Tommy Hyatt

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Tommy Hyatt is a fictional character in the film Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore and the television sitcom Alice. Tommy was played by Alfred Lutter in the movie and the television series pilot. Throughout the rest of the series, he was played by Philip McKeon.

[edit] Alice's pride and joy

Tommy was the son of Donald and Alice Hyatt. His father died in a truck driving accident when he was twelve, and then he moved, with his mother, to California, so she could break into singing. However, car troubles forced Alice to stop in Phoenix, Arizona, where they eventually got an apartment, and his mother got a job as a waitress at Mel's Diner.

He made friends, and was quite popular with the ladies, much to Alice's dismay. His mother's boss, Mel Sharples, was a needed father figure to him, even though some of his shenanigans met with Alice's disapproval. It made Mel proud that Tommy was as popular with the ladies, as Mel seemed to think himself to be. Alice also fretted that Mel would make Tommy as chauvinistic as he was, but Tommy never became chauvinistic.

Like his mother, Tommy loved music, and was a talented guitarist. He and his mother performed a couple of duets during the show's run. Also, Mel trained him to be a fry cook, like he was, even going so far as to wear a beanie and t-shirt, like Mel did; at first this was met with stringent resistance by Alice, but she eventually relented when Tommy showed genuine talent at it.

Tommy's main interest, however, was basketball. Luckily, one of his mother's boyfriends, Earl Hicks (played by Dave Madden), was a basketball coach at his school. With practice, he won a basketball scholarship at Arizona State University, where he finished his schooling and got a good job. At one time, he felt burned out, and almost lost the scholarship, but with some encouraging words by Meadowlark Lemon of the Harlem Globetrotters, he regains his love for the game, and stuck it out.

His mother's co-workers, Florence Jean Castleberry, known as Flo, called him "Tiger"; and Vera Louise Gorman-Novak called him "Toms". He also was close to Flo's two replacements, Belle Dupree and Jolene Hunnicutt.

Although he drove his mother crazy, especially when he was much younger, Tommy is truly the main thing that kept Alice going after her husband's death, and the reason she kept on working at Mel's. When the show ended, he presumably remained in Phoenix, and coached basketball, much like his mentor, Earl Hicks. He also still remained close to his mother.