Unless you have a copy of the home video she made with husband Tommy Lee, this marks the return to the small screen for Pamela Anderson following her Baywatch adventures. In Stacked she plays Skyler Dayton, a bookstore employee. Skyler is tired of her non-stop partying lifestyle and bad choices in boyfriends, so wanting a major life change; she wanders into The Stacks, a small family-run bookstore. Yes, it's hard to imagine her working as a bookstore assistant offering opinions on the latest literature and classic novels, but then the kooky Ellen DeGeneres did pull off a comedy set in a bookstore in the mid '90s. Stacked, however, can't match up to Ellen, which itself was nothing spectacular. The jokes here are so bawdy and obvious you half expect to see Sid James pop up let out a burst of his famous cackle every time someone delivers a punchline, but then did you really expect subtle jokes from a comedy that stars a women who made her fortune by looking great in a swimsuit? In one later episode Skyler, wearing a designer minidress, drops a muffin on her lap and screams, 'I've got blueberry all over my Pucci!' Her co-worker replies, 'what do you expect with a dress that short?' Fnarrr and, indeed, fnarrr. The jokes are so lowbrow they're almost in her cleavage, but if you're a fan of plastic Pammy or the Carry On films then you may want to tune in.

Pamela Anderson has appeared in a lot of exploitation television. But, if you look at the producing credits, you realize she's the one doing the exploiting – a vernacular Katherine Hepburn with a boob job.Stacked is excellently written, acted and directed. The punchlines are every last bit the equal of Get Smart, Green Acres, Night Court, Parker Lewis Can't Lose, Married: With Children, Seinfeld and Scrubs. Elon Gold and Brian Scolaro as Gavin and Stuart, the two nerdy brothers who run the bookstore, and Marissa Jaret Winokur as Katrina, the cute but chubby and insecure girl who tends the coffee counter, are first rate and would stand out on any other series. But here, there talents are matched by Pam as Skyler, the rocker girlfriend who decides to turn over a new leaf; the lady has a first rate sense of comedic timing. Then, as their irascible regular morning customer, throw in Christopher Lloyd, and you have a recipe for a half hour that guarantees a lot of chuckles and at least a half dozen outright belly laughs.In the pilot, Gavin's bitchy ex-wife comes in to torment him with news of her new boyfriend and is flabbergasted by hottie Skyler pretending to be Gavin's new flame. Non-plussed by Skyler's hands-all-over him familiarity, ex-wifey goes ballistic when she realizes her twelve year old son is so impressed by Skyler – or certain large portions of her – that he's lost the capacity to blink, close his mouth or hear his mother screaming at him that it's time to leave.A later episode begins with Skyler telling all of her co-workers that she loves them and proceeds to slapstick results, including a long-time unknown admirer of Stuart's coming forward. His mousey little redheaded stalked may be the funniest thing I've ever seen on television.Some critics of Ms Anderson, may say the lines are a little risqué for TV, but they're no worse than the "But, I've got hand." and reply of "Good, you're gonna need it." or shrinkage discussions from Seinfeld. What they are is unfailingly funny and often totally unforeseen. This is such a welcome relief from hit comedy series whose laugh track is the only way to tell that a joke must have been in the dialogue somewhere. There are only eighteen episodes so far, and already enough dynamite lines for the quotes page herein to require a warning for those of weak heart or with torso stitches.Best of all, it's one of the shows available on iTunes, so you needn't miss a single minute.

OK, I just started watching this show on Paramount Comedy in the UK and it's surprisingly good. Obviously billed as a vehicle for Pamela Anderson but the real attraction here is Christopher "Doc" Lloyd, a man who's style of hilariously hammy overacting means he's only capable of playing mental patients, cartoon characters and mad scientists. Given that, it was only a matter of time before he ended up in that most wildly overacted of things, the American sitcom. Naturally, Lloyd is most entertaining as a slightly sulky former scientist who practically lives in the book store of the title (a title who's cheap pun does not promise much from the standard of humour on show). However, what really surprises is that Pammie is a shockingly adept comic performer. I mean, she's no great actress and she'll never be the most hilarious comedian, but she has a certain charm and willing to poke fun at herself and her image that makes her performance in this show both likable and enjoyable. Fans of the busty star and her ilk will be pleased by guest appearances by the likes of Jenny McCarthy and Carmen Electra, however their performances mostly just go to show how actually good Pamela is in comparison. Overall, this is a standard, slightly clichéd sitcom with much big, gurning acting and a rather excessive laughter track. Still, while not actually being enormously funny, it does manage to hold the interest, and not just because of the compelling strangeness of Pammie's breasts. If you just chance to come upon it, you'll probably find yourself losing yourself in half an hour of the charming if lightweight adventures of this bookstore.

Network: Fox; Genre: Sitcom; Content Rating: TV-PG (adult content); Perspective: Contemporary (star range: 1 - 4); Seasons Reviewed: Season 1+ Take yourself back to around 1996. Pamela Anderson is calling herself Pamela Lee. She's just left "Baywatch" and made her "hotly anticipated" film debut in the future classic "Barb Wire" and kids around the country are horrified to hear that she used a body double in the movie's intro because she was pregnant at the time. Pamela Anderson, consistently regarded as one of the sexiest women in the world, is a hot commodity. People are throwing projects and star vehicles at her left and right. Again, this is 1996 - exactly where "Stacked" feels like it belongs.About a decade after the hype has died down, her film career has fizzled, "VIP" never really took off, being with Tommy Lee has become a degrading cliché for any Hollywood actress, and she's had her implants in and out so many times nobody cares anymore, Pamela Anderson returns to the small screen for a little career resuscitation. For anyone out there who thinks that Hepatitis-C riddled body is still hot - be my guest to "Stacked", a show for the prepubescent teen who will watch Anderson do just about anything.In keeping with the show's belief that Pamela Anderson can carry a sitcom, everything else about "Stacked" is passé - with only a running advertisement for Michael Crichton's "State of Fear" posted in the background to remind us we are in a new century. All the bad sitcom clichés are here: the screeching laugh tracks, the lame 1-liners, 1-dimensional characters. You'd think that after the mold-breaking neo-classic "Titus" - and even this year's sensational "Committed" - Fox could think beyond this. It is a sickening thought to imagine all the other sitcoms that where instantly canceled so that this one could be given all the benefit of the doubt from the public.Here is your high-concept, pitched by producer/creator, hack sitcom writer and increasingly my arch enemy Steven Levitan: people who work in a bookstore meet beautiful ex-rocker's girlfriend, Skyler (Anderson), trying to escape her wild former life, settle down and be taken seriously. Bookstore attendees include the straight-laced proprietor (Elon Gold) who will clash with Anderson's wild ways, his brother (Brian Scolaro) who is desperately trying to keep the women around long enough to think of a way to get her, a chubby girl around the counter (Marissa Jaret Winokur, "Hairspray") to take the slings and arrows of the babe. The show will pretend to use Winokur to put everything in perspective before switching all the victories back on Anderson - it is her career life support after all. Lastly, we have the aging scientist who hangs out, reads the paper and mildly gets caught up in the events of the store (Christopher Lloyd). "Stacked" is exactly the kind of show you're more likely to see IN another show as a parody of a sitcom.Winokur and Lloyd are clearly working well below their means. Particularly, Winokur who has effectively shifted her career into neutral in the thankless, degrading "fat friend" role. But once again, just like in his last series ("The In Laws") Elon Gold becomes the bright spot. I liked him then and I like him now. Gold knows exactly how silly this all is and while his ham-fisted over-acting would sink most any other show, it is perfect here. Any hopes for laughs come out of Gold's straight delivery or goofy eye brow shifts.In the end, like any slavish star vehicle, it is all about making Anderson look good. In this case, the show has the uphill task of making Pamela Anderson look funny - which is something I wouldn't even wish on Steven Levitan. Every gag-inducing self-referential joke ("I seem to have a thing for bad boy rockers" ha ha ha). Every attempt to show how hard she has it and how misunderstood she is. Every time the show gets back to its core mantra: that the beautiful, popular, large-breasted blonde who men fall all over themselves for isn't the dumb stereotype we all imagine. This is the big twist? I'm all for breaking cliché, but Skyler, must have some flaw somewhere to be the slightest bit interesting.One noticeable thing is that the joke roster in "Stacked" is heavily populated with the same tired gags making fun of what losers all the characters who aren't Anderson are. They "sat at the nerd table in high school", they "didn't date a lot in high school", anything they say is out of "bitterness for how lonely they are". Rinse and repeat. The entire series is like this. That is borderline propaganda people and it's lazy writing - to elevate one character by tearing down others. To discount all the intellectual or professional achievements of people because they aren't "getting any". "Stacked" is typical pandering television.* / 4