Why did the Alice opening theme song go through so many iterations?

La Lavin was simply too talented to have one take of that iconic theme song. Plus the fans demanded it!!!

Oh God. I was searching online and just found out that Vic Tayback is dead.

There isn’t a single version where Lavin doesn’t make bizarre choices. In some she sounds like she’s actively getting fucked. Some she sounds like she’s mocking the lyrics. Some she sounds like she’s putting on an accent. Some she just over sings. Never noticed how annoying it was.

He's been dead. For quite some time.

Beth Howland too.

And Philip McKeown.

Cunt Lavin is STILL with us, though.

[quote] Never noticed how annoying it was.

Funniest thing, the saddest part is she never knew why.....

Why did they drop the whole entertainer dream thing featured in the movie? That may have breathed some life into things, instead of a neverending slog slingin' hash in a diner.

Oh mah gawd. My Tawmey is dead? I need to arrange a benefit show. Mel? Vera? Where are you guys? Henry? Where is everybody?

" There's a new girl in town and she's looking GUH"

" There's a new girl in town 'cause I'm feelin' GOOD!!!"

Fresh freckled face definitely reads more Ellen Burstyn than Linda Lavin.

Because nobody cared.

Why does she always feel so GOOD anyway? Does she have a vibrator jammed "up there"?

Meanwhile, Beth Howland is guilty of armed theft in the credits. Tap dancing and tossing the straws …. maybe the best 5 seconds in any series opening ever.

[quote] Oh God. I was searching online and just found out that Vic Tayback is dead.

You're surprised? Had he been alive now, he would be 93. He did not look super-healthy.

Ba-da-ba-da-baaaaaa

Martha Raye would take out her dentures and give blowjobs to the crew.

"Take it from the big mouth!"

Datalounge is right-Bonnie Franklin and Linda Lavin should have swapped roles.

bum bad da bum bum

Did Linda do the same thing Betty Buckley did to loosen up her vocal cords?

^^Sucking Vic Tayback's huge uncut Syrian cock and then swallowing his load? Then the answer is yes.

Bonnie Franklin definitely read more as a 'fresh freckle face' than Lavin. Also, Bonnie would have only sang the theme song once and it would have been perfect, though I can guarantee you that Beth Howland would NEVER have been allowed to TAP in any episode let along have the scene featured regularly in the opening credits. The straws? They also would not have made the cut...

There was a thread a few years back where some witty but actually pretty incisive DLer analyzed all nine versions of the theme in remarkable depth.

Yeah r22 it wasn’t even that long ago. This is a duplicate thread.

Was there negative tension between Linda and Vic because of the Six Day War and stuff?

And was it SO SWEET after all, or did Alice end up disappointed with life like Ann Romano?

I wonder if Mel ever hog-fucked Alice in the storeroom? She looked like she needed it bad.

Phoenix seemed so interesting and exotic to a gayling like me living on the east coast.

Was it Phoenix or Tucson? I always got confused...or Taos?

In the first version, she sings "there's a NYOO girl in town." Later "with a brand NOO smile."

Phoenix. A fast google search was all it took.

Taos was McCloud's hometown.

OP, I think it was just a reflection of TV during those times -- i.e., it was very common for shows to change up their opening theme songs from season to season. It was often part of the thrill of watching a show's season premiere just to see if they would do something different to the theme. Many did it from "Rhoda" to "Fame" to "Gimme A Break" and on and on. Some stayed true to their original openings -- think "All In the Family" -- but others felt the need to switch it up. It's actually a feature of TV watching that I miss very much.

Here's an even newer version, OP!

Even as a young child, I hated that damn song. Overall I found the show to be depressing... a bunch of poor old people serving horrible food in the middle of nowhere. Even the "funny" parts were somehow permeated with sadness. It was also my earliest memory of discovering what bad acting was. Every episode I thought to myself, now this is terrible acting. And it needs better jokes. Well... turns out the joke's on me. Through a series of poor decisions and worse luck, I ultimately ended up living in Phoenix. And trust me when I tell you that Phoenix is not a place you move to, it's a place you "end up".

The Brady Bunch theme song started out being sung by professional men singers. Then, the kids (actors) sang it. In between those two versions, there was a professional, groovier version.

R34 Well, it was the mid-1970s…think “energy crisis” and “inflation.” And it was supposed to be similar to the (serious) movie it was inspired by.

I wanted to show off my more mature voice in preparation for my Broadway role as Evita.

Sing you own damn theme... I did

Version 3 starts out a little porny.

Oh I've been to Phoenix, and the Lower East Side. Moved like Harlow...

In East Islip I drank champagne on a yacht...

in the navor-hood

Stop going through life with blinders on!

Alice’s complex character journey REQUIRED a new version every season!!!

So her journey landed her as a waitress in a dumpy truck stop diner? Winning!!

Did we ever find out what happened between Lavin and Diane Ladd? Lavin was all gung ho about Ladd joining the show after Holliday left but Ladd left shortly thereafter. I can imagine that was NOT a happy set.

R45

.........................

I'd take Linda Lavin any day over that little oompa loompa Bonnie Franklin.

...Due to her self-worshipping conceit??

Linda Lavin presents as much warmer than Bonnie Franklin, however it really is a Sophie's Choice between the two isn't it...

I liked the first season's song-intro version, at least. And also "Alice" was a guilty watching pleasure for me, I have to admit. It seemed kind of a "sleeper" hit, becaude it just came on out of nowhere and appeared filmed and an idea so different from a lot of the other hit sitcoms on the air at the time. Also I liked the way they had stories about the regulars' off-work lives that often centered in their own apartments, one of those oldtime comedies where the ensemble cast were friendly and got into mischief while helping each out other outside of the workplace setting too.

^Also I'm trying to remember which classic show that I believe "Alice" took over the timeslot of...could it have been "Mary Tyler Moore Show" when that went off their air in spring 1977? But maybe not, b/cI think "Alice" bowed in Sepember 1978. Well all around that same time period, anyway..

Meant to write about that "Alice" blowed in Sept. 1976 actually, I believe. Apologies for previous post typo.

I always thought the theme song was uplifting and sort of melancholy at the same time. Alice was delusional about what her life in Phoenix was really like. I don't know what she had to smile about.

I distinctly remember a version with a lot of trailing off…and replacing words with “la” and the like. At 10 I felt it made no sense but my father said it was “styling” and “vocal arrangement.” Whatever, Dad. But my point is I didn’t hear that version in that entire video of opening credits. Maybe I am misremembering.