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

Must people be so insulting just because they didn't like it?
I thought it was very funny.

We live by the Sun, we feel by the Moon

I'll admit that the Alice show became a little lame after about 1980 when Flo left but there were still some good episodes in the later years. Claiming the entire show is awful? That's stretching it.

I liked the show for the most part. There were some really funny lines, like Flo telling Mel to kiss her grits, Mel calling Vera a dinghy chick, and telling the girls to stow it.

Loved the guest appearances by Martha Raye as Mel's feisty mother. I think she played a part in keeping the show on the air so song, she was really good.

I used to watch this show growing up and today I looked it up and was quite surprised to see it ran for 9 seasons. I had no idea it continued well into the 80s. Either they moved the timeslot somewhere else or I just lost interest. As for how awful it may or may not be, I liked it fine back when, but I don't think it holds up today for beans.

"I said no camels, that's five camels, can't you count?"

This show is WAY better than the garbage on today!

Jesus NEVER existed! He is Judeo Christian MYTH!

What most people here don't realize is what a breakthrough this show was. Only because most people here are too young to understand its context.

What made "Alice" & its predecessor, "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore" (the movie) is that it portrayed a single woman - past the "age of actractiveness" (in that era)- i.e., over the age of 29, & a single mom to boot, as well as not from the upper middle class - as being able to have a life that was full of meaning and satisfaction & worth living & enjoying - & not just to survive the few years til her son was old enough to be on his & then to basically curl up, dry out & die.

I know this probably seems preposterous & great exageration, but prior to the period of Alice, women -with few exceptions- had virtually no prospects once they hit 30 if they weren't married yet - as they were deemed "past their prime" & not marriage material. They had to only look forward to a life of "gentile poverty" living on substandard wages of a nurse, a school teacher, secretary or librarian until they reached "old age" & probably dying by age 50.

The most glamorous profession that women had access to was as airline "stewardess". But even then, they were forced to resign once they reached the age of 30 (yes this was legal then - as it was for any company or university to openly declare that they don't hire women) & women could only get the stewardess job to begin with if they were extremely pretty and attractive in the cheerleader way.

(Stewardesses are called flight attendants today -after men won one of the first successful gender discrimination suits under the new laws - whose purpose was to protect women from gender discrimination - so men could gain access to the only profession of glamour & somewhat financially adequately compensating that was available to women - ironic, isn'it.)

Another example that shows how bad things were for women was when Gloria Steinem hit the age of 40. She was extremely attractive & a reporter therefore commented "You don't look 40" & Steinem responded with "This is what 40 looks like!"

Steinem's (apparently off-the-cuff) remark became the game changer on what constituted being attractive. "40 is the new "30"" and women being considered sexually appealing until their (early) 40's became the new standard. (And progress on that continues today as Jane Fonda -wall-breaker she has aiways been -is demonstrating in the new Netflix series with Lily Tomlin that life begins again -even at age 70 - & Fonda once again looks sexually appealing at an unexoected age.)

It's hard to imagine today, things have changed so much. Not that there isn't still sexism & glass ceilings just as there is still racism (though racism today is still quite horrible compared to sexism.)

But at the time of "Alice", when I was choosing not to get married & attempting to pursue a career that was heretofore foreclosed to women - to see that, even tho only a waitress with a waitress' earnings & as a single "older" woman - it was still possible to have a satisfying & meaningful life, brought me great comfort (along with reading Ms Magazine at night before bedtime) as I faced the daily onslaught of my colleagues & seniors - all of who were men. I don't think I could have made it if these various sources of support weren't out there.

You can read other posts of mine on this site that discuss different aspects of this.

So yes "Alice" may not have been a "timeless" great show as the others mentioned here -but I think that it is because it was focused on issues & emotional content -not explicitly stated- that was extremely powerful & breakthrough at the time but doesn't ring with meaning as much today because what it was in response to has largely evaporated, in part, because of the success of "voices" such as "Alice" at the time. So its primary thrust has lost its context & for wonderful reasons.

I also want to mention - seeing Linda Lavin in various roles in TV shows today - make me realize what a powerful actress she is. She often plays irritating bureaucratic characters & I am amazed at how much I "dislike" her - which to me attests to her great acting skills.

It stayed on the air for 9 seasons because it was a fun, amusing show. If you don't like it, all I can say is "KISS MA' GRITS!!!"

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I tried watching it on antenna tv one night....had to remind myself that the 1970's was when there was a fixation on the working class (Taxi, sweathogs, good times sanford and son) which is why this show saw the light of day

I still fell asleep during the episode.