REVIEW OF "TRACEY TAKES ON...": FOOD Mar. 12, 1997

by Roger Reini (rreini@wwnet.com)

This week, food was on the agenda at "Tracey Takes On..."

Would you have figured Chic to be a restauranteur? Yes, he runs a cafe out of his cab. Got a 2-star rating in a newspaper review; it would have been 3, but the reviewer complained about the seating capacity (that got a good laugh from me). The kabob is great, but stay away from the Manhattan squab.

Long sketches: the afore-mentioned Chic's Cab Cafe sketch; a sketch with Janie Pillsworth upset at the world because she didn't get her usual table at her usual restaurant; and a sketch with Trevor and his partner Barry (Michael McKean) getting into a fight over a casserole.

Short bits: Mrs. Noh prepares her lunch -- fried eels; Ruby longs for the old days of TV dinners, when they were loaded with carcinogens but had great color; Fern describes her digestive difficulties; Linda describes how she kicked her problem with bulimia; we learn the secret for Sydney's courtroom success -- raw meat; Birdie complains about the packaging of some food items; and HRH considers her own line of food products.

The Chic sketch was absolutely wonderful. I'd consider it a contender for the season-ending "Best Of" special. The Trevor and Barry sketch was great, too, but in a different way. It was more of a "feel-good" sketch, along the lines of last year's Midge and Chris sketch. It might also be a contender. The Janie sketch rubbed me the wrong way, but that was because Janie rubbed me the wrong way. She is not a likable person at all.

I give this episode 3 1/2 stars.

NEXT WEEK: Crime.

This review is Copyright 1997 R. W. Reini(rreini@wwnet.com)