Tracey Takes On...

This series is destined to become a classic. It is outstanding in every way. The writing has intelligence and true insight. It's loaded with witty references to the American Pop Culture wasteland and to the broken dreams at the bottom of the Hollywood foodchain. The performances, especially Ullman's, are flawless. An exceptional supporting cast. Only HBO and British television can produce comedy of this calibre.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

A charming blend of old favorites (Kay), new faces (Linda Granger, Ruby Romaine), strong guest stars, and inventive sketches. My favorites were Ruby and Linda, but I loved nearly every single one. A truly entertaining and wildly creative series, and a superb showcase for Tracey.

Remember back in the mid to late 90's at times in my college dorm room when nothing was on I from time to time to get a good laugh and to see a spin and take on current pop culture would tune into this "HBO" variety show "Tracey Takes On". The parody and skits and comedy of acting featured Ullman was spot on as her performances looked at current times of culture and fashion. Plus the song played at the end credits are fine as the tune "They Don't Know About Us" was a hit in the 80's.

"Tracey takes on" is a sketch comedy show on HBO, and each episode finds Tracey Ullman in a well-done disguise (ala Eddie Murphy in Coming To America), making fun of some minority group or whatever. It's a shame, however, that Tracey's talents lie not the least bit with comedy, for the show totally sucks, and sucks hard. Each "character" she portrays is a racist sterotype (the Black "homegirl" airport clerk, the Korean grocery store owner, the Jewish "yenta", the Arab taxi driver, etc...), and they aren't even clever parodies- she just kills the viewer slowly and painfully by acting how she thinks these people must act- black people speaking hardcore jive and the like. The skits themselves aren't the least bit funny, unless you maybe beat yourself senseless over the head with a dead skunk for about an hour or two, and THEN only maybe. What I want to know is who the hell's been signing the checks for this show? Do they really look at this mess and say, "Damn, that's quality entertainment! Next let's make a Cool As Ice series! Call Vanilla Ice, quick!" Anyway, in case you couldn't tell by my rant, Tracey Takes On is horrible and must be cancelled instantly, with all copies of previous episodes destroyed by a great big bonfire that I personally will dance around. Humanity will only prosper.

This is one of the funniest shows on TV!! Tracey Ulmann plays a variety of different characters and each week it's given a different theme such a Tracey takes on... fashion, death, age, music, change ...etc... My favourite character is Linda Granger but I love them all. Tracey is amazingly transformed into each character - sometimes you have to check the credits/ Tracey Takes On home page to see if it actually was her - eg. the NYC cab driver. Watch it whenever you get a chance - it's not the type of thing that you love the first time it visits but i becomes the type of thing that you love and pine for the next series!!! Unmissable.