History Series / TheTraceyUllmanShow

* SleepCute: At the end of "Bart and Homer's Dinner," Marge comes home with Lisa and Maggie and exclaims over the adorableness of Homer and Bart having fallen asleep together on the couch (never mind that they're [[TalkingInYourSleep continuing the argument they were having earlier in their sleep]]).

* SpoofAesop: In "Shoplifting," Marge and Homer have to pick Bart up after he's caught shoplifting and Marge tells him she hopes he's learned that "crime hurts the criminal." He points out that all that really happened was that he got a free ride home, causing his parents to kick him out of the car.

Of course, the reason most people today know this show even existed is because of a series of animated skits that were used as interstitial material on the show: ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', featuring Castellaneta and Kavner as Homer and Marge. After becoming the show's [[EnsembleDarkhorse Ensemble Darkhorses]], producer Creator/JamesLBrooks spun them off into their own series. Besides Castellaneta and Kavner, many of the Ullman writers also went to work on ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' full time after this show went off the air. Ullman herself guest-starred in season 2's "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS2E16BartsDogGetsAnF Bart's Dog Gets a F]]".

Hosted by Creator/TraceyUllman, the series was a VarietyShow that featured comedy skits and musical numbers. Among the players in her troupe were Creator/DanCastellaneta, Creator/JulieKavner, Sam [=McMurray=] and Joseph Malone, as well as a slew of guest stars. The show also had Music/PaulaAbdul as its choreographer.

* SleepCute: At the end of "Bart and Homer's Dinner," Marge comes home with Lisa and Maggie and exclaims over the adorableness of Homer and Bart having fallen asleep together on the couch (never mind that they're [[TalkingInTheirSleep continuing the argument they were having earlier in their sleep]]).

* PetTheDog: Homer promises to take the kids for milkshakes if Bart successfully catches a football, causing Bart to [[AmusingInjuries get hurt in various ways making the attempt]]. When they finally get their milkshakes Bart has the football fully jammed into his mouth and can't explain to an oblivious Homer why he isn't drinking his. Homer thinks he's just not hungry and is about to take his milkshake too, but Lisa quickly sticks the straw past the football.

* InstantlyProvenWrong: In "Good Night," Homer tells Marge as they go to bed, "We may be the best parents in the world." The terrified kids then come stampeding in, having been frightened by their good night messages (Lisa by Marge's "don't let the bedbugs bite," Bart by Homer's unintentionally MindScrew-inducing answer to a question he had about the brain, and Maggie by the lyrics to "Rock-a-Bye Baby").

* TrustBuildingBlunder: "Bart Jumps" has Homer urging Bart to jump off a table into his arms, only to repeatedly get distracted and fail to catch him.

* SpoofAesop: In "Shoplifting," Marge and Homer have to pick Bart up after he's caught shoplifting and Marge tells him she hopes he's learned that "crime hurts the criminal." He says that this isn't true as all that happened was that he got a free ride home, causing his parents to kick him out of the car.

* NotHyperbole: In "Home Hypnotism," Homer isn't kidding when he says the kids are "bouncing off the walls."

** "Home Hypnotism," when Homer reveals his plan to hypnotize the kids so they can get some peace and quiet.
--->'''Marge:''' I don't know, Homer. The kids get kind of rambunctious sometimes, but I think that's nor—
--->'''Homer:''' A little rambunctious?! They're bouncin' off the walls!
--->''(He opens a door to reveal the kids [[NotHyperbole doing exactly that]].)''
--->'''Marge:''' ...I'll hold 'em, you hypnotize 'em.

* FearInducedBunkmate: "Good Night" ends with all three of the kids jumping into bed with Homer and Marge.

** In "The Money Jar," Marge makes the kids promise they won't steal from the money jar in the kitchen, thereby accidentally tipping them off to the fact that there ''is'' a money jar in the kitchen. When Bart goes to steal from it anyway, he's disappointed to find only one dollar in it, complaining, "Can't even trust your own mother."

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: It would probably take up the entire page to list the number of examples of this trope. But the most notable are the crude animation (mainly a result of Klasky-Csupo basically just tracing over Groening's storyboards) and Lisa essentially being a "female Bart".

* ArtEvolution: The Simpsons' designs were initially crude and ''very'' prone to being OffModel (due to the artists basically tracing over Matt Groening's rough storyboards), but they were eventually streamlined. By the end of their run they look essentially like they do at the start of the spin-off series.

* HypocriticalHeartwarming: In the short "Family Therapy" The Simpsons go to a psychiatrist due to driving each other crazy and while there proceed to be their usual dysfunctional selves. However, once the annoyed psychiatrist gets sick of them and starts listing their faults, the Simpsons get indignant on each other's behalf. They then have a good laugh about the situation after being kicked out of the office.

* ThemeTuneCameo: In "Watching TV", Maggie changes the TV channel and the show's theme song, "You're Thinking Right", can be heard coming from it.