I absolutely loved this show! Although I did not see it's debut in 1976,I did start watching it around the end of that 1st season.
Since it was teamed up with other CBS '70s favorites,how could one miss it? I had no knowledge of the related movie,"Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore", but it didn't matter,I just knew it was funny!
There were two 70s TV mom's that reflected my mother's situation at that time,Alice Hyatt and Ann Romano of "One Day At A Time". Like Hyatt my mother moved our family out west but it wasn't due to losing a husband, it was a divorce like Ann Romano's. So,I could relate to what Tommy,Alice's son,was going through being raised by one parent.
Alice was a wanna-be singer and never said no to a chance to belt one out. Similar to other sitcom leads back then,she was always the one that everyone asked advice from. (Others were Benson & Alex Reiger of TAXI).
Flo was of course,the first female on TV (aside from possibly Rose Marie on Dick Van Dyke) to be totally open about the fact that she fools around and is middle aged and single. Vera was the almost unbelievably naive' woman in her early 30s,who seems to not have to good a grip on reality sometimes. Like when she thinks George burns is actually God,like he played in the movie "Oh,God".
Vic Tayback does a great comic turn as Mel (he played him in the film) and showed that he could be funny. A big change from all the "heavies" he played in movies and TV cop shows.
My favorite show was,"Good Buddy Flo",where Flo has Alice teach her to drive a rig to impress her trucker boyfriend. Only to end up driving right smack through the front door of Mel's Diner! I saw this in a rerun a few years ago on the now defunct "Nashville Network".
After Flo left yes,the show lost a very funny character. Then came Belle (played by Diane Ladd who had played Flo in the movie),she lasted a season and was replaced by yet another Southern accented waitress Jolene.
In the last few seasons it was moved all over the schedule (sometimes Wednesdays!)but I still kept watching until it's end in March 1985, when Mel sold the Diner.
Alice in her early to mid-40s, finally getsthat big break as a singer she's been waiting all her life (and 9 years as a waitress) for.
Vera & Husband Elliot (a policeman) were expecting a baby and told Mel it would be named after him. Jolene's future was uncertain but she and the other waitresses received $5,000 farewell bonuses from Mel.
They all left the diner in the final scene with Mel,turning off the lights,putting the closed sign in the window one last time and locking up.
10 stars for this show,a classic,which is now (2008) being rerun on ION-TV.
P.S.: I still live in Phoenix and 1130 Bush Highway where the diner is supposed to be is actually stretch of road on an Indian Reservation, although...there was a Mel's Diner near downtown Phoenix but it's long gone. (END)
Since it was teamed up with other CBS '70s favorites,how could one miss it? I had no knowledge of the related movie,"Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore", but it didn't matter,I just knew it was funny!
There were two 70s TV mom's that reflected my mother's situation at that time,Alice Hyatt and Ann Romano of "One Day At A Time". Like Hyatt my mother moved our family out west but it wasn't due to losing a husband, it was a divorce like Ann Romano's. So,I could relate to what Tommy,Alice's son,was going through being raised by one parent.
Alice was a wanna-be singer and never said no to a chance to belt one out. Similar to other sitcom leads back then,she was always the one that everyone asked advice from. (Others were Benson & Alex Reiger of TAXI).
Flo was of course,the first female on TV (aside from possibly Rose Marie on Dick Van Dyke) to be totally open about the fact that she fools around and is middle aged and single. Vera was the almost unbelievably naive' woman in her early 30s,who seems to not have to good a grip on reality sometimes. Like when she thinks George burns is actually God,like he played in the movie "Oh,God".
Vic Tayback does a great comic turn as Mel (he played him in the film) and showed that he could be funny. A big change from all the "heavies" he played in movies and TV cop shows.
My favorite show was,"Good Buddy Flo",where Flo has Alice teach her to drive a rig to impress her trucker boyfriend. Only to end up driving right smack through the front door of Mel's Diner! I saw this in a rerun a few years ago on the now defunct "Nashville Network".
After Flo left yes,the show lost a very funny character. Then came Belle (played by Diane Ladd who had played Flo in the movie),she lasted a season and was replaced by yet another Southern accented waitress Jolene.
In the last few seasons it was moved all over the schedule (sometimes Wednesdays!)but I still kept watching until it's end in March 1985, when Mel sold the Diner.
Alice in her early to mid-40s, finally getsthat big break as a singer she's been waiting all her life (and 9 years as a waitress) for.
Vera & Husband Elliot (a policeman) were expecting a baby and told Mel it would be named after him. Jolene's future was uncertain but she and the other waitresses received $5,000 farewell bonuses from Mel.
They all left the diner in the final scene with Mel,turning off the lights,putting the closed sign in the window one last time and locking up.
10 stars for this show,a classic,which is now (2008) being rerun on ION-TV.
P.S.: I still live in Phoenix and 1130 Bush Highway where the diner is supposed to be is actually stretch of road on an Indian Reservation, although...there was a Mel's Diner near downtown Phoenix but it's long gone. (END)