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The following is an episode guide to The Tracey Ullman Show, which ran for 4 seasons, from April 5, 1987 to May 26, 1990. Nearly every episode featured a song, most of them covers. These were either incorporated into a segment's score or performed by Ullman and/or the cast. They are noted in each episode's summary.
No.TitleDirected ByWritten By1"The Makeover / The Office / Variety Act ...Harvey MillerJames L. Brooks, Jerry Belson, Ken Estin, ...2"The Letter / Blind Date / Variety Act / ...Heide Perlman, Ken Estin, Dick Blasucci3"Lottery / Good Night / Ambulance Pickup ...Art Wolff, Paul FlahertyKen Estin, Heide Perlman, Susan Herring, ...4"Like Mother / Freeway / Spontaneity / ...Harvey Miller, Art WolffHeide Perlman, Ken Estin, Kim FullerTracey Ullman's Show is a British sketch comedy television show devised by and starring Tracey Ullman. The show marks her first project for the BBC in over thirty years. The programme premiered on BBC One 11 January 2016. Series 3 premiered on HBO in the United States 28 September 2018.
No. OverallNo. In SeriesTitleWritten By11"Episode 1"Kevin Cecil, Andy Riley, Georgia ...22"Episode 2"Georgia Pritchett, Jonathan Harvey, ...33"Episode 3"Jeremy Dyson, Georgia Pritchett, Laurence ...44"Episode 4"Lucy Montgomery, George Jeffrie, Bert ...The Tracey Ullman Show: Created by Jerry Belson, James L. Brooks, Ken Estin, Heide Perlman. With Tracey Ullman, Dan Castellaneta, Sam McMurray, Joseph Malone. Tracey Ullman hosts a variety show containing sketches, song-and-dance routines, and The Simpsons.
- (1.5K)
- 1987-04-05
- Comedy, Music
- 30
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- Development
- Production
- Cast and Crew
- Recurring Characters
- Animated Segments
- Reception
- Distribution
- Home Media
- External Links
British actress, comedian, singer, and former dancer Tracey Ullman was encouraged to try to break into American television by her husband, British producer Allan McKeown, who was looking to station himself in the United States. Ullman, who was already a household name in her native England, had already been making the rounds in the US promoting her...
Casting
Dan Castellaneta, a relative unknown, was asked to read for the show after he was spotted by Ullman at Chicago's The Second City. Castellaneta's portrayal of a blind man who wants to be a comedian brought her to tears instead of making her laugh. He gave up the opportunity to appear in the short-lived sitcom version of the film Nothing in Common in which he appeared so as to star in the Ullman show. "Tracey always says, 'You're so lucky, Dan. You can always go back to Nothing in Common," joke...
Writing
James L. Brooks knew the importance of good writers, and quickly assembled a team for the show, most notably, Heide Perlman and Ken Estin of Cheers fame. Estin also worked on Brooks's Taxi. The pair would also act as executive producers. Also joining the team was Jerry Belson; he also acted as executive producer. Belson had written for such television comedies as The Dick Van Dyke Show. Belson was the writer to whom Ullman warmed immediately; he was always in her corner. In an interview with...
Format
A typical episode of The Tracey Ullman Show consists of two or three sketches (or playlets) featuring Tracey Ullman playing an array of characters, along with her supporting cast of Julie Kavner, Dan Castellaneta, Sam McMurray, Joseph Malone, and in season three, Anna Levine. The final sketch of the night usually includes a musical or dance number featuring Ullman either solo or with other members of the cast. Paula Abdul was responsible for choreographing all of the show's dance routines. In...
Cast
1. Tracey Ullman 2. Julie Kavner 3. Dan Castellaneta 4. Sam McMurray 5. Joseph Malone 6. Anna Levine(Season 3)
Over the course of four seasons, Tracey Ullman played upwards of 100 characters; some were repeated, but not on a weekly basis.The show's supporting cast also had their own characters, usually playing opposite Ullman's, but sometimes in solo sketches of their own. The following is a list of recurring characters performed by Tracey Ullman, Dan Caste...
The Tracey Ullman Showregularly featured short, animated cartoons as interstitials in the first three seasons.
Critical response
While the show was a critical darling, it was never a ratings juggernaut; although none of the early newly launched primetime Fox network shows generated a significant return (Fox did not crack the top 30 in the Nielsen ratings until 1990 with The Simpsons). On the show's ratings, Fox president Jamie Kellner was quoted in 1988 as saying, "We're too new new to be discouraged by ratings [...] It's true that it's harder to discover Tracey on Fox than on NBC." As critic Howard Rosenberg of The Lo...
Accolades
The show won a total of 10 Primetime Emmy Awards including Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Program in 1989 and 1990, and Outstanding Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program in 1990. Also in 1989, choreographer Paula Abdul won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Choreographyfor her work on the show.
International
When The Tracey Ullman Show first appeared in Ullman's native England, the BBC broadcast the series unedited for the first seven episodes. After a gap, it was decided to cut six minutes from the show, specifically the Simpsons shorts. "The BBC said the only thing they didn't like about the show was those weird little animated characters and suggested maybe they could get rid of them because they would never catch on," recalled Ullman. Despite their aversion to the cartoon shorts, she attempte...
Syndication
Reruns of the show appeared on Lifetime and Comedy Centralthroughout the 1990s in the United States.
As of January 2021[update], The Tracey Ullman Show has never been commercially released through any home media platform. In an interview from 2017, Tracey Ullman theorized that music clearance issues may be the reason for this.[l] A selection of the Simpsons shorts was released from 1997 through 1999 on The Simpsons VHS home video releases. The fir...
The Tracey Ullman Show at IMDbThe Tracey Ullman Show at epguides.comThe Tracey Ullman Show at The Interviews: An Oral History of Television- 4
- 81 (270 segments) (+ 1 special) (list of episodes)
- April 5, 1987 –, May 26, 1990
- Fox
A variety/sketch show brought to you by funnywoman Tracey Ullman. The show was one of the first programs on the then-new FOX Network in the U.S. in the mid 1980s. Tracey's show was a sketch comedy show including lots of singing and dancing. The Simpsons appear as short, animated sketches, interspersed between the main, live-action sketches. Spinoffs: The Tracy Ullman Show led to the creation ...
- (27)
- April 5, 1987
S1.E9 ∙ Episode #1.9. Sun, Jun 14, 1987. "Meg and Tina in August": Meg and Tina are two U.S. Postal workers living in Queens, New York try to deal with one another when Tina seems to have all the luck with picking up guys. "Pre-School": Sara and Greg Downey try to get their son, Max, accepted into a privileged pre-school.
Tracey Ullman shares her unique take on some extraordinary characters. Episode 6 6 / 6 Dame Maggie vlogs about a video game, and Angela Merkel takes a trip on an open-top bus.
