One Of The '70s Best Sitcoms Was Based On A Martin Scorsese Movie

Sitcoms are not a genre most people immediately associate with Martin Scorsese. For decades, the world renowned director has delivered compelling films such as "Taxi Driver," "Goodfellas," "Mean Streets," and "Killers of the Flower Moon" to the big screen. While his work spans various genres, he is best known for crime and gangster flicks. Scorsese has also ventured into religious movies, tried his hand at a children's animated feature, and directed comedies. Overall, the director's decidedly cinematic style is worlds away from cozy comfort TV. However, one of his earlier films spawned a successful 1970s sitcom.

"Alice" premiered on CBS in 1976, running until 1985. The sitcom, starring Linda Lavin and Philip McKeon, is an adaptation of the 1974 Scorsese movie, "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore." The movie stars Ellen Burstyn in the title role, with Alfred Lutter playing her son. 

Both "Alice" and "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore" follow the recently widowed Alice as she takes her son, Tommy, on a trip to start a new life. While she hopes to return to her former singing career, Alice ends up in Tucson, Arizona (the sitcom changes the location to Phoenix), and takes a waitressing job in a diner. Most episodes of the TV series revolve around Alice's job in the diner alongside owner and cook, Mel (Vic Tayback, reprising his role from Scorsese's film), and fellow waitresses Vera (Beth Howland) and Flo (Polly Holliday).

Martin Scorsese wasn't involved with "Alice," despite directing the film that inspired the series. Although it has some comedic elements, "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore" is a much darker story. For example, in the movie, Alice, unbeknownst to her, enters a relationship with Ben Eberhardt (Harvey Keitel), a married man. When Ben's wife Rita confronts Alice, he violently attacks her and trashes Alice's apartment. The movie also reveals that Alice's marriage had been abusive, a detail that never factors into the lighthearted TV series.

Beyond child actor Alfred Lutter's brief return in the series' pilot, before being replaced as Alice's son by Philip McKeon, and Vic Tayback's Mel, there's little crossover between "Alice" and "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore." However, when Polly Holliday's Flo exited the series in Season 4, she was replaced by Diane Ladd as Belle Dupree. In Scorsese's movie, Ladd played  Flo.

"Alice" is not the only time Scorsese's influence has been felt in the realm of television. In 2024, Scorsese, whose Catholicism has often influenced his work as a filmmaker, produced and narrated the docudrama series "Martin Scorsese Presents: The Saints." More recently, Scorsese appeared as a fictionalized version of himself in a one-episode cameo on the Seth Rogen Apple TV+ comedy series, "The Studio."

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