Alice (10 Viewers)

[AndyMcKinney]

So does FLO ever return to Alice? once Flo ended its two season run?

No idea, but you should be able to find out quickly by looking Polly Holliday up at the IMDB. If she appeared as a guest later on, it'll be there.

 

[Kasey]

No...Polly said if FLO the series failed, she "would never want to return to ALICE" and she didn't. Shortly after FLO folded, she joined the cast of PRIVATE BENJAMIN.

 

I don't think Linda Lavin and Polly got along..at least that's what I've heard. I have heard several stories about Linda, and in all of them, she doesn't come across as a nice person in any way.

 

[vnisanian2001]

I thought Diane Ladd was the one with the ego problem.

 

[Kasey]

I've heard Diane discuss this in several interviews and I don't think she was the problem. Diane simply stated that she is one of those "life is too short" people (for the unpleasant atmosphere on the ALICE set) so she decided to leave after her 1-year contract was up based on that.

 

[Ethan Riley]

Yes, I Had Just Noticed That Both Seasons of Flo Have Been Added to AIV. I would never have suspected this. Perhaps they have no plans to release the show on DVD so they decided to go ahead and post it as a Video On Demand title. Sweet. I haven't seen this show since it first aired, 10 Million years ago. I don't know if it was ever even rerun or appeared in any syndicated form.

I could swear it was offered to syndication shortly after its cancellation. I think I recall knowing that it was on a local station at like, 11;30 pm, once a week. Or something like that. I only ever watched it first run, and could not tell you the plot of a single episode. I don't recall even seeing Season 2, but I did watch Season 1.
I was very surprised to see it suddenly pop up on AIV like that. Well who knows--maybe they wait and see if anybody even downloads it, then decide if they're going to release it on dvd. Maybe that's what they did with Alice.

 

[skees53]

The episodes (the entire series) of Flo have actually been on Amazon Instant Video for quite some time... at least since December 2010, about a year and a half ago. That was when I first saw them on there. They may have been on there even longer.

 

[David Rain]

Diane Ladd was interviewed about her short tenure while appearing on Later with Bob Costas. She stated that she had heard rumors that Linda was difficult but producers of the show told Diane that it wasn't true. Diane joined the show as Belle, was unhappy while she was there and left, unfortunately. Celia Weston joined soon after as Jolene. She was very funny but this is my least favorite era of the show. Linda has gone on to do lots of other projects including a short stint on a sitcom with Patricia Heaton. I've never heard anyone else say anything bad about Linda so I'm not sure what everyone's issue with her was. No one has really come out and said for sure.
Interestingly, years later Linda was a presenter at the Tony Awards. The category she presented included Polly Holliday as a nominee. Polly did not win and we were denied/spared an awkward on-stage reunion between the former co-stars.

 

The Lavin horror stories I have heard are all from her Broadway career. Supposedly a real terror.

 

[MatthewA]

Originally Posted by eric scott richard /t/239920/alice/60#post_3944333
The Lavin horror stories I have heard are all from her Broadway career. Supposedly a real terror.

I actually did see her on Broadway in The Tale of the Allergist's Wife (alongside Michele Lee and Tony Roberts), but unfortunately did not get to hang around the stage door to find out for myself (we didn't have time). I heard the rumors after the fact, though.

There's also a Simpsons episode with this dialogue exchange:

[b]Lisa: [/b]Bart, I figured it out!  Who's someone you've been making
      irritating phone calls to for years?
[b]Bart: [/b]Linda Lavin?
[b]Lisa: [/b]No, someone who _didn't_ deserve it.

 

[potnoodle]

The Lavin horror stories I have heard are all from her Broadway career. Supposedly a real terror.

Back in the 80's, SCTV did a classic spoof of the "Night of a 1000 Stars" specials that use to crop up on network tv called "Night of the Primetime Stars" and one of the stars was Linda Lavin herself. As portrayed hilariously by Andrea Martin, Lavin is a narcissistic control freak who terrorizes the stagehands and who's off-key singing has everyone cringing. My guess is that Lavin's unpleasant reputation was the inspiration. BTW, this episode won a Emmy for SCTV.

 

That's hilarious! To be fair, I've heard that Polly can be a nasty piece of work herself...so I can only imagine what it was like having both of them on the set! Poor Beth Howland!

 

[Kasey]

I'm not condoning nor criticizing it, but all of this talk of backstage drama makes me want to point out that upon rewatching Alice after all these years, it's sad that the trio of Lavin, Holliday and Howland--no matter what their personal differences--had fantastic chemistry and timing among them that has been forgotten in favor of the Mary and Rhodas, or Golden Girls, etc. Mel's girls never get the respect they deserve.

 

For sure, Kasey. The reason I pointed it out is because it shows how talented they were....you would never know by just watching the show that they weren't just like their characters.

 

[mrz7]

I bought my "Alice" 1 season from Warner Brothers Archive and finish watching it within a week!!! I really enjoyed this show again. Eric and Kasey are right, the on-screen chemistry with Linda, Polly and Beth was amazing! It's been a long time since I have seen this show, and can't believe it wasn't on DVD sooner. Just incredible talent. And some of the writers of the show were the same writers as "I Love Lucy" (Madelyn Pugh, Bob Carroll). In fact, I believe, Desi Arnaz makes an appearance in the show's 2nd or 3rd season. I sure hope Warner Brothers continues to release more seasons of the show. I throughly enjoyed watching this series again. I do, however, only want the first 4 seasons (the "Flo" espisodes). After Polly Holiday left the show, it wasn't the same for me. Belle and Jolene were ok......but Flo was the best!!!

 

[Kasey]

Yes, most fans tend to love S1-4 because of the Flo character, and there's no denying she stole the show, but I think Diane Ladd did a terrific job as Belle with many memorable scenes/lines and I would love her two seasons (4 and 5) to become available. Heck, I'd buy them all even though I think after S6 it went downhill fast. They just ran out of good stories at that point.

 

[AlanP]

FLO was the show, to me they should have changed the name and got rid of LAVIN, I never liked her !!! After FLO left the show was BORING !!!!!!!

 

[Kasey]

I just read this on Warner Archive's Facebook page. Great news!
We can officially confirm that due to unprecedented consumer response to ALICE Season 1, clearances have been expedited and work has begun to bring you ALICE Season 2 later this year. We also will be serving up WITHOUT A TRACE Season 4 in short order.

 

[David Rain]

I'm surprised but happy that there has been such a good response to the show becoming available. I'm hoping the customer support will be strong enough to at least get us the first few seasons released.

 

[Powell&Pressburger]

I asked on Warner Archives Twitter page if sales for Season 1 of Alice have been good, and will we see a Season 2 and they confirmed sales have been good and Season 2 will be coming eventually.