Customer Reviews

Tracey Takes On... The Complete First Season

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Tracy Ullman was a absolute pleasure in her one women show Tracy Takes on , every character she played was hillariously funny.Every episode of the first season were great when they firsted aired in the mid 90's on HBO , too bad their isnt more the 10 but who cares because Tracy Ullman is a hilarious woman and so is this show , Defenitly buy this if you like comedy tv or Tracy Ullman
The Boxset Features These Ten Hillarious Episodes
Ep 01 Tracy Takes on ... Romance
Ep 02 ...Family
Ep 03 ... Charity
Ep 04 ... Fame
Ep 05 ... Nostalgia
Ep 06 ... Death
Ep 07 ... Health
Ep 08 ... Royalty
Ep 09 ... Vanity
Ep 10 ... Law
These are sure going to be great to have in your DVD Collection !
Ep 06

One of the funniest comedies ever on television. Launched HBO original series! You've never seen a show until you've seen this! Tracey is a genius and needs to do more original programming in the future.

I wish the DVDs contained more missing sketches that never aired and more audio commentaries from Tracey.

This mid-90's, one-woman sketch comedy was very funny and original. Ullman's characters were a riot and very likeable while the format is a five-minute monologue from each one with no real interaction with any other characters. Ning Nong Nang, the Vietnamese donut-store owner delivers hers at the end of a long day in the kitchen with her bare feet resting in the next days' donut batter! The crude but sincere Aussie stunt-woman is a treat as is the even more vulgar Middle-Eastern taxi driver.

This is a must have for your dvd collection. Ullman is just a comedy master. Her chameleon-like transformations are unbelievable and she is always very, very funny. This is an excellent set of episodes that you can watch over and over again. Her best trait though, is the humanity in her comedy. Ullman creates charaters and worlds that make you laugh and make you cry at the same time. This series was long overdue on dvd - enjoy!

Tracey Takes On is an extremely well directed show with skits about a certain subject which Tracey "takes on". From an Eldery Hair Dresser to Gay Flight Attendant, the range of characters is astounding. She brings each to life with her wonderful accents and their enlightening observations. It's easy to forget it's her acting.

I was so excited when I heard Tracey was coming to DVD. I've preordered my own copy and think about it every day! A must own!

HBO at it's best.

Don't listen to the imbecile below. "Tracey Takes On" was ahead of it's time, and people who love and respect original humor and have more than three braincells, get the series.

I'm torn on how to rate this collection. Its the first thing I've ever seen by Tracey Ullman and in the beginning, things went pretty slow. A lot of characters, but not a lot of laughs, it wasn't until maybe the 2nd or 3rd episode that things started to get funny. And when they got funny, they were brilliant and hysterically so. Most of the show is made up of little snippets with the characters giving anecdotes and illustrating their take on that episode's themes, these are hit and miss but the real gems are in the lengthier segments of the show where the characters can run rampant. There are some truly inspired moments, such as a homeless man who is hired to "Work For Food" in a Brit expat's garden and is served wretched British food like "Spotted Dick" in return. This is probably the definition of character-based comedy, there are few gags and most of the humor comes from these absurd people being put in situations that then spin horrendously out of control, there's a lot of love and craft in Ullman's work in this season, but you'll have to stick through some misfires and her experimentation to get to it.

The reason I felt I needed to give it 3 stars, as opposed to 4, is one of her characters, Noh Nang Ning, the Asian donut store owner, is so obnoxious and unfunny that whenever she appears, she kills any momentum that's built up over the episode. As I said, the character's sketches can be inconsistent, but Ning is never funny, never even comes close, but Ullman insists on having her in almost every episode. Ning is, at best, boring, and at worst, kind of racist. Ullman is clearly dedicated to her craft, so it seems very unlikely that she'd stoop to trying to get easy laughs by playing on Asian stereotypes, but that's usually how Ning comes across. Plus, Ning's makeup is literally grotesque, it looks like she just donned an old monster mask and tossed on a couple of handfuls of talc powder. Which is shocking because the makeup quality for the rest of the series is really great! Ullman gets done up and is incredibly convincing as an elderly woman, or ever as a man! So why does the old Asian lady look like a goblin?

I loved it, some characters more than others. I can't get enough of the Rosenthals and Ruby Romaine (what a hoot!). Others I could skip, but overall, extremely clever and funny. The range of characters she can do is just amazing.

Tracey has proven her brilliant qualities as an actor as well as a comedian. Her portrayal of only but a few characters that make up this incredible world is great and true. Some may like this show, some may not. Thats an individual choice. If i don't like something i am watching and/or makes me cringe, i switch it off !!

I bought the first season dvd for $2.31 + S&H= $5.41!!
Get this while you can I believe this season is out of print. Check it out the seller's who are offering this timeless gem!