Flo


Flo is an American sitcom television series and a spin-off of Alice that aired on CBS from March 24, 1980, to July 21, 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 was successfully in the Top 20 throughout its run, it was cancelled at the end of its second season.

Synopsis

After four seasons as a waitress at Mel's Diner 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". 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 the business and the greedy and obnoxious banker Farley, as well as her mother Velma and straight-laced sister Fran, cause 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

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.

Broadcast history

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

Season 1 (1980)

Season 2 (1980–81)

Reception and cancellation

The short first season was a ratings success ranking at #7 and had 24.4 million viewer average. The following season brought a sharp decline in numbers, and thus ended Flo.

Award nominations

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.