12/30/97 - Happy Birthday Tracey! Tracey is getting in gear for a big launch to the third season of "Tracey Takes On..." which premieres in the US this Sunday, January 4th on HBO. She will be appearing on The Tonight Show, January 8th, The Today Show & Rosie O'Donnell January 12th and Regis and Kathie Lee on January 13th. I often wonder if Tracey based her character Birdie Godsen on Kathie Lee Gifford. I still get a kick out of the time Tracey said to Kathie Lee something to the effect that one day their children are going to write a nasty tell all book about their mothers for talking about their children too much on TV. If you could have seen the deadpan on Kathie Lee's face you would have been in hysterics! Tracey will also be making book and video signing appearances in New York City, Washington DC, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle during the month of January. Be sure to check out the new "HBO Tracey Takes On... site" with fun quizzes and an irreverently profane Chic page! And Tracey's taking on a new character named "Sheneesha" who is highly reminiscent of her "Carol" from "The Subway" sketch on "The Tracey Ullman Show". Wait till you get a load of the nails and hips on this sister! Roger Reini has nabbed a copy of "Tracey Takes On.... The Book". He gives it a 3 1/2 star review! And to top it all off Tracey has been immortalized by Al Hirschfeld. Is this the biggest PR whirlwind we've ever seen Tracey in? Anyhoo...

12/04/97 - After sweeping the Cable Ace awards in 1996, "Tracey Takes On..." went home empty handed in 1997. But the show wasn't a total loss. We did get to see Tracey pair up with Carol Burnett for a funny bit resulting in a hilarious shot of their bloomers! The book, "Tracey Takes On..." from Hyperion will be available imminently as will the videos of 6 episodes from the TV series. Word has it that Tracey will be coming up here to Canada in February for the British fair. I'll let you know if she takes me up on my invitation for afternoon tea! Anyhoo...

10/05/97 - Congratulations to "Tracey Takes On..." which garnered 4 Cable Ace nominations: 1. Variety Series or Special (against The Chris Rock Show, Mr. Show, Mr. Vegas [featured Drew Carey], and Viva Variety) 2. Actress in a Comedy Series (for Tracey -- against Amanda Bynes from "All That", Janeane Garofalo on "Larry Sanders", Kerri Kenney on "Viva Variety", and Sandra Oh on "Arliss") 3. Directing a Comedy Series (for the Vegas episode -- against 3 "Larry Sanders" episodes and one "Arliss" episode) 4. Makeup (against "George Wallace", "Outer Limits", "Snow White: A Tale of Terror", and "The Hunchback") Tracey was also recently quoted as saying she would like to be a Spice Girl. Apparently, she would like to be referred to as "Pre-menopausal Spice" Anyhoo...

09/14/97 - Yippee! "Tracey Takes On..." won 3 of its 8 nominated Emmy Awards. The final award handed out Sunday evening was for Outstanding Variety Comedy/Music Series. Tracey accepted the award in Spice Girls form with an energetic "Girl Power!" and thanked her children Johnny and Mabel for their love and understanding for dressing up as a Middle Eastern Taxi Driver. She even let Allan say a few words, "Thank You Very Much ". Anyhoo...

09/12/97 - Congratulations to Tracey on being honoured by The L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center with its Rand Schrader Distinguished Achievement Award for her honest and inclusive portrayals of lesbian and gay people. The award will be handed out to Tracey on November 22 at a Black Tie bash. "Tracey Takes On..." has already been lauded with 2 Emmys this past week for Costume Design and Makeup. Be sure to tune in this Sunday night to see if she picks up another 6! Anyhoo...

07/29/97 - In the trade papers today, it was announced that Tracey won't be pursuing a new TV deal with CBS or any other networks. Tracey and her husband Allan have decided to stick with "Tracey Takes On..." for HBO. As Allan said, "We just love owning the negatives.'' Anyhoo...

07/26/97 - Congratulations to "Tracey Takes On..." for their 8 EMMY NOMINATIONS! "Tracey Takes On.." received nominations for Art Direction(Takes On...Vegas), Costume Design, Directing, Hairystyling(Takes On...Childhood), Makeup(Takes On...Childhood), Writing, Tracey Ullman: Performance (Takes ON...Childhood) and Variety/Music Series. That's some accomplishment! Anyhoo...

07/18/97 - Apparently, Tracey is talking with Eyemark Entertainment about a possible variety show to be aired on CBS in 1998. Right now, Tracey is being considered from amongst two dozen others. Frankly, I think Tracey has found her home on HBO but a show like this would give her a wider audience. Keep your ears open next week. Emmy nominations are announced July 24th! Anyhoo...

06/25/97 - It's official! "Tracey Takes On..." has been renewed for another 10 episodes next season. Shooting starts this July. And, there will be TTO videos of previous episodes available this winter and a book next year. Tracey is also quoted in this weeks "Entertainment Weekly" responding to the question, "What kills creativity". She answered, "Political correctness. It drives me nuts. I try to be an equal opportunity offender." Anyhoo...

05/30/97 - Well, "Tracey Takes On..." is over for another season. No word as of yet, if the show has been picked up for a third year. Myla of "Meryl Streep Online" has informed me that there are some alternate video clips of Tracey from the "1976" episode of "Tracey Takes On..." at the Palace Picture Page in Quicktime. Anyhoo...

05/08/97 - There is a new Sounds page with Tracey interviews and characters, a chat about I Love You To Death on the Bio page, and more anecdotes on seeing "Elvis, The Musical" by Jason Earley. In other news, Tracey turned up last Thursday at the San Francisco Film Festival as a last minute replacement for Alan Bennett. She read from his memoirs as part of a special month long tribute to him and said that she agreed to do it because, ``Alan writes great parts for women, and I want him beholden to me.'' Let's cross our fingers. Anyhoo...

04/25/97 - Don't miss the new layout of the official "Tracey Takes On..." page. There are a lot of new additions including sound/video clips, latest news, and a storefront where you can purchase your favorite "Takes On" caps and t shirts. I was hoping I'd find one of those smarmy brown leather jackets that Chic wears or Linda Granger's book, "I'm Still Here". Is it in paperback yet? But a "chick magnet" t-shirt will do me just fine. hehehe. But best of all, "Tracey Takes On..." has been sold to Canada on CBC, New Zealand on TVNZ, Brazil on Globosat, Norway on NRK and Australia on ABC. Yippee! Anyhoo...

04/18/97 - Tracey was acknowledged by Entertainment Weekly as one of the top 50 comedians of today. Though, I was a little disgruntled not to see her in the Top 10, she at least placed directly in the middle at #25. Additionally, Jeff Gabry has informed me that Tracey will be doing a voiceover in a new ad for Marshall's department store. Click on the link to view it. It's kinda cute. For those of you who prefer the design of the old "Go Home" page over the new frames version, you can link to it here: "The Old Tracey Ullman 'Go Home' Page". To navigate the old way, you will have to use your back button to get to the table of contents instead of hitting the "Go Home!" link. Anyhoo...

04/11/97 - I hear Tracey can be seen in the latest InfoWorld promoting NEC notebooks. And another award! In the Chucklehead honor roll Tracey will receive the Golden Bathrobe Award and Elmer Award for Comedy next Monday from the Harvard Lampoon. Now does the bathrobe have anything to do with her trademark Tracey Ullman Show closing? I've been wondering where that bathrobe could be since Roger Reini brought the subject up recently. I'd like to see it in the Smithsonian, but I suppose my local Planet Hollywood here in Toronto will do. Check out Tracey's comments on "The Big Love" in Real Audio. Anyhoo....

04/02/97 - Be sure to try out some of the new sound bytes of Tracey's TV themes on the Television page including the much requested, "They Don't Know" in 14.4 and 28.8. The bytes are recorded in streaming Real Audio 28.8 but can be played using a 14.4 modem with a few dropouts. I will be adding a full sound bytes page soon with Tracey comments, characters and interviews so check back in the coming weeks. Anyhoo...

03/17/97 - Kay's response on being offered a beer by her new Vietnam Vet friend: "Ah no, I must get back to mother. I don't want to be drunk in charge of an enema." Congratulations to Tracey on her GLAAD media award for Best Individual Episode for the Midge and Chris "Tracey Takes On..."lesbian golfer sketch. For those interested, I've also written a comparative analysis of "The Tracey Ullman Show" and "Tracey Takes On..." Anyhoo...

03/07/97 - While discussing dialects on The Rosie O'Donnell show today, Meryl Streep paid a nice compliment to Tracey, "I have to pay attention to dialects. It's like auto mechanics. It's like something you put on. I'm not like Tracey Ullman who can just do it like this. (Meryl gestures with a snap of the finger) You sit and talk with her and she starts talking like you. It's awful!" Anyhoo...

03/02/97 - Linda Granger advises herself during a sexually tempting moment: "God grant me the serenity to accept members of the opposite sex and not to accept the opposite sex as members and the wisdom to know the difference". Tracey will be a presenter at the 8th Annual GLAAD media awards on March 16 from Los Angeles. Anyhoo...

02/21/97 - I hope you've had a chance to check out two new additions to the 'Go Home' page. Because, there have been a number of requests for more pics, I've set up a Photo Album of 20 pics for download. I'll add more as they become available. There is also a new Tracey Ullman Newsgroup in the form of an applet. So far, it's proved to be a lot of fun. Sydney Krauss was there yesterday, plopping her business cards in all the posters' faces! And, I hear Linda Granger may make a special appearance this weekend. Wow! Get your autograph books ready! Anyhoo...

02-15-97 - Trace didn't cop this year's American Comedy Award for Leading Female in a Comedy TV Series. The award went to Rosie O'Donnell. But you know, if I'm not mistaken, I'm sure Tracey has won more ACA awards than any other female. Can anyone make that proof? And while I'm at it, can anyone prove that Tracey has indeed portrayed more characters than anyone in performance history? Roger Reini is compiling the character list and it's running into the hundreds! I recently read an article on Tracey where she reiterated a comment made about her and her husband Allan. Here's the rude comment: "The British press recently said that we are the Jane Fonda and Ted Turner of England. Tracey Ullman is unphotogenic, but she's got the gloss of money, and her husband, Allan, has got the face of a friendly King Edward potato." Whoa! Well, Tracey has taken on Royalty, now how about Tracey Takes On.....Britain or more specifically the British press! Blimey! Anyhoo...

02-07-97 - Did you catch Tracey on Jay Leno last night from Las Vegas? Tracey made her way on stage in the arms of two burly gladiators and from the look on her face, it was clear that she wasn't overly amused by the gimmick. Maybe Fern would have loved it but not Tracey. Afterall, she's British you know and besides they got oil all over her! Tracey followed Dennis Rodman, who in my opinion is better on the courts than on the chat circuit. I realized half way through his interview, that the pairing of Tracey and Dennis was probably not going to live up to my expectations. And I was right. In fact, I don't think Dennis understood a word of what Tracey was saying. And this was obvious when she turned to him and started holding a conversation on how people like them really wouldn't fit in a small town in Alabama. But Tracey, was kind and blamed the communication gap on her cockney accent. Well we learned a few things about Tracey. She actually loves gambling...especially those Haywire machines. And in light of this, she was paid her $582 scale in casino chips. Some humourous Tracey anecdotes included her comments on Caesar's Palace's cocktail waitresses. She said, "I get a bit concerned of the 65 year old women in pantyhose. There's gotta be a time limit. The thighs...you can hear them coming... they're flapping"! And describing Chic's hair quality as "pubic", not once but three times just to annoy the NBC censors. A special moment occurred during the Lance Burton chat segment. In a two shot you can catch Tracey peering up for a split instant at Lance's spiky jet black haircut. I wasn't sure if she was getting ideas for characters or whether or not she was looking for a toupee line. For those of you who taped it, don't miss that bit. It was pretty funny. The segment ended with the announcement of the "Tracey Takes On..." episode this coming week. Jay announced the show as being on Wednesday and Tracey jumped in blurting, "Listen, it's on the whole bloody week!" She raised her eyes to the ceiling and in a moment of desperation harped, "Give me a regular time spot!" You got that one right Tracey. Just, ask Roger Reini, your online historian, who's been suffering from insomnia ever since the season premiere! Congratulations are also in order as Tracey and the rest of the writing staff of "Tracey Takes On..." have been nominated for a Writer's Guild award along with the writer's of "Dennis Miller Live" and "Late Night with Conan O'Brien". For those of you who are interested, I've detailed in a lengthy report, My Journey To "The Tracey Ullman Show". The report focuses primarily on the obstacles I faced in getting to the filming of an episode, but may be of interest to some. Viva Las Vegas!

01/27/97 - It looks like there may soon be a newsgroup devoted solely to Tracey Ullman. At the moment, there seems to be some debate on what the title should be. Originally, there was a request for "alt.tv.tracey-takes-on". But apparently that title was too long. Then there was the suggestion of "alt.fan.tracey-ullman" which would consolidate Tracey's accomplishments in all forms of entertainment. But there was talk that fan groups have been known to go by the wayside. The title most likely to succeed is "alt.comedy.tracey-ullman". You can show your support for a Tracey Ullman newsgroup by posting your comments in "alt.config". For now, please head on over to rec.arts.tv and let's talk Tracey! Roger Reini posts his reviews of each weeks' TTO episode in rec.arts.tv, so this should provide a good catalyst for discussion. In other news, there's a short article and picture (with Tracey in her willywear suit) in the February 3, 1997 issue of "People". It indicates that five musical numbers were edited out of "Everyone Says I Love You". Unfortunately, two of those numbers included Tracey. According to Woody Allen, the running time had to be brought down to 98 minutes and inevitably Tracey's character was completely excised from the film. What I can't figure out, is why Allen would shoot a 3 hour movie when he knew he was confined to a 98 minute running time? Regardless, it's a shame that, of all the actors in the film to be cut, it had to be the one who probably is the most adept at musical comedy. Well, let's cross our fingers that Tracey is edited back in for the laserdisc issue! Look for Tracey in another talk show appearance next week: February 6, 1997 - The Tonight Show with Jay Leno with guests Tracey Ullman and Dennis Rodman. And of course this week's episode of "Tracey Takes On..." devoted to MOTHERS.

01/20/97 - The day finally arrived! The 2nd season of "Tracey Takes On..." debuted this Saturday to rave reviews. Matt Roush of "USA TODAY" said, "With "Takes On...", Tracey is in her element, at her versatile peak. Don't miss it. Her finest and funniest vehicle yet, "Tracey Takes On..." (*** 1/2 stars out of 4, HBO, Saturday at 11 pm ET/PT) returns for a second rollicking season of 15 episodes." Michael Williams of "THE DETROIT NEWS" said, "Not many things are sheer genius but Takes On.... is one of them (**** Emmyrific)". And don't miss the full review of the premiere episode by Roger Reini who has graciously accepted to provide the 'Go Home' page with a weekly review page entitled, Roger's TTO Review Of The Week. This will keep those of us who live outside America aware of what treats we could savour if "Tracey Takes On..." were available internationally! And it should be. British critics once said "The Tracey Ullman Show" was too American. This comment cannot be attributed to "Tracey Takes On...". Take the Virginia Bugge sketch of last season with HRH (It's Princess Margaret, I tell you) which in my opinion, intones the epitome of British humour. And I'm convinced that Ruby Romaine is Canadian. I hear that accent every day from a number of women at work and they're always talking about having "cumpnee over fer the weekend" . Canadians have got to see Ruby. I should hope that with the splendid reviews "Takes On..." is gathering, we should all see it very soon. In other news, Tracey did not cop another Golden Globe last Sunday but at least she didn't lose to "the pretty baby engaged to that tennis player". On a more exciting note, Tracey has been nominated for another American Comedy Award in the Leading TV women category. She's up against Jane Curtin("3rd Rock From The Sun"), Ellen DeGeneres("Ellen"), Fran Drescher("The Nanny"), Helen Hunt("Mad About You"), and Rosie O'Donnell("The Rosie O'Donnell Show") Not bad company if you ask me. Does anyone know how many of these awards Tracey has? Must be at least 6 or 7. I wonder where she puts them all? The awards are to be handed out on February 9th and to be televised on February 17th.

01/17/97 - In anticipation of Tracey's 2nd season premiere episode this Saturday, we were treated once again this week to a wave of Tracey on TV and news media. Last weekend, there was an extensive article on "Tracey Takes On" in USA Weekend. And on Monday night we saw a repeat Tonight Show from August 8, 1996. This is the airing where Tracey commented on the fact that "NBC would rather show Kerri Strug wrapping up 40 yards of ACE bandage than show a Romanian gymnast" and "My son Johnny turned 5 on the weekend. And I looked for the John Tesh pinjata" . She also recounted some hilarious stories of childrens' birthday party entertainers including a coked out Batman and a Snow White who looked like she had been raped by the 7 dwarfs! Reminded me a lot of that old TUS sketch "Max's Birthday Party" where poor Max and his fellow partygoers are tortured by Fuzzy Bear. Tracey was definitely in top form and proved once again why she is in constant demand on the talk/chat shows. Showbiz Today had a behind the scenes look at a "Takes On" sketch this Wednesday night. Tracey as character "Erin McCall" sang with the Roches. She sounded great. Makes me think she should do an album of songs in the folk vein. Hope we hear Tracey sing incessantly in Season #2. And a sketch with Chic, too! Don't miss the season premiere this Saturday Night on HBO! And come back here next week to see a review of the premiere episode by Roger Reini.

01/10/97- It seems that all of you are in agreement that Tracey was in fine form this week on "The Rosie O'Donnell Show". No, Tracey doesn't microwave popcorn. She doesn't buy Jiffy Pop. She does it the old fashioned way in a skillet and has a wrist burn to prove it! The highlight for me was seeing Tracey dance to Beck's song "I'm A Loser" and yelling, "Look Mabel, Your mother's dancing on TV!" On Monday, a night earlier than we expected, Tracey appeared on "The Late Show With David Letterman". Fresh from a Christmas Vacation in Las Vegas, where she spent her birthday with Siegfried and Roy, Tracey, revealed that she actually wears fake genitalia when she portrays "Chic". She said, "It's like a padded bird seed sausage kinda deal. It...makes...me...feel...good!" My favorite moment had to be when she dug at Dave by saying, "How about a 'Tickle Me Dave Doll'? It would be recalled because it would say "Don't touch me! Don't titillate me!" Another favorite line with a sly grin: "Sir Paul McCartney! When are we gonna see Dame Tracey? It's not happenin' Dave!" There are two new Tracey Ullman sites : The Official "Tracey Takes On" Page and The Tracey Ullman Mini-Page

01/03/97- Congratulations to Tracey who is up for a Best Actress(Musical or Comedy TV series) Golden Globe award in competition with Brett Butler, Fran Drescher, Helen Hunt, Cybill Shepherd and Brooke Shields. Brooke Shields and Tracey in the same category? Who would have ever thought? Tracey is quoted in "Entertainment Weekly" as saying her favorite films of 1996 are "Welcome To The Dollhouse" and "Trainspotting". Her peeve of 1996 are those news programs which replay 911 calls of people in particularly distressful situations.