Shasta McNasty

When I saw the first ad for Shasta McNasty, I thought that it looked stupid. Then, I watched the first episode and I was still laughing after it finished. The acting was fantastic, the sets were very cool, and my favorite character was Vern, played by Verne Troyer a.k.a. Mini Me from the second Austin Powers movie. I really liked this show and I was very disappointed that UPN cancelled it. I hope that they bring it back one day.

Having recently been introduced to Shasta McNasty on Sky TV in England I am fascinated to find out how long the series has run for in the states as this is possibly one of the funniest shows from America to reach our shores in recent years. It is only a few weeks into the show and I can't wait to see the next episode in a weeks time. The acting is brilliant especially from Jake Busey who is always top in his films.

This comedy, about a ne'er-do-well rap group living in Venice Beach may have looked good on paper, but it stank when it hit the air. With the advent of "South Park" and "Family Guy" pushing the boundaries for better or worse, the powers that be are running scared. We must be daring! Don't be afraid of crude humor! The trouble is that they have forgotten that, as an executive said about an unaired pilot starring Kelsey Grammer, "A comedy should be funny".

"Shasta McNasty" is not. It is not, with a vengeance. The first show "Pilot" has Verne Troyer (Mini-Me from "Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me") in one of the first scenes walking around in a sombrero with chips on the brim and salsa on the crushed crown. In another scene, he is seen with the same hat, but now it has popcorn on the brim.

No, I didn't laugh, either, but believe me, this is as funny as the show got. The leads are sadly, listless, the writing goes out of it's way to be offensive (which "Seinfeld" did occasionally, but still managed to be funny, more times than no)and it's on UPN, which recently lost a couple of affiliates.

To quote Troyer in one scene, "Lame, lame, lame!"

Shasta McNasty was a great show when it first began, because it was willing to be brutally politically correct, and not follow the traditional mainstream attitude that their storylines must be cliche. They did things that were so stupid, but funny that it was fantastic, but in recent episodes, it is as though they are bowing to pressure, and trying to become a more mainstream sitcom, by employing standard storylines. Let's hope they come to there senses and go back to the craziness of the first half of the season. We don't need another friends, but we always need a Shasta McNasty.

Six o'clock is the one time that no phone in our whole town rings. Everyone is watching Shasta. Why not? It is cool, hip and trendy. Fresh, new and innovating. Just about everyone finds something to their liking in this extremely funny series. We in South Africa support it. Do you?