The Tracey Ullman Show Information

The Tracey Ullman Show is an American television variety show, hosted by British-born comedian and onetime pop singer Tracey Ullman. It debuted on April 5, 1987 as the Fox network's second primetime series after Married... with Children, and ran until May 26, 1990. The show blended sketch comedy shorts with many musical numbers, featuring choreography by Paula Abdul. The show also produced The Simpsons shorts before it spun off into its own show. This is the first television series produced by Gracie Films and 20th Century Fox Television.

Background

By the 1980s, acclaimed television producer, James L. Brooks, (producer of The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Taxi, and Rhoda), had left the television industry for the big screen. At the time that he won the Oscar for his film, Terms of Endearment, Brooks began receiving videotapes from Ullman's Los Angeles agent, hoping to get his attention. Ullman, who was already famous in her homeland, England, was already landing a variety of television deals and proposals in America, but none had panned out. These projects did not suit Ullman's interests. "[They were] shows with morals, where everyone learns something at the end of the show", related Ullman to a television critic for TV Guide in 1989, describing the television show ideas that were offered to her. Brooks was so taken by what he saw in Ullman, that he decided to take the young actress under his wing and return to television. Brooks was determined to develop the right vehicle to showcase Ullman's talents: acting, dancing, and singing; and decided upon creating a sketch comedy show. Ullman had already had a successful music career in the early 1980s, in the UK, and had a top 10 hit on the American charts with a cover of Kirsty MacColl's "They Don't Know" and her You Broke My Heart in 17 Places.

Format

A typical episode would begin with Ullman giving a brief introduction, ostensibly from her dressing room, leading into the opening titles (the show's theme, "You're Thinking Right", was written by George Clinton). Then two or three comedy sketches would be presented in each episode, most designed to showcase Ullman's ability to skillfully mimic various accents. One popular recurring character was timid, slow-talking Kay ("Iiit's... Kaaaaaaaayyy...")

Typically, the final sketch of the night would include a musical and/or dance number featuring Ullman solo or other members of the cast. The final segment saw Ullman, clad in a robe, deliver a closing monologue to the studio audience before ending the show with her catchphrase "Go Home! Go Home!" and dancing as the credits rolled. Ullman often talked about her husband, Allan McKeown, and her daughter, Mabel. Ullman chose the phrase, "Go home", during the show's pilot episode because she could not think of anything clever to end with. "Oh, you got sore bums... go home!"

Characters

Tracey performed an array of characters. Most only appeared once, as the sketches concentrated on plot, with characters created to best tell that particular storyline. A handful of characters did however return for subsequent sketches. These include:

Ginny Tillman, the ex-wife of a Beverly Hills proctologist; Francesca McDowell, a 14-year-old New York City girl being raised by her father Dave (portrayed by Castellaneta) and his partner William (McMurray); Tina, a Brooklyn postal employee who is best friends with her co-worker Meg (Kavner); Sarah Downey, a quintessential yuppie married to attorney Greg (Castellaneta); Kay Clark, an English office worker and caregiver to her sick mother (Kay also appeared frequently in Tracey Takes On...); Sandra Decker, an aged Hollywood movie actress; Kiki Howard-Smith, an Australian professional golfer; Summer Storm, a Los Angeles disc jockey; and Angel Tish, a singer who appeared with her husband Marty (Castellaneta).

Among the recurring characters portrayed by other cast members, besides those previously mentioned, were Gulliver Dark (McMurray), singer and rival to Marty Tish, and Dr. Alexander Gibson (Castellaneta), a psychiatrist.

In the course of its four season run, Ullman performed a total of 108 characters.

Episodes

Animated segments

The Simpsons

The Simpson family debuted in short animated cartoons on The Tracey Ullman Show for three seasons before being spun off into their own half-hour series. These shorts, also called "bumpers", aired before and after commercial breaks during the first and second seasons of the show. They eventually had their own full segments in between the live action segments during season three. They did not appear in the fourth and final season, as they had their own half-hour TV series by then.

All of them were written by Matt Groening and animated at Klasky-Csupo by a team of animators consisting of David Silverman, Wes Archer, and Bill Kopp. Tracey Ullman Show cast members Dan Castellaneta and Julie Kavner provide the voices of Homer Simpson and Marge Simpson respectively. In the beginning, the drawings appeared very crude because the animators were more or less just tracing over Groening's storyboards, but as the series developed, so did the designs and layouts of the characters and the "Simpsons drawing style" was ultimately conceived. This style evolved even more throughout the first few seasons of The Simpsons and was used more than a decade later on Futurama, another animated series created by Matt Groening.

Dr. N!Godatu

Dr. N!Godatu was another series of animated shorts created by M.K. Brown (and animated by the same Klasky-Csupo team). It originally alternated every other week with the Simpsons shorts, but was dropped after the first season of the show. By this point, Groening's shorts had gained much more popularity and the producers saw no reason to continue Brown's shorts. The character was voiced by Julie Payne.

Awards

The show won three Emmy Awards: for Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Program in 1989 and 1990, for Outstanding Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program in 1990. Also in 1989, choreographer Paula Abdul won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Choreography for her work. Abdul was noted for putting Ullman through strenuous choreographed routines. Ullman had been a trained dancer.

Credits

Cast

• Tracey Ullman (Seasons 1"4)
• Dan Castellaneta (Seasons 1"4)
• Julie Kavner (Seasons 1"4)
• Sam McMurray (Seasons 2"4)
• Joseph Malone (Seasons 2"4)
• Anna Levine (Season 3)

Guest stars

• Judith Barsi " Karen (2 episodes, 1987"1988)
• Mel Brooks " Buzz Schlanger, a movie director (1 episode, 1990)
• Clarence Clemons " member of Shopaholics Anonymous (1 episode, 1989)
• Glenn Close " Virginia Winslow (1 episode, 1990)
• Robert Costanzo " Big Tony Manetti (2 episodes, 1989"1990)
• Tim Curry " Ian Miles, rock star (1 episode, 1989)
• Anne De Salvo " psychiatric patient (2 episodes, 1989)
• Fran Drescher " sales clerk (1 episode, 1990)
• Kelsey Grammer " (1 episode, 1990)
• Doris Grau " Carla, office worker (3 episodes, 1988"1989)
• Marilu Henner " one of three expectant mothers (1 episode, 1989)
• Carole King " member of Shopaholics Anonymous (1 episode, 1989)
• Cheech Marin " a convenience store owner (1 episode, 1987)
• Andrea Martin " a psychiatrist (1 episode, 1989)
• Steve Martin " choreographer who has developed some ridiculous moves (1 episode, 1987)
• Maureen McGovern " a woman who can only sing in the car (1 episode, 1987)
• Harvey Miller " Fuzzy Bear (2 episodes, 1987"1988)
• Matthew Perry " (1 episode, 1987)
• Billy Preston " member of Shopaholics Anonymous (1 episode, 1989)
• Bill Pullman " a magazine writer (1 episode, 1990)
• Keanu Reeves " a suitor (1 episode, 1989)
• Cesar Romero " Roland Diego (1 episode, 1988)
• Isabella Rossellini " Mae (3 episodes, 1989"1990)
• Martin Short " Doc the Elvis Presley freak (2 episodes, 1989"1990)
• Steven Spielberg " himself (1 episode, 1989)
• Harold Sylvester " David Black (2 episodes, 1988"1989)
• Betty Thomas " gym teacher (1 episode, 1989)
• Michael Tucker " a Baltimore resident (1 episode, 1989)
• Stuart Margolin " husband (3 episodes, 1987)

Series directors

• Ted Bessell (unknown episodes)
• Paul Flaherty (one episode, 1987)
• Art Wolff (unknown episodes)

Series writers

• Kim Fuller (unknown episodes)
• Jeff Baron (unknown episodes)
• Dan Castellaneta (unknown episodes)
• Paul Flaherty (13 episodes, 1987)
• Marc Flanagan (unknown episodes)
• Susan Gauthier (unknown episodes)
• Paul Haggis (unknown episodes)
• Sue Herring (unknown episodes)
• Holly Holmberg Brooks (unknown episodes)
• David Isaacs (unknown episodes)
• Ken Levine (unknown episodes)
• Heide Perlman (unknown episodes)
• Michael Sardo (2 episodes, 1989)
• Guy Shulman (unknown episodes)
• Sam Simon (unknown episodes)

Syndication

Re-runs appeared on Comedy Central and the Lifetime TV cable network throughout the mid and late 1990s in the United States.