The Trouble with Tracy

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The Trouble with Tracy was a Canadian television series produced by CTV for the 1970–1971 television season. It is widely considered 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 14 September 1970^[1]. 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 ensured a poor-quality product. Even flubbed lines and bloopers sometimes ended up airing, because the show couldn't afford retakes.

Shot in Toronto at the studios of CFTO, the show was set in New York City and featured a newlywed couple. Tracy Young (played by Diane Nyland in a miniskirt) was the dishy wife to Doug Young (played by Steve Weston), a young advertising executive and exasperated husband. Other regular characters were Doug's hippie brother-in-law Paul, who was constantly asking Doug for money, and Tracy's nagging mother, Mrs. Sherwood.

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.

The show aired Monday to Friday, with 130 episodes produced for its original run. These episodes were repeated in the afternoon time slot until late into the 1970s.

[edit] Ongoing influence in Canadian popular culture

Even into the mid-1980s, the show continued to appear on some Canadian television stations through syndication.

Barenaked Ladies frequently played a song called "The Trouble With Tracy" live in concert in the early 1990s. However, the song is not related to the show. A live recording is included as a B-side on the band's 1993 CD single "Brian Wilson"; the song also appears on their rare early releases Buck Naked and Barenaked Lunch. The song was based on a poem by Steven Page called "The Trouble With Robon," which can be found here:[1].

In March 2003, the Comedy Network, a Canadian specialty channel owned by CTV, announced that it would air a pilot for new version of The Trouble with Tracy, based on the original scripts, on April 1 of that year. If successful, this pilot would lead to a 13-episode series starring comedian Laurie Elliott as Tracy. Elliott and Nyland both participated in a press conference to promote the new production. This was, in fact, an April Fool's joke and no pilot was ever filmed or aired; however, some media, including the Toronto Star and CTV's own Canada AM, did fall for the prank.