'Flo' On-the-Set Tidbits From 'Single Season Sitcoms of the 1980s'

[JR1]

From the 2016 book Single Season Sitcoms of the 1980s: A Complete Guide.

Flo appears in the section "Shows Invited Back For a Truncated or Vastly Different Second Season."

Here are two "juicy" sections. It was one thing to hear rumors about the Alice set and alleged problems between Linda Lavin and Polly Holliday (which may not have even been all too accurate, given that the Flo spin-off was in the works for some time before it debuted, with talks as early as the end of season two). though I must say I was surprised to read the accounts from Joyce Bulifant and Lucy Lee Flippin'.

Here they are...

Bulifant recalled, "I asked to leave the show because Polly had creative control. I feel it is dangerous for leading actors to have control of a show. It is difficult when the star has control to be objective. After one show, a story that revolved around me, she asked the writers not to write any more story lines for me. That was all right except that Polly seemed not to be pleased with me. She was quite a task master and wanted the show to run just as she wanted it to. Because of this my perception was that of a very unhappy cast, myself included. Everyone in the cast had a theatre background and we all respected each other's work. The guest actors on the show may not have been aware of the underlying unhappiness on the set. I think Polly is an excellent actress and I would hope she would continue to perform."

Flippin, who portrayed Flo's snooty sister, added, "The program had two problems - the wonderful character of Flo was overused in the series, she was in almost every scene, as opposed to her brilliant showings in Alice. Also, Polly and Sudie Bond, who played Mama, did not get along, so domestic scenes were few compared to [those in] the bar locale. There was ongoing tension with Polly and Sudie. Additionally, there were too many main characters. I admired Polly's talent and discipline. She was wound a little tight, but it was her show! She was very gracious to me after a Little House on the Prairie episode I did and sent me an amazing telegram. And I adored Sudie. It was fun working with her."

[TVFactFan]

Originally Posted by JR1

From the 2016 book Single Season Sitcoms of the 1980s: A Complete Guide.

Flo appears in the section "Shows Invited Back For a Truncated or Vastly Different Second Season."

Here are two "juicy" sections. It was one thing to hear rumors about the Alice set and alleged problems between Linda Lavin and Polly Holliday (which may not have even been all too accurate, given that the Flo spin-off was in the works for some time before it debuted, with talks as early as the end of season two). though I must say I was surprised to read the accounts from Joyce Bulifant and Lucy Lee Flippin'.

Here they are...

Bulifant recalled, "I asked to leave the show because Polly had creative control. I feel it is dangerous for leading actors to have control of a show. It is difficult when the star has control to be objective. After one show, a story that revolved around me, she asked the writers not to write any more story lines for me. That was all right except that Polly seemed not to be pleased with me. She was quite a task master and wanted the show to run just as she wanted it to. Because of this my perception was that of a very unhappy cast, myself included. Everyone in the cast had a theatre background and we all respected each other's work. The guest actors on the show may not have been aware of the underlying unhappiness on the set. I think Polly is an excellent actress and I would hope she would continue to perform."

Flippin, who portrayed Flo's snooty sister, added, "The program had two problems - the wonderful character of Flo was overused in the series, she was in almost every scene, as opposed to her brilliant showings in Alice. Also, Polly and Sudie Bond, who played Mama, did not get along, so domestic scenes were few compared to [those in] the bar locale. There was ongoing tension with Polly and Sudie. Additionally, there were too many main characters. I admired Polly's talent and discipline. She was wound a little tight, but it was her show! She was very gracious to me after a Little House on the Prairie episode I did and sent me an amazing telegram. And I adored Sudie. It was fun working with her."

Yes that rumor has been on this site for years that Linda Lavin forced her off the show and I ended up finding out that the Flo spinoff was being put together from the first season of alice

[JR1]

I think we corresponded on that note in other threads.

Are you surprised to hear these comments from Joyce and Lucy? It kinda makes you think of the Alice situation i na different light, too, though, as noted, neither Linda or Polly ever bad-mouthed the other publicly. And Linda has posted Alice clips featuring Polly on YouTube, Instagram, etc.

[TVFactFan]

Originally Posted by JR1

I think we corresponded on that note in other threads.

Are you surprised to hear these comments from Joyce and Lucy? It kinda makes you think of the Alice situation i na different light, too, though, as noted, neither Linda or Polly ever bad-mouthed the other publicly. And Linda has posted Alice clips featuring Polly on YouTube, Instagram, etc.

Yeah it did because I been hearing there was tension between them since I joined this site and was surprised to find out the real truth

[PracTz]

Gee, I never imagined that Miss Holiday would have had anything against Miss Bullifant. I thought everyone liked Miss Bullifant! Yeah, I agree that it's too bad that she let her dislike sour how she treated the costar who was playing her bestie.

Ironically, I'm not surprised that she didn't get along with Miss Bond, inasmuch as' Mama' Velma Castleberry seemed a rather bitter old pain who took out her angst over her ex's leaving her out on her daughter Flo and endlessly found fault with her. It would have helped the show had there been positive chemistry between mother and daughter despite the conflict but these performers weren't able to make that happen due to their sincere mutual dislike. Sadly, that seemed to shortchange Miss Flippen's role as Fran who seemed to have been overwhelmed by her bitter mother her entire life but there were tiny hints that Fran might have considered one day becoming independent but hadn't quite worked out how to throw off decades of guilt from Velma. Still, it's nice that Miss Flippen said that she got along with Miss Bond (despite her playing a rather surly character) AND that Miss Holiday sent her a kind note.

[RetroGuy2000]

Thanks for the behind the scenes info, JR1! I'm surprised Polly left Alice after getting bullied there, only to bully her own cast. But maybe in some ways that makes sense.

[JR1]

No problem, RetroGuy.

RE Polly on Alice- was she really "bullied," though? We've read that she had a series option when starting the show, and that there were talks of spinning her off as early as the end of season 2. So, the spin-off was in the works before any supposed tension with Linda. And Polly spoke positively of Linda in an interview when Flo was premiering.

That's not to say there weren't some on-set tensions (Polly acknowledged as much in that same interview), though it may not be as bad as some have made it out to be. Neither Linda or Polly have spoken negatively, publicly, about the other. Now, Diane Ladd is another story, as I believe she has talked about issues working with Linda?

I too was surprised to read Joyce's account; I had wondered why she didn't finish out season 2. And now we know. Funny thing is, when she was gone (Miriam was expecting another child) , they kept her in two scenes that closed out the opening theme.

[Duster76]

A couple of points, it's pretty clear there were problems on both sets. I think its been established Lavin was not happy with the amount of focus on the Flo character and wanted her off the Alice series. This is not meant to be a criticism on Lavin, show business is fueled by superegos. The fact that there were no crossover episodes when the Flo series was trying to establish itself tells you all you need to know.

Joyce Bulifant made a very good point concerning creative control. The 70's and 80's was an era where stars had way too much creative input and I feel that in most cases it was detrimental to the quality of the overall product.

[TVFactFan]

Originally Posted by Duster76

A couple of points, it's pretty clear there were problems on both sets. I think its been established Lavin was not happy with the amount of focus on the Flo character and wanted her off the Alice series. This is not meant to be a criticism on Lavin, show business is fueled by superegos. The fact that there were no crossover episodes when the Flo series was trying to establish itself tells you all you need to know.

Joyce Bulifant made a very good point concerning creative control. The 70's and 80's was an era where stars had way too much creative input and I feel that in most cases it was detrimental to the quality of the overall product.

I didnt read anything about Linda Laving having issues with Polly. What book was this in?

[JR1]

I think it's backstage gossip/some saying they "read somewhere", that's primarily driven the narrative that Linda had issues with the Flo character "upstaging" her. That was even addressed in the People magazine interview. As for Linda rolling her eyes in the fourth season- she had done that from the early parts of the show, and not just in reaction to Flo. As the star of the show, she may have been bothered to some degree by it, but I don't know if it's as bad as some have made it out to be.

I don't think Alice and Vera would have necessarily made a trip to visit Flo, even if they were all close; with Mel, it made more sense for him to swing by on his way back from his trip.

I've posted this before- an excerpt from the People article found here: https://people.com/archive/kiss-what...-vol-13-no-14/

The fact that Flo turned out to be such a sleeper caused one of the few ruffles in Holliday’s placid career. Flo’s emergence as the prima at Mel’s Diner purportedly upset Linda Lavin, Alice’s nominal star. Polly admits there were some “work tensions” on the set but nothing deeper. “People assumed that because Flo was very big that Linda must have her nose out of joint,” says Polly. “Well, Linda’s a bigger person than that.”

[Duster76]

Originally Posted by JR1

I think it's backstage gossip/some saying they "read somewhere", that's primarily driven the narrative that Linda had issues with the Flo character "upstaging" her. That was even addressed in the People magazine interview. As for Linda rolling her eyes in the fourth season- she had done that from the early parts of the show, and not just in reaction to Flo. As the star of the show, she may have been bothered to some degree by it, but I don't know if it's as bad as some have made it out to be.

I don't think Alice and Vera would have necessarily made a trip to visit Flo, even if they were all close; with Mel, it made more sense for him to swing by on his way back from his trip.

I've posted this before- an excerpt from the People article found here: https://people.com/archive/kiss-what...-vol-13-no-14/

The fact that Flo turned out to be such a sleeper caused one of the few ruffles in Holliday’s placid career. Flo’s emergence as the prima at Mel’s Diner purportedly upset Linda Lavin, Alice’s nominal star. Polly admits there were some “work tensions” on the set but nothing deeper. “People assumed that because Flo was very big that Linda must have her nose out of joint,” says Polly. “Well, Linda’s a bigger person than that.”

The article you linked is dated 4/7/80, Flo began its run just two weeks earlier, there was no way on God's green earth Holliday was going to say anything derogatory about Lavin at that point in time. The entire focus of the PR push was to promote her new series not commenting on issues related to the series she left.

"I don't think Alice and Vera would have necessarily made a trip to visit Flo, even if they were all close; with Mel, it made more sense for him to swing by on his way back from his trip".

The production company would have been looking to do at least one if not more crossover episodes to assist their fledgling series (Flo). Flo was up against mega hit Little House, the series was going to need all the help it could get.

Let me conclude by making the point that there is nothing unusual about issues like this coming up between performers. I said in my earlier post this is a business of superegos, it's just the star making machinery at work.

[JR1]

That could be, but, again, neither actress has talked about the rumors publicly to this day. Polly Holliday is a very private person, but, still- you'd think if there was all this trouble behind the scenes, people who worked on the show would have talked about it through the years.

Maybe Linda was bothered by Polly leaving to star in her own show, and was worried that the show would have suffered, popularity-wise, without her. Of course, that didn't happen, but it's another perspective.

[TVFactFan]

Alice was definitely more watchable than Flo