Alice

1976
Alice

Seasons & Episodes

  • 9
  • 8
  • 7
  • 6
  • 5
  • 4
  • 3
  • 2
  • 1

EP1 Romancing Mister Stone Oct 14, 1984

Jolene and Vera play Cupid for a dateless Alice by putting an ad in a magazine's personals column.

EP2 Space Sharples Oct 28, 1984

Mel gets a little spaced out after he thwarts a bank robbery while he's dressed up as Captain Galaxy for Halloween.

EP3 Big, Bad Mel Nov 04, 1984

Mel gets an F for buying a day school to raze for a parking lot.

EP4 Houseful of Hunnicutts Nov 18, 1984

Jolene loves her family, but finds it too much of a good thing when her father, five brothers, grandmother and family dog park themselves in her one-bedroom apartment.

EP5 Tommy's Lost Weekend Nov 25, 1984

Alice is worried that Tommy's partying is leading to a serious drinking problem.

EP6 Undercover Mel Dec 16, 1984

At Elliot's suggestion and lured by a $5000 reward, Mel goes undercover to smoke out rustlers selling stolen beef.

EP7 Footloose Mel Dec 23, 1984

Mel 86es a group of ""hoodlums,"" unaware that they're the break dancers expected to perform at the diner as part of an arts festival.

EP8 Vera's Anniversary Blues Jan 08, 1985

Vera yearns for a romantic first wedding anniversary, but it gets off to anything but a romantic start and goes rapidly downhill from there.

EP9 Kiss the Grill Goodbye Jan 15, 1985

Jolene's appearance on the ""Working Women"" talk show does nothing to boost business at Mel's Diner.

EP10 Vera, the Nightbird Jan 22, 1985

Vera's secretly moonlighting as a sultry deejay called Nightbird and she's turning on all the males in Phoenix in the process.

EP11 Alice Doesn't Work Here Anymore (1) Jan 29, 1985

A country singer takes a personel as well as professional interest in Alice and begs her to join his band on the road.

EP12 Alice Doesn't Work Here Anymore (2) Feb 05, 1985

Whether Alice likes it or not, and she's not sure, country singer Travis Marsh gives her a chance to reach for the stars in a performance with him.

EP13 The Night They Raided Debbie's Feb 06, 1985

Answering a room-to-rent ad, Vera and Elliot's pushy landlady pushes herself and her kitschy furniture into their home and lives.

EP14 One on One Mar 05, 1985

Mel is a taskmaster in training Jolene for tryouts with a pro basketball team.

EP15 Vera's Grounded Gumshoe Mar 12, 1985

After getting shot accidentally with his own gun, Elliot quits the force and looks for a career more suited to his meager talents.

EP16 Th-th-th-that's All, Folks Mar 19, 1985

On the final day at the diner, Mel closes the blinds and gives away the cow creamers as the gang reminisces about the last nine years.
6.8| 0h30m| TV-PG| en| More Info
Released: 31 August 1976 Ended
Producted By: Warner Bros. Television
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Synopsis

Alice is an American sitcom television series that ran from August 31, 1976 to March 19, 1985 on CBS. The series is based on the 1974 film Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore. 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.

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Reviews

rcj5365 Theme song: "There's A New Girl In Town"-lyrics and music by David Shire with Marilyn and Alan Bergman. Theme sung by Linda Lavin.Based on the Oscar winning 1974 film directed by Martin Scorsese and starred Ellen Burstyn and Dianne Ladd under the title,"Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore",this was to become the front point of the television series "Alice",which was basically done under the same title,but with a different cast and different setting. For the astounding nine and half years that it ran on CBS from the premiere episode on August 31,1976 to the final episode of the series on July 2,1985 after producing 212 episodes,"Alice" was one of the shows that was part of the network's powerhouse lineup of shows during the decade of the 1970's,which included "One Day At A Time","All In The Family", "The Jeffersons","Kojak",and the medical drama "Trapper John,MD"."Alice",was basically the forefront of the selection of "Good Blue Collar Comedy Shows"that emerged during that decade. This was a show that got to see the goings on behind and in front of a working establishment(a family diner)with the situations that occurred between each of the characters. It may have been a trashy sitcom to some of its critics,but for one it didn't rely on politics nor for that manner a lot of slapstick neither. But it was the focus of everyday people and everyday situations that kept the show in top of the Nielsens for the nine years that it ran on the air. Not to mention audiences also got the chance to hear Broadway sensation Linda Lavin singing abilities to boot as well as her acting chops. Also during its run,"Alice" garnered 16 nominations including several Golden Globe wins for Linda Lavin,Polly Holliday and not to mention here Vic Tayback. Not bad for a show that was CBS' top rated sitcom during the mid-1970's and well into the mid-1980's when the show was at the peak of perfection. Here you had a host of characters that were sensational to watch as Alice Hyatt(Linda Lavin)puts up with Mel Sharples(Vic Tayback)and his male chauvinistic ways of thinking better than any woman on television. In other words Mel may have the upper hand,but in each sly and repulsive remarks he gives her,Alice gets him right back! Also,there were others that worked at the diner as well...you have dingy,innocent simpleton,naive and strangely weird(but cute)Vera Gorman(Beth Howland),then you have the Texas firecracker and the true definition of Southern country and Southern pride Florence "Flo" Jean-Castleberry(Polly Holliday)who was dynamite at getting back at Mel's views of thinking and the ONLY one that Mel couldn't keep her mouth shut,since she always had an opinion of what was on her mind at any time and would relate to the others about it. In other words,she was an high-octane nymphomaniac and the perfect foil for the street-tough New Jersey-bred Alice Hyatt. In other perspectives,Flo was an even better foil for Mel,and never hestitates to retort him with some valuable advice.....The phrase,"Kiss My Grits"!,became an national outcry when it was mentioned. However,the show did have a split personality until 1980,when Polly Holliday left the series,and went into her own spin-off of "Alice" titled "Flo",which lasted one season,and after that fiasco,Holliday was never heard from again. It was Polly Holliday who kept the show in the top of the ratings for the first five seasons of the show(1976-1980)and then the unthinkable happen.After Holliday left the series in 1980,the show started to declined in the ratings and likely so. During the 1980-1981 season,Dianne Ladd(who was in the original 1974 film)appeared as Belle which was basically okay,but the show slipped even into a abyss during the last four seasons of the show. During the 1981-1982 season,a new waitress named Jolene was just as dumb as they come(Celia Weston)who remained on the show until the final episode of the series in 1985. Only actors Linda Lavin,Vic Tayback,Beth Howland,and Phillip McKeon(who played Alice's son Tommy)remained on the show for the remainder of its run. Cameo players such as Andy(Pat Crenshaw),Travis(Tom Mahoney),and Henry (Marvin Kaplan)were valuable assets which went great with the guest celebrities that were on the show too like George Burns,Martha Raye, Telly Savalas,Art Carney,and Ruth Buzzi. The final episode of the series came after a nine and-a-half years on the air on July 2,1985 where they had a montage of some of the best episodes and also all of the celebrity appearances. It also showed Mel leaving his diner after years in the business and selling it to someone else. At the end,Alice buys the diner and restores the business after Mel calls it quits. It is crying shame that the series is never on the air,but it needs to be since it was the best of the best.
Jordan_Haelend Honestly, I can't understand how garbage like this managed to last for 9 long years. It wasn't really funny, and it was thoroughly predictable. It was simply time-slot-filling junk.I can't see how the premise could have been viewed even at the time as anything other than a mass of clichés.Did people actually believe that this was good comedy in the 1970s? If so, I'm glad I missed that particular decade! It shows that the levels of taste and common sense were at least as low then as they are now! At the very least it shows to what depths TV was willing to descend in order to "entertain" people (i.e., keep them watching long enough to see the commercials.)
born1975 I thought this was such a great show. It always made me laugh and I thought that Flo's "Kiss My Grits" was a great line. I might not have enjoyed it had I been an adult when it was on, but I was a kid and I thought it was SO funny. I wish it was in reruns somewhere!! I remember that the cast was great and they seemed to compliment each other because each was funny in his or her own way. Mel was always saying something smart alecky to Vera or Flo or Alice and he had some great lines. I really think that Mel should win a TV Land Award next year for the meanest boss. And this show had the best theme song that is STILL stuck in my head after all of these years. I still remember every word of it to this day.
MIK7x3 All right! All right already! I admit it! I used to watch this show because I had a crush on Linda Lavin as a kid! There, the world knows it now! Satisfied!? Now, I watch the reruns because I think the show provides humour that is light and clean and that doesn't make you think too much. Based on the movie "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore," Alice Hyatt (Lavin) plays a broke, recently widowed mother of Tommy (Philip McKeon). Her car broke down in Phoenix en route to Hollywood, leaving her stranded in Phoenix. Working for Mel (Vic Tayback) the penurious tubby tyrannical proprietor of Mel's Diner, she befriends fellow waitresses Vera (Beth Howland), an innocent simpleton, and Flo (Polly Holliday), a high octane nymphomaniac whose homespun Texas manner provides the perfect foil for the street tough, New Jersey-bred "new girl in town." Flo is an even better foil for Mel, and never hesitates to retort him with some valuable advice..."Kiss my grits!" The show definitely had a split personality: funny until 1980 when Flo left, and then it went straight downhill for the next five years. Cameo players such as Andy (Pat Crenshaw), Travis (Tom Mahoney), and Henry (Marvin Kaplan) were valuable to the show, as were George Burns, Telly Savalas, Art Carney, and Martha Raye. Equally memorable were some of the one-liners, including "Can you read lips? [Raspberry!]," "Don't be rational when I'm hysterical," and "If we get out of this alive, I'm going to kill you!" One of my favourite episodes revolved around an ex-gangster wanted by the FBI and the mob, coupled with a whiny truckdriver whose rig full of peaches broke down outside the diner. Not the basis of a James Joyce or a Henry Roth novel, but entertaining nonetheless. At least the early episodes were.