Alice (TV series)

[Soaplover]

While I've never seen the movie, I can definitely agree with this. Belle was basically Flo-filler, and that choice was an injustice to Polly Holliday and Diane Ladd. I feel like that did a better job at ironing out Celia Weston as Jolene, and making her more a part of the ensemble.

That's because Weston had a warm and soothing presence so Jolene couldn't be a Flo clone.. no matter how hard the writers tried (and the writers tried her first few episodes as Jolene before making her a strong supporting figure in the ensemble).

 

[Daniel Avery]

Jolene had all those stories about her extended Southern family that gave her built-in jokes/comedy material, background that all the other characters lacked. I think that was part of what made people take to her more rapidly. They vaguely resembled Rose's St. Olaf stories on Golden Girls and Laverne's stories about Hickory on Empty Nest, so maybe it was an aspect of the character that the writers had seen work well elsewhere and "borrowed" it.

 

[Seaviewer]

I still use Jolene's catchphrase "Oh, come own!" but nobody gets it.

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

Interesting to me how ALICE and THREE'S COMPANY had parallels with their three "blondes" -- the first being a breakout, the second being a short term replacement, and the third being a pleasant placeholder. My unpopular opinion is in both cases the second was the best of the three.

I thought Priscilla Barnes was the funniest. THREE'S A CROWD should never have happened.

 

[Seaviewer]

I still use Jolene's catchphrase "Oh, come own!" but nobody gets it.

Someone thought I said "commode."

 

[Chris2]

For a while, they had Alice saying “Go suck an egg.” Guess she was jealous of Flo and “Kiss my grits!”

 

[Daniel Avery]

The writers seemed determined to create catch-phrases for everyone.
"Stow it!"
"Dingy chick!"
"Silly me."
"My little voice always calls me Isabel."

 

[Crimson]

Catchphrases might just be my least favorite sitcom trope. I mean, how many times can "Kiss my grits!" actually be funny rather than just the audience being trained to have a response?

 

[ClassyCo]

Catchphrases might just be my least favorite sitcom trope. I mean, how many times can "Kiss my grits!" actually be funny rather than just the audience being trained to have a response?

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It is a very "sitcomy" thing for a sitcom to employ.

"Kiss my grits!"
"Stow it, Blondie!"
"Whatcha talking about, Willis?"
"Sit on it!"
"Up your nose with a rubber hose!"
"Dy--no--mite!"

Some of them bother me more than others.

 

[Crimson]

As a kid growing up in the Northeast, I had no idea what grits were. I thought "Kiss my grits" was something vaguely naughty, like "Kiss my butt".

Imagine my disappointment to find out it's just breakfast mush.

 

[ClassyCo]

As a kid growing up in the Northeast, I had no idea what grits were. I thought "Kiss my grits" was something vaguely naughty, like "Kiss my butt".

I can see the implication as drawn from a kid's view without knowing what grits were.

Imagine my disappointment to find out it's just breakfast mush.

I'm a born and bred South Georgian, so I'm very familiar with grits. It was one of my favorite breakfast dishes, served with butter, salt, pepper, and a good portion of cheese for good measure. My mother-in-law even sometimes makes them with cream cheese in them, and they're delicious, I assure you.

Imagine my horror, however, when my mother took my to her new in-laws' house several years ago. They had grits, but no salt, no pepper, no butter, no cheese. They had sugar in them. Sugar! And it was gross.

They aren't married anymore, though.

 

[Chris2]

“Happy Days” was the worst when it came to character words/catch phrases:

• Sit on it! (Fonz)
• Ayyyy (Fonz)
• [word]-amundo (Fonz)
• Bucko (Richie)
• Yowsa yowsa yowsa (Richie)
• I found my thrill…(Richie)
• I still got it! (Ralph)
• Frisky (Howard, Marion)
• Yep yep yep yep yep yep… (Al)
• Wa wa wa! (Chachi)

 

[Soaplover]

After the initial set up, the show did seem to become a standard sitcom with each episode having a formula that each character fit into. I think that's partly why Diane Ladd struggled during her stint because she was given a caricature to play instead of a character that she could make her own. The show did sort of course correct with Jolene's character with eventually writing to what Celia Weston could play vs the initial characterization that Jolene was introduced with (i.e. she was a truck driver with a hot temper in her first episode or two before her character changed).

I think the formula started to change a bit in the final season or two when Vera became less of a dingbat and more of a fully fleshed out character with a marriage, house, etc... and Jolene being more of a warm and nurturing presence especially between her and Vera.

Even Linda Lavin was bored playing Alice so in the final season or two.. she either would appear in either one scene as Alice.. or she would play that elderly lady that eventually rents a room in Vera's place in the final season.

The catch phrase 'Kiss my Grits' only worked because of how Polly delivered it... but the show couldn't leave well enough alone and tried to give the others a catch phrase.

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

As a kid growing up in the Northeast, I had no idea what grits were. I thought "Kiss my grits" was something vaguely naughty, like "Kiss my butt".

Imagine my disappointment to find out it's just breakfast mush.

As a kid growing in the Southeast, I always loved grits -- especially cheese grits.

But the carbs. The complex carbs!

 

[Seaviewer]

As a kid growing up in the Northeast, I had no idea what grits were. I thought "Kiss my grits" was something vaguely naughty, like "Kiss my butt".

Imagine my disappointment to find out it's just breakfast mush.

The catch phrase 'Kiss my Grits' only worked because of how Polly delivered it... but the show couldn't leave well enough alone and tried to give the others a catch phrase.

I knew that grits were some kind of foodstuff so taken literally it was fairly meaningless. I think it may have been intended as euphemism for something she wouldn't have been allowed to say in the 70s such as @Crimson suggests. But Polly's performance got it across.