The ever lovable Florence Jean "kiss my grits" Castleberry departed Phoenix, Arizona and Mel's Diner in the spring of 1980 and landed in her home town of Fort Worth, or Cowtown, as she called it. There, she bought a run down old road house and proceeded to make a life for herself. That life lasted two seasons and included her mother (Sudie Bond) and her uptight sister (Lucy Lee Flippin) and a whole lotta wacky goings on. This Alice (1976) spinoff had a lot going for it in its first season. It lost it's favorable air time in its second season and plummeted in the ratings.
The series has never been released on DVD and can be hard to find. Above is the series debut promo and opening credits, uploaded to YouTube by seanmc31076.
Obscurity factor: 9 (not on DVD, not well remembered, can be hard to find)
An interesting note.....when Holiday left "Alice," she was replaced by Diane Ladd, as the character "Belle." Ladd played the original "Flo" in the feature film, "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore" (1974), directed by Martin Scorsese.
ReplyDeleteI had forgotten that... Thanks for the reminder!
ReplyDeleteI remember seeing an episode or two of this, and liking it. I was shocked when it was canceled in its second season. During its first season it was #7 in the end-of-season Nielsen ratings, and then at the end of the next season it was gone! I was a freshman in college during the second season, and was away from home and watching very little TV during that time, so I most likely saw some first season episodes. This could be a case like I mentioned under the "Leg Work" posting - maybe based on the first season ratings CBS thought that "Flo" could be a strong lead-in for Monday's schedule and predicted wrong.
ReplyDeleteAnother bit of trivia about "Alice:" Alfred Lutter, who played Tommy in the movie "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore," played Tommy in the "Alice" pilot, and then was replaced by Philip McKeon.