Available at Amazon.com
Creator:
Steven Levitan
Cast:
Pamela Anderson….Skyler Dayton
Brian Scolaro…..Stuart Miller
Christopher Lloyd….Harold March
Elon Gold….Gavin P. Miller
Marissa Jaret Winokur….Katrina
Fox Home Entertainment presents Stacked: The Complete Series. Running time: 416 minutes. Three DVDs. Unrated. Episodes aired: April 13, 2005 to Jan. 11, 2006. DVD release: November 21, 2006.
The Show
Here’s my theory on how this series was developed: During a business lunch, a Fox vice president in charge of development hears that Pam Anderson wants a sit-com. He’s not sure who she is. He asks the valet about her. “That woman’s stacked!” he’s told. Immediately the suit decides that the show would be called Stacked and take place in a bookstore so the title would pass network standards.
The plot is as simple as the lead actress. Pam Anderson is a groupie who shows up at a bookstore in order to figure out how to dump her cheating rock star boyfriend. She decides to change her life and work in the bookstore. She causes all sort of trouble because she’s a hot woman working in the land of dorks and dweebs. And this concept lasted 20 episodes.
Normally the premise of a show like this is a beautiful woman can also have brains. But the big twist in Stacked is that Pam plays a dumb character. She’s not a closet member of Mensa as she roams the bookcases. Her bra size is higher than her IQ. She hasn’t read anything longer than a caption in Us Weekly. This isn’t That Girl. Although it is Married….with Children for people that are literate.
The bookstore is owned by the Miller brothers, a couple of geekish goofs. It’s not too much of a stretch to imagine them as guys who can’t score with the ladies. Brian Scolaro seems like Nathan Lane’s heterosexual brother. Elon Gold is a less jittery Jeff Goldblum. Marissa Jaret Winokur plays Katrina, the insecure employee that works the coffee bar in the bookstore. She looks like she could work amongst novels. It’s like these three were developing Cheers-ish sitcom about an indie bookstore when Fox tossed Pam Anderson into their lap. Most of there time on screen seems to involve them staring at Pam’s chest.
Christopher Lloyd plays a slightly nutty rocket scientist who binges on the coffee served in the store. He saves the show from devolving into one big boob joke. “It’s funny if you’re smart,” he says in “The Third Date.” The reality is that the show is funny if you wanna be dumb for 21 minutes and 30 seconds. “The Third Date” episode is hilarious without too much booze. Lloyd gives tips to Gold on how to score on his date. The woman is Lloyd’s daughter. Hilarity ensues as the old man begs for Gold to hump his little girl. He figures he can get free coffee if the deed goes down. He’s the creepiest dad since Joe Simpson.
A few of Pam’s old pals make guest shots. “Darling Nikki” has Carmen Electra arrive as Pam’s lifelong rival. Carmen keeps up the competition by seducing what she thinks is Pam’s new boyfriend. How will Pam react to such revenge by a fellow Baywatch beauty? Jenny McCarthy pops up for “Two Faces of Eve.” The two Playmates play with each other’s fake breasts on screen. This is the highlight of the whole series. Some folks (like Borat) might be tempted to watch it frame by frame to truly capture the moment.
The most annoying element of Stacked is the credits rolling over the final minute. It’s like people leaving a hockey match before the shootout. We’re ready for the big punchline to wrap up the show, but the screen gets cluttered by the unit production manager’s name. Until the story is finished, hold off on the credits. Please write your Congressperson to prevent this from becoming common practice.
Fox only ran 15 episodes over the course of two seasons. The boxset collects five episodes that were never broadcasted. The unaired shows are more entertaining than the episodes that Fox ran (exception being Jenny and Pam’s touching scene). Amazing to think that Stacked was improving. In “The Headmaster,” Pam hooks up with the head of a private school to help Gold’s son get an application advantage. Plus Thomas Lennon of Reno 911 fame hypnotizes the cast.
While Stacked is a pretty stupid idea for a show, it’s not nearly as painful as most network sit-coms. If you’re a fan of Pam Anderson, you’ll probably enjoy it. Don’t panic because of the bookstore angle. You don’t actually have to read anything to understand the series. You can just sit back and follow her bouncing chest.
The DVD:
VIDEO:
The picture is 1.78:1 anamorphic.
AUDIO:
The soundtrack is Dolby Surround. The subtitles are in English and Spanish.
EXTRAS:
Nipplegate: Getting Dressed With Pamela (7:11) exposes us to the crisis the costume designers had with making Pam’s chest network safe.
Show Us Your Bloopers (5:15) features a lot of screw ups involving Pam’s breasts. Also there’s quite a few F Bombs so don’t play this in front of small children. Although why you would expose kindergarteners to this show is a bigger question.
Skylar’s Guide to Dating (9:48) is a clips form the shows that deal with Pam’s advice on how to get laid. Kid Rock might want to reference these gems.
