The show stars Linda Lavin in the title role, a widow who moves with her young son to start life over again, and finds a job working at a roadside diner in Phoenix, Arizona.
With more than 200 episodes over nine seasons, Alice was the longest-running U.S. television sitcom to feature a woman in the starring role until it was surpassed by Roseanne in 1996.
After her husband Donald is killed in a trucking accident, Alice Spivak Hyatt (Lavin) and her young son Tommy (played by Alfred Lutter in the television pilot, reprising his role from the film, but portrayed by Philip McKeon thereafter) head from their New Jersey home to Los Angeles so Alice can pursue a singing career.
Alice works alongside Mel Sharples (Vic Tayback), the grouchy, stingy owner and cook of the greasy spoon, and fellow waitresses and friends, sassy, man-hungry Florence Jean "Flo" Castleberry (Polly Holliday), and neurotic, scatterbrained Vera Louise Gorman (Beth Howland).
The diner had regular customers through the years, such as Tommy's basketball coach Earl Hicks (Dave Madden), local trucker Chuck (played by Duane R. Campbell), and Henry Beesmeyer (Marvin Kaplan), a telephone repairman who always joked about Mel's cooking.
Celebrities playing either themselves or other characters (including Martha Raye as Mel's free-spirited mother, George Burns, Robert Goulet, Art Carney, Desi Arnaz, Jerry Reed, and Telly Savalas) were a hallmark of the show.
Diane Ladd, who received an Academy Award nomination for her portrayal of Flo in the film version, joined the cast in 1980 as Isabelle "Belle" Dupree, a hard-edged but kind-hearted woman.
Ladd left the $400,000 yearly job, saying it was an amicable and mutual decision, because her character hadn't developed the way she had hoped it would.
[2] Theatre actress Celia Weston then joined the cast as the good-natured, boisterous truck driver Jolene Hunnicutt, who came from Myrtle Point, South Carolina.
Jolene arrives as she and her male driving partner are in the midst of an argument over his unwelcome advances, during which she throws and breaks many of Mel's dishes.
Jolene also mentions her distant relative Jefferson Davis "Boss" Hogg, a character from the concurrent CBS series The Dukes of Hazzard.
In one episode Sorrell Booke guest stars as Hogg, along with fellow Dukes character Enos (Sonny Shroyer).
The latter years of the show focused on some character development, such as the hasty courtship and marriage of Vera and lovable cop Elliot (Charles Levin).
The final story arc began in the spring of 1985, when country singer Travis Marsh (played by Lavin's real-life husband Kip Niven), discovering that he is falling for Alice, "kidnaps" her to take her to Nashville, telling her it is time to follow her dream there.
Bewildered at the thought of her dreams finally coming true, Alice agrees, but not without extracting a promise from Travis to drive her back to Phoenix so she can get her affairs in order, including ending her current relationship with a writer.
In the series finale, which aired March 19, 1985, news of several life-changing events is revealed within a matter of minutes, something typical of sitcoms of the era.
Besides all three waitresses suddenly leaving simultaneously, by an amazing coincidence Mel has just sold the diner for a large amount of money to a real-estate developer and must close within days.
The series' regular customers, including Henry, Chuck, and Earl, say their emotional farewells, followed by Elliot, and finally the principal characters Tommy, Jolene, Vera, and Alice.
(typically directed at her boss, Mel), enjoyed widespread popularity at the time the character appeared on Alice.
(In the original film, Flo, as played by Diane Ladd, tells Mel in one scene to "Kiss me where the sun don't shine.")
In a handful of episodes, Alice put on a double-breasted suit and fedora to assume the character of husky-voiced "Sam Butler", a mobster she made up as a ruse to fool her intended target.
In the fourth season, he installed a time clock, which ended up working to the waitresses' advantage due to significant overtime (since before then they were forced to clean the storage room on Sundays without extra pay), and he finally smashed it onto the floor.
Although he had a fairly loyal clientele, Mel's food and cooking were constantly criticized by his waitresses and customers alike —especially Henry, who always blamed it for his indigestion.
During the first season, a newspaper food critic (played by Victor Buono) dropped dead while eating Mel's chili, but it turned out that tainted Peking Duck from a Chinese restaurant was to blame.
Opening title cast members: Other recurring cast members: Notable guest stars include: Eve Arden, Desi Arnaz, Brice Beckham, Fred Berry, Sorrell Booke (as Boss Hogg), George Burns (as himself), Ruth Buzzi (as Chloe Beesmeyer, Henry's wife), Art Carney (as himself), Corey Feldman, Robert Goulet, Joel Grey (as himself), Florence Halop, Eileen Heckart (as Rose Hyatt, Alice's interfering mother in-law), Florence Henderson, Jay Leno, Bill Maher, Rue McClanahan, George Wendt, Nancy McKeon (Philip's sister, appearing twice, in different roles), Frank Nelson, Donald O'Connor (as himself), Janis Paige, Kelly Parsons, Jerry Reed (as himself), Debbie Reynolds, Kim Richards, Michael Rupert, Telly Savalas (as himself), Sonny Shroyer (as Enos Strate), Jerry Stiller, and Jim Varney.
The show's theme was called "There's a New Girl in Town", performed by Linda Lavin with music by David Shire and lyrics by Alan and Marilyn Bergman.
In the opening credits Alice and Tommy pass under overhead road signs that say "Phoenix" and "El Paso".
Throughout the run of the series, Mel's Diner has a reputation, especially among its regular customers, for serving terrible food, though, more often than not, this is meant to be a joke.