On August 31st, 1976 on our TVs came a "new girl in town". The TV show Alice was based on the hit movie Alice doesn't live here anymore from 1974. Alice had memorable characters and very funny situations that made this show an instant classic. The show would runs for 9 seasons and 202 episodes.
Alice tells the story of Alice Hyatt (Linda Lavin), a recently widowed single mom who finds herself working as a waitress at an Arizona diner while caring for her pre-teen son, Tommy (Philip McKeon). While dreaming of becoming a singer. She works for the gruff owner of Mel's Diner, Mel Sharples. Also joining Alice at Mel's Diner was fellow waitresses neurotic Vera and no-nonsense Flo.
In season one Alice got some amazing guest stars include Batman's Adam West, Victor Buono, and Dark Shadow's Lara Parker. Now let's take a look at the episodes included in this series.
Episode Ratings:
****=Don’t Miss it!
***=Worth a look.
**=An Ok way to spend some time.
*=You haven’t missed anything.
Disc One:
1. Pilot: Alice works at Mel's Diner with Flo and Vera. A talent agent comes to town and Alice is hoping for a big break. ***
2. Alice Gets a Pass: Mel's college buddy Jack Newhouse comes to visit. Flo senses the attraction between Jack and Alice and pushes them to go on a date. ***
3. A Piece of the Rock: Alice learns that her late husband named another woman as his life-insurance beneficiary. ***
4. Pay the Fifty Dollars: Alice makes quite an impression after a one-night singing engagement in a local nightclub. ****
5. A Call to Arms: When an obscene caller threatens Alice's life on an answering machine, she decides to take Flo's advice and get a gun. ***
6. The Last Review: While Mel is on vacation, Alice takes over the diner with disastrous results. ****7. Sex Education: Alice decides it is time to have the "facts of life" talk with Tommy, but discovers that he is already taking a sex education class in school. **
8. Big Daddy Dawson's Coming: Flo's first husband is in town and she is convinced that his womanizing days are over, until he makes a pass at Alice. ***
Disc Two:
9. Good Night, Sweet Vera: Alice and Flo come to the rescue when Vera decides that life isn't worth living. ***
10. The Dilemma: Flo tries to talk Alice out of accepting a marriage proposal. ***
11. Who Killed Bugs Bunny?: Alice is torn between letting her son be "one of the boys" and compromising her principles. ***
12. Mother-in-Law: Part 1: Alice is not happy when she receives word that her mother-in-law, Rose Hyatt, is coming for a visit. She quickly gets annoyed at Rose's overbearing nature. ***
13. Mother-in-Law: Part 2: When Rose's visit looks to be turning into a permanent situation, Alice calls her father-in-law, Charlie and begs him to take Rose back. ***
14. Vera's Mortician: Alice discovers that Vera's new beau is married with a child, before she can tell Vera, she announces her engagement. ***
15. Mel's in Love: Mel falls for a hitchhiker who decides to continue on to California, leaving Alice to console Mel. She soon finds that Mel seems to have may have moved on, to her. ***
16. The Accident: When Mel takes a trip to Las Vegas, he leaves the keys to his treasured car. Flo borrows the car for a quick errand, but gets in an accident. The waitresses try to hide the fact form Mel when he returns early. ***
Disc Three:
17. The Failure: A robbery heist goes awry for a clumsy inept robber must contend with a pregnant woman going into labour in the diner, a stuck cash register and a police stakeout. ***
18. The Hex: Alice confronts a woman who has been stealing silverware form the
diner, who puts a hex on her. Alice laughs it off at first, but then
begins to question if there could be something to it. ***
19. The Pain of No Return: Alice is shocked when an IRS agent shows up to tell her that her
deceased husband owed back taxes and that she must pay them back in a
week. ***
20. The Odd Couple: Circumstances force Flo and Alice to temporarily become roommates. ***
21. A Night to Remember: Alice and Flo play cupid for Vera when she becomes depressed that she is alone as her birthday approaches. ***
22. Mel's Cup: Alice resorts to burglary when she can't convince Mel that charity begins at home. ***
23. The Bundle: Alice must scrimp to come up with money for Tommy's braces and Mel
needs a new refrigerator. Flo finds a paper bag with $40,000 cash in it
and it seems everyone's money woes are over. ***
24. Mel's Happy Burger: Alice is given the chance to star in a television commercial for Mel's diner. ****
Even though I was not alive during the first run of these shows from the 70s. Ever since I saw them in reruns this has to be my favorite era of TV. Now Alice is no different. I really enjoyed the characters. Linda Lavin is perfect as the title character Alice. And the supporting cast of Polly Holliday as Flo, Vic Tayback as Mel, Beth Howland as Vera and Phililp McKeon as Tommy are just a great addition to the cast. I can't imagine anyone else playing these roles.
Now for the DVD release itself. All 24 episodes are housed on 3 DVDs. The first episode is a pilot and it shows a different version of Tommy. No disrespect but Phillip McKeon was a much better option for the role of Tommy. The episodes have been transferred in their original full screen format and in 1.37:1 aspect ratio.
I ran a bitrate test and for the most part these episodes run from between 7 and 8 Mbps. So these episode have a great bitrate. I am really impressed with the clarity of the picture and the audio. There is really no signs of damage to the picture or audio at all. This is a very good release.
I love that Warner Archive are making this classic tv shows made-on-demand. So you never have to worry about this one going out of print. You can order it when you are ready. So Awesome.
So if you are a fan of 70s sitcoms. And you are looking for a good show to watch with the entire family, you can't go wrong with Alice Season One. Head over to WBShop.com or Amazon.com and get your copy today.
Offensive Material: Nothing
Audience: Families
Genre: Comedy, Sitcom
Length: 600 Minutes
DVD Value Rating: A
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