because the show was just good? Just asking because I noticed when CBS placed Alice on Wednesday Nights in 76-77 season and 82-83 season the show barley made the top 20. But when it was on the Sunday Night Lineup the show finished in the top ten 4 times. So since I haven't seen many eps of the show just wanted to ask those of you who have do you think Alice had success in the ratings because of it's Sunday Night Timeslot?

because the show was just good? Just asking because I noticed when CBS placed Alice on Wednesday Nights in 76-77 season and 82-83 season the show barley made the top 20. But when it was on the Sunday Night Lineup the show finished in the top ten 4 times. So since I haven't seen many eps of the show just wanted to ask those of you who have do you think Alice had success in the ratings because of it's Sunday Night Timeslot?

I enjoyed Alice because it was a pleasant little comedy show. I don't think it tried to be important or anything, and I think people liked it for that reason. I do think people liked it a lot better with Polly Holiday. When 82-83 spun around you had cast changes (usually damaging in a show), plus I think the show was running it's course then. I'm surprised it stayed on until 1985! Anyway, I think it may have a higher rating on Sunday nights too because a lot of people were home in the evenings at the end of the weekend and you didn't have a whole lots of television options yet back then.

I enjoyed Alice because it was a pleasant little comedy show. I don't think it tried to be important or anything, and I think people liked it for that reason. I do think people liked it a lot better with Polly Holiday. When 82-83 spun around you had cast changes (usually damaging in a show), plus I think the show was running it's course then. I'm surprised it stayed on until 1985! Anyway, I think it may have a higher rating on Sunday nights too because a lot of people were home in the evenings at the end of the weekend and you didn't have a whole lots of television options yet back then.


Yeah Sunday Nights is probably the best time slot for any show since it is the end of the week.

Yeah Sunday Nights is probably the best time slot for any show since it is the end of the week.

I think that the same reason applies to One Day At A Time. It was on for 9 seasons and so was Alice I think.

I think that the same reason applies to One Day At A Time. It was on for 9 seasons and so was Alice I think.


No One Day at a Time actually did well on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays. Alice only did well on Sundays.

I think the show did great up until Jolene came into the show. After that, it must have been the night bringing in the ratings. The quality of the show went down the toilet once she came and all these episode remakes. I didn't care for it and I'm sure other fans didn't either.

If you look at the ratings, Alice did better than its lead-in for three straight seasons from '79-'80 to '81-'82, and it was CBS' highest rated Sunday sitcom for '79-'80. I'd say it wasn't just because of the Sunday lineup. That's a part of it, but not the only reason it did well.

If you look at the ratings, Alice did better than its lead-in for three straight seasons from '79-'80 to '81-'82, and it was CBS' highest rated Sunday sitcom for '79-'80. I'd say it wasn't just because of the Sunday lineup. That's a part of it, but not the only reason it did well.
I don't recall the reasons it did well when it did because I felt it was best when Flo was still around and yet they made all the changes. I'm also biased because my uncle was lead writer early on. ;) But ABC and NBC may have had movies of the week then (NBC was VERY successful with that in the 70s - remember they had the NBC Nightly Movie - I believe on sundays when they alternated Columbo, McLeoud, and MacMillan and Wife, before those shows became institutions). Maybe it was partly that, meaning that many people were just not always interested in whatever movies were being aired and so Alice might have been an option and x-amount of people either came to the show or stayed with it. This is just an opinion because I don't remember the line-ups at the time. All I remember of sunday nights before '79, was that in my home those evenings were strictly reserved for the 6 Million Dollar Man! :)

I don't recall the reasons it did well when it did because I felt it was best when Flo was still around and yet they made all the changes. I'm also biased because my uncle was lead writer early on. ;) But ABC and NBC may have had movies of the week then (NBC was VERY successful with that in the 70s - remember they had the NBC Nightly Movie - I believe on sundays when they alternated Columbo, McLeoud, and MacMillan and Wife, before those shows became institutions). Maybe it was partly that, meaning that many people were just not always interested in whatever movies were being aired and so Alice might have been an option and x-amount of people either came to the show or stayed with it. This is just an opinion because I don't remember the line-ups at the time. All I remember of sunday nights before '79, was that in my home those evenings were strictly reserved for the 6 Million Dollar Man! :)



During the mid-late 70's, ABC aired a Movie and NBC aired the Big event while Alice aired on CBS. from 1979-84, ABC and NBC both aired Movies on Sunday Nights While Alice was on aired on CBS.

I think both reasons played a part in it. I like how with both "Alice" and "Three's Company" though both shows had to replace very popular characters (and it's weird that there were two replacements on each show), they still ran a good while after the replacements came. TC ran for 4 seasons after Suzanne left and still made the top ten (it even made #4 in either the 1981-1982 or 1982-1983 season, I forget). After Flo left, "Alice" was still on the air for four years as well. That says a lot, IMO, about the show's other cast members.

The show was very good when Flo was around. Sure lineups due help out shows, but the quality of the show also matters.

I don't recall the reasons it did well when it did because I felt it was best when Flo was still around and yet they made all the changes. I'm also biased because my uncle was lead writer early on. ;) But ABC and NBC may have had movies of the week then (NBC was VERY successful with that in the 70s - remember they had the NBC Nightly Movie - I believe on sundays when they alternated Columbo, McLeoud, and MacMillan and Wife, before those shows became institutions). Maybe it was partly that, meaning that many people were just not always interested in whatever movies were being aired and so Alice might have been an option and x-amount of people either came to the show or stayed with it. This is just an opinion because I don't remember the line-ups at the time. All I remember of sunday nights before '79, was that in my home those evenings were strictly reserved for the 6 Million Dollar Man! :)

To begin with I was a great fan of Alice throughout the entire run. I was not impressed with it at first but something was there that kept me coming back. The show was successful for many reasons. A strong cast, good writers and entertaining episodes. What ruined Alice starting with Linda Lavin. I understand she was difficult to deal with on the show because she put it out there that it was her show. She did not like anyone outshining her. I believe that's what attribute to why her and Polly Holliday did not get along. Polly did an awesome job with Flo and she was the reason why many watched the show. It would had seem if Flo, her spinoff, did not work she should had been able to come back to Alice. Many characters who get spinoff and the show not working go back to the parent show. For example, Scott Baio and Erin Moran came back to Happy Days and Marla Gibbs came back to the Jeffersons. Alice was still holding up when Diane Ladd came on board and played Belle. She did great even though I still preferred the Flo seasons. Again, it was Linda Lavin that drove Diane off from the show. They did not get along because Diane got the laughs with, "My little voice told me...." During the end of the Flo seasons on the show you can tell there was tension between Linda and Polly by the way they interacted on screen. The earlier seasons their relationship in many ways reminded of Mary and Rhoda.

Another thing that hurt the show was it stayed on too long. They should had pull the plug at the end of season 7. I did like the way it ended with Alice finally fulfilling her dream as a singer.

The show was a success. Here are the ratings when it was in the top 20:
1977-78 season - #8 The show began to hit its stride
1978-79 season - #13
1979-80 season - #4
1980-81 season - #7
1981-82 season - #5

The first season was #30 but after the 81-82 season the show became uninteresting and the ratings reflected that. The Jolene years was not very good and I did not find her character funny. It was flat but she did not pose as a threat to Linda Lavin compared to Flo and Belle. It was amazing that she got along with Vic Tayback and Beth Howland. They both were funny especially Mel.

Your uncle who was a writer for the show. What was his name and what was your take on all this that I wrote that happened with the show.