Added: 6 years ago
From: michaelclarke
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  • I thought Vera(played by Beth Howland) was attractive. I didn't think Alice(Linda Lavin) was sexy, though in retrospect she had an alright body.

  • Flo's line:  "Kiss my grits!" was overdone, way overdone. Got sick of hearing it from her whiney voice.

    Otherwise, cool show.

  • @cheeriosinabowl True. Very true. Flo was an old, washed up whore. She got on my nerves. Never thought she was sexy. Eww.

    (No disrespect to the actress, Polly Holliday. Polly played the part very well)

  • @MrCzechers

    ... yes Polly was perfect for that part on the show, for sure. Yep, she did come across as an old whore, worn out like an old mattress in a cheap motel. She is the type of woman you'd expect to ss serving tables in a greasy diner. No, Flo wasn't sexy to me either. Tough old boot. Alice was far better in the sexiness dept.

  • @cheeriosinabowl LOL @ worn out mattress in a cheap motel. THAT was Flo! As for Alice, she was sexy. The problem was when she TRIED to be sexy it always backfired. Sexy Alice was as bad as old truck stop, lot lizard Flo.

    PS: Remember Flo's short lived spinoff?

  • @cheeriosinabowl LOL @ worn out mattress in a cheap motel. THAT was Flo! As for Alice, she was sexy. The problem was when she TRIED to be sexy it always backfired. Sexy Alice was as bad as old truck stop, lot lizard Flo.

    PS: Remember Flo's short lived spinoff?

    PPS: Ive seen Polly Holliday in other shows, without the orange beehive wig and too much make up and she is hotter than July!

  • Actually, Linda Lavin is a pretty accomplished singer.....

  • This was the best opening. Sadly, they never heard of If It Aint Broke Dont Fix It. Every season thereafter, the theme song and the show got perpetually worse.

  • @MrCzechers Agreed! the first edition to David Shire's song, with its heavy studio echo/reverb gives it that unique, almost impossible to duplicate soul.... its like the James Bond Theme in Dr. No, never have they ever again been able to recreate that magic.

  • always loved the theme song and linda's voice.

  • One onf my favorite in Italian TV when i was child :)

  • I love this song, but why do I feel sad when I here it???

  • @MIZARC215 Cause you probably had a lot less to worry about then, than you do now.

  • As a 5 year old kid, it used to really turn me on seeing her soak her feet at the end. I didn't even know what it meant to be "horny". I just wanted to suck on her feet. It became kind of a fetish for me that still exists today. If a girl has perfect looking girly feet, it's an instant turn-on even if she's not that pretty. My girlfriend is a major bitch but I've put up with her for 8 years because she has the most perfect feet I've ever seen. Every time I look at them I want to bang her.

  • I heard Tommy's real life sister played Jo on the Facts of Life.

  • @richardburchett No, Nancy McKeon was his wife... they married very young.

  • @SgtTravisBickle Nancy McKeon is Phil McKeon's sister, not his wife.

  • @atrocchia That was just a joke... lol

  • Looks like they left segments of the Alfred Lutter opening from the pilot episode even after McKeon joined the cast...

  • I used to live for that "buh, buh, buh, buh, buuuuuh" at the end, lol! I miss 70's - 70's television shows!

  • Who told Linda Lavin she could sing?

  • @somewhatlongdong - I think she told herself that! From what I understand, it was part of her contract that she could "sing" the theme song to the show or something. She's really bad. I loved the show, but had to leave the room during the opening credits!!!

  • TV shows had pride in their intros, back then. Love when they showed the characters' cars driving to their new city... ready to start a brand new life. They always showed highway signs of the city, so you knew where they were. Back when cars were cool and RWD.

  • Comment removed

  • The car looks cool. They dont make them like that anymore. Huge station wagons with that woody look.

  • @DPK641 Yeah, until "National Lampoon's Vacation" came along and made a mockery out of them.

  • Tommy was hot!

  • Haven't seen that old "TNN" logo in along time......The Nashville Network

  • I remember thinking Helen Reddy sang the theme song but then I was only 13 years old.

  • I loved Flo.

  • always wanted to suck linda lavins tits

  • I always thought it was funny when Martha Rae was on as Mels mom and slapping Mel in the gut and callin him Chubby and making her faces

  • I miss Alice. :(... i loved her son Tommy.

  • @ninaastarlight I loved Tommy Too!

  • @MikeysGayToday ...Alright... 

  • @MikeysGayToday Mel was waaaayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy hotter than Tommy was or ever could be.  DADDYYYYyyyyyy!!!

  • If anyone had to be chosen to play Alice done brilliantly by Ellen Burstyn on the big screen, I'm glad it was done by Linda Lavin on the small screen.

  • @richiebear1969

    There's only one Alice and that's Linda Lavin.

  • @CanadianLiz01 what about the alice on the brady bunch? lol

  • It's sped up! WTF?!

  • @Apsu72 I think that it's the original. Later, they sowed it down for other seasons.

  • @debmichelle You're half right. This is the original song, but NOT the original speed.

  • Those opening shots of Alice heading out to Phoenix are impossible to recreate now. The old highway 85 from Gila Bend isn't single-lane anymore, but double most of the way. 

    And nobody ever seems to notice that Alice, if you look at the freeway signs, is clearly headed AWAY from Phoenix. That old freeway sign, where Interstates 8 and 10 meet just north of Casa Grande, no longer exists either.

  • She sang so many versions of the song. All great!!!!

  • Great show. Absolutely loved it.

  • The lyrics change from season to season...

  • I'm pissed that full seasons of this show aren't available on DVD. This show & Chico & The Man, all they have are 1 DVD for each, with like a few choice episodes. They need to release both shows with all the seasons/episodes.

  • tv now is terrible....how many cookie cutter crime dramas can they create?? looking through a microscope at dna evidence is like watching paint dry... alice, along with chips, bj and hte bear, perfect strangers, three's company, vega$, simon and simon, hardcastle and mccormick, and riptide were entertaining to watch...

  • Back in the day, I hated Alice after a while. It just became an avenue for Linda Lavin's lousy singing, especially in later years. It was a big put off.

  • The strange thing is... Linda re-recorded the theme about a billion times over the years of the show, soemtimes more jazzy, varying styles and lyrics... but THIS version is still the best, IMO. they got it right the FIRST time.

  • kiss my grits!!!

  • loved linda lavin's voice in this theme song...she really could belt it out!

  • love this song. this was within the top 5 shows watched in the late 1970s.

    i would still watch it if it was on.

    200 cable channels yet they can't find a slot for this show.

  • Become a fan of Alice, share your memories of the show, and let's bring it back to TV, or at least get the DVDs produced so we can buy them!

    On facebook, search Alive TV.

  • @kwangler73 I believe best buy sold season 1 of the DVD at one point....like an idiot I passed it up thinkin I could go back I get it....when did, it was gone!...think it was in 2008

  • Always loved this show....Can't find it on anymore in the South East US,ugh.

  • I remember watching this show on TBS back in the day.

  • @kittygrrlhk ...back in the day, I remember watching the originals as they aired...

  • Anybody have a clue where to find the episode Mike Muscat starred in?

  • When I was a kid, Flo reminded me of my grandma, she served in a diner and had tall hair except she was a brunet.

  • @JizumChrust  mine too....grandma dolly was her name...

  • R I P  Vic

  • I agree...great show/series...brings back alot of memories...& yes, Linda can sing...nice mellow/jazzy tone...I prefer the "original" Flo...wasn't there 3 of them? I saw the 1st season in Best Buy afew years back but didn't get it...can't find it there now, of course...the Rockford files was a good show too...theme music as well

  • Belle and then Jolene replaced Flo.

  • I thought so...thx buddy

  • Linda Lavin has a lovely voice.

  • Yes, she does. They started to show the Alice reruns here last year, and then quit. I wish they'd bring them back to cable, I enjoyed them so much!

  • @rickhatch1 Any idea where I can see some episodes of this show? Maybe a website? I remember the one with Jerry Reed and the white bass.

  • I have this theme on a CD but this version sounds faster then the one on the CD

  • @Disneydanny check out the Alice TV Theme Pilot - it seems a bit slower - probably the same recording, only this one here got sped up?

  • Linda Ravin was so hot.

  • @Godzilla1985 lavin dip shit.unless your astro or scooby doo then it would be "rinda ravin he he he he!"

  • She was cute. But, her last name is Lavin.

  • kiss my grits... as well as my ASS!

  • Thank God I was marooned in Alaska in 1976!

  • Exactly what was the set-up to this show? If your car breaks down get any job in the nearest town?

  • lol yup pretty much. Then move into an apartment. :)

  • @JRFrancisco20088

    A woman was trying to head to hollywood(or vegas) to make it big. Car breaks down somewhere in Phoenix and she had little to no money. She needed to fix car and she was also low on money. Mel's Diner was hiring so she applied for the job. Things worked out so she stayed, but she was still looking for the big break to head to vegas or hollywood

  • I'm just wondering. That clip with Beth Howland (Vera) throwing plasticware all over the place was in every version of the opening sequence in the entire series.

    Was that from an actual episode?

  • Yes; it was in the pilot.

  • YES EPISODE 1 OR THE PIOLOT

  • Thanks folks. :)

  • my cousins grew up on the same street as Phillip McKeon in westbury new york...his sister is Jo from Facts of life.

  • i love this song , she's singing about me.

  • Love this song, opening and tv show.

    Nostalgia is a helluva drug.

  • Kiss My Grits!!

  • This show was kind of stupid, but a total guilty pleasure nonetheless. I wish the whole series was out on DVD!

  • I remember watching this when I was a kid. Time passes quicker than you think.

  • They used a real Phoenix restaurant for the outside shot used to drive by it everyday..

  • This show would have been better if "tommie" was replaced with glenn scarpelli.....................­...........glenn could have been alice' lil homie and bailed her out with his quick witted thinking!

  • classic

  • that quick shot of vera spazzing out with a box of straws never loses its hilarity.

  • @wlngmgwa2009 I Used to laugh out loud at that, every week! :))

  • I love alice i uploaded the final season opening theme of alice

  • kiss my grits!!!! Will you post the closing song as well as the second version of the opening theme song. The one the end Bap odi bop!!!

  • i was six years old when this show started loved it

  • I actually LOVED this show as a kid. I thought Flo was THE funniest woman ever. Funny, how her own spin off show just didn't make it.

  • Wow, Alice must have sucked up some helium!

  • Bomp bomp bomp bomp bah-ahhhh....now THAT'S how the theme song should end....not like later when it changed to that "so sweeeeeeet" crap.

  • I remember watching this show back then...pretty good.

  • This is a great sounding theme!

  • I didn't know the premise was she was a widow. For some reason, they made seem like she was divorced.

  • Haha, Kiss my grits.

  • It's playing too fast.

  • I suspect that whichever channel was showing this sped up the titles in order to make more room for commercials. They can do it without affecting the pitch. Gone are the days of lengthy intros with songs which tell a story. The intros of new shows have gotten progressively shorter over the years.

  • the movie (Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore) is great.

  • In 1985, her dream came true and she got a recording contract in Nashville. They really should put this out on DVD. It's a classic that will not be forgotten by the show's many fans. There is a sort of 'sampler' DVD out, but it's only a single one with a handful of random episodes.

  • something tells me that Linda Levin sang the theme song

  • She did.

  • @dktillie Jus jokin but kinda sounds like diana ross i love the over the top 70s and 80s sitcoms

  • @dktillie yes she did

  • @dktillie

    Yes it's Linda.

  • @dktillie

    She did indeed. There were actually several versions of the theme song which she sang. By the way, her last name is spelled with an "a", not an "e". ;)

  • @dktillie She did. She was in theatre for many years before going to TV.

  • @dktillie I've wondered that for years.

  • @dktillie yes she did

  • @dktillie She did.

  • This show was amazing, and it proved to be succcessful because it lasted for nine years. Alice was a widow, and was actually on her way to Los Angeles with her son to start her life over again. She wanted to go into show business, but on her way, got stuck in Phoenix with her broken down car. She ended up staying, presumably because she had no money, and took the job at Mel's Diner. A victim of circumstances. "She was just passing through, but if things work out, she's gonna stay, a while."

  • Listening to the words, she spent all her time cooking and cleaning and she decided to get away, by driving across country until she found some grimy coffee shop, which she spends all her time cleaning food scraps from truckers and other strangers. But she's a new girl in town being a 39yo single mother with all her worldly possessions strapped to her broken down car. But she's got a one bedroom unit and freckles on her face. Why would this be a good story line for a tv show?

  • First season opening was one of the best TV openings ever, in that in just under a minute, it set up the entire premise of the series. It showed how Alice and Tommy got stuck in Phoenix, how Alice got the job at Mel's, then proceeded to introduce the characters (Vera, the "clumsy" one with the exploding straws, Flo the "mother hen" fixing Alice's collar, etc.). If someone had never seen the show before, they could watch the opening, figure out who the characters were, and just start watching.

  • Good Lord, this is a time machine :)

  • A great show with a lot of funny lines...

    MEL: -"Jolene, go to the restuarant store and get me another spatula, mines all bent.

    JOLENE: -"Mel, were you tryin to flip one  of your pancakes again?

    *LOL!

  • Everytime I hear this I go back to being a kid.Yes,you can go home again.

  • Why is it playing so fast?

  • i wish it was 1976 right now

  • best theme song after " mannix " and "charlie's angels" !!

  • Mel!!!! KISS MY GRITS!!!! LOL!!!

  • You can all just kiss my grits! JK!

  • I happen to disagree ... this was a great theme and well done.

  • Labia! That's a body part, lmao

  • just a good show

  • kiss my grits

  • i remember they changed the theme to a broaway-esque version in the third season, i think. i always thought that was awful. when i was a kid i had a serious crush on linda lavin. those legs! she was very cute.

  • Holy cow I had a crush on her too. She had great legs. I would forget to blink when I watched her.

  • I used to love disappearing into this world in the foster home I lived in. Later, I relished watching it before my alcoholic step mothercame home from work and blew her mouth out and my dad and i would check into the hotel 150 ft from my junior high School. Yep. Happy days!

  • I love this Theme !!Linda Lavin has a great voice !!the scatting at the end just sends me 2 another world !! FUNKAY !!

  • boy that's more annoying than I even remember.

  • I don't think I've ever seen the actual clip of Vera and the straws, but it looks hilarious.

  • I loved this show as a kid! of course i watched it in syndication....Vic Tayback was so awesome! and polly Holliday...."Stow it!"....great line!

  • Flo was my favorite on this show. She was a trip!

  • This is great thanks for adding this! I loved this show.

  • Awesome! Thank you for posting

  • I loved that show! It wasn't the same when Flo left. I still miss her!

  • I agree, I missed

    When donkey's fly & Mel, kiss my grits

  • I agree, too. Flo was funny. I liked when she said the word "what" she said it kind of funny like.

  • She always goes, "Kiss my grits!" all the damn time.

  • The song is actually slower. over one minute. I think the TV station might have sped it up for more commercial time.

  • How has time flown. I was a kid watching this in 1976. Now it is 2007 Bush Hell!! Time waits for no man. Give me 1976 again!!!

  • Amen to that.

  • Well, it was Flo leaving, but also other things--the character arch had run its course for all the characters, pretty much, limited storyline potential. Plus, Tommy stopped being used. Mel got cuddly. I mean they milked this one pretty good, given the limited material.

  • I wonder who sang the song for the opening? Linda Lavin?

  • yes it is Linda Lavin ( aka Alice )

  • I know that. I read it in them closing credits.

  • This show was great.  Nothing even close to it 2day.

    Intro and Outro music was excellent.

  • Linda Lavin's singing scared small children and pets.

  • what happened to great tv themes, they used to be so important, i can't even think of any from the last 5 or 10 years.

  • The first seasons version is by far the best one of the whole series. They should have stayed with this one. Linda's voice is really good! Wonderful memories.

  • I agree, parakeets4me69, this is the best version! Wow, I never realized that Linda was doing the vocal! She was a really a triple threat! She was hot!, she could act!, and she could sing! I had a huge crush on Alice, as a youth! And my attraction for older women still remains, as an adult!

  • My fav show of all time is alice.i own the complete series.LOve it.

  • The building filmed for the exterior shots of Mel's really still exists in Phoenix Az Coffee Cup and all...Its located near the interesection of 19th Avenue and Grand Avenue.

  • I remember the censors saying that the "Kiss My Gritts" line was too racy, I thought it was classic, and as a kid who knew what it meant, all I know that it was funny as hell when she said it.

  • I love Linda Lavin. She's hot. Nice legs.

  • Me, too!

  • Awsome theme, brings back some of the earliest memories. I just love the effort they put into some of these 70s theme songs. Show was hilarious, then Flo left it started the inevitable decline

  • I agree, when Flo left the show it wasn't the same but I think it was still funny..

  • this is still a very funny show.

  • I loved that show

  • Flo was great, but when she left it just wasn't the same.

  • Tommy is washing his Mom's feet. EWWWWW!

  • hahahaha!

  • Actually, she is soaking her feet with hot water...as we can see....(usually when someone is on their feet for a long period of time).

  • I love that part, but I wouldn't marry it. And so are Alice's beautiful feet, even if they are fresh.

  • Boy, would I like to massage one of them.

  • This was such a good show...I don't think the show was the same without Flo KISS MY GRITS!!!!

    Thanks for posting.

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