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"Tracey Takes On..." -- the videosA Review Originally published January 28, 1998 Now appearing at a video store near you -- the first two tapes of the Emmy and CableAce award-winning series Tracey Takes On..., starring the multitalented social satirist Tracey Ullman, the player prime time's not ready for. If you're not familiar with Tracey Takes On..., it is Tracey's showcase program on HBO in the US and several other networks worldwide, now entering its third season. She is co-executive producer and head writer. Oh yes, and she portrays over twenty different characters, young and old, male and female, WASP and Asian, black and white, gay and straight. Each episode is devoted to one topic (Vanity, Smoking, Money, etc.) and features the characters in short monologues and longer sketches. Each tape consists of three episodes from the first two seasons of the series -- Movies/Vanity/Fame on one tape, Sex/Romance/Fantasy on the other. At the beginning of each tape, Tracey talks about one of her characters -- attorney Sydney Kross and Long Island/Boca Raton matron Fern Rosenthal, respectively. Following that are the three episodes, complete and uncut. Concluding the tapes are some outtakes, bloopers and behind-the-scenes footage. The six episodes chosen for these videos are all of high quality. Some of the segments can be very funny, such as in the Sex episode where Sydney describes her last three lovers or when veteran makeup artist Ruby Romaine is called to work on a porn flick. Those two segments are also rather raunchy. Some can be touching, such as in the Romance episode where Chris Warner wants to publicly display her love for her companion, golfer Midge Dexter. Some of the segments work better than others, but one cannot say that they are ever uninteresting. For complete reviews of and commentaries on these episodes, please check the Tracey Ullman "Go Home!" Page and the Tracey Ullman Mini-Page [now called TTO: Totally Tracey Online]. The videos follow by a few weeks the release of a companion book to the series, which is also entitled Tracey Takes On. Taken together, the videos and the book serve as an excellent introduction to the series and to Tracey. If you're a fan, you will enjoy these tapes. RATING: 3 1/2 stars This review is Copyright 1998 R. W. Reini Page written by Roger
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