The Trouble with Tracy
| The Trouble with Tracy | |
|---|---|
| Starring |
|
| Country of origin | Canada |
| No. of episodes | 130 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Murray Chercover |
| Producer(s) | Seymour Berns |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Production company(s) | National General Pictures |
| Distributor | Warner Bros. Television Distribution |
| Release | |
| Original network | CTV |
| Original release | 1970 – 1971 |
The Trouble with Tracy is a Canadian television series produced by CTV for the 1970–1971 television season, with intended distribution by the U.S.-based National General Pictures. It is considered by some to be one of the worst situation comedies ever produced.
The show was produced as a daily show, and aired weekday afternoons at 3:30 pm from September 14, 1970. The economic and time pressures of producing 130 episodes in a single season (seven shows were filmed every five days) meant cheap, wobbly sets, no outdoor filming, a laugh track instead of a live studio audience, the use of single takes, the reuse of 25-year-old radio scripts, and other shortcuts that resulted in a poor-quality product. Even flubbed lines and bloopers sometimes ended up airing, because the show could not afford retakes.
Shot in Toronto at the studios of CFTO-TV, the show was set in New York City and featured a newlywed couple. Tracy Young (Diane Nyland) was the dishy wife to Doug Young (Steve Weston), a young advertising executive and exasperated husband. Other regular characters were Doug's hippie brother-in-law Paul (Franz Russell), who was constantly asking Doug for money, and Tracy's nagging mother, Mrs. Sherwood (Sylvia Lennick).
The show was based on scripts written by Goodman Ace for the 1930 to 1945 American radio comedy Easy Aces, though the story was updated by making Tracy's brother a hippie and the addition of other topical references. In addition, the show's pilot was originally titled The Married Youngs, a play on The Young Marrieds, focusing on the Youngs' last name; however, when the show went to series, producer Seymour Berns changed the name to The Trouble with Tracy, after his daughter, Tracy.
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