Flo (TV series)


Flo is an American sitcom television series and a spin-off of Alice that aired on CBS from March 24, 1980, to June 30, 1981. The series starred Polly Holliday reprising her role as sassy and street-smart waitress Florence Jean "Flo" Castleberry who returns to her hometown of Fort Worth, Texas—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 several years as a waitress at Mel's Diner in Phoenix, Flo is on her way to a new restaurant hostess job in Houston, Texas, as described in her final appearance on Alice, "Flo's Farewell". She stops to visit her family in her hometown of Cowtown, Texas, 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 and the greedy and obnoxious banker Farley who holds the mortgage, as well as her mother Velma and straight-laced sister Fran, causes most of the conflict in the series.
The rest of Flo's staff at the Yellow Rose includes her childhood best friend Miriam as waitress/bookkeeper, and chain-smoking piano player Les. Randy, the mechanic who worked at the garage next door, and Chester, were regular customers. Vic Tayback 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

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. Axton would later guest-star in the episode "You Gotta Have Hoyt," as himself.

Broadcast history

Flo was broadcast in these following timeslots during its two-season run on CBS:
  • 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.

Ratings

A cozy time slot following one of TV's biggest hits on CBS Monday night helped make the brief first season a ratings success. The series ended the year ranked at No. 7 and averaged 24.4 million viewers per episode. The second season brought a reversal in fortune when CBS decided to move the show to an earlier time on the same night and have it face off against NBC's top-10 hit Little House on the Prairie. Without the lead-in support of M*A*S*H, a sharp decline in numbers followed, which kicked off a few different time slot changes over the course of the season, and CBS opted not to renew the series for a third season.

Award nominations

Home media release

On November 5, 2013, Flo: The Complete Series was released on DVD in Region 1 by Warner Home Video via their Warner Archive Collection. This is a Manufacture-on-Demand 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 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.