Alice:
The Complete Fourth Season
(1979 - 1980)/Flo: The
Complete Series (1980 -
1981/Warner Archive DVD Sets)
Picture:
C+ Sound: C+ Extras: D Episodes: B/C+
PLEASE
NOTE:
Both sets are only available from Warner Bros. through their Warner
Archive series and can be ordered from the links below.
The
Linda Lavin show Alice
was such a megahit that like All
In The Family,
Happy
Days
and The
Mary Tyler Moore Show,
Warner TV and the show's producers rightly considered that a spinoff
would make sense, especially since Polly Holliday was such a massive
success as Florence Jean Castleberry. The show was still in its
prime peak form and was (and still is) a show people love, even if
they do not see it on TV as much as they used to. So during the 1979
- 1980 Fourth
Season
of the show, a clever idea was launched to spin off the red-headed
sexpot and in a smart move, Flo would leave 2/3rds of the way through
the show.
For
starters, Alice:
The Complete Fourth Season
was as hilarious as the previous seasons and still managed to be
political and smart while being hilarious, but its success meant more
stars would suddenly start turning up at Mel's Diner include great
turns by Art Carney and Telly Savalas with George Savalas. Martha
Raye returns as Mel's mother Carrie twice, getting married this time
out. Dinah Shore shows up as herself and has the diner gang on her
show, much to her near regret and we get the usual high quality set
of character actors making the show al the funnier.
But
as this was all going well, Flo would leave and be replaced by an old
friend of Mel's, Belle Dupree, literally reuniting Vic Tayback (who
played Mel in Scorsese's original Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore
theatrical film) and the original Flo from that film, Diane Ladd. It
was big news that Ladd would take over for Holiday's Flo, even though
she was not playing the original character. A witty blonde with her
own style and ideas, Ladd instantly created a strong successor to Flo
(or both Flos for that matter) and the show stayed on course with 8
shows that would give Ladd an Emmy for Best Supporting Actress in a
comedy. The best of these was an episode where Belle teaches mousy,
troubled Vera to be sexy, which is pure comic brilliance.
With
the original show secure and continuing to score insanely high
ratings, the same was hoped for in its spinoff. But Flo:
The Complete Series
(1980 - 1981) would be a little different. Like Alice, Flo breaks
down on her way to her new job, parks at a bar she used to go to all
the time, though she does not recognize it and after a talk with the
bartender (series regular Geoffrey Lewis at his more humorous) is
unhappy it might become a Chinese Restaurant, so she decides to buy
the place!
Created
by Dick Clair and Jenna McMahon, who later masterminded the Vicki
Lawrence spinoff Mama's
Family
(which ironically ran exactly as long as Flo
in its network run, until it was picked up for four more seasons in
the new syndication market for first run shows in the 1980s; see more
on Mama
elsewhere on this site) filled out Flo's background and assembled a
fine cast including the great Joyce Bulifant, Lucy Lee Flippen, Leo
Burmester, Sudie Bond as Flo's mother and Stephen Keep Mills. To its
advantage, it did not try to imitate Alice
or any other show on TV, but between getting too serious for its own
good, having teleplays that isolated the characters too much in their
own world and not enough conflict or challenging situations for Flo,
the show started to drag narratively and in the ratings.
Still,
it has its moments, a theme song by no less than Hoyt Axton (Joy
To The World,
Never
Been To Spain,
The
Pusher)
who makes a guest appearance as himself towards the end of the
series, as well as guest turns by James Cromwell, Robert Englund, Bob
Hastings, Alan Oppenheimer, Woodrow Parfrey, K Callan, Barbara
Babcock, Joanna Cassidy, Linden Chiles, Leonard Stone, an early guest
appearance by Tayback as Mel and Forrest Tucker back as her estranged
father. Holiday did not change the character any and tried to expand
her appeal and depth, but again, this was meant to be a funny comedy
like its predecessor and CBS cancelled it after on 29 episodes (here
on 4 DVDs).
Too
bad, because this has potential, but just held back too much too
often, but now, it is a curio with somewhat of a cult following and
like its predecessor show, is long overdue for a DVD release which it
finally gets here.
Unfortunately,
despite all this great and even historic TV, there are no extras on
either set for some off reason though the status of both shows call
for it. It is still great the shows are finally available
officially, but they were far more popular, influential and enjoyed
than many might realize now, so both sets are still reason to
celebrate if you love great TV.
The
1.33 X 1 image playback on both sets are very good with few flaws,
halos, aliasing errors or staircasing, but these are older NTSC
analog tapings so expect limits. The lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
sound on both shows also can show its age in distortion and some
flaws here and there, but I have not heard these shows sounding
better before and the improved clarity makes enjoying the comedy
easier.
As
noted above, you can order both sets, all previous Alice
seasons (reviewed elsewhere on this site, plus the rest to come) and
more; go to this link for them and many more great web-exclusive
releases at:
http://www.warnerarchive.com/
-
Nicholas Sheffo
