Although Shasta McNasty premiered with less-than-favorable reviews from critics,[1] the program was nominated for a People's Choice Award for best new comedy, and nearly winning it in a live online vote before eventually losing to Stark Raving Mad.[2] However, the series was cancelled after one season.
Plotline
Shasta McNasty focused on three friends—Scott, Dennis and Randy—who are part of the rap rock band Shasta McNasty. After signing to Da Funk Records, the three friends relocate from Chicago to LA where they find out that the label has become defunct. Keeping their advance money that they'd been given, they rent an apartment in Venice Beach where they share a kitchen with their next door neighbor Diana. The first half of the series focused on the band, their landlord, odd jobbing to make rent and generally getting up to mischief, while the second half of the season focused on them working at the local bar for their friend Vern, hoping to get signed by a label again and the developing relationship between Scott and Diana.
The series' concluding episode is set ten years later, and is presented as an episode of "Behind the Band 2010" (a parody of Behind the Music). It is revealed that Shasta McNasty did become a famous, highly successful band; nevertheless, ego, addiction, in-fighting, and creative differences took their toll.
The series was retooled mid-season, including a month-long break two months after the debut and being renamed Shasta: the characters abandon the hip hop premise and remove narrative devices like breaking the fourth wall.[3]
Via Scott talking to the Fourth Wall, we discover how the guys ended up in L.A. and discover that since they lost their record contract, they've spent a lot of time scoping out the babes. Scott catches Randy and Dennis spying on the girl in the apartment opposite. When they discover that her boyfriend is cheating on her, Scott asks the others to help him plant a pair of Diana's panties to ensure that she breaks up with him. With Dennis and Diana on the look out, Randy helps Scott get inside her apartment, where he ends up having a fight with her parrot, Buster.
During dinner with Scott's girlfriend Karen, the boys get caught up in a brawl with Vern a 'little person' employed by the restaurant. When the boys discover that he's been fired, Scott tries to find him another job while Dennis, Randy and Vern spend the days goofing off. Elsewhere, Randy is offered the important job of arranging a fundraiser with special guest speaker Gary Coleman which ultimately results in heartbreak for one of the boys.
After discovering that the 'Squidmato' stand is closing down, Randy blends his own and gets Dennis to endorse it with the locals before appearing as a guest on Win Ben Stein's Money. Meanwhile, Diana who finds herself strangely attracted to Dennis' genius is eager to seek out the truth and Scott enrolls in night school only to develop a crush on his married teacher.
Dennis thinks that his chubby girlfriend will dump him when she loses weight. Elsewhere, after not being able to watch the Notre Dame game in Captain Bob's or any other bar local to them, Randy convinces Scott to steal their neighbours cable so that they can watch the game. Unfortunately, their neighbor has a love of Spanish soap operas.
Scott convinces Dennis and Randy to spend Halloween watching scary movies with him, but he soon finds himself in the middle of his very own mashup of popular horror flicks when he has a nightmare about Buster the Parrot.
With the help of Randy and Diana, Scott attempts to transform Tina, a clumsy waitress, into a sexy lingerie model. She has trouble finding a job when they realize that she looks exactly the same as Victoria's Secret model Suzanne Lanza. Dennis tries to help out, and lands himself a job in the process.
7
"Viva Las Vegas"
Neal Israel
Jeff Eastin
November 16, 1999 (1999-11-16)
009
Dennis convinces Randy and Scott to come on his road trip to Las Vegas following the sequence of his free coupon book. The trip turns into a disaster when Scott's former high school girlfriend sics her new boyfriend, a hitman, onto the boys.
When the boys take a trip to the homeless shelter on Thanksgiving, Dennis is reunited with his deadbeat father, Jack. Jack moves in with the boys, but soon they are all sick of him, and try to get him and his stripper girlfriend back together, so he will move back out.
The boys decide to turn Vern into a professional boxer after he gets into a fight with another little person in a club, with disastrous results until Scott steps in to train him and things get a bit sticky when a local fight promoter wants in on his terms.
10
"Bed Worthy"
Alan Cohn
Bill Canterbury
January 18, 2000 (2000-01-18)
TBA
Unable to pay his share of the rent, Dennis agrees to babysit the landlord's grandchildren – he entertains them with a story involving the boys, Diana, and a bed.
11
"Big Brother"
Savage Steve Holland
Richard Gurman
January 25, 2000 (2000-01-25)
004
When the boys return from Tijuana, they learn that Eduardo, a bullfighter, has stowed away in their trunk in order to find his long-lost fiancée. Meanwhile, Dennis joins a big brother program, but his little brother soon begins copying his every move.
After a brief stint dressed as a cow, Dennis sells people looks at the Leonardo DiCaprio shaped rash it left on his behind in order to collect money to pay the rent. Elsewhere Scott tries his hand at working a skate shop before Mexican wrestling.
The band brainstorms new ideas for names, when they discover they can not use the 'McNasty' in Shasta McNasty. Meanwhile, Diana tries to sabotage Scott's latest relationship after she reveals she has romantic feelings for him.
14
"The F Word"
Alan Cohn
Richard Gurman
February 15, 2000 (2000-02-15)
014
Diana accidentally draws Scott's ex-girlfriend to him, when she attempts to find out more about his past. Meanwhile, Dennis encounters 'perfume withdrawal', as he searches to find his girlfriend the perfect gift for Valentine's Day and Randy tries to encourage Diana to talk to Scott about her feelings before he reaches out to his ex.
15
"True Size"
Dennis Dugan
Jeff Eastin
February 22, 2000 (2000-02-22)
TBA
Verne enlists the help of Michelle and Diana when a scam leaves his bank account empty.
Verne bets his arch rival that his less than great Pee-Wee League football team will win a game. Meanwhile, Scott and Randy bribe a cheerleading team to appear, by telling them that an L.A. Lakers cheerleading scout will be in the crowd.
17
"Bachelorette Party"
Craig Zisk
Jim Keily & Jimmy Aleck
June 6, 2000 (2000-06-06)
TBA
When Diana's boss makes her throw a bachelorette for his fiancée, she is convinced by the boys to have it at Captain Verne's Bar, with the boys doing the catering. The boys, however, have other plans as Verne installs a secret two-way mirror and begins charging people to watch the party. The bride-to-be convinces Dennis to bring out the kinky lingerie and the stripper, making it a night none of them will soon forget.
Guest star: Erik Estrada
18
"The Sugar Pill"
Alan Cohn
Bill Canterbury
June 13, 2000 (2000-06-13)
TBA
Shasta get the chance to perform for a record executive at Captain Verne's Bar, although the run up to it doesn't go smoothly when Dennis ingests a vast amount of psychotropic pills believing them to be sugar, Verne blackmails Scott into having a double date with his date's sister, Michelle and Diana's early arrival at the bar and Randy trying to deal with both of his friends problems.
After another one of Dennis' ideas for theme nights at Verne's goes awry, they come up with an idea for "Underwear night" and trick Scott into being the poster boy. Meanwhile, Diana claims she's over Scott and thanks Randy for his help by hooking him up with one of her workmates who turns out to be perfect for him, until Dennis gets involved.
When Diana gets offered a job in New York, Scott is faced with a difficult decision regarding his feelings for her and his relationship with Michelle. Elsewhere, Dennis temporarily moves into Verne's crash pad while he awaits the arrival of the model he met while skiing and Randy tries to convince Verne that the speakers he's bought are not the right ones for the bar.
21
"Play Dead, Clown"
Neal Israel
Richard Gurman & Jeff Eastin
July 25, 2000 (2000-07-25)
TBA
Scott's current girlfriend asks him to babysit her eight-year-old daughter, who, according to Diana can make or break their relationship. When Randy and Dennis have the bright idea of inviting the Jager girls up to the apartments for a party, Scott and Diana take it upon themselves to hire a clown for the little girl, with hilarious consequences.
22
"Behind the Band: 2010"
Savage Steve Holland
Travis Romero
August 1, 2000 (2000-08-01)
TBA
In this final episode, we get an insight into what happened to the band after the series ended. Set in 2010, the episode flash forwards to where the band are now and discusses their fame since being signed after the gig featured in 'The Sugar Pill'.
Reception
A sneak preview of the series after UPN's highly rated WWF SmackDown! drew 4.52 million viewers.[5] However, when the series was moved to its scheduled 8 p.m. timeslot, ratings dropped.[6] Halfway through the first season, UPN shortened the show's title to Shasta, and the series was canceled after its first season.[7][8]