What exactly went down in the 1982-1983 season for the sporadic airings in the first half of the seventh season? I know that they had moved to a new night that season which also led to a massive dropoff from #5 to out of the top 30 (though it would be back in the 20s next season), but I was shocked when I saw the airdates.

141 1 "Sorry, Wrong Lips" TBA TBA October 6, 1982
142 2 "Do You Take...?" TBA TBA October 13, 1982
143 3 "The secret of Mel's Diner" TBA TBA October 20, 1982
144 4 "Alice at the Palace" TBA TBA October 27, 1982
145 5 "Joel Gray Saves the Day" TBA TBA November 3, 1982
146 6 "Alice's Turkey of a Thanksgiving" TBA TBA November 10, 1982
147 7 "Carrie of the Rebound" TBA TBA January 9, 1983
148 8 "Jolene's Brother Jonas" TBA TBA January 16, 1983
149 9 "Alice Sees the Light" TBA TBA February 28, 1983
150 10 "Vera the Virtuoso" TBA TBA March 7, 1983
151 11 "Alice Faces the Music" TBA TBA March 14, 1983
152 12 "Tommy, the Jailbird" TBA TBA March 21, 1983
153 13 "Jolene and the Night Watchman" TBA TBA March 28, 1983
154 14 "Mel's Dream Car" TBA TBA April 11, 1983
155 15 "Come Back Little Sharples" TBA TBA April 17, 1983
156 16 "Vera, The Torch" TBA TBA April 24, 1983
157 17 "The Grass is Always Greener" TBA TBA May 1, 1983
158 18 "Tommy Fouls Out" TBA TBA May 15, 1983
159 19 "Vera on the Lam" TBA TBA May 22, 1983
160 20 "Mel's Cousin Wendy?" TBA TBA May 29, 1983
161 21 "Sweet Erasable Mel" TBA TBA June 5, 1983
162 22 "Tommy Hyatt, Business Consultant" TBA TBA June 12, 1983
163 23 "Jolene Lets the Cat Out of the Bag" TBA TBA September 18, 1983

A two month break between Nov 82/Jan 83 and then another 6 week gap before returning on 2/28/83 (the same day the final MASH aired) before resuming the episodes and burning off into early summer 1983 with another episode airing in Sept 1983.

Was there any cause for this? I don't believe Lavin was pregnant or something like that to cause production gaps, also while ratings dropped a lot, they were still good enough to get two more seasons so it couldn't have been that? Seems weird that this season was plagued with so many gaps and delays between episodes, especially when most seasons were usually wrapping up in March/April back in the early 80s and yet Alice was still burning off episodes into June with one final episode all the way in September while every other season (except season 9 which was abbreviated and had a series finale) aired in the regular rotation.

In the 82/83 season Alice was a follow-up show. Basically it was to fill the gap, the reason it was so random: Wednesday at 9:00 p.m.(1982)
Sunday at 9:30 p.m.(Episodes 7–8, 15–20)
Monday at 8:00 p.m.(Episode 9)
Monday at 9:00 p.m.(Episodes 10–14)
Sunday at 8:00 p.m.(Episodes 21–23)