Alice
 Mel's Diner - a greasy-spoon truck-stop in Phoenix, Arizona - was the
setting for this US comedy series.
The title character, Alice
Hyatt, was an aspiring singer who arrived in Phoenix with her
teenage son, Tommy, after the death of her truck-driver husband,
Don.
Alice was hired at a diner owned by Mel Sharples - a
gravel-voiced, male-chauvinist fry cook - where she worked as a
waitress while awaiting her big break at fame.
Alice's co-workers were the raucous, red-headed man-hungry Flo ("kiss
my grits") and the naive and temperamental Vera. Flo was
later replaced by Belle Dupree, a Southern blonde, who was in turn
soon replaced by the spunky ex-truck driver Jolene.
 In
1980, after the character of Flo proved popular with the audience,
CBS gave Polly Holliday her own spin-off, called, in the spirit of
its parent series, Flo.
The show related Flo's adventures running
a roadhouse in her hometown of Cowntown, Texas, but lasted only a
little more than a year.
Alice and her friends experienced
several interesting years together at Mel's Diner, which was
frequented by quirky truck drivers, repairmen, and other blue
collar types and by several Hollywood celebrities, who appeared as
themselves.
There were several interesting regular customers,
including Henry and Earl (Dave Madden of Partridge Family
fame).
In later seasons Vera got married to the lovable
Elliot, and in the very last episode Mel sold the diner to a
contractor, Vera was pregnant, Jolene opened a beauty salon and
Alice finally got her dream of being a singer.
The show was around
for nine seasons and was a TV version of the Oscar winning movie
Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore with Ellen Burstyn. Vic Tayback
played Mel in both the movie and series.
Mel's Diner was
sold in the final episode and so was its set. One of the buyers
was Columbia Pictures, who planned to use some of the furnishings
in a future production.
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