Short Stacked

What's On Wednesday? Two weeks in a row, What's On was a day late

Why do shows that are funny and clever get cancelled and other shows last for years? Bad acting? Bad promotion? Bad time slot? Bad writing? Bad concept? Sometimes yes, sometimes no.

Stacked is one of those shows that should not have been cancelled or received the bad press that it did. I honestly believe that the people that were responsible for bad mouthing this show, never watched an episode. If they did watch an episode, it was probably the one bad episode that was produced (are you listening Carmen Electra?).

The show was a workplace comedy that rarely went out of the bookstore set. The basic premise was party girl, Skyler, who was tired of her lifestyle and bad boyfriends, goes into the bookstore looking for a book on relationships and through the normal turns of events begins working there.

I know both reasons why straight guys like Pamela Anderson, but are there other gay guys like me that love her, too? I think she’s very funny. She’s got great timing and is not afraid to make fun of herself.









The ensemble cast that surrounded her were not quite household names (except for Christopher Lloyd), but were funny and the dynamics were great.

Elon Gold, a stand-up comedian, played the conservative bookstore owner.

Brian Scolaro, another stand-up comedian, played his smart but horny brother who hired Skyler.

Former Broadway darling and Hairspray star, Marissa Jaret Winokur, played the store’s coffee barista who was at first jealous of Skyler, but soon became her friend.

The regular customer always coming in for company and coffee was played by Christopher Lloyd. I was never a fan of his Reverend Jim character from Taxi, but he was marvelous as retired rocket scientist, Harold in Stacked.

The only detractors that I found in the show were some of the guest stars. I know Pam dated Kid Rock and Marcus Schenkenberg, but their cameos were awful. These guys may be good in their fields (especially Marcus), but they can’t act. Another actor (and I use the term loosely) who guest starred was Carmen Electra. The episode had some funny moments and ,like Pam, I get why straight guys like her, but she needs to keep her mouth closed because, unlike Pam, the girl can’t act. That’s not to say that there weren’t great guest stars. Tom Lennon, Paget Brewster, Jenny McCarthy and Bill Macy all gave memorable and funny performances.

Only 19 episodes were produced and of those, only 14 were aired. The DVD collection of the entire series is out there and I bought it and have watched it three times. I think people dismissed the show because it was a Pamela Anderson sitcom, but that is the perfect vehicle for her. She can surround herself with other talented people and for 22 minutes we can watch Pam and company have a good time and entertain the rest of us. It just amazes me that shows like Stacked get cancelled, but shows like Yes, Dear stay on for years.


Yes, Dear ran for 122 episodes over six seasons...EWWWWW!