Tracey's New 'State'

By LillyKat
PTR Senior Staff Writer

Has it really been almost a year since we've seen Tracey Ullman's State of the Union sketch comedy series? Is that possible?

Perhaps there should be a law that much comedic genius shouldn't be allowed to be away THAT long.

Thankfully, she's back for season two, which premiered Sunday night on Showtime. Is it bad I started laughing BEFORE the show even started as I was remembering the sketches from LAST season?!?

How I've missed my favorites: Blogs and Kisses Arianna Huffington; TSA Agent Chanel; Bollywood Pharmacist Padma Perkesh; Horror-Fear-Terror-Horror News Anchor Campbell Brown.

Newbies: Former First Lady Barbara Bush organizing a presidential garage sale; the woman stuck in her toy box of a car called the Mint Body Trap Hybrid with OnStar; Celine Dion Reporting from the 9th Ward in New Orleans; flight attendants charging $5 for emergencies - and they don't carry change.

And that was only the first episode.

New episodes of Tracey Ullman's State of the Union air Sundays at 10 p.m. on Showtime. Even if you don't get Showtime, you can catch up on all the goods over at the show's official Web site.

SAG Nominations Announced

By LillyKat / PTR Senior Staff Writer

This is probably the only thing going right for the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) these days: the 15th Annual SAG Award nominations are out, and similar to the Golden Globes, we've got a few PTR Faves in the mix. Notably: Michael C. Hall and Dexter ; Kyra Sedgwick and The Closer.

Holly Hunter also gets a nod for Saving Grace, and Tracey Ullman is getting a well-deserved nod for her work on Showtime's Tracey Ullman's State of the Union (yay!). Happy to see Shirley MacLaine up again for her rockin' performance in the Lifetime miniseries, Coco Chanel.

(And I know this is a television blog, but can I just say: GO AMY ADAMS! Love. Her. Glad to see her up for best supporting actress in the motion picture, Doubt.)

With irritation and dissent running rampant within SAG's membership about its direction or lack thereof and its leadership's handling or lack thereof of negotiations with the studios to get a contract (what is it now ... six months and counting?), SAG will need to get together and play nice on January 25th, which is when the 15th Annual SAG Awards will air live on TBS/TNT.

Guess they better not vote to strike, eh?

Main television category nominations are as follows:

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries
RALPH FIENNES / Bernard Lafferty - "BERNARD AND DORIS" (HBO)
PAUL GIAMATTI / John Adams - "JOHN ADAMS" (HBO)
KEVIN SPACEY / Ron Klain - "RECOUNT" (HBO)
KIEFER SUTHERLAND / Jack Bauer - "24: REDEMPTION" (FOX)
TOM WILKINSON / Benjamin Franklin - "JOHN ADAMS" (HBO)

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries
LAURA DERN / Katherine Harris - "RECOUNT" (HBO)
LAURA LINNEY / Abigail Adams - "JOHN ADAMS" (HBO)
SHIRLEY MacLAINE / Coco Chanel - "COCO CHANEL" (Lifetime)
PHYLICIA RASHAD / Lena Younger - "A RAISIN IN THE SUN" (ABC)
SUSAN SARANDON / Doris Duke - "BERNARD AND DORIS" (HBO)

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series
MICHAEL C. HALL / Dexter Morgan - "DEXTER" (Showtime)
JON HAMM / Don Draper - "MAD MEN" (AMC)
HUGH LAURIE / Gregory House - "HOUSE" (FOX)
WILLIAM SHATNER / Denny Crane - "BOSTON LEGAL" (ABC)
JAMES SPADER / Alan Shore - "BOSTON LEGAL" (ABC)

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series
SALLY FIELD / Nora Walker - "BROTHERS & SISTERS" (ABC)
MARISKA HARGITAY / Det. Olivia Benson - "LAW & ORDER: SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT" (NBC)
HOLLY HUNTER / Grace Hanadarko - "SAVING GRACE" (TNT)
ELISABETH MOSS / Peggy Olson - "MAD MEN" (AMC)
KYRA SEDGWICK / Dep. Chief Brenda Johnson - "THE CLOSER" (TNT)

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series
ALEC BALDWIN / Jack Donaghy - "30 ROCK" (NBC)
STEVE CARELL / Michael Scott - "THE OFFICE" (NBC)
DAVID DUCHOVNY / Hank Moody - "CALIFORNICATION" (Showtime)
JEREMY PIVEN / Ari Gold - "ENTOURAGE" (HBO)
TONY SHALHOUB / Adrian Monk - "MONK" (USA)

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series
CHRISTINA APPLEGATE / Samantha Newly - "SAMANTHA WHO?" (ABC)
AMERICA FERRERA / Betty Suarez - "UGLY BETTY" (ABC)
TINA FEY / Liz Lemon - "30 ROCK" (NBC)
MARY-LOUISE PARKER / Nancy Botwin - "WEEDS" (Showtime)
TRACEY ULLMAN / Various Characters - "TRACEY ULLMAN’S STATE OF THE UNION" (Showtime)

Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series
BOSTON LEGAL (ABC)
THE CLOSER (TNT)
DEXTER (Showtime)
HOUSE (Fox)
MAD MEN (AMC)

Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series
30 ROCK (NBC)
DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES (ABC)
ENTOURAGE (HBO)
THE OFFICE (NBC)
WEEDS (Showtime)


For a full list of all the nominees, head on over to SAG.

Ullman's 'State' Renewed

By LillyKat
PTR Senior Staff Writer

She will be back.

Again.

Showtime has announced the always entertaining Tracey Ullman will return for a second season with seven new episodes of her critically-acclaimed series Tracey Ullman's State of the Union. Production will begin this fall, and the new batch episodes will begin airing in 2009. Ullman will once again serve as executive producer with her husband Allan McKeown, and she will also write the episodes.

Funny. Hysterical. Genius. Funny. Hysterical. Amazing. Entertaining. Funny.

Back to you, Brian.

Source: Showtime

Ullman's Final 'State': Best Bits

By LillyKat
PTR Senior Staff Writer

Wait a minute.

Time out.

Flag on the play.

How could last night have been the season finale of Tracey Ullman's State of the Union? Didn't it just start? Got to love these cable shows - they are over before you know it, yet they leave you wanting more.

Best bits from the finale:

- Dignity Village: A Restylane free establishment where women over 35-years-old stand in direct sunlight and love it; old celebrities aren't afraid to eat; and where women aren't afraid to look like ... well, crap. Amen to that.

- Suzanne Somers: Has invented the equivalent of the gynecological stairmaster and found a way to market her own bowel movements. Wait, you mean she has not done this, yet?

- Dame Helen Mirren: Promoting Fish Out Those Old Teets at some goofball film festival not frequented by either Cameron Diaz or Dame Judi Dench. Poor Helen ... can't ever escape her younger-days reputation of having flashed her teets one too many times. *DISCLAIMER: I love Helen Mirren. She is well over 35-years-old, not afraid to stand in direct sunlight, knows that actresses are supposed eat, and does want to be seen in public Restylane free and without surgical enhancements. Go Helen.

Catch up on Tracey Ullman's State of the Union online at Showtime.

Ullman's 'State': Best Bits

By LillyKat
PTR Senior Staff Writer

Borrowing from Gossip Girl: OMFG.

Ullman was on absolute fire this week. She had me in tears twice. This week's best bits:

- Another mutiny on JetBlue: "In Chicago, a JetBlue flight headed for Tampa has been on the runway for 12 hours." And the passengers are getting restless. Let's roll. Full disclosure: I love JetBlue. If I could fly JetBlue everywhere, I would. Are you kidding? DirecTV screens in every seat, Business Class legroom without the Business Class price. BUT ... I do know they got reamed for their whole 80,000 hour, keep-the-passengers-prisoner routine in the Perfect Storm Winter of 2007. To be fair, what the heck is with the FAA rule prohibiting planes from returning to the terminal once they've been cleared for departure but of which CAN GO NOWHERE because Blizzard Bertha has shutdown the airport? Hello? Is this one? Ullman turned that one into a priceless sketch without the blizzard.

- 60 Minutes' Andy Rooney: Is he 117 years-old-now, or ...? Clearly, he knows what to do with a pencil. And marker. Computer not so much. Suggestive convulsing hand gestures not withstanding.

- Cameron Diaz: So burpalicious promoting her Oscar-buzz worthy Terrible Time of the Month film (where does Ullman get these names ... hysterical). Anyhooo, the film is some sort of pseudo-Charlie's Angels action flick to rescue women in Africa facing ... well, a certain unpleasant change to their womanhood. Does Diaz really burp that much? And if so, isn't there a prescription for that? There's a great Bollywood pharmacist who can make sure she understands the side effects.

... and this week's winner ...

- CNN Reporter Campbell Brown: "Horror. Fear. Terror. Nightmare. Disaster. Catastrophe. Terror. Fear. Back to you, Brian." OMFG. I am still laughing today at this one. Why is it that our broadcast journalists seem to have this thing for forecasting the end of the world each night at 6:30 p.m.? Suffice it to say that, as far as Ullman is concerned, Brown is the Debbie Downer of Reporters. And she's got a plethora of material with which to work. Too. Flipping. Funny.

New episodes of Tracey Ullman's State of the Union air Sundays at 10 p.m. on Showtime. Even if you don't get Showtime, you can catch up on all the goods over at the show's official Web site.

Ullman's 'State': Best Bits

By LillyKat
PTR Senior Staff Writer

This week's best bits (and remember folks, this is a sketch comedy program; no actual celebs were harmed in the following impersonations):

- Dame Judi Dench: Called in to do the "wrinkley" work of playing a 60-something woman with Alzheimer's on the Oscar-buzz oriented film Who the F*** Was I? (this film name alone is hysterical) given no American actress in Hollyweird will admit to be older than 46. I half wonder if this is actually an imaginary tale or real. Come to think of it, can we actually name an actress in Hollyweird who will admit to being older than 46?

- Dina Lohan: Always in some sort of secluded extra super special VIP section of a nightclub, drinking herself into oblivion while conversing with "other" famous stage moms and simultaneously bagging on her own daughter. The resemblance is amazing.

- The Most Famous Actress in Malawi adopting a son from the U.S. à la every conceivable variation of Bragelina and Madonna: do we need to even say more?

New episodes of Tracey Ullman's State of the Union air Sundays at 10 p.m. on Showtime. Even if you don't get Showtime, you can catch up on all the goods over at the show's official Web site.

Ullman's 'State': Best Bits

By LillyKat
PTR Senior Staff Writer

"I like it. Simple. Easy to remember."

- Captain Jack Sparrow,
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest

One of the best parts about watching Tracey Ullman's State of the Union is the fact it is simple and easy to remember. It's also too funny not to make mention of Ullman's comic genius this week:

- The mother of all bloggers, Arianna Huffington, accepting her "Bloggie." Go blog yourself.

- David Beckham: Ullman has got to do a shaved-head version (since Becks doesn't have any hair at the moment). The accent, though, is priceless. BTW, have you all ever heard David Beckham speak? I'm a football fan (that would be soccer to ... well, the U.S.), so I'm unfortunately way too familiar with Becks and his aura. I'm not swayed. I don't fall all over him. I could care less what his wife (Posh Spice) is doing or not doing. Nonetheless, it's hard not to laugh when he talks. Mike Tyson anyone?

- Bollywood Pharmacist: The ED number this week ... Oh. My. God. Crying. Truly, I was crying I was laughing so hard. I missed the next sketch because I couldn't not recover from this one.

- Renée Zellweger: Ah, so there really is a condition to explain the whole squint eye thing? (Disclaimer: I actually like Renée Zellweger; she wowed me in Chicago and Cold Mountain, and I've have never forgotten her. But who knew Ullman could nail the squint thing so perfectly, or turn it into a sketch. Then again, this is Tracey Ullman we're talking about.)

New episodes of Tracey Ullman's State of the Union air Sundays at 10 p.m. on Showtime. Even if you don't get Showtime, you can catch up on all the goods over at the show's official Web site.

Ullman Shows Us the 'State' of Things

By LillyKat
PTR Senior Staff Writer

She’s ba-aaaack.

As if there were any doubt.

You cannot keep Tracey Ullman under wraps for long - even if she is now a United States citizen.

It is an undeniable fact: Ullman is flipping hysterical.

Anyone who doesn’t know this has been living under a rock for the last three decades. Her impersonations and skits are Just. Plain. Brilliant.

It takes a lot for me to laugh so hard at the television screen I cry. Sure, I can yell, stare, curse, talk to, scream at and generally ignore the television screen pretty much on cue. But you have to be pretty gosh darn funny to get me to laugh ‘til I cry.

Ullman can do just that.

Her new original series, Tracey Ullman’s State of the Union, debuted last night on Showtime. All I can say is: when’s the next episode?

The Emmy® Award-winner brings her signature brand of spot-on impersonation and comic timing to her new sketch comedy series, which takes a satirical look at a day in the life of America. The show features a wide smattering of original characters and impersonations in a collection laugh-'til-it-hurts skits that range from sardonic parody and social satire to Bollywood musicals.

And about the Bollywood musical thing ... Oh. My. God. The whole singing pharmacist number ... can you imagine if we really had pharmacists sing you the side effects of the drugs you’re about to take? Trust me, having been to the pharmacist one too many times this week, I would kill for a musical number. Or maybe just Ullman as my pharmacist. Hard to say.

Everyone is fair game in the show - especially our country's celebrity-obsessed, 24-hour news culture. We will get to see Ullman's impersantions of celebrities such as Cameron Diaz, Renée Zellweger, Dina Lohan and David Beckham as well as politicians and pundits like Nancy Pelosi and Arianna Huffington. Ullman also has her own slew of original characters that are set to reflect a cross-section of American society, from an Indian pharmacist (already mentioned) to a homeless woman without health insurance to a soldier on temporary leave from Iraq.

Ullman's state of things looks pretty darn funny.

New episodes of Tracey Ullman's State of the Union air Sundays at 10 p.m. on Showtime. Even if you don't get Showtime, you can catch up on all the goods over at the show's official Web site.