Alice rarely featured in later episodes

[billybatts]

This is the first time i have seen the show since i watched it with my mother as a kid in the 80s.

I noticed in the later seasons Alice/Linda would make an appearance at the beginning of the show then vanish, leaving the rest of the cast to carry the episode.

Anyone know why this is?

It seems very odd because she is the title character.
I also noticed to something similar happen on different stokes with Arnold. He had a diminished role in the later seasons and the new cast members carried the show.

[RetroGuy2000]

Originally Posted by billybatts

This is the first time i have seen the show since i watched it with my mother as a kid in the 80s.

I noticed in the later seasons Alice/Linda would make an appearance at the beginning of the show then vanish, leaving the rest of the cast to carry the episode.

Anyone know why this is?

It seems very odd because she is the title character.
I also noticed to something similar happen on different stokes with Arnold. He had a diminished role in the later seasons and the new cast members carried the show.

For Diff'rent Strokes, I know Gary Coleman was pretty sick for a number of years. Dana Plato had been fired for getting pregnant and Todd Bridges had been selling and using drugs during the last year of the show (Todd himself confirms this). Without the three younger stars, the show had to focus on new talent.

For Linda Lavin, I assume her diva attitude caused her to become unbearable.

[Bonniegirl]

She sometimes would come on as Debbie Walden ! When Alice wasn't in the ep. Linda Lavin played Mrs. Walden , Vera's Jewish landlady!! She was very funny in this role!! I liked these eps. !!

[Ronny G]

Besides playing Mrs. Walden, Linda Lavin also started directing some episodes in the later seasons. imdb.com says she directed 10 episodes. That might be why she was only shown briefly in some episodes.

[billybatts]

Originally Posted by Ronny G

Besides playing Mrs. Walden, Linda Lavin also started directing some episodes in the later seasons. imdb.com says she directed 10 episodes. That might be why she was only shown briefly in some episodes.

I was thinking this might be a reason.
I figured she might be doing something behind the scenes.
She would basically play a background character with a few lines here and there.

And the Debbie Walden character was pretty good.

[Bonniegirl]

Originally Posted by billybatts

I was thinking this might be a reason.
I figured she might be doing something behind the scenes.
She would basically play a background character with a few lines here and there.

And the Debbie Walden character was pretty good.

I loved the Debbie Walden character!! She has me ROFL !! When she had that bingo game going on at Vera and Elliot's I was pretty much peeing my pants from laughing so hard!!

[TMC]

Does Alice have one of the worst final seasons for any long running sitcom out there? As pointed in this thread, for some reason, Linda Lavin wasn't even in some of the episodes. More specifically, most of the plots were just plain stupid (i.e., ten members of Jolene's family moving into her one-bedroom apartment, the group of break dancers -- including Fred Berry! -- wanting to perform at Mel's, Vera becoming a late-night deejay and making all the male radio listeners in Phoenix horny, etc.).

[Kasey]

Originally Posted by TMC

Does Alice have one of the worst final seasons for any long running sitcom out there? As pointed in this thread, for some reason, Linda Lavin wasn't even in some of the episodes. More specifically, most of the plots were just plain stupid (i.e., ten members of Jolene's family moving into her one-bedroom apartment, the group of break dancers -- including Fred Berry! -- wanting to perform at Mel's, Vera becoming a late-night deejay and making all the male radio listeners in Phoenix horny, etc.).

It still beats that dreadful final season of Laverne, Minus Shirley.