Linda Lavin Movies

Initially titled The Far Shore, the made-for-TV Another Woman's Child was co-produced by Linda Lavin, who also starred. Lavin and Tony LoBianco play a long-married couple who are confronted with a flash from the past. Young Jenny O'Hara shows up at the couple's doorstep, announcing that she is LoBianco's illegitimate daughter. Once over the initial shock, the couple makes arrangements to adopt O'Hara, but complications ensue when the girl's natural mother takes a hand in things. Another Woman's Child was first telecast January 19, 1983. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Season Eight of Alice offers the series' one-and-only crossover episode, "Mel is Hogg-Tied, in which Mel's Diner is visited by Sorrell Booke and Sonny Shrover in their familiar Dukes of Hazzard roles as Boss Hogg and Enos Strait. Also seen this season is former Brady Bunch matriarch Florence Henderson, playing a popular singer who inexplicably proposes to ill-tempered diner owner Mel (Vic Tayback). Otherwise, it is business as usual for waitresse Alice (Linda Lavin) and Jolene (Celia Weston), and for Alice's 19-year-old son Tommy (Philip McKeon). But it's a different story for Alice's ditzy waitress pal Vera (Beth Howland), who in the appropriately yclept episode "Vera Gets Engaged" meets the love of her life, policeman Eliot Novak (Charles Levin), when he gives her a ticket for jaywalking. One episode later, Vera and Eliot are married. Eleswhere, comedian Joey D'Auria, one year away from being hired as the star of the popular Chicago-based cable series Bozo's Circus, plays a cop in the episode "Lies My Mother Told Me". And the versatile stage and screen actor James Coco shows up in a subsequent episode as a dentist who falls in love with Alice--or, more specifically, with Alice's X-rays! One of the Season Eight episodes, "Vera's Secret Lover", was actually filmed for the seventh season, but held back in anticipation of a planned Hollywood writer's strike. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Vera (Beth Howland) attends her high school reunion, where she meets her former flame Steve (Kip Niven). Those with good memories will recall that this is the same Steve who, a few episodes back, talked Vera into cashing a personal check--which promptly bounced. Apparently Vera's memory isn't quite that good: she returns from the reunion with a ring on her finger and a promise of marriage from the reboubtable Steve. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Alice moved from its familiar Sunday night slot to a Wednesday night berth for its seventh season, then shifted to Mondays in February of 1983. Whatever the night, the series' fans faithfully flocked around the tube to watch the latest shenanigans at Mel's Diner, and the misadventures of waitresses Alice (Linda Lavin, Vera (Beth Howland) and Jolene (Celia Weston), short-fused proprietor Mel (Vic Tayback), and Alice's now 18-year-old son Tommy (Philip McKeon). Halfway through the season, Martha Raye, hitherto confined to sporadic appearances in the role of Mel's meddlesome mother Carrie Sharples, becomes a regular when Carrie moved in with Mel after divorcing her most recent husband. Not surprisingly, she is soon driving everyone at the diner crazy with her overbearing personality, but the regular patrons--including newcomer Artie (Tony Long)--simply love the old broad! The season opener features Debbie Reynolds as a famously promiscuous actress who includes Mel in her tell-all autobiography--or at least that's what Mel thinks. Later on, Jerry Stiller appears as Mel's longtime rival, who shows up at the diner with his young trophy bride. A two-part episode features Joel Grey as himself, headlining a musical revue featuring Alice and financed by Mel--whose ineptitude nearly sinks the project before it can even open. Doris Roberts makes a return appearance as Alice's insufferable mother Mona, this time wreaking havoc at Thanksgiving dinner. Prolific character actor Guich Koock drops in to play Jolene's black-sheep brother Jonas. Cassandra Peterson, better known as buxom horror-movie hostress Elvira, has a flashy role in the episode "Mel's Dream Car." Richard Deacon of Dick Van Dyke Show fame guests as the snobbish owner of a catering firm for whom Mel briefly goes to work; Harlem Globetrotters star Meadowlark Lemon) stops over to give Tommy a few basketball pointers; and series star Linda Lavin essays a dual role, as both Alice and Vera's elderly, obnoxious landlady Debbie Walden, in "Vera the Torch." One of the Season Seven episodes, "The Secret of Mel's Diner", was actually filmed for Season Six, but held back due to a writer's strike. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Season Six of Alice finds most of the series' original cast still intact: Linda Lavin as waitress and wannabe singer Alice, Philip McKeon as her now 17-year-old son Tommy, Vic Tayback as her bombastic boss Mel, and Beth Howland as airheaded fellow waitress Vera. Missing from the scene is Diane Ladd as waitress Belle Dupree, who'd been brought in during season four to replace departing regular Polly Holliday. Filling the gap left by Ladd is Celia Weston as the newest waitress at Mel's Diner, brassy Jolene Hunnicutt. Additionally, Mel's celebrated chili has attracted several new regular customers, among them Jerry (Jerry Potter) and Mitch (Phillip R. Allen). Heading the guest-star manifest this season is Donald O'Connor, appearing as himself in an episode wherein Vera attempts to enter the Guinness Book of World Record's with history's longest sustained tap-dance. Later episodes feature Doris Roberts (Everybody Loves Raymond) as Alice's meddling mom Mona Spivak, who shows up just in time to ruin her daughter's 40th birthday celebration; former Welcome Back Kotter regular Ron Pallilo) and future Tonight Show host Jay Leno as a brace of skuzzy bikers named Muther and Bones; George Wendt, still two years removed from Cheers, as Alice's would-be suitor, who threatens to commit suicide when she spurns him; and, for the fourth successive season, Martha Raye as Mel's mom Carrie Sharples, who once again succeed in making her son's life miserable by planning to publish his top-secret chili recipe in her new cookbook. Two of the episodes seen during Season Six, "Mel's Cousin" and "Vera's Bouncing Check", were actually filmed for the 4th season, but held back from view due to a Hollywood writer's strike. And finally, we have "Mel's Christmas Carol", which honors the unwritten law that every sitcom must offer at least one takeoff of the Dickens Yuletide classic (For the record, the "Marley" counterpart is herein played by Jack Gilford). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Clearly inspired by the theatrical feature Norma Rae, The $5.20 an Hour Dream stars Linda Lavin as a recently divorced woman supporting herself and her 12-year-old daughter. The highest-paying job at the Oregon engine factory where she works is on the assembly line--which has traditionally been an all-male operation. Bucking the system (and several stereotyped "chauvinist pigs"), Lavin eventually wins a place on the line, as do several of her female friends. As always, Linda Lavin (for whom this film was a pet project) looks far too self-reliant to ever be considered a "victim," so the climax of $5.20 an Hour Dream is a foregone conclusion. This made for TV movie received an award from the National Commission of Working Women. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Though fewer new episodes of Alice were telecast during its fifth season due to a Hollywood writer's strike, the series still remained one of CBS's most popular attractions, ranking seventh in the overall Nielsen ratings. Much of its ongoing success can be attributed to the seamless ensemble work of its cast: Linda Lavin as waitress and aspiring singer Alice, Vic Tayback as her irascible boss Mel, Beth Howland as ditsy waitress Vera, Philip McKeon as Alice's son Tommy, and relative newcomer Diane Ladd as the newest employee of Mel's Diner, Southern-fried Belle Dupree. Gracing Season Five with their presence are such guest stars as Robert Goulet, who shows up in a 2-part episode wherein Vera wins a free trip to Vegas; Mildred Natwick as Vera's Aunt Agatha, a geriatric "biker chick"; Ruth Buzzi as the dowdy wife of Mel's regular customer, Henry the postman (Marvin Kaplan); Jerry Reed as "himself", in an episode involving a huge fish and a huge-er blunder made by the waitresses; and, for the third year in a row, Martha Raye as Mel's mom Carrie Sharples, who is even more insufferable than usual after she is dumped by her current husband. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The up-and-down romance between Vera (Beth Howland) and Brian (Alan Haufrect) has taken yet another downward swing. Though Vera is still eager and willing, Brian seems to have lost all interest in her. Desperately, Vera turns to the enticing Belle (Diane Ladd) to transform her into an object of lust. This episode marks the directorial debut of series star Linda Lavin. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Professor Patrick O'Neal packs his pipe and cardigan and walks out on wife Linda Lavin and daughter Kristy McNichol. Left with nothing but each other, Lavin and McNichol find themselves agreeing to disagree often as not. The principal bone of contention is the fact that Mom is dating again. McNichol disapproves of this, just as virulently as Lavin disapproves of her daughter imitating her own behavior. And that's how novelist Sheila Schwartz came up with the title Like Mom, Like Me, which was produced as a TV movie by onetime film star Nancy Malone. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Although widow and single mom Alice Hyatt (Linda Lavin) still hopes to one day pursue a singing career, financial realities force her to retain her job as waitress at Mel's Diner in Phoenix, Arizona in Season Two of Alice. Likewise still on the premises are Alice's explosive boss Mel (Vic Tayback), her fellow waitresses Flo (Polly Holliday) and Vera (Beth Howland), and her now 13-year-old son Tommy (Philip McKeon). This season, Mel's superb home-made chili draws even more steady customers to the diner, among them Henry (Marvin Kaplan), Jason (Patrick J. Cronin) and Cecil (Bob McClurg) Season Two guest stars include George Burns as "Himself", whom impressionable Vera mistakes for the Almighty after watching Burns in the movie Oh, God!; singer Jerry Reed, likewise playing himself, who may have to provide free concert tickets to his former babysitter Flo; Desi Arnaz and Janis Paige as an amorous photographer and his long-suffering spouse; Victor Jory as an ancient Indian who claims that Mel's Diner has been built on a sacred burial ground; Morey Amsterdam as a nightclub manager who hires Alice for a singing gig; versatile comic actor Bob Dishy as a food-additive protestor who vows to kill himself in the middle of Mel's dining room; character player Burton Gilliam (Blazing Saddles) as Flo's bronc-bustin' brother Jimmy Joe; and Richard Libertini (the "talk to the hand" dictator from the movie The In-Laws) as a wealthy Arab who wants to add Flo to his harem! ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Dick Van Dyke put his image and his career on the line with this searing TV movie about a "social drinker" who becomes a full-fledged alcoholic. Van Dyke plays a loving husband and father with a solid job and an excellent reputation, who blows it all with his excessive drinking. His wife (Lynn Carlin) tries to be supportive, but even she throws in the towel as Van Dyke's illness worsens. The film refuses to cop out with a happy ending, leaving Van Dyke as low as he can get short of sleeping in the gutter. Morning After was something of a public "A.A." testimonial for Dick Van Dyke, who had recently come to grips with his own real-life alcoholism. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi