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Alice (American TV series)

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Alice
Alice title card
Created byRobert Getchell
StarringLinda Lavin
Philip McKeon
Vic Tayback
Polly Holliday (1976-1980)
Beth Howland
Diane Ladd (1980-1981)
Celia Weston (1981-1985)
Charles Levin (1984-1985)
Marvin Kaplan (1978-1985)
Country of origin United States
No. of seasons9
No. of episodes202
Production
Executive producersThomas Kuhn
David Susskind
Running timeapprox. 0:30 (per episode)
Production companyWarner Bros. Television
Original release
NetworkCBS
ReleaseAugust 31, 1976 –
July 2, 1985

Alice was a popular American television sitcom series which ran from August 31, 1976 to July 2, 1985 on CBS. The series was based on the 1974 film, Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore. The show stars Linda Lavin in the title role, the widow who moves with her young son to start her life over again, and finds a job working at a diner.

Plot

Alice Hyatt who found herself an unemployed widow after her husband, Donald, is killed in a truck accident and her young son, Tommy, move out of their home in New Jersey and travel across the country to Los Angeles so that she can pursue a singing career. Her car breaks down in Phoenix, Arizona and she takes a job as a waitress at Mel's Diner (the establishing exterior shots were of a real diner, named Mel's, still in operation to this day in Phoenix). Alice works alongside Mel Sharples (the grouchy, stingy owner/cook) and fellow waitresses (and friends) sassy, man-hungry Florence Jean Castleberry ("Flo") and neurotic, scatterbrained Vera Louise Gorman.

File:Lindalavin.jpg
Principal character Alice Hyatt, played by Linda Lavin.

In the middle of the 1979-1980 season, Polly Holliday left the show to star in her own spin-off series, Flo. In the storyline of Alice, Flo left to take a hostess job in Houston, but then decided to buy and run a failing bar while visiting her hometown of Cowtown, Texas. Polly Holliday was never to make a guest appearance on Alice after beginning "Flo." Diane Ladd, who received an Academy Award nomination for her portrayal of Flo in the film version (she lost to Ingrid Bergman), joined the cast as Isabelle "Belle" Dupree, a hard-edged but kind-hearted woman who was one of Mel's first waitresses after he opened his diner. In spite of Ladd's Golden Globe-winning performance as Belle, the character never gelled with most fans. It has also been said that Ladd clashed with her co-stars. In early 1981, Ladd exited the series. In the storyline of the show, Belle left to take a job as a backup singer in Nashville. Theatre actress Celia Weston then joined the cast as good-natured, boisterous truck driver Jolene Hunnicutt.

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 four years later. Jolene often mentioned that she was a distant relative of Jefferson Davis "Boss" Hogg, which was Sorrell Booke's role on The Dukes of Hazzard; Jolene also frequently mentioned her grandmother who was known to her family as "Granny Gumms" since she only had three or four teeth in her mouth.

As the series progressed, it began to focus more on character development, such as the courtship and marriage of Vera and lovable cop Elliot. By the 1984-1985 season, many of the more plausible situations imaginable had been exhausted and Lavin seemed uninterested 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 such as Mrs. Walden, Vera's wizened landlady). The storyline began its end in the early summer of 1985, when a country singer Travis, discovering that he's falling for Alice, "kidnaps" her to take her to Nashville, telling her its time to follow her dream and she can do it there. Bewildered at the thought of her dream finally becoming 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.

The series concluded on July 2, 1985. In the last episode of the series, Mel sold the diner for a large amount of money as a developer needed land for an airport (the possibility had been discussed years earlier in one episode) and (surprisingly) gave each of his waitresses a $5,000 farewell bonus; Jolene opened a beauty parlor in her hometown; 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.

Mel's mother was played by Martha Raye: she was featured in many episodes, as was Mel's girlfriend Marie. A number of other characters appeared on a semi-regular basis, including Alice's meddlesome mother Mona Spivak (played by Doris Roberts of Everybody Loves Raymond fame). Several guest stars appeared as well including George Burns, Desi Arnaz, Jerry Reed, Dinah Shore, Art Carney, Eve Arden, Telly Savalas, and a young Jay Leno who played a motorcycle rider.

The diner also had its share of customers, the most frequent was Henry (Marvin Kaplan), who was the telephone repairman and who always talked about his wife Chloe, played by Ruth Buzzi in one episode.

As an ongoing gag, the front of Mel's diner was often destroyed, notably by Flo crashing a truck through it, and the girls landing a hot air balloon in the diner, among other gimmicks. Mel was always horrified to see his diner destroyed. Upon crashing through the roof at Mel's in a hot air balloon, Jolene cries, "We went to the bad place and it looks just like Mel's!"

Mel was also a stickler for tardiness. In one episode during the fourth season, Mel installs a time clock and the waitresses outsmarted it with time sheets showing them working long hours and Mel having to pay overtime with huge checks to boot, Mel threw the time clock into the trash and didn't fuss about their tardiness again. Another stickler for Mel was the waitresses taking on other jobs, leading to one, or in some cases, all 3 getting fired, but Mel always rehired the waitresses before the end of each episode.

Another early running feature in the show was the popularity of "Mel's World Famous Chili". In a first season episode, a food critic from the newspaper (played by Victor Buono) came to visit the diner, but when he ate the chili, he dropped dead. The waitresses and Mel thought at first it was the chili, but actually it was Peking Duck that he ate at a Chinese restaurant. Later on, guest star Art Carney tried to get Mel to give him the recipe but to no avail. The popularity of Mel's Chili ultimately led to an appearance on the Dinah Shore show where Dinah was doing her show from Phoenix, but it led to some bickering among Alice, Flo, and Vera because Mel had to take only one person to help him out with the preparations of the chili, but Mel decided to take everyone along much to everyone's delight.

Flo's catch phrase, "Kiss my grits" was popular at the time her character appeared on the show. According to Polly Holliday, the line was originally written as "Kiss my honeydew", but did not get any laughs. Another catch phrase of Flo's was "When donkeys fly". Since her portrayal of Flo, Polly Holiday has refused to repeat her famous line. Mel took on a catch phrase of his own, often directed towards his waitstaff at times of insolence, when he would say "You stow it". Whenever Vera would make one of her dumb remarks, someone was bound to say, "Good, Vera." Belle had a catchphrase in "my little voice."

The characters of Alice and Flo and Vera were supposed to be years apart in age; but the actresses who played these characters are all in the same age range. Flo was supposed to be in her mid-to-late 40s during the show's premise, but Polly Holliday was only 39. Alice was supposed to be 35 years old when the show begins, but Linda Lavin is just three months younger than Holliday. Vera was referred to as a "kid" and was presumably in her 20s, but Beth Howland is only four years younger than Lavin and Holliday, making her 35 years old at the time of the show's premiere.

Ratings

Alice was a very popular hit during its 9-year run: here's a list of the show's ratings:

Year Rating
1976-1977 #30
1977-1978 #8
1978-1979 #13
1979-1980 #4
1980-1981 #7
1982-1983 Not in Top 30
1983-1984 #27
1984-1985 #27

Cast

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

Alice was often compared with Three's Company in that it also went through three different blonde cast members during its run.

Theme song

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

Syndication

Reruns of the show also ran from June 1980 to September 1982 in daytime on CBS; in syndication on local stations, in the late 1980s on the cable TV network TBS; from the mid-1990s until early 1998 on E! Entertainment Television, and 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 once again returned to ION Television on November 24, 2007, with 2 back-to-back episodes at 7:00pm EST Monday through Thursday.

The show currently airs for free on the internet on AOL's In2TV service. (link)

DVD

File:Alice dvd.jpg
Cover of the six-episode Alice 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, 09/29/76 - First non-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.

Alice Season 1 is now available on Apple iTunes Store for downloading to your iPod. The current cost is $34.99 for the entire season or $1.99 per episode.

The Alice sets

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.

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

Differences between the movie and show's premise

Despite being based on the film Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, Alice had many contrasts with the film.

Movie Premise of the TV series
Alice's maiden name was Graham. Alice's maiden name was Spivak.
Alice and Tommy previously lived in Socorro, New Mexico. Alice and Tommy previously lived in northern New Jersey.
Alice's original plans were to move back to her hometown of Monterey, California to restart her singing career. Alice's original plans were to move to Los Angeles to restart her singing career.
The restaurant where Alice becomes a waitress was called Mel & Ruby's Cafe and located in Tucson. The restaurant where Alice becomes a waitress was called Mel's Diner and located in Phoenix.
Alice's car never broke down. Alice's car broke down when she and Tommy reached Phoenix. This is why she ended up working for Mel.
Mel was a widower, having been married to a woman named Ruby; hence the restaurant's name of "Mel & Ruby's Cafe." Mel was a middle-aged bachelor.
Alice and Tommy live in a nearby motel while she works at Mel's. Alice and Tommy move to the Phoenix Palms Apartments; the distance between her apartment and Mel's Diner is never revealed.
Alice meets and falls in love with a divorced rancher named David, whose wife left him and took their children; David becomes Tommy's guitar teacher. Alice does not get involved in a serious relationship with any man until the TV series' last season.
Flo had blonde hair; she was in a crumbling marriage and her husband was not speaking to her; she was around Alice's age; she had a daughter to support; she flirted with and accepted passes from her male customers but never dated any of them. Flo had red hair; she was at least ten years older than Alice; she was married and divorced three times and had no children; she dated any man who asked her.
Vera had a low, quiet voice; she was taken to and from work by her father. Vera had a high voice that was fairly loud; she lived alone in an apartment that was located at an unknown distance from the diner.
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