Alice

Aug 31, 1976

Alice gets her hopes up to be a big star when a talent agent comes to town.

Sep 29, 1976

Alice falls for an ex-football player, who is now an actor.

Oct 6, 1976

Alice meets her late husband's beneficiary.

Oct 13, 1976

Alice is mistakenly picked up by the five-0 for prostitution when she is performing in a nightclub.

Oct 20, 1976

A sleepless night of obscene phone calls prompts Alice into considering packing a piece.

Oct 27, 1976

A famous food critic dies in Mel's Diner, which freaks out everyone.

Nov 6, 1976

Alice feels that Tommy is learning about sex too early when she finds a picture of a naked woman in Tommy's wallet.

Nov 13, 1976

When Alice helps Flo get a man, the Man tries to help himself to Alice.

Nov 20, 1976

Alice and Flo try to keep Vera from O'Ding on sleeping pills.

Nov 27, 1976

Alice is proposed marriage from an old boyfriend from the old neighborhood.

Dec 4, 1976

Alice is thrilled that Mel is taking Tommy camping, until she finds out that it involves hunting as well. Alice refuses to let Tommy go, but he runs away to go camping anyway. It isn't until he shoots an animal that he realizes that his mother was right all along.

Dec 11, 1976

Rose Hyatt comes to visit Alice and Tommy, much to Alice's chagrin. And now she's talking about staying there....

Dec 18, 1976

Alice does all that she can to stop Rose from becoming a permanent Phoeniz resident.

Dec 25, 1976

Vera's boyfriend might very well be a married man.

Jan 15, 1977

Mel falls in love with a young nature hiker from New Jersey.

Jan 22, 1977

Mel leaves Alice and Flo his car when he goes on a trip, but Flo gets it totalled in an accident that is spread out over several blocks. Will they fix it in time before Mel gets back? Nope, Mel comes home early and finds out about his car from an angry Hispanic neighbor!

Jan 29, 1977

A robbery heist gets messed up when the cash register is stuck. The robber thinks he is a failure, but he gets a chance to redeem himself when he helps a lady deliver a baby in the diner.

Feb 5, 1977

A fake Gypsy is caught stealing the silverware by Alice, and she puts a curse on the gang.

Feb 12, 1977

Alice might be in trouble with Uncle Sam when she learns that her recently decease husband never paid his back taxes.

Feb 26, 1977

Flo's trailer is stolen, and Alice has the heart to let her stay at her house for a spell. The spell is broken when Alice finds out that Flo is an all-out slob and have unwelcomed visitors (Flo's latest boyfriend, not roaches).

Mar 5, 1977

Alice and Flo try to find Vera a man.

Mar 12, 1977

Alice unknowingly donates Mel's old Navy Trophy to a rummage sale.

Mar 19, 1977

A Bag full of money is found in the diner, and Alice is the only one who wants to find the owner.

Mar 26, 1977

Alice gets her chance at stardom as a hamburger on a TV commercial for the diner.

Oct 2, 1977

A suspected flasher and Flo's third ex-husband (Rod McCary) stir things up at Mel's Diner.

Oct 9, 1977

A Native American who claims Mel's diner is built on sacred ground refuses to leave.

Oct 23, 1977

Mel incites his waitresses to quit by giving a new waiter better wages than theirs.

Oct 30, 1977

Alice's moonlighting job as a nightclub singer is taking its toll on her waitress job.

Nov 6, 1977

The girls accept an invitation to visit a new singles bar.

Nov 13, 1977

Alice suspects that a diner regular is really an incognito mobster.

Dec 4, 1977

Mel can't be moved after his bad back flares up at Alice's place.

Dec 11, 1977

Endearments replace the insults in Flo and Mel's relationship after they attend an out-of-town game together.

Dec 18, 1977

Alice and friends are snowbound en route to her cousin's for Christmas.

Jan 1, 1978

When George Burns stops into Mel's, Vera believes that he's actually the Deity he played in the movie Oh, God!

Jan 8, 1978

Flo's vanity keeps her from getting the eyeglasses she obviously needs.

Jan 15, 1978

An amorous high-school basketball star starts putting the moves on Alice.

Jan 22, 1978

Hostility rages at Mel's after the workers decide to vent their petty grievances.

Jan 29, 1978

A pharmacist protesting food additives threatens to take his life in Mel's Diner.

Feb 5, 1978

Flo fixes up Alice with her bronco-busting brother (Burton Gilliam).

Feb 12, 1978

An investigative reporter seeks refuge in Mel's Diner.

Feb 19, 1978

Flo is courted by a rich Arab (Richard Libertini) who, unknown to her, already has three wives.

Feb 26, 1978

Alice mediates a squabble between a womanizing photographer (Desi Arnaz)and his fed-up wife (Janis Paige).

Mar 5, 1978

To Mel's disappointment, the girls take him at his word when he says he doesn't want a 50th-birthday party.

Mar 12, 1978

Mel wants to know who's stealing food and making long-distance phone calls from the diner.

Mar 19, 1978

Because she once baby-sat Jerry Reed, Flo is hounded for tickets to the singer's concert. Jerry plays himself.

Mar 26, 1978

Mel and the staff prepare for a bus load of hungry customers.

Apr 2, 1978

Mel considers firing a waitress to save money.

Apr 9, 1978

Everyone's rattled when a Native American predicts an earthquake.

Sep 24, 1978

Alice takes Mel up on his boast that he can raise her son better than she.

Oct 1, 1978

Mel sells the girls a car that won't start.

Oct 8, 1978

Mel identifies a holdup man who has a record for assaulting a previous witness.

Oct 15, 1978

Vera meets a new boy friend at the movies, but refuses to bring him to the diner.

Oct 22, 1978

The diner personnel try to kick their bad habits.

Oct 29, 1978

Flo's night life interferes with her night-school studies.

Nov 5, 1978

While Mel is sleeping in the storeroom, Alice is robbed at gunpoint at the counter.

Nov 11, 1978

Mel mistakes Alice's intentions when she invites him for a family dinner.

Nov 19, 1978

Mel unwittingly buys stolen turkeys for a Thanksgiving dinner he is having for orphans.

Nov 26, 1978

Mel is unhappy because Alice's second job — delivering singing telegrams — makes her late for the diner.

Dec 3, 1978

Despite his skepticism, Mel tries to find a way to exploit Vera's knack for foretelling the future.

Dec 10, 1978

Tommy wants Alice to stop dating his school principal (Gary Collins).

Dec 31, 1978

Flo finds herself without a date on New Year's Eve.

Jan 14, 1979

Alice's date gets two extra tickets to a celebrity ball and everyone wants to go.

Jan 21, 1979

Flo and Mel's brother (Carmine Caridi) decide to take a chance at marriage — even though it's the fourth time for each.

Jan 28, 1979

Alice is angry when Tommy conducts his first romance on her telephone.

Feb 5, 1979

Mel's pushy mother winters nearby, and Mel's not sure that he'll make it to spring.

Feb 18, 1979

Vera is heartbroken after her boyfriend tells her that he's marrying someone else.

Feb 25, 1979

Alice's long-awaited break, a chance to fill a vacancy in a traveling trio will break her heart if she has to hit the road without Tommy.

Mar 11, 1979

Mel tells the girls to ""stow it"" for the last time, then sells the diner to a humorless martinet.

Mar 11, 1979

Unable to buy back his diner from the new restaurateur, Mel opens an eatery in Alice's apartment.

Mar 18, 1979

Alice and Vera vie for a role in a production being cast by an attractive director(Fred McCarren).

Mar 25, 1979

Acclaimed as ""brilliant"" in her role as Cinderella, Vera is asked to audition for a part in a supermarket commercial.

Apr 1, 1979

Alice tries to bridge the rift between Flo and her father, who is now sorry for deserting the family when she was a little girl.

Sep 23, 1979

Telly Savalas gives star-struck Vera a thrill when he stops by the diner while she's working there alone. When no one believes her story, she quits in a huff.

Sep 30, 1979

Alice's sour reaction to Tommy's matchmaking efforts threatens Mel's new promotional gimmick which is free meals to customers if his waitresses don't smile.

Oct 7, 1979

Mel gives a big engagement ring to his girlfriend Marie, but the sparkle quickly fades when he insists that she sign a premarital agreement.

Oct 21, 1979

Just one dance lesson and Tommy falls head over heels for his instructor, Vera.

Oct 28, 1979

Mel is convinced that his chief competitor is romancing Flo just to get the recipe for Mel's Texas-style chili, rated by a food critic as being ""the best in the West.""

Nov 4, 1979

Vera's boyfriend objects to her sketching nude males in art class.

Nov 11, 1979

The return of Mel's domineering mother does nothing for his ego because after his back goes out, the customers flock in, for his mother's cooking.

Nov 18, 1979

Things get hotter than Mel's chili when Dinah Shore invites Mel to prepare his recipe on her show and bring along one, but only one waitress.

Dec 2, 1979

Mel, his girlfriend and the waitresses spend the weekend packed like sardines in a fishing cabin.

Dec 9, 1979

Vera asks Art Carney, a sixth cousin on her father's side, to endorse Mel's chili, so it can be marketed frozen as Chili con Carney.

Dec 23, 1979

A yule tale (with a touch of O. Henry's ""The Gift of the Magi"") finds the girls pooling their meager resources to celebrate Christmas at the diner.

Jan 6, 1980

Flo takes the wheel herself when she learns that her trucker beau has a female partner.

Jan 13, 1980

Tommy stirs up trouble by candidly discussing his elders on a TV talk show.

Jan 27, 1980

Mel installs a time clock which prompts the waitresses to demand overtime for the Sunday cleanup they used to do for nothing.

Feb 3, 1980

Mel is delighted that his mother is planning to remarry until he meets his prospective stepfather.

Feb 10, 1980

Tommy has his heart set on taking his girl to a formal Valentine's dance and he needs a tuxedo.

Feb 17, 1980

Mel plays host to a buddy whose wife has just left him.

Feb 24, 1980

A wealthy Houston restaurateur offers Flo a job she finds hard to refuse.

Mar 2, 1980

Mel hires Belle, a Mississippi belle who rings Mel's chimes as ""one of the best waitresses I've ever had."" However, Belle is now aiming for lusher pastures as a country-music writer.

Mar 9, 1980

The new waitress Belle is making big points with her old boss Mel, but she's scoring zero with Alice and Vera.

Mar 16, 1980

Heartbroken over her boy friend's sudden lack of attention, Vera begs Belle to transform her into a sex goddess.

Mar 23, 1980

Mel signs a profit-sharing agreement with the girls just before learning he'll get a tidy sum for letting the city condemn his property.

Mar 30, 1980

Mel is receptive to an infatuated tour guide, as long as she keeps steering tourists into his diner.

Apr 6, 1980

Alice allows Tommy to stay with Mel, prompting a wager between Alice and Mel, she bets that he will kick Tommy out and Mel bets that Alice will snoop on her son.

Nov 2, 1980

An automated bank teller accidentally spews out $24,675 to an astonished but delighted Mel.

Nov 9, 1980

After his safe is stolen, Mel rents the services of two very efficient guard dogs.

Nov 16, 1980

Robert Goulet makes an appearance when Vera wins a free trip to Las Vegas and Alice, Mel and Belle tag along to try their luck.

Nov 16, 1980

Mel may get his diner back if Belle can get Robert Goulet to perform for a Las Vegas casino owner but when it seems she can't get him, Alice steps in and impersonates him.

Nov 23, 1980

Vera's Aunt Agatha, a freewheeling sexagenarian, makes a pit stop in Phoenix while motorcycling to Mexico. This prompts Vera to make a life altering decision, whether or not to ride off into the sunset with her aunt.

Nov 30, 1980

Against Alce's expressed wishes, Mel secretly teaches Tommy how to take care of a school bully.

Dec 7, 1980

The sparsely attended funeral of a buddy persuade Mel to become Mr. Nice Guy and ensure a decent turnout at his own burial.

Dec 21, 1980

Mel's mother is singing the blues because her husband of six months has just left her.

Jan 4, 1981

Henry's convinced that his wife of 20 years is suddenly being nice because she's having an affair, so he tells her he's having one too, with Alice.

Jan 11, 1981

As the new manager of her apartment building, Alice has the unenviable task of locking out a delinquent fellow tenant, Belle.

Jan 18, 1981

Vera goes out on a limb to save a century old tree in front of the diner from being cut down for a road-widening project.

Feb 1, 1981

The waitresses cut up a huge fish they find in the refrigerator, unaware that singer Jerry Reed had left it there until he could have it stuffed.

Feb 8, 1981

Mel gets into a nose-to-beak yelling match with Vera's new pet parrot.

Feb 15, 1981

Tommy is cutting classes to pursue a singing career and his first job is singing at a juice saloon.

Feb 22, 1981

During a visit, Carrie plans to help out at the diner and cook but a fed up Mel kicks her out and she goes to work for a competitor.

Mar 8, 1981

When, Mel recounts the story of the little old lady who mugged him, the old lady becomes four thugs.

Mar 15, 1981

A trucker chooses Mel's Diner as the place to tell her amorous driving partner to hit the road.

Mar 29, 1981

Alice thinks she has found her main chance when she lands a gig singing at a big banquet with a 1940's theme and an influential audience of restaurant owners.

Apr 5, 1981

Mel suddenly takes a romantic interest in Vera, who doesn't realize it's just a ploy to make his girlfriend, Marie, jealous.

May 3, 1981

Vera refuses to give up the baby girl someone left in her pile of wash at the laundromat.

Oct 4, 1981

Mel borrows $10,000 against the diner to bet on a 90-to-1 nag.

Oct 11, 1981

Determined to leave her mark on the world, Vera sets out to break the tap dancing endurance record.

Oct 18, 1981

A towel boy from the Russian ballet takes refuge in Mel's storeroom.

Oct 25, 1981

On Halloween, Alice's latest heartthrob asks her to shepherd his four kids for the evening.

Nov 8, 1981

It's Alice's 40th birthday, and for the milestone she gets a millstone, a visit from her meddling mother.

Nov 15, 1981

Smooth operator Mel teaches his shy cousin, Wendell, how to score with Vera.

Nov 29, 1981

Against Mel's orders, Vera cashes a check for an old flame, who's nowhere to be found when it bounces.

Dec 6, 1981

Mel becomes despondent when he realizes he has no heirs.

Dec 20, 1981

The ghost of a partner past gives Mel the dickens on Christmas Eve after Mel fired Alice, Jolene and Vera.

Dec 27, 1981

Alice's spirit inspires a biker to recruit her as his ""old lady.""

Jan 3, 1982

Alice blows the whistle on Tommy's basketball playing when his grades start to slip.

Jan 17, 1982

Mel gives Tommy advice on how to charm the ladies, which Tommy promptly applies to Mel's niece.

Jan 31, 1982

After getting hooked on soap operas, Vera becomes a washout at work and later quits.

Feb 7, 1982

Mel has a beef with his mother who wants to publish his secret chili recipe in her new cookbook.

Feb 14, 1982

Valentine's Day promises anything but hearts and flowers for the diner staff, who all quarrel with their dates.

Feb 21, 1982

A book on building self-confidence inspires Vera to become ""the best little waitress in the world!"" Later, Mel leaves a newly confident Vera in charge of the diner.

Mar 7, 1982

Alice is visited by a high-school chum who's still suffering from her teenage inferiority complex.

Mar 14, 1982

To help Jolene's exhausted good buddy, the girls drive his rig to a mining town, blissfully unaware that they're hauling dynamite.

Mar 21, 1982

Mel considers getting a nose job while undergoing surgery for a deviated septum.

Apr 4, 1982

Alice's actress friend from New York persuades Tommy that he has a brilliant future on Broadway.

Apr 11, 1982

Vera returns from her high-school reunion with stars in her eyes and a sparkler on her finger.

Apr 18, 1982

A jilted acquaintance flips for Alice on the first bounce and when she doesn't reciprocate his feelings he threatens to jump from the Mel's Diner sign.

May 2, 1982

To counter a competitor whose contest is drawing customers, Mel launches one too and ups the ante to $3000.

May 16, 1982

Mel happily envisions a rent-free future when his mother buys his apartment building but surprises him when she announces a $50 rent increase.

Oct 6, 1982

Debbie Reynolds plays an actress whose torrid memoirs convince Mel he's the one she remembers as the greatest kisser in her life.

Oct 13, 1982

Mel tries to outdo an old buddy who shows up boasting a track record of fast living and sporting a blonde on his arm as proof.

Oct 20, 1982

There's gold in them there walls, or so Mel reckons after learning that the eccentric who built his diner left $20,000 stashed in another building.

Oct 27, 1982

Joel Grey offers his services gratis as the leading man in a musical revue bankrolled by Mel and featuring Alice. Mel, however, has never heard of Grey and gives the role to his bookie.

Nov 3, 1982

Joel Grey walks out after producer Mel turns a revue about New York into a desert musical with tunes like ""Two Tootsies from Tucson"" and ""Ramona from Arizona.""

Nov 10, 1982

Alice's meddlesome mother knocks the stuffing out of her daughter's Thanksgiving dinner.

Jan 9, 1983

Carrie is slow to come out of a depression after a quickie divorce.

Jan 16, 1983

Jolene's brother pays a surprise visit, but the surprise is on him, he gets an icy reception from his sister.

Feb 28, 1983

Everyone takes with a grain of salt Alice's claim that she saw a UFO.

Mar 7, 1983

Vera, whose cello playing can reduce a virtuoso to tears, is asked to play in a local string quartet.

Mar 14, 1983

The waitresses pit their musical knowledge against that of three plumbers on a TV quiz show.

Mar 21, 1983

Alice fears that freshman Tommy is abusing his new freedom away from home by majoring in extracurricular activities.

Mar 28, 1983

Jolene can't bring herself to bruise the tender feelings of a bruiser who saved her life and now considers her his girl.

Apr 11, 1983

Mel is stripping his gears over his jazzy new Porsche he purchased for a measly $20.

Apr 17, 1983

Mel has had it up to his keister with the way things are going so he absconds to his apartment for a beer and pizza binge.

Apr 24, 1983

Vera wishes her landlady the worst for evicting her pets then feels responsible when the old crank's apartment catches on fire.

May 1, 1983

In role reversals, Mel becomes an employee by accepting an executive position with a catering firm, and the waitresses become owners by buying his diner.

May 15, 1983

Afraid that he's lost the ""right stuff,"" Tommy quits the basketball team.

May 22, 1983

After Mel decides to have the waitresses bonded, Vera owns up to a criminal past and takes it on the lam.

May 29, 1983

To steal a competitor's secret sauce recipe, Mel persuades his cousin to pose as a woman and apply for a job as a Burger Baby.

Jun 5, 1983

Mel's experiment with a computer goes well until Vera enters a transaction and erases every trace of Mel's financial existance.

Jun 12, 1983

Using Tommy's marketing advice, Mel increases his business but also learns he's heading for bankruptcy.

Sep 18, 1983

Jolene's hair is standing on end with a cat burglar prowling her neighborhood.

Oct 2, 1983

Boss Hogg and Deputy Enos of ""The Dukes of Hazzard"" pay a surprise visit. Up to his usual low tricks, Boss makes an offer to lease the diner that Mel can't refuse but should.

Oct 9, 1983

A secret lover is sending Vera everything from poems to balloons.

Oct 16, 1983

Everyone's up in the air over Jolene's maiden flight as a part-time stewardess.

Oct 23, 1983

Alice's dinner date with a high-school flame who's now blind turns into a delightful trip down sensory lane.

Oct 30, 1983

A popular singer stops for directions at the diner and ends up proposing to Mel.

Nov 6, 1983

Both Carrie and Alice are turned down as singers by a supper club owner who thinks they're too old for the job.

Nov 20, 1983

Who would have thought Vera would find love in a greasy spoon? Especially with a cop who just ticketed her for jaywalking.

Nov 20, 1983

After a whirlwind courtship, Vera walks down the aisle with her intended.

Dec 18, 1983

After Alice quits in a huff, Mel replaces her with a very efficient and popular robot named Blanche.

Dec 25, 1983

Working undercover as Santa Claus, Vera's new husband spots her kissing her former fiance.

Jan 1, 1984

Jan 8, 1984

No one can corral Vera after she discovers that a miniature horse is being mistreated by its trainer.

Jan 15, 1984

Trophy winner Jolene throws Mel a curve when she won't pitch on his softball team.

Jan 29, 1984

After 40 years, Mel learns that his mother lied when she told him his dog was a war hero.

Feb 12, 1984

When Alice chips a tooth eating Mel's chili, he sends her to his dentist who takes one look at her X-rays and falls madly in love.

Mar 4, 1984

Alice gets a ride but hardly a rise out of a sexist ballonist whose hot air isn't confined to his balloon.

Mar 11, 1984

After a winning first day at the track, Tommy bets he'll score in the betting business.

Mar 18, 1984

By proving she's a better cook than Mel, Vera's acerbic landlady may have found the elusive way to his heart through his stomach.

Mar 25, 1984

Vera takes a tumble trying to rescue a nest of baby blue jays from the diner sign before Mel gets to them with a broom.

Apr 1, 1984

Jolene has second thoughts about marrying a TV game show host especially after a dab of permanent glue bonds her firmly to Mel.

Apr 15, 1984

A gift piano comes between Vera and Elliot when she can't pry him away from it.

May 13, 1984

Mel disdains accommodating the handicapped until two sprained ankles give him a different view, from a wheelchair.

May 20, 1984

Vera and Elliot buy a charming old house that comes complete with fireplace, furniture and antiques one of which is a shocking surprise.

Oct 14, 1984

Jolene and Vera play Cupid for a dateless Alice by putting an ad in a magazine's personals column.

Oct 28, 1984

Mel gets a little spaced out after he thwarts a bank robbery while he's dressed up as Captain Galaxy for Halloween.

Nov 4, 1984

Mel gets an F for buying a day school to raze for a parking lot.

Nov 18, 1984

Jolene loves her family, but finds it too much of a good thing when her father, five brothers, grandmother and family dog park themselves in her one-bedroom apartment.

Nov 25, 1984

Alice is worried that Tommy's partying is leading to a serious drinking problem.

Dec 16, 1984

At Elliot's suggestion and lured by a $5000 reward, Mel goes undercover to smoke out rustlers selling stolen beef.

Dec 23, 1984

Mel 86es a group of ""hoodlums,"" unaware that they're the break dancers expected to perform at the diner as part of an arts festival.

Jan 8, 1985

Vera yearns for a romantic first wedding anniversary, but it gets off to anything but a romantic start and goes rapidly downhill from there.

Jan 15, 1985

Jolene's appearance on the ""Working Women"" talk show does nothing to boost business at Mel's Diner.

Jan 22, 1985

Vera's secretly moonlighting as a sultry deejay called Nightbird and she's turning on all the males in Phoenix in the process.

Jan 29, 1985

A country singer takes a personel as well as professional interest in Alice and begs her to join his band on the road.

Feb 5, 1985

Whether Alice likes it or not, and she's not sure, country singer Travis Marsh gives her a chance to reach for the stars in a performance with him.

Feb 6, 1985

Answering a room-to-rent ad, Vera and Elliot's pushy landlady pushes herself and her kitschy furniture into their home and lives.

Mar 5, 1985

Mel is a taskmaster in training Jolene for tryouts with a pro basketball team.

Mar 12, 1985

After getting shot accidentally with his own gun, Elliot quits the force and looks for a career more suited to his meager talents.

Mar 19, 1985

On the final day at the diner, Mel closes the blinds and gives away the cow creamers as the gang reminisces about the last nine years.