Flo

Kiss my Grits! was Flo's line to Mel on the Alice show. Let's face it, Flo was a much loved character who overshadowed the show's titled star. Yes, Linda Lavin was great as Alice but Polly Holliday as Flo was a scene stealer with the wise cracking chewing gum attitude and beehive hairstyle. Of course, the show was never meant to be a hit but Flo should have been. I think the show never regained it's moment. It was Alice who played the straight character to funny Flo. I barely remembered the series but I remember Flo as being my favorite. I was thrilled to see her on in her own show but it never got picked up and Alice re casted the third waitress with Diane Ladd and somebody else. Nobody could have replaced Flo, she was truly one of the best television female sidekicks.

This was a pretty decent attempt to spin off one of the more popular sitcom characters in television history into her own show. This to me could be seen as almost a redneck hybrid of "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" and a show that came out a few years later, "Cheers". You pretty much got a look into Flo's world as she dealt with not only the crazies at her roadhouse, but with her domineering mother and her much more reserved little sister. The only thing that might have hurt it was the fact that the show didn't feature characters who were closer in personality to the "Alice" cast to help balance out Flo's wilder personality, much like Alice and Vera did. However, this still was a decent effort and its too bad it was so short lived and was never really given a chance to develop.

After leaving the employ of Mel's Diner from "Alice", what's a girl to do? In Florence Jean Castleberry's case, go to Texas and open your own place!

In "Flo", the lamentably short-lived spin-off from "Alice", Flo (Holliday) runs into an even more eclectic group than she dealt with at Mel's. The gruff Earl (Lewis), laconic Les (Keep), bucolic Farley (Baker) and Flo's extended family (Bond, Flippen) kept things interesting.

And when there wasn't the excitement at Flo's Yellow Rose there were always plots dealing with UFOs, mysterious strangers and men in Hawaiian garb ("I don't know why it's called a sarong," Flo lasciviously comments towards a sarong-ed Earl, "when it looks sa-right to me!").

There were always lots of laughs in each episode, both big and small. I'm kind of shocked it didn't last longer. Maybe the suits thought Flo couldn't manage on her own.

If that be the case, then on behalf of Flo herself: KISS MY GRITS!

Ten stars for "Flo"; Polly Holliday's SECOND finest half-hour.