At first I thought the movie was better,but then after binge watching this series again on TV lately after not watching it for a longtime made me realize this is way better. In the film there wasn't much character development for Mel Sharples(Vic Tayback),but here we see Mel in a deeper light. We see his seedy apartment,and he is really damn funny on this show,especially his interactions with "Dingy" Vera. Here we see Mel as a gambler,a boss with a bad temper,but also with a big heart. In the movie he was more of a background character,kinda 2 dimensional,but here he is full of character. Love Flo and Belle,but imo I think the series got better when Jolene Honicutt(Celia Weston) arrived. I like her but never understood why Flo is the most popular,I thought she was annoying actually in a few episodes. The episodes with Jolene are way more funnier. I love the episodes directed by the Star Trek director Marc Daniels the best. They had insane plots,but also thought provoking. Vic Tayback also was in an episode of Star Trek TOS so it makes sense. Don't believe the bad reviews either,they prolly haven't watched past a full episode. Imo you can't really judge this series until you've watched a good chunk of it. I love the last two seasons although the cop character was annoying. Wish Vera had married the computer guy instead. Alice(Linda Lavin) is great and is like the all-around character. I actually prefer her interpretation of the Alice character compared to the dramatic movie version by Ellen Burstyn. Her son Tommy(Phillip McKeon) is also great,and also better than the original. Belle episodes were great too and she was a good singer. This isn't for everyone. If you can't stand 70s-early 80s sitcoms this might not be for you,but I personally think it's one of the best of that era,up there with Three's Company!! And both shows are also similar looking into it. Both had similar plots during some episodes,and 3 different blonde actresses that each took over the same role. I also love Mel's one liners like "Stow It!!!" LOL.
Review of Alice
