The web site would become the basis for the fashion-based talk show Tracey Ullman's Visible Panty Lines for Oxygen in 2001.

President of Entertainment at Showtime, Robert Goldblatt, recalled Ullman fondly from his days working at Fox.

We are so proud to bring her to Showtime in a completely new show that will again showcase what she does best, and in this case, she will be looking at the wide cross-section of Americans and both celebrating us and sending us up.

"[6] The show is shot in cutaway fashion, with each sketch lasting only a few seconds to a few minutes, much like a YouTube clip, a style Ullman was looking to achieve.

"[9] On November 6, 2008, it was announced that State of the Union would be remade for Germany starring comedian, writer, Mona Sharma, under the title Lage Der Nation.

"[29] Others praised its collection of famous, and semi-famous impersonations, including Arianna Huffington, "who sleeps with her laptop and has a dramatic Eva Gabor accent and penchant for using "blog" in every part of her speech.

"[30] "Her best moments came as Arianna, Dina [Lohan] and Laurie [David]", stated April MacIntyre, of Monsters & Critics.

"[30] The show's premiere episode raked in 907,000 viewers for its first night of three airings, 776,000 combined for 10PM and 10:30PM, (just short of Showtime series Californication's debut total of 795,000).

Pre-airings of State of the Union were available through cable television's On Demand service weeks before its official premiere on the network.

[34] Celebrity impersonations have become a recent addition to Ullman's comedic repertoire, something that she had not dabbled in since her early days at the BBC, nearly thirty years prior.

In a sketch, Zellweger is featured on a press junket for her new movie, where her character has a condition called "chronic narcissistic squint".

Political pundit Arianna Huffington's thick Greek accent and obsession with blogging receive numerous jabs throughout the series.

While filling out an Internet dating profile, Ullman as Huffington types, "Must enjoy nice long blogs in the rain."