Why did Polly Holliday leave the show?

[pma29223@yahoo.c]

She was really good on the show.

[DJM77]

She was offered her own spin-off because she wasn't getting along very well with Linda Lavin. Linda was jealous of all the attention that the Flo character was getting.

[cleverfun3000]

[um]

Didn't know that

[caladon]

I wonder if the producers ever considered telling Linda Lavin that if she's unhappy about working with any of the cast members, she's free to leave and they'll just re-cast or kill off her character and simply call the show Mel's Diner.

[TVFactFan]

Originally Posted by caladon

I wonder if the producers ever considered telling Linda Lavin that if she's unhappy about working with any of the cast members, she's free to leave and they'll just re-cast or kill off her character and simply call the show Mel's Diner.

You would have think they would have told her that since FLO was the highlight of the show

[gidgetgrape]

Originally Posted by caladon

I wonder if the producers ever considered telling Linda Lavin that if she's unhappy about working with any of the cast members, she's free to leave and they'll just re-cast or kill off her character and simply call the show Mel's Diner.

Linda's ego got the best of her, that's all.

[Babalu]

I don't know if any of this is true but it is amazing how often these actors aren't satisfied with what they struggled their whole lives to have.

['80sSitcoms]

Originally Posted by caladon

simply call the show Mel's Diner.

I've always thought that would have made a much better title for the show, and given the show a much more ensemble fee.

[um]

Originally Posted by Babalu

I don't know if any of this is true but it is amazing how often these actors aren't satisfied with what they struggled their whole lives to have.

Yes.
Strange, but it happens. For example, if you look at the "Screen Tests" of "The Monkees" you will hear Mike Nesmith say that he "needs" to be chosen for the TV sitcom and is hoping for it, which we all know, turned out to be in his favor. I think there is NO other screen test footage available for any other TV show ever in the history of TV, at least for the ones that became a hit, but you can see that all the young guys who eventually became The Monkees wanted the part they auditioned for. However after the show became popular there were disagreements between the cast members and the producers of the show (etc). Then years later, after the teenagers who grew up watching The Monkees were adults Mike Nesmith was the main member of The Monkees who refused to go on "reunion tours" or get together, and he wanted to forget The Monkees and concentrate on other projects and he even considered "The Monkees" to be a horrible part of his show-business life at least in a certain major way. Heck it was the main thing from which he became well known.

David Cassidy was another case, though I recently heard that it was not his idea to audition for the role of Keith Partridge, it was his agent who signed him up for the audition without David's knowledge and then when the character became popular and thus a money-maker for David Cassidy's agents, those agents and other such people just made sure that David Cassidy was presented as a "Partridge" who sings bubble gum songs. However it is a similar case, David Cassidy felt typecast and that the role of Keith Partridge was taking his career in a different direction than what he really wanted so he came to be dissatisfied with what it seemed that he worked hard to obtain.

I think that some of the cast of Gilligan's Island felt the same way, at least the actress who played "Ginger" did. I think there was a "reunion" TV show with all the original cast members of Gilligan's Island except the one who played "Ginger" who was played by a different actress.
The same happened when there was that strange "spinoff" of The Brady Bunch in which all the members of The Brady Bunch were brought together to host a variety show as the characters they portrayed in the sitcom and the only member of the cast who did not want to participate was Eve Plumb , so her part was played by a different actress.

In a way I understand it. Sure once you get a foothold in show business, you rather be taken seriously in your craft, but on the other hand, sometimes it does seem that some actors and performers just take it for granted that they managed to land a role in a show .

Que Sera, Sera

[ahafan02]

She left because she was tired of being harrassed by people in the public who thought she must be like Flo. She reported having her butt pinched and grabbed, people asking her to say "Kiss My Grits" and referring to her as "Flo" (and not by her real name). There were issues between Lavin/Holliday but that's not the real reason she left. She wanted to be back on broadway where she could return to a regular life and she also wanted to try her hand at more movies. I met her, she's an incredibly sweet lady but very private. The attention was too much for her. However, the producers didn't think Alice would survive without her so they talked her into doing Flo with a hefty price hike and promised to put her in movies (they only put her in a brief few scenes in Gremlins 5 years after Flo was off the airwaves). She moved to CBS for a short time to star in the TV series based on the movie Private Benjamin. She was only on for a short while while the main star Eileen Brennan was recovering from a terrible car accident. She was then given a role on the TV series "Stir Crazy" (again another series based on the movie) but after the pilot episode they were not pleased with the casting and replaced her. Not surprisingly the show only made it to the 9th episode. Polly finally got another series (again based on the movie) called "The Client" but it barely lasted one season. She stared in some TV movies (nothing really memorable). Made a few short appearances in studio movies and returned to her love of the theater. She retired officially in 2011.

[TMC]

Originally Posted by DJM77

She was offered her own spin-off because she wasn't getting along very well with Linda Lavin. Linda was jealous of all the attention that the Flo character was getting.

To put it in another way, Holliday and Lavin didn't get along, mostly due to Lavin's big ego. Holliday stole every scene and was taking over the show. So CBS offered her a chance to do her own show and she grabbed it.

[liane60]

Originally Posted by DJM77

She was offered her own spin-off because she wasn't getting along very well with Linda Lavin. Linda was jealous of all the attention that the Flo character was getting.

Linda seemed to be jelous of everybody. I thought the show would fail after there was no more kiss my grits and when donkeys fly.

[funky-rat]

Originally Posted by um

Yes.
Strange, but it happens. For example, if you look at the "Screen Tests" of "The Monkees" you will hear Mike Nesmith say that he "needs" to be chosen for the TV sitcom and is hoping for it, which we all know, turned out to be in his favor. I think there is NO other screen test footage available for any other TV show ever in the history of TV, at least for the ones that became a hit, but you can see that all the young guys who eventually became The Monkees wanted the part they auditioned for. However after the show became popular there were disagreements between the cast members and the producers of the show (etc). Then years later, after the teenagers who grew up watching The Monkees were adults Mike Nesmith was the main member of The Monkees who refused to go on "reunion tours" or get together, and he wanted to forget The Monkees and concentrate on other projects and he even considered "The Monkees" to be a horrible part of his show-business life at least in a certain major way. Heck it was the main thing from which he became well known.

The thing with both Mike and Peter is that they were very much the starving musician type who thought this would give them a good outlet for their music, and give them some recognition. They didn't know what awaited them with the whole Don Kirschner thing, and they didn't realize they'd be regarded as a joke by the serious music community. It didn't matter so much to Davy (who was under contract with Columbia already) and Micky, who were both child stars. Mike was in an even more dire situation because he had a son and wife to support.

After the show, Mike became very wealthy through his mother (who invented Liquid Paper, and passed away with him as her sole heir), and had the stability to do what he wanted to do, and was smart in the direction he went (video production was the wave of the future, and he was at the forefront). He didn't NEED to do any Monkees stuff, wheras the others either wanted to do it, or needed to do it for money, or to fund pet projects.

[JR1]

I guess we'll never really know of the show was offered to Polly, or "forced" upon her.

In any event, is this the only time either Polly or Linda has addressed the rumors? This is from a 1980 People article when Flo premiered:

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.”