The Trouble with Tracy

O.K, it sucked big time , but I learned english watching this show and Dyan Nyland was indeed a hot babe! I don't think this show was as bad as say,"Mork And Mindy" or "Laverne And Shirley" but it stands alone as the worst Canada has ever made.

For years I remember reading about this show "Trouble With Tracy" in the TV Guide. CFTO-TV Toronto every Saturday morning at 6 am! I lived about a two-hour drive north of Toronto and we couldn't get CFTO, but you know how it is - we always want what we can't have.

Well, I knew what I wanted and what I wanted was to see what this "Trouble With Tracy" was all about. Did it have a beautiful girl in the starring role? Was there nudity? Was there suspense? Was it a comedy? It would've been fine if there was some promotion of the show. At least I could've known what I was missing. But, NO! The mystery drove me bonkers, until CTV affiliate CKCO built a re-transmitter in Wiarton, Ontario and began to broadcast "Trouble With Tracy" at the same time as CFTO....Saturday mornings at 6 am!! One Saturday morning I got up and turned the TV on at 5:59 and at last I got to see what "The Trouble With Tracy" was. Yes, the "Trouble With Tracy" was that it was Canadian content and stuck in the harmless 6 am spot so no one would ever see how awful it was.

Talented Canadian Actor Steve Weston died a few years afterward, but many would argue he effectively "died" the first time he appeared on this show. When I saw it for the first time that cold Saturday morning and fell despondent back into my bed, part of me died, too.

To be Canadian seems to mean cutting up Canadian humour. But this show wasn't meant to play to adults (even if some of the lines were to hip for the room). It played in Toronto around 4 pm ! This was meant for teen-aged boys to ogle. And putting the American flag in most of the scene so that it would be picked up for syndication was brilliant.

Oh, sure it was hokey. Sure there were blunders. But it was FUN. Theatre Sports (Improv) at Queens Quay would follow in future years. Anyone taking this as serious missed the point. Heck - they probably hated Razzle Dazzle as well! If the analogy helps - you can have your NFL, but Trouble with Tracy was pure CFL!

Reverse American Plot? I received an email that put forth the theory: "By putting in an American flag and references, this show made Americans look stupid - And thus began (?) Canadian hatred for all Americans"

I'm finding it very hard to rate this show... on the one hand I remember watching it and cringing at how bad the production was. The sets were so cheap and the acting was so over the top and the writing was so amateur level... but on the other hand the people on the show were doing some badly written characters so it must have been hard to act as them, and they (especially Tracy) were so likable and fun to watch... and I remember that when I watched the show I also laughed a lot. It's like cringe comedy before The Office but where the cringing wasn't actually intentional. So it was a very bad show but unintentionally good in a way.

Anyway I look back at it and remember it was awful but I also look back at it and really love it in a way. So it's hard to rate!

This show was shot at the Agincourt CFTO studio of CTV. I was then a teenager (Bill Gregory Terlecki), and waiting around to sit in for extra work on a neighboring set of FAMOUS JURY TRIALS. With time to kill, I wandered over to the TRACY set to admire this fascinating process.Things halted when the scene called for ice cubes in a glass of scotch, but of course, none were to be found. I said to one of the production people to crumple up some cellophane wrap and jam that in and pour the liquid over it...not only would the lights pick up the refraction, but the "cubes" would not melt and the effect would be lasting. They did this, and it seemed to work as the show went on. I mention this as that memory stayed with me that the crew of both shows were very kind and appreciative to me at that wide-eyed age, and as my very first venture into TV, it was an honor that my suggestion was used. This show played late afternoons, and yes, it was always the same set, no outdoor scenes, but it was Canadian and well...gave work to many for a short time. It gave me the impetus to act.