Re: R.I.P. Linda Lavin (US sitcom "Alice", stage show, etc.)

On 2025-01-03 21:50:39 +0000, Alan Smithee said:

On 2024-12-30 08:20 PM, Your Name wrote:

On 2024-12-30 22:56:19 +0000, super70s said:

On 2024-12-30 20:46:38 +0000, Your Name said:

On 2024-12-30 13:26:21 +0000, super70s said:

On 2024-12-30 06:54:35 +0000, Your Name said:

 Lavin established herself as a beloved character actor with her
decade-long stint on "Alice," the CBS comedy series adapted from
Martin Scorsese's 1974 film "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore,"
with Ellen Burstyn in the title role.

 I was always curious why the series, unlike the movie, didn't get
into Alice's personal and home life, it seemed to center exclusively
on happenings at the diner. That must have tested better.

 A single set makes it much cheaper.

 Yeah that's what I was thinking after I made the post. But other
sitcoms filmed before a live audience like "All In The Family" seemed
to have a lot more varied locations. "Alice" must have been done on a
much smaller budget, not being one of Norman Lear's slam dunk series
which probably all had a blank check.
 

I only saw a few episodes (the usual loud and unfunny American
"comedy"), but I seem to recall occasional scenes at her home. They
certainly spent almost the entire time at the diner discussing and
dealing with their personal life rather than actually serving customers.

 It's been so long since I've seen it the main thing that stuck with me
was the diner. I don't think it's been shown on channels like TVLand
or MeTV in ages (if it ever was), but it looks as though CBS ran
reruns in the morning from June 1980 until Sept. 1982.

 The series is currently playing here in New Zealand on the Sky TV
channel "Jones!", which re-runs lots of old US and UK shows. They are
playing in blocks of four episodes on Monday mornings.
  One of the episode blurbs says:
"Alice takes her new boyfriend's four children trick-or-treating.
However, the trick is on Alice when she discovers she's brought
home the wrong masked child."
 Possibly that is one not set in the diner.

 "Facts of Life" ripped-off that joke. It was Blair's relative who was left behind and a Latina kid who was brought back by mistake.

That idea has probably been used on quite a few shows over the years.  :-) Sometimes it is a kid in a mask / costume, other times it is simply a different baby in an identical-looking pram / buggy.