Alice (TV Series) Flo's Farewell (1980) User Reviews

A good send off for Flo, though we hate to see her go

[jayb-28684 · 9/10 · 20 June 2019]

Many sitcoms of the 60s - 90s didn't do a good job of writing out characters, even ones that were instrumental to the success of the show. Examples would include Vivian Vance from "The Lucy Show" and William Frawley from "My Three Sons"...those were important performers playing important characters , and their sudden absences were explained away in a brief sentence or two. Not cool. Luckily, the powers that be at "Alice" didn't follow that bad practice. By this time in the show, the scripts were at their strongest (no Mary Tyler Moore Show, but they were good nonetheless), and the actresses had fine tuned their characters and performances to be the best they could. The first season episodes were very basic comedy, nothing to write home about. But now the show was stronger in many areas. The Flo character was vital to the show and it's overall chemistry, and was more popular than any other character. It was hard to see her leave, but they did so in the best way possible. There was a mix of melancholy, funny lines, and quick goodbyes as Flo did not want long tearful farewells. Polly Holliday did such a great job as Flo...perfect coming timing and funny delivery of her lines, balanced with the very real bittersweet feelings that she was moving from her beloved friends in the show. The writers wisely gave her scenes with each of the main characters throughout the episode, where they had special moments before her departure. Her scene with Vic Taybac was especially good. The show really worked well, and it all ended with laughter and smiles.