Tracey Takes On... Complete Seasons 3 & 4

I didn't pay much notice to other reviews because the average rating on this is 4.5 starts. But it seems like the seller intentionally did that through other sources to inflate the rating. This is bogus. The episodes are totally cut down to nothing and entire skits (see Agents where Fern's husband is eaten by a shark) are missing. But I guess that's the deal HBO made because there are virtually no other boxsets for Seasons 3 or 4. I should have noticed this was from a different distributor after receiving Seasons 1 and 2 which came in completely different packaging. What a waste.

Why language is censored in an HBO sketch comedy series? I don't know. And why is each disc only two hours long when it could have been three? I don't know. With the exception of "Smoking", "Dating" & "America", almost every episode is edited to within an inch of its life. The "Obsession" episode is edited down to just over three minutes. And "Religion" is entirely missing. Gone are great segments like Ruby in the "Marriage" episode, Erin in the "Drugs" episode, Sheneesha in the "Drugs" episode, Linda in the "Drugs" episode, Chic in the "Lies" episode, Fern in the "Books" episode", and of course Ruby's "Hype" segment. And also gone is the characters lip-syncing to "They Don't Know" at the start and close of every episode (one of the things I loved the most about every episode). In its place is the season one theme song, with only a black background stating the episode's title and series credits. I feel it's only fair to tell people what's missing from the DVD's ahead of time -1. Marriage (Jan 04 1998)SHORT BITS:Chic doesn't like the concept of marriage, with its "unnatural" monogamyErin questions the wisdom of marrying musiciansLONGER SKETCHES:Ruby meets her son's mail-order bride4. Loss (Jan 25 1998)SHORT BITS:Chic's lost-and-found philosophy: you lose it, tough s***!LONGER SKETCHES:Fern learns that Harry's apparently been eaten by an alligator5. Agents (Feb 01 1998)SHORT BITS:HRH meets Pierce BrosnanLONGER SKETCHES:Fern's husband Harry faked his death (initially)Linda leaves her longtime agent Candy Casino6. Age (Feb 08 1998)SHORT BITS:Sydney's having her eggs harvestedBirdie and her former theory about the Second ComingHRH meets Macauley CulkinRuby talks about her son's pet pigLONG SKETCHES:Trevor and Barry comment on how differently they've aged7. Religion (Feb 15 1998)OPENING: Televangelists and "Ullmanism"SHORT BITS:Hope on the difference between "God" and "a God"Ruby describes her "religious experience"Sydney would have liked to represent Lilith, Adam's first wifeFern welcomes Madeline Albright to JudaismKay takes Mother to a Benny Hinn rallyHRH meets the PopeLONG SKETCHES:Birdie kidnaps Chris and tries to "cure" her of her homosexualityLinda rediscovers her relationship with God8. Man's Best Friend (Feb 22 1998)LONG SKETCHES:Linda and Trevor smuggle a dog onto the planeCLOSING: The dog shows up at the Takes On offices.9. Culture (Mar 01 1998)SHORT BITS:Birdie describes her home school for her childrenChic's artistic bentTrevor's comments on the international airline crewsRayleen decries the lack of appreciation of Australian cultureKay talks about one of Mother's culturesLONG SKETCHES:Linda fights against funding cuts for the artsSheneesha pressures a publisher into a book deal10. Sports (Mar 08 1998)SHORT BITS:Linda complains about foul treatment at a celebrity sports competitionErin has a rough time singing the National AnthemHRH meets Pete Sampras1. Dating (Jan 13 1999)SHORT BITS:Ruby on her daughter dating a black manChic on his idea of a great date2. Drugs (Jan 13 1999)SHORT BITS:Ruby on her botched hip replacementNadja won't let her girls take drugs and explains whyLinda sings about all the drugs she's kicked beforeLONGER SKETCHES:Erin's drug dealer contemplates his lifeSheneesha needs her blood-pressure medication3. Scandal (Jan 20 1999)SHORT BITS:Madame Nadja on who you know and what you know about themLONGER SKETCHES:Janie is attracted to a young man -- a very young man4. Hair (Jan 20 1999)SHORT BITS:Ruby talks about the four basic hair colorsLONGER SKETCHES:Linda stops the show in "Hair"Fern's hairdresser has died5. Lies (Jan 27 1999)SHORT BITS:Madame Nadja says the police lie (sure)Sydney never lies (yeah, right)Ruby reads the "truth" about LiberaceTrevor talks about Pinocchio, the classic and adult versionsLinda sings and reveals a past untruthLONG BITS:Chic tells a lie to get out of a ticket and suffers the consequences6. Erotica (Feb 3 1999)SHORT BITS:Hope studies Spanish because of Mexican wrestlersLONG SKETCHES:Janie finds a sculpture to be very arousingLinda, the sultan and Victoria Principal7. Books (Feb 10 1999)SHORT BITS:Janie recalls living with a poet onceMadame Nadja's dilemma: to publish or not to publishLONG SKETCHES:Kay finds love at the libraryFern wants to retrieve her signed "Valley Of The Dolls"9. America (Feb 24 1999)SHORT BITS:Birdie does a baton routine10. Hype (Mar 3 1999)LONG SKETCHES:Ruby enters Buddy in a contest to win a new truck11. Obsession (Mar 10 1999)SHORT BITS:Ruby on "Magnificent Obsession"HRH: the royal family is not obsessiveLONG SKETCHES:Sydney attends her high school reunion and gets her revengeTrevor and Barry take up Latin dancingSheneesha on Steven Spielberg's stalker

It's been a number of years since I've seen this show in reruns (on HBO), but it is not hard to see that these shows have been EDITED. There are two episodes (two of my favorites) that I remember well and they are missing at least 3 or 4 minutes each. This set is advertised as the "COMPLETE Season 3 & 4". IT'S NOT. It even says "complete" right on the front cover.I would think that such false advertising is illegal.I would rather have paid a few dollars more and had these shows unedited. Perhaps if this were a 4 disk set (again, as advertised) instead of 3, there would be room for each episode in it's entirety.

Unless my set is defective, Vivendi seems to have taken the 21 Season 3-4 episodes and butchered them literally beyond recognition. Maybe this should have been obvious in advance, because if you do the math, 366 minutes of runtime leaves only 14 minutes per episode after the 72 minutes of bonuses are subtracted.And indeed, some episodes are as short as 5 minutes, and it looks as if every one has been edited to some degree. Why bother to issue such a hack job? I couldn't be more disappointed.

As other reviewers have stated: the third and fourth seasons of Tracy Ullman's classic HBO series have been edited down to what could and should be called "Highlights of Tracy's Third & Fourth Season." It's unfortunate (not to mention extremely disappointing) that the powers that be felt the need to edit down the last two seasons of this wonderful show.

The cover of this DVD says "As Seen On HBO." That is a BLATENT LIE!There are OBVIOUSLY huge sections of the episodes that are missing.Language is SO CLEARLY censored. In some episodes, she says things like "I don't give a fig" and anyone can easily see that is NOT the word that came out of her mouth. I can understand network T.V. editing language, but NOT a DVD. If they're going to advertise "As Seen On HBO", then that is what they should deliver. Fans deserve better than this crappy, heavily censored, hatchet job. Why censor a DVD? Don't waste your money.

as advertised

I bought these dvds a while ago and have enjoyed them immensely over the years. I miss her show very much. She is the queen of comedy in my book. If you love to laugh, this is for you.

This is a great series but there were parts of the original skits aired on hbo that did not appear on the dvd, even all of the skits were listed and on the dvd. some material seems to have been cut and is not on the dvd.