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Alice was an American television sitcom series which ran from August 31, 1976 to July 2, 1985 on CBS.

The series was based on the movie Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974).

Finding herself an unemployed widow after her husband, Donald, was killed in a truck accident, Alice Hyatt and her young son, Tommy, moved out of their home in New Jersey and began traveling to Los Angeles in hopes that she would find a singing career. Her car broke down in Phoenix, Arizona and she took a job as a waitress at Mel's Diner where she worked alongside Mel (the grouchy, stingy owner/cook) and fellow waitresses (and friends) sassy, man-hungry Flo and neurotic, scatterbrained Vera. In the middle of the 1979-1980 season, Flo left (to go to her own spin-off series Flo) - in the storyline of Alice, she left to take a hostess job in Houston but then decided to run her own restaurant - and Diane Ladd (who played Flo in the film version) joined the cast as Belle, a hard-edged but kind-hearted woman who had a past with Mel and had a failed catchphrase in "my little voice." In spite of Ladd's talents, the character never gelled with most of the fans and the ratings began to decline. In early 1981, Ladd left the series and was replaced by theater actress Celia Weston, who played the good-natured, boisterous truck driver Jolene Hunnicutt. In the storyline of the show, Belle left to take a job as a backup singer in Nashville.

Jolene's character arrives as she and her male truck-driving partner are in the midst of a disagreement over her partner's unwelcome advances while on the job. Before the episode ended, Mel agreed to hire Jolene "temporarily" to pay for damages she had created, and the character lasted until the end of the series more than five years later.

Jolene brought a softer edge to situations than Flo and Belle had, and with the changes, the program returned to the top 10 for several seasons. By the end of the series, Jolene had been featured in more episodes than either that of Flo or Belle, and by her third season (the series seventh season), she had begun to steal a lot of the laughs and had a nice following. Perhaps no character rivaled the ever-popular Flo, but Weston's Jolene succeeded in being a favorite to many.

As the series progressed, it began to focus more on character development, such as the courtship and marriage of Vera and loveable cop Elliot. By the 1984-1985 season, many of the more plausible situations imaginable had been exhausted and Lavin seemed disinterested in continuing the character of Alice (Alice was absent several times in the last year due to Lavin directing a number of episodes or playing another role as Vera's wizened landlady). The series concluded on July 2, 1985. In the last episode of the series, Mel sold the diner and (surprisingly) gave each of his waitresses a $5000 farewell bonus; Jolene opened a beauty parlor; Vera had become pregnant and planned to be a full-time mother and Alice finally got a recording contract (after nine years of trying to get it) and moved to Nashville.

Vic Tayback (Mel Sharples) died in 1990, but most of the other cast members have continued to appear fairly regularly in theater, television and the occasional film.

Flo's catch phrase, "Kiss my grits" was briefly popular at the time the show ran.

Cast

DVD

On June 27, 2006, 6 episodes of Alice were released on DVD as part of the Warner Brothers' Television Favorites Compilation. The episodes were hand picked by fans at SitcomsOnline.com and are as follows:

  • Alice Gets a Pass, 08/31/76 - Pilot episode.
  • The Odd Couple, 02/26/77 - When Flo's trailer is stolen, Alice allows Flo to move in with her. Alice finds Flo's habits difficult to deal with.
  • Close Encounters of the Worst Kind, 01/22/78 - Alice's use of psychology causes tension among her coworkers.
  • Block Those Kicks, 10/22/78 - The waitresses decide to give up their bad habits in order to encourage Mel to give up his gambling habit.
  • Cabin Fever, 12/02/79 - The waitresses, Mel and his girlfriend unknowingly book the same cabin during the same weekend.
  • Flo's Farewell, 02/24/80 - Flo leaves Mel's diner for a hosting job at a restaurant in Texas.

Trivia

  • A popular computer game, Diner Dash, features a character named Flo who tries to build a restaurant empire, working as waitress and busboy as well as owner. However, this Flo comes from a background in finance/accounting (per the opening of the game), with no known prior restaurant experience.

  • The waitress that works for Dex at the diner in the movie Star Wars: Episode II, Attack of the Clones, is named F.L.O. and even has a "southern" robotic accent. This may have been inspired by the Alice episode "The Robot Wore Pink", where Mel uses an automated waitress to replace Alice.

  • There are no real places in Phoenix, AZ that correspond to the various settings of the sitcom (such as Mel's Diner or Alice's apartment) with the exception of Arizona State University, which Tommy eventually wound up attending.

  • CBS aired reruns of Alice in its daytime lineup from June 1980 to September 1982 at 10:30am (EST). Later in the '80s, reruns turned up on Superstation WTBS.

  • Flo, Vera, and Alice were supposed to be a number of years apart from one another, but the three actresses were all rather close in age. Flo was supposed to be several years older than Alice, presumably in her mid-40s. However, Polly Holliday was 39 when the series began in 1976. Alice was supposed to be 35, but Linda Lavin was just 3 months younger than Holliday. Vera was referred to as a "kid" and was presumably in her 20s, but Beth Howland was 35 in 1976, just 4 years younger than Holliday.

  • Has aired on cable in the 90s on E! and TNN.

  • Currently airs on the internet on AOL.com/In2TV

  • The "i" network struck a deal with Warner Bros for several of their older series to air on the network beginning in August 2006. Alice was among the series listed in the press release.

External links

CBS network shows | Sitcoms | 1970s TV shows in the United States | 1980s TV shows in the United States | Television programs based on films | TV shows produced/distributed by Warner Brothers | Television shows set in Arizona

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Alice (TV series)".

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