''Flo'' is an American

sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ...

television series and a spin-off of '' Alice'' that aired on

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

from March 24, 1980, to June 30, 1981. The series starred

Polly Holliday Polly Dean Holliday (born July 2, 1937) is a retired American actress who has appeared on stage, television and in film. She is best known for her portrayal of sassy waitress Florence Jean "Flo" Castleberry on the 1970s sitcom ''Alice'', which s ...

reprising her role as sassy and street-smart waitress Florence Jean "Flo" Castleberry who returns to her hometown of

Fort Worth, Texas Fort Worth is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Texas and the 13th-largest city in the United States. It is the county seat of Tarrant County, covering nearly into four other counties: Denton, Johnson, Parker, and Wise. Accord ...

—referred to as "Cowtown"—and becomes the proprietor of a rundown old roadhouse that she renames "Flo's Yellow Rose". Although the series started strong-in the Top 10 during its short first season run -repeated timeslot changes resulted in it falling out of the Top 40 shows by mid-March 1981. It was subsequently not renewed when CBS announced its 1981 fall lineup at the May upfronts.

Synopsis

After four seasons as a waitress at

Mel's Diner Mel's Diner is the setting for the 1976−1985 American TV series ''Alice''. It is a fictional roadside diner on the outskirts of Phoenix, Arizona, that serves locals and truckers. It has a counter, two large booths and a couple of tables. Altho ...

on ''Alice'', Flo is on her way to a new restaurant hostess job in Houston, Texas as described in her final appearance, " Flo's Farewell" (season 4, episode 18). She stops to visit her family in her hometown of Cowtown, Texas (Cowtown is the popular nickname of Fort Worth) and in a fit of nostalgia, Flo buys a rundown old roadhouse she had enjoyed in her formative years and renames it "Flo's Yellow Rose". Coping with chauvinistic bartender Earl (

Geoffrey Lewis Geoffrey Lewis may refer to: * Geoffrey Lewis (actor) (1935–2015), American character actor * Geoffrey Lewis (scholar) (1920–2008), British professor of Turkish * Geoffrey Lewis (philatelist), Australian philatelist * Geoffrey W. Lewis (died ...

) and the greedy and obnoxious banker Farley (

Jim B. Baker James B. Baker (July 12, 1941 – February 4, 2014), sometimes credited as Jim B. Baker, was an American stage, film and television actor. He was best known for his stage work in regional repertory theatre and for his role as tightwad banker Far ...

) who holds the mortgage, as well as her mother Velma (

Sudie Bond Sudie Bond (July 13, 1923 – November 10, 1984) was an American actress on film, stage, and television. Early years Bond was one of four children of J. Roy Bond, an industrialist, and Carrie Bond. She grew up in Elizabethtown, Kentucky, and was ...

) and straight-laced sister Fran (

Lucy Lee Flippin Lucy Lee (born 23 July 1943) is an American actress. Education and early life Flippin was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and was raised in Douglassville, Pennsylvania. She attended Northwestern University and spent a year performing with ...

), causes most of the conflict in the series. The rest of Flo's staff at the Yellow Rose includes her childhood best friend Miriam (

Joyce Bulifant Joyce Collins Bulifant (born December 16, 1937) is an American actress and author. In addition to recurring roles on television, including ''The Mary Tyler Moore Show'' as Marie Slaughter, Bulifant is recognized for film roles in '' The Happiest ...

) as waitress/bookkeeper, and chain-smoking piano player Les (Stephen Keep). Randy, the mechanic (

Leo Burmester Bernard Leo Burmester (February 1, 1945 – June 28, 2007) was an American actor. Burmester worked for director John Sayles several times, including in ''Passion Fish'' (1992) and '' Lone Star'' (1996), and also for directors such as John Schl ...

) who worked at the garage next door, and Chester (

Mickey Jones Mickey Jones (June 10, 1941 – February 7, 2018) was an American musician and actor. He played drums with acts such as Trini Lopez and Bob Dylan, with whom he played on his 1966 world tour. He became a founding member of The First Edition ...

), were regular customers.

Vic Tayback Victor E. Tayback (January 6, 1930 – May 25, 1990) was an American actor. He is known for his role as Mel Sharples in the film ''Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore'' (1974) and the television series ''Alice'' (1976–1985). The latter earned him t ...

made one guest appearance as Mel Sharples from ''Alice''. Once ''Flo'' began, Polly Holliday never appeared again on ''Alice'', except in flashback clips in the last episode.

Cast

as Florence Jean "Flo" Castleberry *

as Earl Tucker *

as Farley Waters *

as Mama Velma Castleberry *

as Randy Stumphill *

as Miriam Willoughby *

as Fran Castleberry * Stephen Keep as Les Kincaid *

George Flower George Albert "Buck" Flower (October 28, 1937 – June 18, 2004) was an American actor, writer, producer, assistant director, production manager, and casting director. He was sometimes credited as Ernest Wall, Buck Flower, George "Buck" Flower ...

as Roy *

as Chester * Terry Willis as Wendell Tubbs (1980)

Theme song

The theme song, "Flo's Yellow Rose", written by Fred Werner and Susie Glickman, was sung by Hoyt Axton who would co-star with Holliday in the 1984 film ''

Gremlins ''Gremlins'' is a 1984 American black comedy horror film directed by Joe Dante, written by Chris Columbus, and starring Zach Galligan, Phoebe Cates, Hoyt Axton, Polly Holliday, and Frances Lee McCain, with Howie Mandel providing the voice ...

''.

Broadcast history

''Flo'' was broadcast in these following timeslots during its two-season run on

: *March 1980 – April 1980: Monday 9:30-10:00 p.m. *July 1980 – January 1981: Monday 8:00-8:30 p.m. *February 1981: Saturday 9:00-9:30 p.m. *March 1981 – May 1981: Saturday 8:30-9:00 p.m. *June 1981 – July 1981: Tuesday 8:30-9:00 p.m.

Episodes

Season 1 (1980)

Season 2 (1980–81)

Reception and cancellation

The short first season (spring 1980) was a ratings success ranking at No. 7 and had 24.4 million viewer average. The following season brought a sharp decline in numbers (due to repeated timeslot changes), and CBS opted to not renew the series for a third season.

Award nominations

*Nominated: 1980 Primetime Emmy Award – Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series (Polly Holliday) *Nominated: 1981 Golden Globe Award – Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series - Comedy or Musical (Polly Holliday) *Nominated: 1981 Golden Globe Award – Best Supporting Actor in a Series, Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television (Geoffrey Lewis)

Home media release

On November 5, 2013, ''Flo: The Complete Series'' was released on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...

in Region 1 by

Warner Home Video Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Inc. (formerly known as Warner Home Video and WCI Home Video and sometimes credited as Warner Home Entertainment) is the home video distribution division of Warner Bros. It was founded in 1978 as WCI Home Vide ...

via their

Warner Archive Collection The Warner Archive Collection is a home video division for releasing classic and cult films from Warner Bros.' library. It started as a manufactured-on-demand (MOD) DVD series by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment on March 23, 2009, with the inte ...

. This is a Manufacture-on-Demand (MOD) release available via WBShop.com & Amazon.com.

Book

A book chronicling the development of the TV series ''Alice'' and ''Flo'' entitled ''Alice: Life Behind the Counter in Mel's Greasy Spoon (A Guide to the Feature Film, the TV Series, and More)'' was published by BearManor Media in September 2019. ''Flo'' was also considered in the book ''Single Season Sitcoms of the 1980s'' by Bob Leszczak, published by McFarland in 2016.

Notes

External links

* * {{Alice (TV series), Alice 1980 American television series debuts 1981 American television series endings 1980s American sitcoms 1980s American workplace comedy television series CBS original programming English-language television shows American television spin-offs Television shows set in Fort Worth, Texas Television shows set in Texas Television series by Warner Bros. Television Studios