I recorded this on 5/7/20. But with any holiday type of show, i like 2 c it near the time. It was nice 2 c Flo again. Especially nice was that Nancy Mc Keon was in it along with Corey Feldman. Because Philip M passed away in Dec 2019 all Alice shows meant something.
2 Reviews
This Turkey's for the Birds!
GaryPeterson6723 November 2023
Warning: Spoilers
Pass the pumpkin pie and pass on this jive turkey of a Thanksgiving episode. If you can only enjoy one Thanksgiving episode of ALICE, watch the much better "Alice's Turkey of a Thanksgiving" from the seventh season. That one has the hilarious Doris Roberts as Alice's acerbic mother from Joisey and is refreshingly free of the "very special episode" vibe that hovered and threatened but never fully succeeded in totally tanking this saccharine-sweet holiday episode.
I know the term "virtue signaling" wasn't around in 1978, but it was practiced just the same, as this show's double whammy of warm-heartedness demonstrated. Alice's love for orphans and inviting a dozen of them for Thanksgiving was a generous gesture, but what brought about her sudden onset altruism? It just didn't fit anything established in her character. Now if Weezie and Helen on THE JEFFERSONS did this it would have worked because of their long-established relationship with the Help Center. On ALICE, it was just a tacked-on plot device.
I won't go so far as to brand Vera an eco-terrorist, but setting free another person's bought and paid for poultry puts her squarely in the dubious ranks of the Animal Liberation Front and PETA. Okay, okay, Vera is Vera and she's gonna do Vera things. I get it, and so did Mel since he didn't fire her on the spot. I was encouraged to see that Alice also blew a fuse on Vera, even if just for a moment, because the next day her crime appeared forgotten. Even addle-brained Vera forgot she was the sole reason these orphaned kids were going to go turkeyless on Turkey Day (that their unsophisticated palates preferred chili dogs is immaterial).
Adding to this episode's irksomeness was Joyce Bulifant as the aggressive newscaster covering Mel's misfired publicity stunt. Bulifant ranked third after Georgia Engel and Betty White as the most annoying recurring character on THE MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW, where she played Murray's wife Marie. Here she's Connie Raymond, presaging Mika Brezenski with her blonde bob and brazen brassiness. Connie couldn't care less about the orphans and is instead singularly obsessed with the turkey, coercing Mel to carve the darn thing on live TV.
So what saved this turkey from being Flo's possum with glued-on feathers? The large and impressive guest cast, which provided delightful surprises with each entrance. Look, there's a pre-BABE James Cromwell as the detective. And then a pre-FACTS OF LIFE Nancy McKeon and a pre-GREMLINS and GOONIES Corey Feldman, each of whom, impossibly young, played orphans who got the show's best lines. Old show addicts will also appreciate spotting in small roles character actors Peter Leeds as the guy who sells Mel the hot turkeys and Owen Bush as the profiteering turkey farmer.
Unless you find Vera babbling inanely at length to George the gobbler a gut buster, the laughs here will be few and the sentiment as plastic as Mel's turkey. You want laughs with all the trimmings? Just two days after this episode originally aired HAPPY DAYS broadcast "The First Thanksgiving," a show that boasted laughs and sincere sentiment true to the characters, virtues also present in ALICE's 1982 Thanksgiving episode. Enjoy 'em both with coffee and a second slice of pumpkin pie.
I know the term "virtue signaling" wasn't around in 1978, but it was practiced just the same, as this show's double whammy of warm-heartedness demonstrated. Alice's love for orphans and inviting a dozen of them for Thanksgiving was a generous gesture, but what brought about her sudden onset altruism? It just didn't fit anything established in her character. Now if Weezie and Helen on THE JEFFERSONS did this it would have worked because of their long-established relationship with the Help Center. On ALICE, it was just a tacked-on plot device.
I won't go so far as to brand Vera an eco-terrorist, but setting free another person's bought and paid for poultry puts her squarely in the dubious ranks of the Animal Liberation Front and PETA. Okay, okay, Vera is Vera and she's gonna do Vera things. I get it, and so did Mel since he didn't fire her on the spot. I was encouraged to see that Alice also blew a fuse on Vera, even if just for a moment, because the next day her crime appeared forgotten. Even addle-brained Vera forgot she was the sole reason these orphaned kids were going to go turkeyless on Turkey Day (that their unsophisticated palates preferred chili dogs is immaterial).
Adding to this episode's irksomeness was Joyce Bulifant as the aggressive newscaster covering Mel's misfired publicity stunt. Bulifant ranked third after Georgia Engel and Betty White as the most annoying recurring character on THE MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW, where she played Murray's wife Marie. Here she's Connie Raymond, presaging Mika Brezenski with her blonde bob and brazen brassiness. Connie couldn't care less about the orphans and is instead singularly obsessed with the turkey, coercing Mel to carve the darn thing on live TV.
So what saved this turkey from being Flo's possum with glued-on feathers? The large and impressive guest cast, which provided delightful surprises with each entrance. Look, there's a pre-BABE James Cromwell as the detective. And then a pre-FACTS OF LIFE Nancy McKeon and a pre-GREMLINS and GOONIES Corey Feldman, each of whom, impossibly young, played orphans who got the show's best lines. Old show addicts will also appreciate spotting in small roles character actors Peter Leeds as the guy who sells Mel the hot turkeys and Owen Bush as the profiteering turkey farmer.
Unless you find Vera babbling inanely at length to George the gobbler a gut buster, the laughs here will be few and the sentiment as plastic as Mel's turkey. You want laughs with all the trimmings? Just two days after this episode originally aired HAPPY DAYS broadcast "The First Thanksgiving," a show that boasted laughs and sincere sentiment true to the characters, virtues also present in ALICE's 1982 Thanksgiving episode. Enjoy 'em both with coffee and a second slice of pumpkin pie.
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