Let's celebrate National Working Moms Day with one of our favorites: Alice Hyatt!
There have been many working moms on television, but not all of them had a tough job like waitressing, pursued a singing career, indulged in heavy meddling as a side hustle, AND sang the show's theme song! Maggie Seaver didn't do that! Shirley Partridge didn't even do that!
Last week, we unveiled our exclusive power rankings of the series Battlestar Galactica. There is but one other TV program we covered this season that has the scope, the ambition, the sheer majesty of that show and thus deserves its own power rankings. That's right, it's time to revisit Alice.
When we talked about the long-running sitcom early in this latest ninth season, I did roll out a ranking of the Mel's Diner regulars, but this involves everyone on the show. Remember how this works: I look at who would win if they faced each other today at a neutral site in Minot, North Dakota. Here goes:
1) Mel Sharples: The man, the hat, the spatula--Mel is the most interesting character on screen at any given time, and Vic Tayback enlivens even the most mundane material. Mel is the soul of the show.
2) Henry Beesmeyer: If Mel is the soul of Alice, then Henry is...uh, I don't know, the trick left knee? Somehow I mean that as a compliment. Any episode is richer if it has the mild-mannered but wisecracking phone lineman.
3) Alice Hyatt: I mean, it IS her show. For better or worse, that's her belting the theme song.
4) Florence Jean Castleberry: If Mel is the soul of the series and Henry is the wonky left knee, then Flo is the...grits. OK, I've taken this as far as it can go.
5) Vera Gorman: Sure, she is a bit of a dingy broad, but she was part of the diner before Alice arrived at the show's inception and she stayed for the whole run. She provides an essential foil for Mel.
6) Tommy Hyatt: The attempt to give him a guitar and turn him into a teen idol didn't go so well, but for a while he was one of the more tolerable kids on TV, and he stuck it out for all 9 seasons, too.
7) Jolene Hunnicut: Believe it or not, she is in more episodes than any waitress besides Alice and Vera. Jolene may not stand out to most fans of the series, but she was there. She brought stability after the departures of Flo and Belle.
8) Earl Hicks: Dave Madden is so good that you assume this character was in more than a mere several dozen episodes.
9) Belle Dupree: Diane Ladd gave it her all, but for reasons that aren't 100% clear, things didn't work out for her. She had the thankless task of following Flo, though, and Belle didn't bring down the whole operation, so she gets some credit for that.
10) Sam Butler: OK, OK, I admit it! Alice's "connected" alter ego is one of those gimmicks that's so bad it's worse, but I have a strange fascination with it. It took all the restraint I could muster to avoid recommending we spotlight a Sam episode on the podcast.
In all seriousness, Alice playing a gangster in drag might have been amusing once, but bringing that back killed the precious credibility the series had built up.
But still..
We alluded to it on the podcast, and chatter still has it that the set of Alice wasn't always the most harmonious one. That's why one of my favorite clips from this week's playlist is this one below, one that shows the cast members having a good time and enjoying each other's company--at least as far as I can tell!
By the way, the source of this video, the LindaLavinOfficial channel, is a treasure trove of clips from the BOTNS era, and I am sure glad it's around and uploading such a wide variety of rare material.
I'm not sure why the upload doesn't note the origin of the clip--maybe to avoid the copyright police--but this is from Dinah!, and Shore would appear on the series in its fourth season. According to tv.com, this episode premiered October 4, 1978.
After listening to this week's episode, revisit the world of Alice and beyond by checking out our video playlist! Just click below to see promos, commercials, music and more! You'll also see the trailer for Kiss My Grits, breakdancing in Mel's Diner, and all kinds of singing! Plus Vic Tayback in a pantyhose ad!
And remember, you can always visit our official YouTube channel for all of our past podcasts and episode-specific playlists for each one!
*There's a newwwww pod in town, and it's feeling good! OK, I'll stop now.
*Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974) with Ellen Burstyn was a big hit. Burstyn won Best Actress at the Oscars, but the movie also won a nomination for Original Screenplay for writer Robert Getchell. Diane Ladd, later Belle on the series, won a Supporting Actress nomination for playing Flo in the film.
*Mother, Juggs, and Speed (note the extra "g") was the adaptation of the Raquel Welch/Harvey Keitel/Some other guy film. ABC burned off the unsold pilot in August 1978. The name change was due to concern from the network that a female character have a double entendre name. See, "Juggs" is not a reference to breasts because it is a nickname derived from her surname, Juggston.
*Alice aired an impressive 9 seasons and 185 episodes.
*"Mel's Recession" is episode 23 of the second season. It premiered Sunday, April 2, 1978 on CBS prceding the series premiere of Dallas and following 60 Minutes, Rhoda and short-lived On Our Own.
ABC had The Young Pioneers and a presentation of High Plains Drifter.
NBC led off with The Wonderful World of Disney (part 1 of The Barefoot Executive), followed by Project UFO and TV movie Love's Dark Ride.
*The E! True Hollywood Story of Alice ***
*The waitresses by season in which they were featured:
Alice and Vera 1-9
Flo 1-4 (left midway through 4)
Belle 4-5 (left midway through season 5)
Jolene 5-9
*Rick's Power Rankings of diner regulars:
1) Henry: Clear no-doubter number one (Marvin Kaplan)
2) Earl (Dave Madden)
3) Charlie (Ted Gehring)
4) Chuck (Duane Campbell)
5) Jason (Patrick Cronin)
*Rick's Power Rankings of series catchphrases:
1) Kiss my grits!
2) Stow it!
3) Dinghy broad!
4) When donkeys fly!
5) Mel's self-satisfied chuckle
*The 1982 feature film Kiss My Grits stars Bruce Davison, Susan George, and Bruno Kirby. The action flick is not connected to Alice. I love this description of the Jack Starrett-directed movie from a commenter on Letterboxd: "Basically a Hee haw version of Out of the Past."
*Here's some info on Flo's favorite catchphrase. According to this piece, the show changed from the original, "Kiss my honeydew," which flopped.
*Thanks again to friend of the show Kevin for inspiring this show idea!
*For the record, I still do kind of want to buy season 5.
In a season two episode of the long-lived Alice, diner owner Mel receives bad news from his accountant and decides he has to give one of the waitresses "the sack." In the ensuing struggle to keep their jobs, the ladies all end up at Mel's fortress of slobitude. We dive into this, the characters' transition from the big screen to the small screen, and Rick's mild obsession with the show.
Happy National Waitstaff Day! If you don't want to celebrate with us, you can...
