[Televisionary]

Is it just me or is Showtime suddenly really hip? Besides for Weeds and their amazing comedy pilots United States of Tara and the untitled Edie Falco comedy (all top-notch and likely to earn series stripes any day now), Showtime just scored major points in my book by signing a deal with brilliant British comedian Marc Wootton ( My New Best Friend , Nighty Night ) for a six-episode comedy series. Under the deal, Wootton will develop and star in a new alternative comedy series in which he'll interact with everyday folks; rather than order a pilot, the pay cabler has taken the unusual step of giving a blind series commitment to the untitled project. Hell, Showtime entertainment president Bob Greenblatt called Wootton "the new Sasha Baron Cohen," praise indeed. Anyone who has seen Wootton knows that this is a wise move on Showtime's part. His BBC series, High Spirits with Shirley Ghostman , is one of the most underrated and sadly undiscussed great series of the last f...

I'll be honest upfront: I heart Tracey Ullman. That said, I was really looking forward to Ullman's new series, Tracey Ullman's State of the Union , which launches on Sunday on pay cabler Showtime. I had loved Ullman in all of her television incarnations: The Tracey Ullman Show (which in turn spawned The Simpsons ) and HBO's wacky and lovable Tracey Takes On , in which she performed a variety of recurring characters in episodes based around particular themes (greed, crime, the environment, etc.). So when I was given a screener for Ullman's latest by the good folks at Showtime, I was giddy with excitement... a feeling that quickly faded once I actually watched the first episode of State of the Union . Since then, I've watched the premiere installment again, trying to parse some meaning into the twenty-something minutes of painfully creaky sketches and unfunny celebrity skewerings. I'm not sure what Ullman's intent was when she set out to do State of the Un...

Showtime's new comedy series, Tracey Ullman's State of the Union may not launch for over another month, but that doesn't mean you can't celebrate Presidents' Day in style with the reigning British Queen of Comedy. To that end, a sneak peek at Ullman's new sketch comedy, in which she tackles the state of America, Dina Lohan, Suzanne Sommers, and a cast of hundreds in her own inimitable way. Tracey Ullman's State of the Union launches March 30th on Showtime.