How the heck did this awful show stay on the air for 9 seasons?

I have to agree with you there. I grew up watching Alice. And I can remember times when I was bored out of my skull to even watch it at all. But just when I almost gave up, FLO kept me interested. That is, for the first few seasons. After that, it amazes me how it stayed on the air.

Well, I'm sorry you all didn't like the show, but I grew up watching it, and I loved it. As I said in another post, Flo was my favorite character. Were the later seasons great (after Flo left)? No, they weren't. I will admit that, but I still watched faithfully.

I miss shows like this: Alice, One Day at a Time, Three's a Crowd, Kate & Allie, etc. At least I can watch Designing Women on TVGuide Network, and Amen, 227, and Family Ties on GMC, and Golden Girls and Cheers on Hallmark (when they're not flooding their channel with Holiday stuff), and Facts of Life on HUB network.

*shrugs*

I loved it- admittedly much better in the Flo and Belle years. After that the show became a bit sillier and less real. But the characters were people with whom the audience could connect, and the actors were all very skilled- Linda Lavin, Beth Howland, Celia Weston, Vic Tayback, Polly Holliday- all experienced, accomplished actors from stage and screen.

for your sake I'm sorry that there weren't any little bimbos (WHORES) jumping into bed with whatever guy says hi to them or no kids talking back to their parents or parents acting like duchbags

but this show was relativtily cleaner and had MORALS, I for one would pick Alice over ANYTHING CRAP that's on today

Because it wasn't awful, JohnQ. I was watching it, but obviously, I wasn't the only one.

How did M*A*S*H stay on 11 years, and Cheers for 11?? People were still watching them, that's why. Not too hard to figure out.

As someone else stated, there wasnt much choice back in the day since there were only three main networks and whatever local channels playing reruns thereby allowing shows like Alice and a few others to become somewhat like institutions, even though Happy Days was a hit clearly it should've gone directly off the air after Ron Howard exited the series yet it stayed on another four years.

'When there's no more room in Hollywood, remakes shall walk the Earth.'

'Alice' was definitely a hit show for many years. The first season did not do too well in the ratings, but when the episodes were rerun that first summer, it was suddenly a smash hit and it performed strongly for many years.

Some people are saying there weren't many choices-- there were still two other networks and shows were by and large much better then, so even with less choice, there was still formidable competition (would you rather have 500 channels of poor quality programming, or 3 channels with classic programming?).

But the reason this show was a success for so long was the fact that it was grouped with CBS' other top shows on Sunday evenings for many years: there was 'All in the Family' followed by 'One Day at a Time,' then 'The Jeffersons' and "Alice,' followed by 'Trapper John M.D.' All of these shows lasted a long time. It was comfort TV, and a lot of families looked forward to these shows each weekend.

The switch from Polly Holiday to Diane Ladd to Celia Weston did not hurt this show, and Weston made the exact same amount of episodes as Holiday-- so I don't think we can say that one era of this show outperformed the other.

'Alice' probably would have lasted ten or eleven years if it had not been moved in its final season to Wednesdays, which was where CBS dumped it and 'The Jeffersons,' thinking the shows were too old and expensive. They were put up against 'Dynasty,' which in 1984/85 was the top-rated show. So CBS deliberately sabotaged these two long-running programs which if they had been allowed to continue on Sunday would no doubt have continued even longer.