This is a detailed guide to, review of, and commentary on TRACEY ULLMAN TAKES ON NEW YORK, the 1993 HBO special starring Tracey Ullman. Sprinkled throughout the guide are my commentaries and reviews of the various sketches and bits.
OTHER EPISODE GUIDES
Episode guides to TRACEY TAKES ON..., THE TRACEY ULLMAN SHOW, etc., can be found at http://www.rreini.com/tracey.
THE JOHNSONS
On board a flight from Wisconsin to New York City are Penny (Tracey) and Gordon Johnson
(Dan Castellaneta). They are going to have a New York adventure. She's looking
forward to it; he's not. The wine stains on his jacket and shirt don't help his
mood. Neither does the fact that his luggage was sent to Uruguay. On the cab
ride in from the airport, he looks out the window and sees New York as he's always
pictured it: slums, urban decay, etc. She looks out the window and sees New York as
she's always pictured it: the magnificent Manhattan skyline.
COMMENT: Too bad the character of Chic had yet to be
created; he could have enlivened this ride. Also, note the contrast between the pessimism
of Gordon and the optimism of Penny. As we'll see later, their New York experiences
will confirm their expectations in every way.
Their room will not be ready until 4 PM, so Penny and Gordon head off for some sightseeing. In the background, we see a TV screen with the Joe Franklin show...
Joe Franklin (himself) is interviewing Linda Granger (Tracey), who is promoting her new
book, I'm Still Here, and who announces that she is finally 100 percent
cancer-free. She's also starring in Finian's Rainbow at the Plymouth
Theater. Coincidentally, that's the show the Johnsons are seeing. In fact,
while on the plane, Penny was reading I'm Still Here.
COMMENT: This early version of Linda is not too far from
the Linda we see in the series. She's a few years younger; her lips aren't as big;
her voice is a bit higher-pitched; and she'd starred in Licking It rather than VIP
Lounge, but she's still recognizable. A note about the Plymouth Theater: it was
at the Plymouth in 1991 where Tracey starred in The Big Love, in which she
portrayed a woman who bears some resemblance to Ruby Romaine. But I digress....
Penny and Gordon decide to take the subway to the Statue of Liberty. She asks some youths which train to take. They point out the one that's currently at the platform. But they were pulling a fast one; that train is actually the Uptown Express. Unfortunately for Gordon, he's onboard as the train heads uptown. Here's where their New York experiences diverge....
Penny's adventure: She's having a perfect New York
experience. She gets some money back from a pay phone; she finds a four-leaf clover
in Central Park. She meets a man (Michael York) who's just been spectacularly
dumped. They talk for a while -- she tells him about growing up in Michigan (Lansing
and Pontiac) and playing the lead in her senior class production of Finian's Rainbow.
He has fallen completely in love with her. But she's taken; it just isn't his
day. Later, she's serenaded by some street singers and ends up being drafted as a
model in a photo shoot. The time flies by. When she realizes what time it is,
her chances of making curtain are remote. But along comes one of New York's mounted
police officers to the rescue.
COMMENT: She's had an absolutely wonderful afternoon -- a
dream come true.
Gordon's adventure: he arises from the subway at 135th Street.
Around him is a God-forsaken slum. There's no way he'll find a cab there. He
looks for a pay phone. One rings; he answers it. Unfortunately, it was meant
for a local drug dealer, who's very upset with Gordon. Suddenly, the police
appear! The dealer runs, and Gordon's safe. No, he's not, for the police are
after him, too, so he takes off running. He's almost run down by a car. The
driver offers to take him downtown. But it's soon apparent that all is not well with
this driver. He's a disgruntled former employee who's about to take revenge on his
former employer with the car bomb he's carrying. Gordon bails out in a hurry.
He's reduced to looking for food in garbage cans, as the drug dealer took his wallet and
cash.
COMMENT: This isn't his day, either. He's lived a waking
nightmare. He's learned the full meaning of Murphy's Law: anything that can go wrong, will
go wrong. And it is the fact that everything is going wrong for him that makes his
scenes funny. It's so exaggerated and over the top, you can't resist laughing.
Finally, everyone arrives at the theater. Gordon is an absolute mess, as you can imagine. There's a minor commotion as Linda Granger arrives. Someone calls to her, and she responds. Unfortunately, she's in the middle of the street at the time, and she's hit by a bus. It looks like her legs are broken. The producers didn't pay for an understudy, so the show is in trouble. Just then, Penny says that she played the lead in her high-school production of Finian's Rainbow in high school. Cut to the inside of the theater as Gordon takes his seat. The curtain rises, and who should we see on stage but Penny Johnson?
COMMENTS: This happens to be my favorite segment of the special.
FAMILY REUNION
We see an elegant English country manor. Inside, we find Jacqueline (Tracey) and Frank Pillsworth. They've just received a rare note from their daughter Janie, who's now a successful magazine editor in New York. Well, actually, the note came from her aide Byron (but it was on her letterhead). She's being profiled on TV and wants them to come over, the note says. Along with the note are two plane tickets. This must be big, for she hasn't talked to her parents in nearly 10 years. Will they go? Only if their employer, a major rock star (Dan Castellaneta), lets them. It's his manor, and they're the housekeepers. He doesn't have a problem with them going. So it's off to New York....
And in New York, we see a slice of the high-powered, high-pressure life of Janie
Pillsworth (Tracey), meeting with her staff to put together the next issue of Manhattan
Review. A film crew is there, recording it all. Janie's not too happy with
that, nor is she that comfortable with the whole idea of the profile. What if
somebody digs up some dirt on her, she frets. She does have reason to worry... she's
concealed her true roots for years. She's said for years that her parents were
killed on the slopes of Aspen. She's passed herself off as upper-class from birth,
when the truth was far different.
COMMENT: In "A Class Act", we see how the young
Jeannine Pillsworth, with her common, working-class background, became the bitchy Janie
Pillsworth.
Meanwhile, Frank and Jacqueline arrive in New York and check into their room.
It's a bit on the chilly side, but he won't adjust it. Must have been meant to be at
that setting, he says. There's a knock at the door. It's Byron Jordan, Janie's
assistant. She sends her regrets, he says. They'll meet tomorrow. Byron
can't wait to see what happens.
COMMENT: Janie's parents embody the best aspects of the
British character, as seen in their coping with adversity.
While Janie is being interviewed, her parents arrive. She's now in an extremely
awkward situation, for her past has truly caught up with her. They retire for a
private conversation. At first, Janie is very unhappy. She
wanted them to be out of her life forever. But what about the letter? It
wasn't her idea. Then Janie realizes that it was Byron's idea. She had beaten
him out for the editor's job, and he was getting his revenge. Indeed, he was hoping
that the ensuing scandal would force Janie to resign, allowing him to claim the job he
thought was rightfully his. Now Frank has his say. He and Jacqueline
sacrificed everything for their daughter, so that she could become a successful
upper-class bitch. They gave up their home, their lives -- he even sold one of his
kidneys. All of this was for Janie. When she realizes this, she breaks down
and cries.
COMMENT: This is a rare -- very rare -- moment of
vulnerability from Janie. She puts up a very intimidating front, but it can crack.
She is human, after all.
The next morning, Byron is very interested in knowing what happened. Nothing happened. In fact, Janie's coming clean about her past. Her parents will be the cover story of the next edition, commemorating sacrifice. She'll purge herself in print (confession sells, you know). Her position is more secure than ever. That's not true for Byron. But there's still a big stumbling block for the next issue: rock star Bryan Lynn can't be found. Getting an interview with him would be a major coup, but nobody can reach him. Nobody except Janie's parents, that is; they work for him!
COMMENTS: We saw the vulnerable side of Janie earlier; now we see the survivor, the one who takes adversity and turns it to her advantage. That had to have helped her climb to the top of the publishing world, and it's helping her stay there now.
THE ROSENTHAL AFFAIR
We see a car pulling up at the Marriott on Broadway. It belongs to Harry (Michael
Tucker) and Fern (Tracey) Rosenthal, who are arriving with their daughter Sheila (Maddie
Corman). She's getting married, and the reception is at the hotel. They're
going all out to impress their new in-laws, the Levines from Minnesota ("what kind of
Jew comes from Minnesota?" wonders Fern). Fern is not impressed with the
minisuite (too mini, not enough suite). She's also on edge because of the wedding,
and she and Harry have a little spat, but he reassures her of his love. Later, at
the airport, they meet the Levines. Harry comments that they look like models from
the Sears catalog. Their luggage is delayed, so Fern takes matters into her own
hands, climbing the carousel and tossing down bags.
COMMENT: Fern's character is very close to what we see in TTO,
though her voice is slightly different. Note that the Joe Franklin interview with
Linda Granger is playing on the TV in Fern and Harry's hotel room, which ties it to the
first sketch. If this program were to be remade today (1999), the sketches would
have undoubtedly been more intertwined and interleaved.
Later, we see everyone waiting in front of the Plymouth Theater, waiting for the doors
to open. They'll be seeing Brigadoon. Fern went to great lengths to get these
tickets, but she figures it's worth it, since they probably don't get many Broadway shows
in Minnesota. She's never heard of the Guthrie Theater, it seems; Eleanor Levine
(Blythe Danner) happens to be on the board. Suddenly, Fern and Sheila see Linda
Granger across the street. Fern calls to her, and she responds, only to be hit by a
bus seconds later! $200 down the drain, says Fern; she convinces everyone to forgo
the show and eat Chinese. They go to a restaurant that's a favorite of Fern and
Harry's. While they talk to the owner, it turns out that Mrs. Levine studied Chinese
cuisine in Beijing. She's invited to cook a special meal. Back at the hotel,
Fern is more upset than ever. She's feeling very threatened by the Levines, who seem
to upstage them in every way. She even accuses Harry of wanting to make love to
Eleanor, which he denies. This should be a time for coming together, yet this
wedding looks to be pulling everyone apart, muses Fern, who then questions whether she's
been a good mother. Harry reassures her she has been and will continue to be until
she passes away.
COMMENT: In light of what we learned about Harry in the
third and fourth seasons of TTO, I have a feeling the thought of making love to Eleanor
may have crossed his mind. But there is no doubt that he loves Fern. And
there's no doubt that Fern has been a good mother and a basically good person.
There's a bit of a glitch at the wedding ceremony as the groom has a hard time breaking the glass. This causes the reception to start late, and all of this is keeping Fern tense. She tells Sheila that she and Harry have put down a payment on a condo not far from their house. But Sheila has some news; they'll be living in Minnesota, as her husband's got a good job offer there. And while they're getting started, they'll live with his parents. For Fern, that is the last straw. She loudly calls Eleanor "bitch" and accuses her of trying to steal her daughter away, of making her and Harry look bad, etc. Eleanor denies it, of course, but Fern's not convinced. But when she mentions what Sheila told her, it's Eleanor's turn to be upset. She didn't know about it, and she's opposed to it. All of a sudden, Fern's mood changes. She's now comforting a member of the family. Before long, they hug and make up, and then the celebration resumes.
OVERALL COMMENTS: Although all of the action is taking place at the same point in time, there is very little interaction between the characters. And unlike the Las Vegas and Hollywood episodes of TTO, the plots are not closely interwoven. In two instances, we see the Joe Franklin interview of Linda Granger playing on TV while other action is taking place in the main scene. And in the street in front of the theater, it's Fern who yells to Linda, distracting her from seeing the bus that runs her down. But other than these instances, the stories are very self-contained.
This summary, review and commentary is Copyright 1998 R. W. Reini.
Roger Reini (contact info)
http://www.rreini.org/
Revised April 20, 2008
Created by Roger Reini