I had meant for a long time to do a post about the long-running '70s/'80s sitcom Alice, which I know was one of Druff's favorites growing up. In fact, when Druff and I first started texting, Alice was the show he asked me about first, because he had heard I had a close friend who worked on it.

There's no better time than the present to discuss the series, as its star, Linda Lavin, passed away two weeks ago at age 87.

Alice had strange beginnings. It was adapted from the 1974 movie Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore. That by itself is not unusual, as many television series have been adapted from movies (though typically unsuccessfully). The rare thing about this adaptation was the massive change in tone. The movie was a mostly serious romantic drama with a few understated comedic elements. The series was a typical zany '70s sitcom, with relatively few serious moments. Despite the completely different feel, there were many elements which remained the same between the movie and the 1976 series. The movie mostly took place at a greasy 1970s diner in Tucson, while Phoenix was the setting for the series. The cook/owner was named Mel Sharples in both treatments, and played in both by Vic Tayback. Mel also had a similar personality in both. The focus of both the movie and series was new waitress Alice, who joined ditzy Vera and sharp-tongued Texan Flo. Alice had a preteen son named Tommy in both the series and movie, and in fact young actor Alfred Lutter from the movie was awarded the role to reprise it in the series, only to lose it when network execs did not like him. In both treatments, Alice was a singer who was only a waitress temporarily, as she attempted to get her singing career going. One of Jodie Foster's first roles was in the movie, but she did not appear in the TV series.

Take a look at this trailer and you'll get a good idea of the tone of the movie....




Ellen Burstyn, who starred in the movie, had no involvement in the series. The only two actors to have role in the series were Tayback (Mel) and Diane Ladd (Flo in the movie, and Flo's replacement Belle in the series).

So where did Linda Lavin come in?

When the series was developed, Lavin was courted because producers liked her work in a recurring role on detective series Barney Miller. Lavin, who had been acting and singing since childhood, was seen as perfect for the role of Alice, the aspiring singer whose car breaks down in Phoenix, on the way to Los Angeles. Lavin left Barney Miller for this huge career upgrade, where she would not only be the primary star of the series, but also would be tapped to sing the theme.

The 1976 pilot episode was hastily thrown together, and you'll notice in the below pilot that Alfred Lutter (from the movie) plays her son Tommy. The initial opening simply shows Alice and Tommy riding horses and getting ice cream together, and you do not see any of the other cast nor the diner. Lutter was dropped because executives found him too nerdy, and they wanted more of a smart alecky kid who could sometimes act as a foil for Mel. He was quickly replaced by Philip McKeon, older brother of Nancy McKeon. At the time, neither McKeon was famous.




This new opening was created shortly thereafter, once a few episodes had been made and they had scenes for the rest of the cast. It basically tells the story of how Alice ended up in Phoenix and took the job at the diner...





The series had middling ratings in its first year, but it took off in the 77-78 season, finishing 8th overall. This gave Lavin a tremendous amount of clout, and unfortunately contributed to some of the series' decline over the years.

One of Lavin's biggest hangups was the feeling of being upstaged. Not only did this lead to two major cast members departing, but it also caused Lavin herself to develop a bad reputation, and she was not offered starring roles after Alice concluded. In a cruel twist of irony, Lavin passed away on the same day as former President Jimmy Carter, on December 29, 2014. This caused Lavin's death to be virtually ignored, as the nation mourned and discussed Carter. Perhaps her fear of being upstaged was justified, after all.

I will tell you some more details about Lavin and the series in the below follow up posts.