User Reviews

The subject matter doesn't seem to be unusual for the period. I can remember an episode of "Carter Country", Kojak, etc.....where there were unexpectedly gay characters.

Nobody looked more shocked that Alice to find out Jack Newhouse was "gay" after what she thought was a wonderful and romantic evening.

The episode holds pretty well for being 45 years old. In fact the show was off the air for almost 15 years before I was born.

A real good episode.

An old pal of Mel, retired football star Jack Newhouse is in town for a couple of days. His visit is unexpected and Mel has a championship bowling match (remember when bowling was really big?) so can't go out drinking with him. Alice is clearly taken with Jack - he's handsome and virile and nice. The ever proactive Flo tells Jack and Alice that they ought to have dinner together, which they do. Alice's son really likes Jack as well ( the scene where he repeatedly tells his Mom that he will be asleep when they return from dinner was a bit too precious and hokey). After dinner, which they both clearly enjoyed, Alice is expecting and looking forward to a sexual encounter. Then Jack tells her he's gay to which she responds "Are you telling me you're jolly?" (this was a time when gay still had the traditional meaning of happy and jolly). That Jack is gay is not a particularly striking statement today but it surely was in 1976. I do not recall what the reaction to this episode was then but am impressed now with how well and with what enlightened humor the story unrolled. In the context of the day, the episode stands up very well.

Back in the mid- and late-70s, TV series often had episodes presenting homosexuality in a sympathetic (or at least non-judgmental) light. Such episodes were often shown not long after the series premiered. (There was an early "Facts of Life" episode in which a girl realizes that her affection for other girls doesn't mean she's a lesbian.)

This episode -- which is actually the first non-pilot episode -- has Alice meeting Jack Newhouse, a ridiculously good-looking ex-football player (Denny Miller). * (At that time, there'd been talk about homosexuality and bisexuality being more-common among football players than the general population.) Naturally, Mel and Flo press Jack and Alice to date.

In private, Jack declines, telling Alice he's gay. Alice's son, however, is delighted to meet a famous football player, and wants to go fishing with Jack. Alice is reluctant, finding it hard to move past the belief that gay men are, per se, child molesters. But she gives in, and nothing happens -- except her son is disappointed, because Jack wasn't a very good angler! (This is retroactively amusing, as Denny Miller would later play the Gorton's fisherman.)

Although this episode is anything but neutral on the issue of whether homosexual behavior is acceptable, it makes its points without too much underlining. "Alice" wasn't a particularly good sitcom, and given the opportunity for Alice, Flo, and Mel to meet strangers stopping at the diner, it's unfortunate that it didn't do more episodes like this one, focusing on social issues in a light-hearted fashion.

* Like most sitcoms, Alice didn't pay much attention to continuity. We later learn that Mel never went to college, but here we're told that he roomed with Jack, which seems unlikely for all the obvious reasons. It never occurred to the writers to simply have Jack out on vacation, with Mel or Flo recognizing him. It's simple, believable, and avoids possible future story restrictions.