The Tracey Ullman Show

The Tracey Ullman Show logo

The Tracey Ullman Show was a weekly American television variety show, hosted by British comedian and onetime pop singer Tracey Ullman. It debuted on April 5, 1987 as the FOX network's second primetime series and ran until May 26, 1990. The show featured sketch comedy along with many musical numbers, featuring Emmy Award-winning choreography by Paula Abdul. It's nowadays best remembered for its animated bumpers before and after commercial breaks, which marked the debut of The Simpsons.

The Simpsons

The Simpsons as they originally appeared on The Tracey Ullman Show

The Simpsons first appeared as short vignettes on The Tracey Ullman Show. These cartoon shorts acted as bumpers that are shown before and after commercials. The shorts were written by Matt Groening and animated at Klasky-Csupo by a team consisting of David Silverman, Bill Kopp and Wes Archer (in the later seasons, the shorts were animated by Silverman and Archer) Dan Castellanata, Nancy Cartwright, Yeardley Smith and Julie Kavner provided the voices of characters Homer, Bart, Lisa and Marge.

The characters were crudely drawn because Matt Groening assumed that the animators would clean them up after he submitted the rough sketches them. Instead, the animators simply traced over the sketches.

The first short, Good Night, was aired on April 19, 1987. Through Season 1 of the show, the shorts alternated with another animated bumper, "Dr. N!Godatu" (which some cast members also voiced characters in), then becoming the sole animated bumper for Season 2. Later, the shorts were given their own segment on the show before the cartoon was developed into a 30 minutes TV animated spin-off in 1989. The Tracey Ullman Show continued with Season 4, without the Simpsons, before being cancelled in 1990.

One unseen short that was going to be part of the short Season 4 was storyboarded in June 1989, because the producers thought the shorts were going to continue. It appears that in the short Bart watches a scary sci-fi movie late at night and has a bad dream when he goes to bed.

Cast

• Tracey Ullman - Various Characters
• Sam McMurray - Himself/Various Characters
• Anna Levine - Herself/Various Characters
• Dan Castellaneta - Himself/Homer Simpson/Various Characters
• Julie Kavner - Herself/Marge Simpson/Various Characters
• Nancy Cartwright - Bart Simpson
• Yeardley Smith - Lisa Simpson

References to The Tracy Ullman Show on The Simpsons

Episodes

Picture Season Episode number Episode name Reference 1 10 "Homer's Night Out" The character Gulliver Dark appears, who appeared in several live-action sketches on The Tracey Ullman Show. 7 129 "Who Shot Mr. Burns? (Part Two)" Gulliver Dark re-appears as part of Tito Puente's band, but is not voiced by Sam McMurray. 138 "The Simpsons 138th Episode Spectacular" Several shorts are played partially or fully: "Good Night", "The Perfect Crime", "Space Patrol", "World War III", and "Bathtime". Additionally, a portrait comparing the Ullman and modern Simpsons is shown. 9 181 "Lisa's Sax" Tracey Ullman is mentioned by Homer when explaining the origin of Lisa's saxophone. 11 227 "Beyond Blunderdome" The couch gag features the Ullman Simpsons, which also appears in "Days of Wine and D'oh'ses". 13 286 "Gump Roast" "They'll Never Stop the Simpsons" mentions the Ullman shorts in its lyrics. 14 292 "Treehouse of Horror XIII" In the 'Send in the Clones' segment, one of Homer's clones is the Ullman version of him, who says his catchphrase "Let's all go out for some frosty chocolate milkshakes!". 17 371 "Homer Simpson, This Is Your Wife" Homer meets Dan Castellaneta at the Fox lot, where a tour guide refers to him as a star of The Tracey Ullman Show. 18 394 "Homerazzi" Among the family photos being recreated is a '1987 Party', with the Ullman versions of Homer, Lisa, and Bart. 20 400 "You Kent Always Say What You Want" The Family Portrait short is played instead of the couch gag. 24 511 "Adventures in Baby-Getting" Corpses of the Ullman Simpsons are found below the leaky faucet. 26 553 "Clown in the Dumps" In the couch gag, Homer rewinds to April 19, 1987, and transforms into his Ullman form. 556 "Treehouse of Horror XXV" In the 'The Others' section, the old Simpsons appear as ghosts. The section ends with a reference to the short Family Portrait. 27 575 "Every Man's Dream" The Ullman Simpsons (in black suits) appear in the The Yellow Album parody cover in the couch gag. 581 "Lisa with an "S"" The Ullman Simpsons appear in the title screen. 28 616 "Looking for Mr. Goodbart" Rock-a-bye Baby is played in the opening sequence, and the logo of the show appears in the Couch gag. 29 623 "Grampy Can Ya Hear Me" The Title screen gag contains Ullman Homer and Bart ghosts. 635 "Lisa Gets the Blues" Part of "The Aquarium" is shown before the title screen. 639 "Flanders' Ladder" Homer and Marge dig up an old VHS of The Tracey Ullman Show, and Homer imitates his voice then. 30 647 "Krusty the Clown" Among the TV shows mentioned on the scrolling list is The Tracey Ullman Show. 33 715 "Mothers and Other Strangers" In Homer's dream, Ullman Homer trips and falls, then exclaims "D'oh!".

Other

Picture Appearance Reference The Yellow Album The old Simpsons appear on the album cover.

Common cast and crew

Cast

Picture Name Role in The Tracey Ullman Show Role on The Simpsons Tracey Ullman Main presenter, actress and comedian Voiced Sylvia Winfield and Emily Winthrop in "Bart's Dog Gets an "F"".

External links

• The Tracey Ullman Show at Wikipedia

References

Cultural references

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