Transcript: Christian Reflections on Retro TV Shows: Alice, Flo, and Faith

3, 2, 1, 0, 0, and liftoff! Welcome to the Retro Drive-In Podcast with Jason Pastor Jay Larker. Welcome to Say the Secret Word and Divide $100. It's a common word, something you find around the house. We want to thank all our sponsors for their help in making this podcast possible. My dog is just, he gets to go in much faster. This thing is going to leave the ground. Don't look now, but it is. Metro, you better get up there and tell that bus driver to slow down. Now let's rewind the tape and join Pastor Jay for some retro entertainment talk on the Retro Drive-In Podcast. Uncle Matt, what are you doing here? Greetings, classic cinema and TV fans. This is Pastor Jay here with you on our first ever retro drive-in podcast. I want to thank you for joining us today. Without you watching these or listening to these podcasts, there would be no point in us doing them. So we want to thank you for joining us today. And we want to thank our sponsors today for the ability to do this podcast, and that is Warner Archive. We really want to thank them so very much Because Warner Archive Puts together some of the greatest Type of material you can think of They're putting out Blu-rays And made on demand DVDs Of classic TV shows And because of The made on demand TV shows That is what has made this episode possible So thank you to Warner Archive Go to warnerarchive.com. You're bound to find something you're going to love there. I know it, so go there and check that out. Today on the Retro Drive-In Theater Podcast, we're looking back at the flow episodes of the show Alice. Alice was an amazing show. So Alice, of course, debuted on August 31, 1976 on CBS TV, and it was really a very, very cool show. It was all about Alice Hyatt, a would-be singer. She dreams of being a singer, but she's recently widowed, and she has her son Tommy that she's trying to raise, but she decides, you know what, I need a fresh start. I need a new beginning, so she moves her and her son to Arizona to try to start again after losing her husband. And what an amazing show. It was one of my favorites growing up. As a kid who had parents that loved the 70s and 80s TV shows, I was brought up on those. So these shows have a very special place in my heart because I remember them growing up. And the theme song sung by Linda Lavin is so iconic. I mean, who doesn't remember this show? The amazing song. there's a new girl in town and she's looking good 18 huh lovely age for a girl in fact it's a lovely age for a woman of 40 linda lavin uh does an amazing job as alice hyatt of course alice was a show that was uh uh adapted from the movie alice doesn't live here anymore and uh what what a cool show it really was awesome This show, we got the first four seasons here of Alice, and we're going to kind of talk about these a little bit. But amazing episodes are found in Alice Alice season one was where these characters started to try to learn their characters kind of learn to grow together That how a show always does A first season is always a show of them trying to learn how to, you know, play off of one another and learn of the characters, and this is what Alice was in season one. Season one was amazing because you had Linda Lavin, you had Beth Howland. Beth Howland plays Vera, the kind of ditzy, you know, character waitress of Mill's Diner. Flo Castleberry, played by Polly Holiday, and wow, Now, really, this was supposed to be, Alice was supposed to be a show about Alice, but Alice really, the one that really stood out in all of this was most of the time Flo, Florence Jean Castleberry, the man-hungry lady that's always looking for love in all the wrong places or right places, as the case may be, whatever. And then you had Big Tabak that plays Mel, the owner of Mel's Diner. Just a great mix here. And then, of course, there is Tommy, Philip McCann, the brother of Joe from the show Facts of Life, which is really kind of interesting. But really a really awesome, very stellar cast here. and they do such a great job. Season 1 was the feeling out process, trying to learn your characters, trying to learn how to get together and how to work together and how to do what you need to do. Then you got Season 2. Season 2 is when things began to kind of come together. Everybody began to learn their characters and know who was and all this type of stuff. We're going to look at some of these episodes, just a couple of them here. But in this season here, season two, probably one of the ones that stand out in this, and there's so many really great episodes, of course, but probably the one that stands out probably to me would probably be, oh, George Burns. And George Burns, many know, he would end up playing Ott himself in the film Oh God. Well, see, interesting in this season, George Burns is stopped by Arizona for an event, and he's going to do a concert event and all, and he stops by Mel's Diner, and Vera cannot distinguish between the two. so she actually thinks that God has stopped by the diner and it's actually just George Burns and they have to try to teach her differently so it's a really interesting episode of Alice it's one of those ones that not everybody's going to like but some people will find hilarious and it was kind of cool in my opinion we went on to season 3 here and we're just picking out some of the funny episodes that we remember But season three, we remember as they're growing together. They're kind of, at this point, everybody's learned their parts. Everybody knows who they are, and they're really gelling together really well. And in this season, I think the one that stands out to me is Car Wars. Yeah, not Star Wars, Car Wars. Car Wars, of course, is an episode where Mel is selling his Volkswagen Beetle to get a brand new car, and the girls want to have the car, so they're willing to buy it off of Mel and lo and behold don they find out that the car ain exactly what Mel said it was That needs a whole lot of repairs a whole lot of stuff Oh that bad There that tension but beyond that then they find out Mel finds out that a customer wanted to buy the Beetle, the Volkswagen, because he can repair it and make a lot of money, and so he would have been willing to pay a little bit more than the girls did, so he wants to get the car back. they find out that the car is uh that this customer wants to buy it as well so now there's this thing between them all both sitting there saying no well we'll buy it back no we're gonna keep it no is it and it's it's just really really funny and and then uh probably one of the funniest parts is when mel tries to they jump in the the car and mel's trying to get in the um the sunroof the car. It's really a hilarious episode. It's so much fun. And yeah, so season three, but there are so many good episodes, but that's probably one of the ones that stand out to me, is Car Wars on that one. I love that episode. Then this season four is when we say goodbye to Florence Jean Castleberry. We've been in West Janssen this, haven't we, Heldie? Nope. This season is so bittersweet in a lot of ways. I love it, but it's so sad to see Flo say goodbye because Flo has been so much a part of this show that any time you see a character leave, it's like changing the sauce of something that works so good, like a special sauce. and you start changing ingredients and it doesn't quite work as well. The only thing I will say with what the producers did with season four is they did something interesting in the fact that they brought back and they introduced Belle. Diane Ladd, who actually, interestingly enough, played Flo in the original movie, Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, They brought her in to play Belle. Great clouds of blue match. That really does kind of bring in a lot of cool changes to the show. But we miss Flo. Yeah, we just miss Flo. Swam. Out of an ecchi. So why did Flo leave the show? Well, she left the show because she got her own program. Yeah, she got her own show, Flow. This is the complete series of Flow from Warner Archive. I love the fact that Warner Archive has released this entire series. You can get all nine seasons of Alice on made-on-demand DVD, the only place you can get it, unless you want to buy it streaming, which if you're like me, you want to own the actual collection. But this is an interesting show. Flo deals with Florence Jean Castleberry. It's kind of a pilot, if you will. She leaves off and kind of tells the story of where she's going and what she's going to do. and she ends up on her way to become the manager of a new restaurant in Texas. She comes across an old bar that she remembers from before she left and went to Arizona. She goes by there and finds that the bar's not doing so good and it's going to be closed down and it kind of makes her not feel so good about that. So what she decides to do is she decides to buy the tavern, the old bar, and try to make it her own. Hello, Duffy's Tavern. What are you, Lee? Meet Pete. Archie DeMange is speaking. Duffy ain't here. Becomes Flo's Yellow Rose. And, wow, what an interesting show. This is sad that this show did not last because it really was a very very good show You had a great cast of characters there And for some reason it just didn work I don know I don't know if it's – probably it's because a lot of times networks change the time frames and do all this. And people are used to seeing the show at a specific time. And when you start changing it, then you can't find the show, and you get sick of trying to find the show, and then it's like, ah, forget it. And then ratings fall, and then that's, I think that's what really happened here. And it's a shame because Flo, the TV series, was amazing. Florence Jean Castleberry, Polly Holiday was still Florence Jean Castleberry. Always kiss my grips, you know, that funny character. And just hilarious. But for some reason, it just didn't last. And that is a shame. Alice continued on for nine seasons and Flo did not, sadly. I wish in a way that Florence Dean Castleberry might have went back after this was over. That would have been nice if she would have went back to Alice and back to Arizona and went back. Maybe they could have recaptured some of that amazing stuff that they had, but they didn't do that. But I love this show. I have to say, Warner Archive has done some amazing work giving us back some of these shows. It drives me crazy because a lot of times a company will release one season and then it didn't sell enough and then they'll just say, oh, well, no more. And then for collectors like me, it's like we don't get what we want, the complete series. Well, Warner Archive has stepped up and has given us back this idea of made on demand and we can have our shows. Thank you so much, Warner Archive, for that because otherwise we wouldn't have them. And what a blessing it is to have all these. I just say, man, that is amazing. I want to thank Warner Archive for allowing us to review all of these. You can get all the reviews at retroac.blogspot.com. You can see all our reviews there. and definitely go check out warnerarchive.com and see all the amazing stuff they have available. I think you're going to be surprised and amazed and I think you're going to find a lot of stuff you're going to want to add to your collection. Well, we want to thank you for joining us today on the Retro Drive-In Podcast. Be sure to like, share, and subscribe here on the videos or to the audio version. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram TheRealPastorJay. We would appreciate it. And until we see you next month with another Retro Drive-In podcast, this is Pastor Jay reminding you that if you want to see a great TV show or film, check out a classic. And we'll see you next time. Bye. Have a blessed day. We want to thank you for joining us today on the Retro Drive-In podcast with Jason Pastor Jay Lockhart. Have you heard the latest about McTavish? What's he done now? He's living on the roof. Why would he be living on the He heard someone say the drinks are on the house. The drinks are on the house. You know what we... It's a little late, so good night, folks. Be sure to subscribe to our channel so that you can be notified when new content goes live. Swamp. Out of an ecchi. Thanks again to all our sponsors for their help in making this podcast possible. I'll see you back at the hut. Oh, no, we couldn't leave a poor defenseless girl like you out alone in this jungle. Yeah, you need true defenseless vendor protection. Think for yourself. Remember to join us next time for another retro drive-in podcast with Jason Pastor Jay Locker. Thank you.