars Robert Ben Garant, Kerri Kenney-Silver, and Thomas Lennon are all attached to come back to star in and write the new episodes.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VqSel1m28Y?feature=oembed&w=740&h=416]
Quibi is teaming up with Comedy Central Productions for new episodes of Reno 911!, the acclaimed mockumentary-style series about a bunch of inept sheriff’s department deputies in Nevada. The show ran for six seasons on Comedy Central from 2003-2009, and like Curb Your Enthusiasm before it, the series was heavily improvised with only a loose outline being written for each scene. The creators took the concept to the big screen in 2007 with Reno 911!: Miami, a theatrical film packed with cameos from people like Paul Rudd, Dwayne Johnson, and more.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=neGY6xXso6k?feature=oembed&w=740&h=416]
“RENO 911! holds a special place in our hearts, and it will be a delight to get the original cast back together for ‘re-boot goofin.’ Hopefully Nick Swardson can still roller skate,” Thomas Lennon said in a press release. “Quibi’s short format seems custom made for our show.” More casting is set to be announced
“We are very excited to partner with Ben, Kerri and Tom, three of the most gifted multi-hyphenates in comedy, to bring more of their iconic series RENO 911! to the world,” said Sarah Babineau and Jonas Larsen, Comedy Central’s Co-Heads of Original Content. “Fans demanded this for a long time and Comedy Central Productions and Quibi are thrilled to help answer that kind of 911 call.” Executive producers will include Peter Principato, Danny DeVito, Michael Shamberg, and Stacey Sher.
Quibi is still something of a joke to much of the entertainment media, but it has the backing of every single major Hollywood movie studio and a tech giant like the Chinese company Alibaba (one of the 10 largest companies on Earth), so I suspect it will make a splash when it debuts in April. The upside is that Quibi is the only service of its kind: a mobile-only platform dedicated specifically to short form content designed to be watched in downtime during the day. The downside is that it’s yet another paid subscription streaming service in a landscape where consumers already have several to choose from (with even more still to come). Will this mega-funded gamble pay off, or have consumers already hit a limit of streaming services they’re willing to pay for?
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