Alice finally on DVD!

[doodlenyc]

I hated this show, and I especially hated Lavin in it (and that McKeon kid!) Oy, that song!
Polly, Beth, Diane and Weston were all fine, though.

I've liked and even loved Lavin since, however. I liked her Hattie, even and liked the way she sang "Broadway Baby"! Perhaps I was just surprised that I didnt hate her vocal.

[madbrian]

Worth mentioning that Celia Weston is a truly great, underutilized character actress.

[best12bars]

^ Absolutely worth mentioning!

EDIT: It's also worth mentioning that she and Diane Ladd were poor substitutes for Polly Holliday in that sitcom world of "Alice." Ladd may have gotten an Oscar nomination for the film, which has such a different tone it might as well be from another planet. But I never thought much of Weston until I saw her in other projects. Then I realized, like Ladd, she was an actress who wasn't suited for that "situation" or for the roles they were handed to fill Holliday's missing presence and help the sagging ratings.

[madbrian]

"But I never thought much of Weston until I saw her in other projects."

Like in Dead Man Walking, where she played the mother-of-the-victim role that's been done a gazillion times before and since, but made it special.

[doodlenyc]

Ladd was the weakest replacement. She didnt seem to want to be there, and she was SO good in the film!

I finally saw the film after the show was probably already off the air. So terrific, and nothing like the sitcom! Loved the film's Tommy! I wonder what happened to him? Google, here I come!

[Gothampc]

"Ladd was the weakest replacement. She didnt seem to want to be there, and she was SO good in the film!"

I think part of the problem was that over the years the already mediocre writing got worse.

About all that Ladd was given was "My little voice said Isabelle, my little voice always calls me Isabelle..." That was funny once, but it became as tedious as Diff'rent Strokes "Whachu talkin' 'bout?"

And with Celia Weston the writing was even worse. The character of Jolene should have been signified in the script as "Dumb Southern girl" says "Insert stupid Southern joke"

[best12bars]

"Mel" (Vic Tayback) was the only actor to reprise his role as a series regular. Ladd came it later, but not as Flo. And he's so different as Mel in the movie!

I wonder if they could take a modern (mostly) dramatic film and turn it into a sitcom. They tried several times in the '70s (MASH being the most successful).

Can you imagine "You Can Count On Me," the sitcom?

Or Ruby In Paradise?

Or The Spitfire Grill? (bringing the lead back to life, of course)

[madbrian]

I could see Boys On The Side as a sitcom.

[Gothampc]

"I wonder if they could take a modern (mostly) dramatic film and turn it into a sitcom."

Interesting question.

The sitcom was based on only a fraction of the movie. The whole Kris Kristofferson and the Jodie Foster material was chucked out. And the characters of the son and Vera were changed.

When I think of the movie, I always think of the scene in the hotel room where Alice grabs the son and makes him sit down and write how crappy his life is. That dramatic tension never made it into the sitcom

[CarlosAlberto]

When this show hit the airwaves I was 7 and I had no idea it was based on a (dramatic) film. It wasn't until many years later I am flipping the channels and I land on HBO and ALICE DOESN'T LIVE HERE ANYMORE is on and as I am watching I begin to realize the connection. It was odd.

[doodlenyc]

I loved Valerie Curtain's Vera! "This is my Daddy Duke!" Foster was a riot too.

So, the original movie Tommy, Alfred Lutter WAS cast as Tommy in the series and replaced by McKeon after the pilot. Interesting!! Clearly they went in a very different direction with the character...like Dull!
He also played the younger version of Woody Allen in "Love and Death".

[StageManager2]

I was beyond surprised to learn that Alice was an adaptation of Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore. It would be like discovering Taxi was an adaptation of Taxi Driver. Strange.

[best12bars]

LOL

That's a good analogy, SM2.

[EricMontreal22]

I admit, for a long time I thought the film and sitcom just shared some common elements, I had no idea it was an actual adaptation--as mentioned the tone is so different.

As for more modern "mostly dramatic" films being turned into TV comedies, howabout the short lived Dirty Dancing series? I guess it wasn't exactly a sitcom but it had little of the melodrama the film had.