The Tracey Ullman Show is an American television variety show, hosted by British-born actress and onetime pop singer Tracey Ullman. It debuted on April 5, 1987 as the Fox network's second primetime series after Married... with Children (1987–1997), and ran until May 26, 1990. The show is produced by Gracie Films and 20th Century Fox Television. 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, which was also produced by Gracie Films and 20th Century Fox Television.
WritersJames L. Brooks, Heide Perlman, Jerry Belson, Dick Blasucci, Ken Estin, Marc Flanagan
4W02
Apr 5, 1987
THE MAKEOVER: Virginia Hall (Tracey Ullman) undergoes cosmetic surgery to meet her pen pal boyfriend when he gets out of prison. DANIEL ROSEN does a juggling act with bowling ball pins. HIGH HOPES; A couple (Julie Kavner and Dan Castellaneta) decides to open up their own restaurant, until an angel named ""The Dreambuster"" pays a visit. THE AUDITION; Angela Tanner (Tracey Ullman) auditions for a singing position and must perform for a live audience to qualify. DR. N!GODATU; Dr. N!godatu wore her pink slippers to work; not to worry, since she keeps a pair of pumps in a drawer for just such an emergency - but the drawer is filled with pink slippers.
4W03
Apr 12, 1987
THE LETTER; Justine (Tracey Ullman), returning home from a failing marriage, pays a visit to Brian (Dan Castellaneta), her old high school boyfriend. JAMEY TURNER does an unusual recreation of ""Ode to Joy"" with the rims of drinking glasses filled with water. QUALITY TIME; Sara and Greg Downey, (Tracey Ullman and Dan Castellaneta) L.A. yuppies, try to squeeze in time with their 3-year-old son, Max, after a long day's work. DAVID MEETS THE FOLKS; Carla Cooper (Tracey Ullman) is reluctant to introduce David, her new American boyfriend, to her parents because he is a stripper. BLIND DATE; Dr. N!godatu has a dream date with Bill Wallhead who's also a surgeon; unfortunately, he's also someone who likes to talk about himself too much.
4W04
Apr 19, 1987
LOTTERY; In 1967, Nancy Wickson (Tracey Ullman) is reluctant to share a winning $16 million lottery ticket with her college roommate Barbara (Julie Kavner). 20 years later, a wealthy Nancy returns to ask poor Barbara to reconciliate. AMBULANCE PICK UP; Lynette (Tracey Ullman), an English ambulance paramedic, tries to fend off the come-ons of Roger (Dan Castellaneta), a car crash victim. GIRL ON A LEDGE; Lt. Kelly (Joe Malone), a dancer/policeman, tries to get suicidal Mary (Tracey Ullman) off a ledge over Times Square. GOOD NIGHT; Homer and Marge say ""good night"" to their kids - but Bart wants to know how tangible the mind is, Lisa is afraid of being bitten by bedbugs, and Maggie takes ""Rock-A-Bye Baby"" too literally.
4W01
Apr 26, 1987
LIKE MOTHER; Susan (Tracey Ullman) hates her nagging eccentric mother (Julie Kavner) until one night, she starts to physically turn into her. SPONTANEITY; A couple (Julie Kavner and Dan Castellaneta) argue over not being spontaneous because they sit every Sunday night in front of the TV. ANSWERING MACHINE; Soft-spoken Donna (Tracey Ullman) decides to improve her message on her answering machine with a little music flavor. FREEWAY; Dr. N!Godatu goes out for a drive with her friend Pat (voice of Nancy Cartwright), but they detour onto Pat's worst nightmare, the freeway.
4W06
May 3, 1987
COMEDIAN; Molly Reed (Tracey Ullman) is a Southern Belle who takes offense to her new boyfriend Rick Field, a comedian who uses offensive material regarding marriage in his nightclub act. KAY AND THE CO-WORKER; Kay Clark (Tracey Ullman), a frumpy, overweight English spinster with a dreary office job, meets a new co-worker (Joe Malone) whom she distrusts. THE RIGHT GUY; Songwriter Ira is reluctant to open his love to Bunny (Tracey Ullman), the unsure-of-herself girl of his dreams, when she comes into his apartment one night after being stood up by her boyfriend. WATCHING TELEVISION; Bart and Lisa Simpson fight over what to watch on the TV.
4W07
May 10, 1987
KAY ON VACATION; Kay goes away for a week to a Caribbean resort and meets lots of eccentric people that include her oversexed roommate Cindy (Julie Kavner), and a loser tourist friend Barry (Dan Castellaneta). THE SESSION; Psychiatrist Dr. Alexander Gibson (Dan Castellaneta) has a heart attack in his office during a session with Brenda King (Tracey Ullman), an incredibly dumb, nymphomaniac woman. CLOSE TO YOU; A schmaltzy nightclub singer (Tracey Ullman) opens up her rage about her departed boyfriend to the audience during a show. BART JUMPS; Homer tries to persuade Bart to jump off a table and into his arms. But Bart ends up falling onto the floor, several times.
4W26
May 17, 1987
FRANCESCA - A Girl's Life; Francesca McDowell (Tracey Ullman), a giggly-gangly New York teen living with her gay father, Dave (Dan Castellaneta), and his lover, William (Sam McMurry), goes out on her first date with Martin, a boy. HAPPY LADY; A cheerful British hospital patient (Tracey Ullman) causes misery for another lady (Julie Kavner) in pain from a car wreck. VIVE LA DIFFERENT; Carmel Pinkum (Tracey Ullman), a prissy Southern booster for ""People With Positivity,"" auditions for the lead singer with a punk rock band, despite the differences between them. FISH TANK; A cold-stricken Dr. N!Godatu's fish are doing strange things, which is nothing compared to what the two repairmen (voice of Dan Castellaneta) are doing trying to fix it.
4W08
May 31, 1987
TRAPEZE; Two Russian trapeze performers called ""The Flying Asternovishes,"" the oversexed Maja (Tracey Ullman) and the plain Anika (Julie Kavner), try to put aside their personal conflicts during a circus performance. SMALLS' TALK; Cynical radio talk show psychiatrist, Dr. Jillian Smalls (Tracey Ullman), ignores all serious calls on her show leaving her call screener Marcy (Julie Kavner), to deal with all of them. LAST CHANCE COMMERCIAL; Sandra Decker (Tracey Ullman), a 70-ish, bitter, over-the-hill Hollywood movie actress that doesn't own a car, gets a chance to come back into the spotlight with a frozen soup commercial. BABYSITTING MAGGIE; Left alone to babysit Maggie, Bart and Lisa watch TV while Maggie chases a butterfly on the roof.
4W09
Jun 14, 1987
MEG AND TINA IN AUGUST; Meg and Tina (Julie Kavner and Tracey Ullman), two U.S. postal workers in Queens, New York City, grow hostile to each other when the tarty Tina seems to have all the luck with the guys. PRE-SCHOOL; Sara and Greg try to get their son Max accepted in a certain pre-school. KIKI HOWARD-SMITH SINGS; Kiki Howard-Smith (Tracey Ullman), a perky Australian golf player, does a music video singing her version of ""Golf"". THE DREAM; Dr. N!Godatu tells about a strange dream she had about meeting the man of her dreams: Bill Wallhead.
4W10
Jun 21, 1987
ARIEL'S COMEBACK; Ariel Faber (Tracey Ullman), an anorexic, formerly bisexual folk singer and ex-junkie, tries a comeback into the public eye and captures the attention of Duane Mason (Sam McMurray), a fireman who proposes marriage in exchange for her to give up her singing career. DANCE CHALLENGE; On a sing-and-dance contest show, the flashy Latino dancer Blanca Valaday (Tracey Ullman), faces a real challenge when she tries to do her dance routine knowing that she is not wearing underwear under her dress. SIR; A callous Englishwoman (Tracey Ullman) tries to become friendly with her long-time restaurant waiter (Dan Castellaneta) during his last day on the job. THE PACIFIER; Bart and Lisa try to make Maggie stop sucking her pacifier, but they can't take it away (she has a drawer full of them), can't play ""keep away"" with it (she bites Bart), and can't even put hot sauce on it (Maggie just adds more).
4W25
Jun 28, 1987
BREAKFAST; A middle aged couple (Julie Kavner and Mort Parker) comes face-to-face with the facts about their long lost love for each other during a usual breakfast morning. CRISIS ON ELM DRIVE; After the nanny phones to say she's not available, Sara and Greg reluctantly decide to spend the whole weekend with Max. MEG AND TINA GET PIZZA; While Meg goes into a restaurant to pick up a pizza, Tina waits outside and has a dance fling with a stranger while his friend robs the convenience store next door. BURP CONTEST; Marge tries to tell Bart and Lisa to stop a burp contest they are having.
4W11
Jul 12, 1987
FRANCESCA'S CHOICE; Francesca must decide whether or not to mention her father's homosexually in a paper about her life story for her school. GOTTA DANCE; Dr. Gibson tires to make Don (Joe Malone), a professional dancer, open up his feelings by playing music to make him dance. SCANDAL; A senior parliament member (Dan Castellaneta) tries to persuade the press and his disbelieving wife (Tracey Ullman) that his alleged affair with a hooker is not true. EATING DINNER; The Simpsons have dinner where their sloppy eating habits are revealed.
4W12
Jul 19, 1987
KAY'S HAPPY HOUR; Kay, fed up with the office staff constantly playing practical jokes on her, quits her job and spends time in a bar listing to the facts of life from the barman (Joe Malone) and a fellow patron (Julie Kavner). CLICK; A couch potato (Sam McMurray) does not care about the boy his teenage daughter is going out with. WHAT I DID FOR LOVE; A mother and daughter singing duo (Maureen McGovern and Tracey Ullman) sings about the times they had together during a ride home from another failed audition. SCANNER; Dr. N!Godtau displays a brain scanner that shows what her patients have on their minds. (Last Dr. N!Godtau short)
