Alice

Little tiny baby gay me loved Vera so much. Teenage me nearly plotzed when I discovered Beth Howland was the original Amy in [italic] Company[/italic].

Cast:

Alice Hyatt - Linda Lavin

Tommy Hyatt - Philip McKeon

Florence Castleberry - Polly Holliday

Vera Louise Gorman-Novak - Beth Howland

Jolene Hunnicutt - Celia Weston

Mel Sharples - Vic Tayback

Belle Dupree - Diane Ladd

Elliot Novak - Charles Levin

Earl Hicks - Dave Madden

Carrie Sharples - Martha Raye

Henry - Marvin Kaplan

R1 Team Vera Louise Gorman here!

It wasn’t the same after Flo left. They should have moved heaven and earth to get Polly back.

Jolene & Mel

Season 9 cast photo (1984-1985)

So Polly Holliday and Linda Lavin were both born in 1937...but Flo always seemed much older to me. I was shocked that she is still alive.

Tommy & Alice

i would have loved to visit the TV Me’s diner, eaten Mel’s chili (either it was portrayed as terrible, or great, depending on what plot device they wanted to use), and been waited on by Alice, Vera, and Flo.

Alice moonlighting for a singing telegram company.

Cast photo. I’m guessing it was taken during season 2 or 3.

Nancy McKeon posted a lovely tribute to Lavin and her brother on her Instagram, and Mindy Cohn liked it.

Unfortunately, Alice DOES not hold up. In an interview with Mo Rocca, he asks, which theme she likes more. She chose the one ending with "Bom bom bom boomm" instead of "Sweeeeet"

My favorite episode was the end of the last show.

That hot mess was on for 10 years???

I only tuned in for Polly Holliday’s ‘’Flo’’ ( she’s 87)

Too broad for this gayling.

I love Jolene Hunnicutt ❤️

Jump back!

Never got into it. Liked Flo but Vera was a bug eyed, too toothy spaz. Lavin could not sing.

Stow it!

I am totally in love with Alice. It brings back memories of watching it on Sunday nights and in repeats during summer vacation from school.

I love all versions of “ There’s a New Girl In Town”

It does hold up. I found it on reruns (born in ‘85) and continue to catch it every now and then. Some of the storylines they repeated over and over which grows stale, but it’s a fun show.

Some episodes I liked: their Christmas episodes, Vera’s suicide attempt, when Flo has to move in with Alice, Vera’s tap dancing contest, Alice’s UFO sighting.

Those 80s shows sure loved their catch phrases, and Alice had;

Kiss My Grits

Stow it,Blondie,

Stow it, Dingy

Kiss My Grits was great, but they wore it out too fast.

Stow it never got old.

Was Vera related to Rose Nyland? I think she is from St. Olaf.

R13’s favorite episode was part of an episode.

I really liked hearing about Jolene’s Granny Gums.

Mel’s mom was Carrie (played by the big mouth Martha Raye) her appearances were great.

Flo will always be my favorite.

[quote] Mel’s mom was Carrie (played by the big mouth Martha Raye) her appearances were great.

Martha Raye was rumored to have given blowjobs to crew members on the Warner Bros lot.

[quote]That hot mess was on for 10 years???

9 seasons (202 episodes)

Four of those seasons were in the Top 10 in the ratings.

Two episodes come to mind:

1. Christmas road trip in a huge truck, Mel the driver, the ladies tagging along for the ride. They get caught in the snow and begin eating Vera's gingerbread house for sustenance.

2. Jerry Reed (?) comes to town and the Mel's Diner gang all pitch their musical talents on him. It was either Flo or Jolene (Jolene, I think) who sang this horrible song called "Uncle Buck." I'm convinced that the movie "Uncle Buck" was based on this horrible song.

I loved the gay episode where Mel's gay ex-football player friend wants to take Tommy fishing. Alice is worried about Tommy getting molested and Flo spits out her gum when she hears that "big hunk of man" is queer.

I wish a soundtrack for the series would get released. It could feature all the different versions of the theme song as well as all the great musical performance by Linda Lavin from the show.

This is one of those very successful shows that gets forgotten the day after it's canceled. CBS has a lot of sitcoms like that.

Nice try but it’s hardly forgotten. R32

Beloved? 🤡

It’s garbage.

Polly could have easily come back when Belle didn’t work out as FLO was cancelled. Why didn’t she? Not even a cameo!

Garbage - Just like you r32 r34 r35

I have to say it. Every single one of the adult cast members were terrific, versatile actors!, (especially Celia Weston, who was stuck with a one-note dim character given little to do).

I could take each actor individually and suggest a searing dramatic performance worth seeking out, (most of Howland's was on stage).

It's a shame that collectively, their talents were mostly wasted on what became a show of dribble. But the show paid lots of bills for them, provided nice houses, and gave all of them fame they might not have achieved otherwise.

R36 Polly wasn’t interested in working with Lavins diva ass anymore. This was the whole reason behind the Flo spinoff. To give Polly her own show and away from Lavin, so Linda could hog all the spotlight. But they had the same problem with Ladd and Lavin, so Ladd quit. Even if Lavin would have been perfect, I highly doubt Polly would’ve stayed beyond another season or two. She was tiring of the role and strangers coming up to her yelling kiss my grits. After awhile, I’m sure she was sick of it.

I loved it, but I was admittedly only 12 when it ended. (Don't think I've seen it in reruns except in passing.) Flo definitely stands out the most!

That Alice bitch. No Gremlins in her filmography.

Stupid ass r41 probably doesn’t even know how extensive Linda Lavin’s tv, film and stage work was right up until she died a couple of days ago. Stupid bitch just came here to shit on this thread. Fuck off you shit stain of society.

Vera, hun, if you wanted to kill yourself you don’t need pills, sugar, just have a bowl of Mel’s chili. You’ll be seeing St. Peter before you know it

Fuck right off you shit stain

Go create or bump another One Day At A Time / Bonnie Franklin thread loser

I remember really liking Alice as a kid but I was between 3 and 12 years old when it originally aired. Flo was my favorite character and I remember my tiny gayling self getting so excited for Flo's big comeback in Gremlins. I didn't realize until now (or perhaps I forgot) that Coco was Vera's husband. Talk about DL ecstasy, the GG's gay houseboy married to Beth "straws" Howland! It really doesn't get more astonishing than that.

As a kid, I could never believe that Mel made good chili. Just looking at him stirring the pot, nope, not credible.

Alice was one of those Sunday night shows like the Jeffersons that I'd watch in the back bedroom at grandma's house. All the adults were in the kitchen drinking so I had to entertain myself.

Denny Miller playing the gay guy in one episode (butt shot).

I don't remember the "Flo" TV show, but it came on Plex TV recently. It was WORSE than "Alice. Juliette Lewi's father is in it. RIP. I had the biggest crush on him

The only show that had a more depressing set was Archie Bunker's Place. At least Linda didn't let Anne Meara come on and completely ruin her show.

I’m on season 3

Victoria Carroll played Mel’s girlfriend Marie.

Mel, kiss my clit!

Vera loved classic movies. So did her boyfriend Brian.

Did Linda know Beth was a much better singer when she was hired? Beth must have laughed at her scatting.

I'm not serving hash browns today

I liked the episodes especially where they hung out with each other outside of work, eg at Alice’s for a holiday or when Martha Raye visited.

Tommy, we've got company. Fold your bed.

A good show and very of it's time. We loved those broad sitcoms that anyone could watch and the detective shows that came on a but later. It was part of popular culture with "Kiss my Grits". I never understand it when people look back and judge yesteryear's shows and movies against today's sensibilities. It was the late 70s and early 80s. It was a light sitcom and it was fun. We got three channels plus PBS at my house growing up and that was a show we all watched together.

Its not it's

-R60

Huh?

I saw Howland as Amy. I saw Lavin as Rose. And I saw Polly as the speaker at my sister's all girl college graduation. Well I was late and didn't hear the speech but I saw her talking to people and being very nice.

I love love love season 3.

R56's clip is good but in order to really sell the mania of that song, Howland needed straws.

I loved Vera and Mel. Alice was my least favorite character, but I liked everyone else. Didn’t really care about the theme but watched the intro to see Vera and the straws. At some point I outgrew the show because I really don’t recall watching it more than 4 years or so.

They did an episode about Vera attempting suicide? Strange for a sitcom. Was it one of those “very special episodes” ?

Vera has a falling out with her latest boyfriend Calvin (Darrell Zwerling) and she decides to end it all by swallowing a bottle of sleeping pills. When Flo discovers that Vera has tried to kill herself, her and Alice must come up with different ways to keep Vera awake until the paramedics arrive.

It was almost as good as the Mr. Belvedere AIDS episode.

I believe that in Minneapolis there is a statue of MTM throwing her hat in the air and a statue of Bob Newhart in Chicago, so its rather a glaring injustice that there is no statue of Beth Howland and the straws in downtown Phoenix!

Well now that Linda's dead maybe they can go forward with the statue. The city council was afraid of her.

MARY!

It's ALICE!

VERA!

R67 fuck that was like early in Alice’s TV run. You make it sound like that was the climax to Vera’s character. It wasn’t. She got married to Elliot - a police officer in season 8 or 9. I guess you must be a big Debbie Downer if Vera’s attempted suicide made that big of an impression on you.

And fuck those who dismiss the humor of Celia Weston as Jolene Hunnicutt. She was fucking hilarious.

There was an episode (if I'm remembering it correctly) where Vera was supposed to leave with a guy and she got in the sidecar of his motorcycle and said goodbye to everyone. Then he took off and left the sidecar behind and she was like, "Well, I guess it wasn't meant to be" and decided to stay. I thought that was so strange as a kid, like he wouldn't just come back and get her. But she made it out like it was fate.

LMAO! I love that R74's scene perplexed his child self.

Didn't Daddy Duke drive Vera around in a sidecar in the film?

You are a total zero

Kiss Mah Grits!

No thx Debbie D

R74, it was her Aunt Agatha who wanted Vera to accompany her on a trip to Mexico. The aunt was portrayed as a total scatterbrain, even more so than Vera.