History Series / TheTraceyUllmanShow

* ByTheLightOfTheirEyes: Bart, Lisa and Maggie all can't sleep in one episode, as depicted by this trope.

* DungFu: "Zoo Story" has Homer getting a face full of dung when he teases some monkeys.

* AnimationBump: The first shorts were incredibly crude and reused frames on many occasions. By the end of the series the characters' designs are more or less finalised and the animation is much more crisp and fluid, if still looser and less cartoony than what was used in the actual series after.

* AnimationBump: The first shorts were incredibly crude and reused frames on many occasions. By the end of the series the characters' designs are more or less finalised and the animation is much more crisp and fluid, if still looser and more cartoony than what was used in the actual series after.

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* ThreeShorts: The typical format for the show was three separate sketches, with their own title cards and credits. When the creative team moved on to ''The Simpsons'', they were able to adapt the format to things like ''Treehouse of Horrors'' with ease.

* MenCantKeepHouse: One sketch has Marge taking Lisa and Maggie to the ballet, leaving Homer in charge of dinner. He's only able to come up with a mix of fish nuggets and "pork-a-roni," leaving Bart squeamish.

* MenCannotKeepHouse: One sketch has Marge taking Lisa and Maggie to the ballet, leaving Homer in charge of dinner. He's only able to come up with a mix of fish nuggets and "pork-a-roni," leaving Bart squeamish.

* ThePerfectCrime: "The Perfect Crime" has Bart bragging that stealing cookies and pinning it on Maggie is this. Later, the others follow a trail of cookie crumbs to find Bart on the floor with a tummy ache from gorging on cookies, moaning "There's no such thing as a perfect crime."

* NotSoAboveItAll: In "Punching Bag," Bart and Lisa take out their frustrations on a punching bag, and Lisa draws Homer's face on it to give them inspiration. Homer, who's [[LazyBum trying to nap]], forces Marge to go in and have them stop making noise, largely because he's too lazy to get off the couch and do it himself. A clearly-angry Marge gets up and storms away--and the noise gets louder than ever. An incensed Homer goes to investigate...and discovers that ''Marge'' is punching his face on the bag now.

* HypocriticalHeartwarming: In "Family Therapy", the Simpsons argue and vent their grievances to a therapist, though whenever he starts to lose patience with one of them, another member (usually the one most vocally annoyed with them) will lash at the therapist for daring to speak to him that way. This degenerates to therapist lampshading this with how Homer bullies him the same way he bullies his kids, and gets assaulted by Bart and Lisa in response, leading the family to get thrown out, and burst out in laughter from the whole ordeal.

** In "Family Portrait", Homer says to Bart, "You watch your mouth, you little smartass!"
** In "Family Therapy", the Simpsons argue and vent their grievances to a therapist, though whenever he starts to lose patience with one of them, another member (usually the one most vocally annoyed with them) will lash at the therapist for daring to speak to him that way. This degenerates to therapist lampshading this with how Homer bullies him the same way he bullies his kids, and gets assaulted by Bart and Lisa in response, leading the family to get thrown out, and burst out in laughter from the whole ordeal.

''The Tracey Ullman Show'' was one of the startup Creator/{{FOX}} network's inaugural programs, premiering on April 5, 1987 and running for four seasons. It was the second-longest-lasting show on FOX's original primetime lineup, behind ''Series/MarriedWithChildren'' (eleven seasons).

* UnnamedParent: In the credits, Homer and Marge were referred to as either "Dad" and "Mom", or "Mr. Simpson" and "Mrs. Simpson". This is strange as they are actually referred to by their final names on several occasions in the shorts themselves.

''The Tracey Ullman Show'' was one of the startup Creator/{{FOX}} network's inaugural programs, premiering on April 5, 1987 and running for four seasons. It is the second-longest-lasting show on FOX's original primetime lineup, behind ''Series/MarriedWithChildren'' (eleven seasons).

''The Tracey Ullman Show'' was one of the startup Creator/{{FOX}} network's inaugural programs, premiering on April 5, 1987 and running for four seasons.

* NoNameGiven: Marge isn't named in the shorts; the credits list her as "Mom". She would not be named until the series proper.

!!The Simpsons shorts provide examples of:

* CharacterisationMarchesOn: It should come as no surprise to fans of the Simpsons, but the shorts were not very accurate to the Simpsons' eventual personalities in their own show. Special mention goes to Bart in the first short (who asks a philosophical question about the nature of the mind) and Lisa in general (who, throughout the entirety of the shorts' run, was just as much of a BrattyHalfPint as Bart).

* UnnamedParent: In the credits, Homer and Marge were referred to as either "Dad" and "Mom", or "Mr. Simpson" and "Mrs. Simpson", strange as they are actually referred to by their final names on several occasions in the shorts themselves.

-->'''''[[ThatsAllFolks GO HOME!!!]]'''''
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