The Tracey Ullman Show is an American television sketch comedy variety show starring Tracey Ullman. It debuted on Fox on April 5, 1987, as the network's second original primetime series, following Married... with Children, and ran for four seasons and 81 episodes until May 26, 1990. It was produced by Gracie Films in association with 20th Century Fox Television. The show blends sketch comedy with musical numbers and dance routines, choreographed by Paula Abdul, along with animated shorts. The show was conceived by executive producer James L. Brooks. Brooks was determined to come up with a format that best suited his multitalented star. He likened the show to producing three television pilots a week.

The show produced a series of shorts featuring the Simpson family, which were later spun off into the longest-running American scripted primetime television series, The Simpsons. The Tracey Ullman Show was the first Fox primetime show to win an Emmy Award, winning a total of ten over the course of its run. Ullman was the first British woman to be offered her own television sketch show in the United States.

Rolling Stone ranked The Tracey Ullman Show as the 25th-best sketch comedy show in its "40 Greatest Sketch-Comedy TV Shows of All Time" list.

Premise Tracey Ullman plays an array of original comedic characters alongside her supporting cast in multiple sketches. The show also features musical performances, dance numbers, and animated segments.

Cast and crew Cast

Tracey Ullman Julie Kavner Dan Castellaneta Sam McMurray Joseph Malone Anna Levine (Season 3)

Voice acting Nancy Cartwright (The Simpsons, Seasons 1–3) Julie Payne (Dr. N!Godatu, Season 1) Yeardley Smith (The Simpsons, Seasons 1–3)

Directors Ted Bessell Stuart Margolin Penny Marshall Sam Simon Art Wolff

Writers

Jeff Baron Manny Basanese Jerry Belson Tony Berg Dick Blasucci Rob Bragin Holly Holmberg Brooks James L. Brooks Dan Castellaneta Cameron Crowe Ken Estin Paul Flaherty Marc Flanagan Kim Fuller Susan Gauthier Howard Gewirtz Matt Groening (The Simpsons shorts only) Paul Haggis Craig Heller Susan Herring David Isaacs James P. Kocot Jay Kogen Debra Korbel Deb Lacusta Jane Lancellotti Michael Leeson Ken Levine Joseph Malone Harvey Miller Marilyn Suzanne Miller David Mirkin Heide Perlman Ian Praiser Lisa-Maria Radano Michael Sardo Richard Sakai J.C. Scott Mike Short Guy Shulman Sam Simon Doug Steckler Miriam Trogdon Tracey Ullman Ellis Weiner Michael J. Weithorn Wallace Wolodarsky

Guest stars

Paula Abdul Judith Barsi Mel Brooks Michael Cerveris George Clinton Clarence Clemons Glenn Close Tim Curry Fran Drescher Doris Grau Kelsey Grammer Matt Groening Marilu Henner Carole King Cheech Marin Andrea Martin Kellie Martin Steve Martin Maureen McGovern Frank Patterson Matthew Perry Jim Piddock Billy Preston Bill Pullman Keanu Reeves Cesar Romero Isabella Rossellini Nick Rutherford Martin Short Steven Spielberg Betty Thomas Michael Tucker

Episodes

Background and development

British actress, comedian, singer, and former dancer Tracey Ullman was encouraged to break into American television by her husband, British television producer Allan McKeown. McKeown was looking to station himself in the United States. Ullman, who was a household name in her native Britain, had already made the rounds in the United States promoting her film and music careers in the early to mid-1980s. Unlike British audiences, Americans were unaware of her comedy background, aside from her humorous appearances on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson and Late Night with David Letterman. She already had three successful British comedy shows under her belt, garnering numerous awards and accolades. "I didn't believe there was anything above Webster standard [in America]. I was wrong." Her British agent put together a compilation tape of her work and began circulating it around Hollywood. It landed in the lap of Craig Kellem, vice president of comedy at Universal Television. "I could not believe my eyes. It was just about the most extraordinary piece of material I'd seen in a long time." He wanted production on a series to begin immediately for her. Saturday Night Live scribe and creator of CBS's Square Pegs, Anne Beatts, was hired to write the pilot. While Universal liked the script, Ullman disliked the changes that senior executives wanted to make. Recalling the project: "We'd just hit on an idea, then some white-haired executive – very, very important – would come in from the racetrack and say, 'I don't like that idea. I think Tracey should be a caring person. I think there should be a kid in this. Now, I'm just pitching here. I don't know if this is funny. But I think Tracey should love this kid and maybe there's a moment where she tells the kid something about life.' And I'd say, 'Look – I don't want to work with little kids being cute who I eventually adopt.'"

Ullman's new agent, Martha Luttrell, sent her tape to James L. Brooks, who had a deal at Fox. Fox, dubbed America's "fourth network", was looking to create its own brand of original primetime programming. Brooks watched the tape in astonishment. "I saw original talent, and how often does that happen to you?" "I started showing [her work] to people like you'd show home movies." "I was just startled by the size of the talent. I got chills." Ullman explained her situation at CBS to him and revealed that she was pregnant. Brooks convinced her to exit the deal, promising that once she had the baby, they would develop a show together. He felt a variety show was the best—and most obvious—format for her. "Why would you do something with Tracey playing a single character on TV when her talent requires variety? You can't categorize Tracey, so it's silly to come up with a show that attempted to," stated Brooks. "Variety hadn't been done for some time and we wanted to do a show that would allow me to do the things I like to do and can do," said Ullman in 1987.

To ensure that she was well-versed in American comedy, Brooks began sending her tapes of American sitcoms and variety shows to watch and study. Ullman also began visiting and spending time at the Museum of Television & Radio.

"After I made Plenty, I thought it was sad that everyone left London to go home to Hollywood. Thought I'd join 'em. [...] I thought of myself as a Peter Sellers-type. No one does American accents better than him. Look at Dr. Strangelove and Lolita." As one critic noted, Sellers had American director Stanley Kubrick as his visionary and Ullman would get American television and film director James L. Brooks, the man behind such hit television shows as The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Taxi, and Rhoda, as well as the films Terms of Endearment and Broadcast News. "I came to America in 1985 and James made me stay. If I had a mentor like him in Great Britain, I would've stayed there."

The key to getting Ullman ready for primetime was "assembling the right people," according to Brooks. He, along with co-executive producers Jerry Belson, Ken Estin, and Heide Perlman, went on a retreat in Northern California to brainstorm the show’s direction. "We wanted to tell a story, to be involved in character. We did not want to do spoofs or takeoffs. You define a show by what you don't want to do as well as by what you do. We rushed on the air and have been finding the show while we're on the air. You lose a lot of sleep that way, but it's great. Now, we have five or six characters that we repeat from time to time, and new ones are candidates for repetition." When it came to Fox, Brooks stated, "It was helpful for us to do the show without any preconceived context. Not only were we new, but so was Fox. There was no notion of something to fit into." Fox was reportedly backing the show with nearly million per broadcast.⁠ The series landed an initial 26-episode commitment, a deal unheard of for a television comedy; Fox then ordered a further 30 episodes in October 1987. Describing the show proved difficult; creator Ken Estin dubbed it a "skitcom".

A wide array of original and diverse characters was created for Ullman to portray. Extensive makeup, wigs, prosthetic teeth, and body padding were used, sometimes rendering her completely unrecognizable. One original character, created by Ullman back in England, was uprooted for the show: the long-suffering British spinster, Kay Clark. Kay was based on a real woman who worked at a bank in the Midlands; Ullman kept in touch with her over the phone long after moving from Britain to the United States. "Kay" would ask her questions about Hollywood, and Ullman began mimicking the voice she heard on the other end of the line to her dog. Ullman had been obsessed with the concept of spinsters since childhood. Despite their frequent chats, she never actually saw the real "Kay" and preferred to imagine what she looked like.

The Tracey Ullman Show'''s costume designer, Jane Ruhm, suggested a drooping bust and cellulite-covered hips for the character. Ruhm even created a costume complete with "hydraulic pistons" to achieve the desired effect. "Tracey is really, really interested in what her characters look like," Ruhm revealed. "She is constantly collecting pictures of people and coming to me saying, 'I want to do a character dressed like this!' I file that in my memory, and then when we get a script, I'll ask, 'That character you wanted to do—can we use it for this?' She'll say, 'Yeah!' and off we go." Reflecting on the character's success, Ullman remarked, "It's a real thrill to me that someone like Kay can be famous in America."

For other characters, Ullman drew inspiration from people she knew personally or celebrities she had observed and encountered. "I based one character on Maggie Smith, which the script supervisor suggested. I remember her in California Suite saying, 'Well, I don't care if I didn't win the fucking Oscar.' It sounded good. It made me laugh, and then I felt that I could do the character."

Ullman based the character Francesca on a neighbor—an awkward teenage girl who would visit her in the kitchen and stand sheepishly in the corner. "I wanted to portray painful adolescence, but not an adolescent that was spoiled," Ullman explained. "I'd seen so many that were just, 'Like, I really want to go to the movies, and you're totally stupid.' I didn't want to play a horrible kid."

Ullman believed in evolving her characters so they did not stagnate. "You have to advance the characters ... you have to find new situations for them," she noted. "They have to do something, or say something, or grow as people. And they have to be unusual." Much like Kay, another character created and performed by Ullman—first for the British series Three of a Kind and later for The Tracey Ullman Show—was the impoverished housewife Betty Tomlinson.

The producers decided to incorporate animated segments after struggling to find a cohesive way to transition between sketches. Initially, they considered using talking animals—specifically a bear. "I don’t know why we were so into a bear. Nobody was in love with the idea, but we just couldn’t think of how else to do it," explained Ken Estin. "In most variety shows, the sketches were so short that transitions weren't a concern. Nobody had ever really done this before."

The turning point came when Richard Sakai gave Estin a drawing from Matt Groening's Life in Hell. Estin recalled, "It was very different. It was smart, unusual, and drawn poorly, which I thought added to the charm. I asked, 'What if we have this guy do little cartoons between the scenes? Is that possible? Does anybody like that idea?' They all liked it. That is how Matt became our guy."