Surprising Stories from the Set of the Sitcom Alice

Flo’s sass didn’t start with “Kiss my grits!” In Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, Diane Ladd’s character actually snapped, “Kiss my honeydew!” It had the same bite — but for television in the mid-’70s, that line was considered a little too suggestive for prime time.

So when the story moved to TV, the writers swapped it out for the now-legendary “Kiss my grits!” The change was pure sitcom magic. It kept Flo’s spicy attitude intact, felt perfectly at home in a diner, and quickly became the show’s signature catchphrase — sharper than any comeback Mel could muster.