Alice

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Alice
Title card 1976-1978
Format	Sitcom
Created by	Robert Getchell
Starring	Linda Lavin Vic Tayback Beth Howland Philip McKeon Polly Holliday Diane Ladd Celia Weston Charles Levin
Theme music composer	David Shire (music) Alan Bergman Marilyn Bergman (lyrics)
Opening theme	"There's a New Girl in Town" performed by Linda Lavin
Country of origin	United States
No. of seasons	9
No. of episodes	202
Production
Executive producer(s)	R.S. Allen (1976–1977) William P. D'Angelo (1976–1977) Harvey Bullock (1976–1977) Thomas Kuhn (1977(?)–?) David Susskind (1977(?)–?)
Running time	22–24 minutes
Production company(s)	Warner Bros. Television
Broadcast
Original channel	CBS
Audio format	Monaural
Original run	August 31, 1976 (1976-08-31) – July 2, 1985 (1985-07-02)

Alice is an American sitcom television series that ran from August 31, 1976 to July 2, 1985 on CBS. The series is based on the 1974 film Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore.^[1] The show stars Linda Lavin in the title role, a widow who moves with her young son to start her life over again, and finds a job working at a roadside diner on the outskirts of Phoenix, Arizona. Most of the episodes revolve around events at Mel's Diner.

Plot

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Alice Hyatt (Linda Lavin) is an unemployed widow after her husband, Donald, is killed in a trucking accident, and with her young son Tommy (played by Alfred Lutter in the pilot episode, reprising his role from the movie, but played by Philip McKeon thereafter) heads from their New Jersey home to Los Angeles so that she can pursue a singing career. Her car breaks down on the way in Phoenix (from a presumed engine fire, as seen in the opening credits), and we meet her soon after she has taken a job as a waitress at Mel's Diner, on the outskirts of Phoenix. (The later seasons' exterior shots were of a real diner, named Mel's, still in operation in Phoenix.) Alice works alongside Mel Sharples (Vic Tayback), the grouchy, stingy owner and cook of the greasy spoon, and fellow waitresses and friends, sassy, man-hungry Florence Jean "Flo" Castleberry (Polly Holliday), and neurotic, scatterbrained Vera Louise Gorman (Beth Howland).

Each episode invariably started inside the diner, and most if not all subsequent scenes took place there as well. A frequent set for non-diner scenes was Alice's one-bedroom apartment in the Desert Sun apartments. (Tommy used the bedroom and Alice slept on the couch.) Vera and Mel's studio apartments and Flo's trailer were occasionally seen.

Principal character Alice Hyatt, played by Linda Lavin.

The diner had its share of regular customers through the years, such as Tommy's basketball coach, Earl Hicks (Dave Madden), and Henry Beesmeyer (Marvin Kaplan), a telephone repairman who always made jokes about Mel's cooking. Henry's oft-mentioned wife Chloe was seen in one episode, played by Ruth Buzzi. Celebrities playing either themselves or other characters were a hallmark of the show.

As the series progressed, it focused more on character development, such as the hasty courtship and marriage of Vera and lovable cop Elliot (Charles Levin). Tommy eventually goes to college and is seen less frequently. In the final season, the character of Alice was absent several times due to Lavin's directing a number of episodes and playing the character of Mrs. Walden. The storyline began its end in the early summer of 1985, when country singer Travis Marsh (played by Lavin's real-life husband Kip Niven), discovering that he's falling for Alice, "kidnaps" her to take her to Nashville, telling her it's time to follow her dream there. Bewildered at the thought of her dreams finally coming true, Alice agrees, but not without extracting a promise from Travis to drive her back to Phoenix so she can get her affairs in order, including ending her current relationship with a writer.

In the last episode, airing July 2, 1985, typical of sitcoms of the era, news of several life-changing events is revealed within a matter of minutes. Alice, after nine years of trying, finally gets a recording contract and is moving to Nashville. Vera announces she is pregnant and decides to be a full-time mother, Elliott having been promoted from officer to detective. Vera and Elliot said that if the baby was a boy, they were going to name him Melvin. Touched by this, Mel took off his chef's hat, folded it and handed it to them (with tears in his eyes) saying, "I want the baby to have this." Jolene's "Granny Gums" has died and leaves her granddaughter enough money to open her own beauty parlor in her hometown. Besides all three waitresses suddenly leaving simultaneously, by an amazing coincidence Mel has just sold the diner for a large amount of money to a real estate developer who wants to use the land to open a strip mall, and must close within days. He surprisingly gives each of his waitresses a $5,000 farewell bonus. Much of the remainder of the episode shows flashbacks to humorous and major events, and many of the big stars who had appeared on the show, including Polly Holliday. Finally, when cleaning out her things, Alice finds the "Waitress Wanted" sign that drew her to the diner nine years earlier. The series' regular customers, such as Henry, say their emotional farewells, followed by Elliot, and finally the principal characters Tommy, Jolene, Vera, and Alice giving theirs. The last thing we see is Mel putting up the "Closed" sign and locking up.

Cast changes

Polly Holliday left the show to star in her own spin-off series, Flo.^[2] In the episode airing February 24, 1980, Flo leaves to take a hostess job in Houston. On the way to Houston, Flo stops at her hometown Fort Worth, Texas (which she refers to by its moniker "Cowtown"). Flo decides to buy and run a failing road house bar there, which she renames Flo's Yellow Rose. Polly Holliday never made a guest appearance on Alice after beginning Flo, although flashbacks including Flo were shown in the final episode of Alice. Vic Tayback made one guest appearance on Flo.

Diane Ladd, who received an Academy Award nomination for her portrayal of Flo in the film version^[3] (she lost to Ingrid Bergman),^[4] joined the cast as Isabelle "Belle" Dupree, a hard-edged but kind-hearted woman. She had been a waitress of Mel's in the past, and the two had had a romantic relationship during that time. While Flo was inviting folks to "Kiss my grits!" at the Yellow Rose, Belle verbalized her own put-down: "Butter my biscuits!" In spite of Ladd's Golden Globe-winning performance as Belle,^[3] the character was not retained for the duration of the series and replaced early in 1981, the character making one last appearance in which she telephones the diner to inform everyone that she had taken a job as a backup singer in Nashville, Tennessee. It has been said that Ladd clashed with her co-stars, and no flashbacks including Belle were shown during the final episode of the series.

Theatre actress Celia Weston then joined the cast as good-natured, boisterous Georgian truck driver Jolene Hunnicutt. Jolene arrives as she and her male driving partner are in the midst of an argument over his unwelcome advances, during which she throws and breaks many of Mel's dishes. Mel agrees to hire her "temporarily" to work off the cost of the dishes, but she stays until the series ends more than four years later. Jolene frequently mentions her grandmother, "Granny Gums," who had only three or four teeth. Jolene also mentions her distant relative Jefferson Davis "Boss" Hogg, a character from the concurrent CBS series The Dukes of Hazzard. In one episode Sorrell Booke guest stars in this role, along with fellow Dukes character, Enos (Sonny Shroyer).

Ongoing gags and catchphrases

Flo's catchphrase, "Kiss my grits!" enjoyed widespread popularity at the time the character appeared on Alice. According to Polly Holliday, the line was originally written as "Kiss my honeydew!", but did not get any laughs. (In the original film, Flo, as played by Diane Ladd, tells Mel in one scene to "kiss me where the sun don't shine.") Another of Flo's catchphrases was "When donkeys fly!" Since her portrayal of Flo, Polly Holliday has refused to repeat her famous "grits" line.^[5]

In an attempt to duplicate the success of Flo's "Kiss my grits!" Belle expressed a new put-down: "Butter my biscuits!" Belle's other catchphrase was "My little voice", which called her "Isabelle", which she usually used when starting to tell others what she thinks is best.

Mel would snipe, "Stow it!" at anyone he had qualms with, especially his waitstaff. "Stow it!" was usually followed by either "Alice", "Vera", "Flo", or "Blondie" (in reference to Jolene). He would also bark, "Bag it, Blondie!" to Jolene. Whenever Vera would make one of her dumb remarks, someone was bound to say sarcastically, "Good, Vera". He eventually gave Vera the nickname "Dinghy".

In a handful of episodes, Alice put on a double-breasted suit and fedora to assume the character of husky-voiced "Sam Butler", a mobster she made up as a ruse to fool her intended target. Linda Lavin also played the role of Mrs. Walden, Vera's wizened and abrasive landlady of arbitrary foreign origin in the last season, once even playing both Alice and Mrs. Walden in a split-screen dual role.

Part of Mel's Diner was often destroyed, such as by Flo's crashing a truck through the front, Mel's chopping down a tree, which landed in the diner, Mel's accidentally having the building targeted for demolition, and the waitresses' crashing a hot air balloon through the roof. Upon crashing through the roof with the hot air balloon, Jolene cries, "We went to the bad place and it looks just like Mel's!"

Mel was a stickler for punctuality. In the fourth season, Mel installs a time clock, which ends up working to the waitresses' advantage due to significant overtime, and he finally throws it into the trash. Mel also had a strict rule against moonlighting, often leading to one or more waitresses getting fired. But of course Mel always rehired them before the end of each episode.

Mel's food and cooking were constantly criticized by his waitresses and customers alike, especially Henry, who always blamed it for his indigestion. However, Mel's chili was popular and became a plot point of several episodes. During the first season, a newspaper food critic (played by Victor Buono) dropped dead while eating Mel's chili, but it turned out that Peking Duck from a Chinese restaurant was to blame. Guest star Art Carney in one episode was to be the spokesperson for retail distribution of Mel's Chili ("Chili con Carney") but backed out when he discovered Vera was a distant relative with part ownership in the venture. The popularity of Mel's Chili also led to an appearance on Dinah Shore's talk show, which led to some bickering among the waitresses because Mel could take only one person along, but of course all ended up going. Mel refused to reveal his "secret ingredient" to Dinah and her TV audience during the cooking demonstration.

Flo was supposed to be in her mid-to-late 40s when the show premiered, but Polly Holliday was only 39. Alice was supposed to be 35, but Linda Lavin is just three months younger than Holliday. Vera was occasionally referred to as a "kid", presumed to be in her late 20s, but Beth Howland was 35.

The shot of Vera with the "exploding straws" was the only one used during the opening credits for the entire run of the series, with the exception of the pilot episode, which had no scenes from Mel's Diner in the opening.

Cast

The door to Mel's Diner. The waitress void was filled by the introduction of Alice Hyatt in the first episode.

Opening titles cast members:

• Linda Lavin as Alice Hyatt
• Vic Tayback as Mel Sharples (Tayback reprised his role from the movie)
• Philip McKeon as Tommy Hyatt (Alfred Lutter briefly reprised his role from the movie but was replaced after the pilot episode)
• Polly Holliday as Florence Jean "Flo" Castleberry (Seasons 1-4: 1976-1980)
• Beth Howland as Vera Louise Gorman
• Diane Ladd as Isabelle "Belle" Dupree (Seasons 4 & 5: 1980-1981) (Ladd played the role of Flo in the movie)
• Celia Weston as Jolene Hunnicutt (Seasons 5-9: 1981-1985)
• Charles Levin as Elliot Novak (Season 8 Recurring & Season 9 Regular: 1983-1985)

Other recurring cast members:

• Marvin Kaplan as Henry Beesmeyer (1977–1985)
• Dave Madden as Earl Hicks
• Victoria Carroll as Marie Massey (Mel's girlfriend) (1978–1984)
• Martha Raye as Carrie Sharples (Mel's mother) (1978–1985)
• Doris Roberts as Mona Spivak (Alice's mother) (1981–1982)
• Robert Picardo as Officer Maxwell, Elliott's partner (1983–1984)
• Pat Cranshaw as Andy (diner regular) (1976–1978)

Other notable guest stars:
Eve Arden, Desi Arnaz, Fred Berry, Joan Blondell, George Burns (as himself), Ruth Buzzi (as Chloe Beesmeyer, Henry's wife), Robert Goulet, Joel Grey (as himself), Eileen Heckart (as Rose Hyatt, Alice's interfering mother in-law), Florence Henderson, Jay Leno, Nancy McKeon (Philip's sister, appeared twice in different roles), Frank Nelson, Donald O'Conner (as himself), Jerry Reed, Debbie Reynolds, Telly Savalas (as himself), and Jerry Stiller.

Production information

"There's a New Girl in Town", music by David Shire, lyrics by Alan Bergman and Marilyn Bergman; performed by Linda Lavin. Several different arrangements of this tune were used throughout the series' run.

The Mel's Diner set made changes over the years; in the pilot the diner contained a blue refrigerator, but in the series the refrigerator was a dirty stainless steel, then later was changed to clean and shiny stainless steel in 1979-81 and much later an even shinier stainless steel refrigerator and better appliances. However, the rest of the sets remained the same.

The men's and ladies' restrooms were confined to one room in the pilot and during the first season. From 1977-1985, there were separate restrooms with "Ladies" and "Men" written on them.

The storeroom was inside the diner where the Men's restroom would later be and said "Private" on it during the 1976-1977 season. The storeroom from 1977 to 1985 was confined to the back of the diner. Here, the waitresses took their breaks, had their lockers, and stored their uniforms. Mel also conducted his business from this space.

The payphone was a touch tone and was located on the left of the "Restrooms" door in the pilot episode. For the first season, it was moved to the right of the doors that led to the kitchen section of the diner. For the second season, it was moved to the wall between the two doors that became two separate restrooms and was replaced by a phone with a rotary dial. From 1978 to 1985, the phone was a touch tone and was located at a section that was a few steps away from the entrance to the diner.

In the first season, the diner was decorated in an Aztec and Cowboy motif to accommodate the feel of Arizona. For the second season, the walls had pink wallpaper with red lines on it. For the third season, the walls had wallpaper with orange leaves on it.

Alice's apartment remained more or less unchanged during most of the show's run; Vera's apartment and Flo's trailer were occasionally seen. (The set for Flo's trailer was also used on the spinoff Flo.)

The pilot episode was taped at CBS Television City in Hollywood, California. After this, the series was taped at The Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, California.

Differences between the movie and show's premise

Alice had many contrasts with the film on which it was based, Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore.

Broadcast history

Ratings

• 1976-'77: #30^[6]
• 1977-'78: #8^[7]
• 1978-'79: #13^[8]
• 1979-'80: #4^[9]
• 1980-'81: #7^[10]
• 1981-'82: #5^[11]
• 1982-'83: Not in Top 30^[12]
• 1983-'84: #27^[13]
• 1984-'85: #51

Syndication

Alice was seen in reruns:

• from June 2, 1980 to September 17, 1982 on CBS daytime replacing Whew! (before being replaced with Child's Play)^{[citation needed]};
• via syndication on many local broadcast stations beginning in the fall of 1982. Notable stations that purchased and aired reruns of Alice included WPIX in New York City; KTTV in Los Angeles; WGN-TV in Chicago; WTHR in Indianapolis; WPHL-TV in Philadelphia; KBHK-TV in San Francisco; KHTV in Houston; WSBK-TV in Boston; WTTG in Washington, D.C.; WUAB in Cleveland; KFMB-TV in San Diego; WXON in Detroit; and KWGN-TV in Denver, among others;
• in the late 1980s on then-superstation TBS (WTBS) from Atlanta;
• sporadically from the mid-1990s until early 1998 on E! Entertainment Television;
• on TNN from late June 1999 to January 2001.
• The show returned to television on April 2, 2007, airing on the ION Television network weekdays at 7:30pm until June 22, 2007. The show was heavily edited to make time for additional commercials, with several minutes of important plot often haphazardly cut. The show returned to ION Television on November 24, 2007, with two back-to-back episodes at 7:00pm EST Monday through Thursday, and continued until the entire series' episodes had been aired. It was replaced by Family Feud on April 7, 2008.

Commercial episode availability

Cover of the six-episode Alice DVD

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

• "Alice Gets a Pass", September 29, 1976 - First non-pilot episode.
• "The Odd Couple", February 26, 1977 - When Flo's trailer is stolen, Alice allows Flo to move in with her. Alice finds Flo's habits difficult to handle.
• "Close Encounters of the Worst Kind", January 22, 1978 - Alice's use of psychology causes tension among her coworkers.
• "Block Those Kicks", October 22, 1978 - The waitresses decide to give up their bad habits in order to encourage Mel to give up his gambling habit.
• "Cabin Fever", December 2, 1979 - The waitresses, Mel and his girlfriend unknowingly book the same cabin during the same weekend.
• "Flo's Farewell", February 24, 1980 - Flo leaves Mel's Diner for a hosting job at a restaurant in Texas.

Alice Season 1 is available from Apple iTunes Store and Amazon Instant Video for downloading. ^[14] In addition, a holiday episode for Season 3 is also available from Amazon. ^[15]

References

External links

• Alice at the Internet Movie Database
• Alice at TV.com
• Alice at TV Guide