ALF is an American science fiction sitcom that originally aired on NBC from 1986 to 1990, created by Paul Fusco. The title character was Gordon Shumway, a friendly extraterrestrial nicknamed ALF (an acronym for Alien Life Form), who crash lands in the garage of the suburban middle-class Tanner family.[3]
The series stars Max Wright as father Willie Tanner, Anne Schedeen as mother Kate Tanner, and Andrea Elson and Benji Gregory as their children, Lynn and Brian Tanner. The character of ALF is portrayed by a live-hand puppet operated primarily by Paul Fusco.[4]
Premise
ALF (Paul Fusco) follows an amateur radio signal to Earth and crash-lands into the garage of the Tanners. The Tanners are a suburban middle class family in the San Fernando Valley (Los Angeles, CA) area. The family consists of social worker Willie (Max Wright), his wife Kate (Anne Schedeen), their teenage daughter Lynn (Andrea Elson), younger son Brian (Benji Gregory), and their cat Lucky.
Unsure what to do, the Tanners take ALF into their home and hide him from the Alien Task Force (a part of the U.S. military) and their nosy neighbors Trevor and Raquel Ochmonek (John LaMotta and Liz Sheridan), until he can repair his spacecraft. He generally hides in the kitchen. It is eventually revealed that ALF's home planet Melmac exploded because of a catastrophe involving nuclear war. In Episode Four of Season One, ALF tries to convince the President of the United States to stop the nuclear program, as ALF fears that Earth might suffer a fate similar to Melmac's, though miscalculating his words causes the President and National Security to call the FBI to arrest the Tanners. ALF was off the planet when it was destroyed because he was part of the Melmac Orbit Guard. ALF (a.k.a. Gordon Shumway) is homeless, but he is not the last survivor of his species. He becomes a permanent member of the family, although his culture shock, survivor guilt, general boredom, despair, and loneliness frequently cause difficulty for the Tanners. Despite the problems and inconveniences his presence brings into their lives, they grow to love him, though some episodes make it clear they're also afraid of how their lives would be turned upside down if word that he's been living with them gets out.
While most of the science fiction of ALF was played for comedic value, there were a few references to actual topics in space exploration; for example, ALF uses a radio signal as a beacon in the pilot episode. In the episode "Weird Science", ALF told Brian, who was building a model of the solar system for his science project, that there were two planets beyond Pluto called "Dave" and "Alvin", which gets Brian in trouble at school. However, after ALF makes a call to an astronomical organization and states that "Dave" is known by the organization, Willie comes to believe that "Dave" could have been the planetoid Chiron, or "Object Kowal", after its discoverer. ALF then shows Willie exactly where "Dave" is on an intergalactic Rand-McNally map of the universe. This occurred in the first season episode "Weird Science" and was one of the first instances of other worlds beyond Earth, and Melmac being given any focus verbally or physically.
The original series spans four seasons and 102 episodes (each episode's name is also the name of a song relevant to the episode's plot), in which ALF learns about Earth culture and makes new friends both within and outside of the Tanner family, including Willie's brother Neal (Jim J. Bullock), Kate's mother Dorothy (Anne Meara) (with whom ALF has a love-hate relationship — he refers to her as the Wicked Witch of the West or the Witch of Endor, and she in turn threatens to either make ALF a rug or chauffeur him to an Army base), her boyfriend (later husband) Whizzer (Paul Dooley), the Ochmoneks' nephew Jake (Josh Blake), a psychologist named Larry (Bill Daily), and a blind woman named Jody (Andrea Covell) (who never quite figures out that ALF is not human, though she is aware through touch that he is short and very hairy). Changes occur within the Tanner household over the course of the series, including the birth of a new child, Eric (the reason for adding a baby in the series being that Anne Schedeen was pregnant at the time); ALF's move from his initial quarters in the laundry room to the attic, which he and Willie converted into an "apartment", and the death of Lucky the cat; in this instance, ALF finds that despite his occasional attempts to catch Lucky with the intention of making the cat a meal, as cats are the equivalent of cattle on Melmac, he has come to love and respect the family pet too much to do anything untoward with Lucky's remains. When ALF acquires a new cat with the intent of eating it, he actually grows fond of it and allows it to be adopted by the family, although he admits to the Tanners he has become the worst kind of Melmackian, a "cat lover".
In the series finale, ALF is about to be rescued by other survivors of his home planet but is instead captured by the U.S. military, and the viewer is left to ponder ALF's ultimate fate.[5] This was apparently not supposed to be the finale, as the original airing ended with the words "To Be Continued" on the screen. The producers supposedly had a verbal agreement with NBC to produce at least one more episode to resolve the cliffhanger. NBC never made good on the deal, and the series was canceled. However, the story was concluded in the TV movie Project ALF.
ALF character
Gordon Shumway is an alien nicknamed ALF (an acronym for Alien Life Form) by William Tanner in the pilot episode. ALF was born on October 28, 1756, on the Lower East Side of the planet Melmac. Melmac was located six parsecs past the Hydra-Centaurus Supercluster, and had a green sky, blue grass and a purple sun. The commonly-used currency is a "Wernick" (named after producer Sandy Wernick) which is equal to ten American dollars, and the substances Earthlings call lint, gravel, and foam are as precious on Melmac as gold is on Earth (whereas gold and platinum are so common that they are used in place of porcelain to make toilets and sinks, as seen in the episode where ALF sells the gold and platinum plumbing in his ship to buy a Ferrari for Lynn). ALF's body is covered with a ginger/rust-colored fur (he once described his color as burnt sienna). He has a rippled snout, facial moles, eight stomachs, his heart is apparently located in his head, and he likes to burp, eat cats, can whistle without opening his mouth and had a best friend on his home planet named Malhar Naik. He has a friend named Skip and a girlfriend named Rhonda, both of whom also escaped the explosion. He attended high school for 122 years and was captain of a Bouillabaisseball team (which is played on ice using shellfish as a ball).
ALF has an enormous appetite (eating everything he can get his hands on); he is also troublesome, sarcastic, slovenly and cynical, and sometimes he puts himself at the risk of being discovered while perpetrating some of his often-unintentional pranks. However, if things have gone too far, he does as much as possible to make up for his mistakes, generally with positive results. In one episode, he tried to help Brian, too afraid to perform, to gain confidence during a school show by giving him a "lucky tooth" which ALF claimed helped him be a star of the stage on Melmac. In another occasion, he helped Dorothy deal with Sparky's death and move on and accept Whizzer's friendship. After neighbor Raquel Ochmonek claims to see ALF and is ridiculed on a television show, ALF calls in to the TV show to defend her.
He has at least 30 relatives: cousins "Pretty Boy" Shumway and Blinky; two uncles, Tinkle and Goome; a Grandma Shumway; a brother Curtis; parents Bob and Flo Shumway; and aunts Bubba, Wagner, and Eugene. In a commercial for the NFL that ran during Super Bowl XLV on February 6, 2011, it was confirmed that ALF is a Carolina Panthers fan (though the team didn't exist during the show's run).
Cast
[[Paul Fusco] operated the ALF puppet and supplied ALF's voice. Michu Meszaros stood in for the ALF puppet when full-body shots were needed by wearing an ALF costume, although this idea was ditched in later seasons.
Notable guest stars
Listed alphabetically
Episodes
Ratings
- 1986–1987: #28 (16.5 rating)
- 1987–1988: #10 (18.8 rating)
- 1988–1989: #15 (17.5 rating)
- 1989–1990: #39 (13.7 rating)[6]
Production
The production of ALF was technically difficult and demanding. All four lead actors – Max Wright (Willie Tanner), Anne Schedeen (Kate Tanner), Andrea Elson (Lynn Tanner) and Ben Hertzberg, also known as Benji Gregory (Brian Tanner) – have described a high level of tension on the set.[7] Max Wright has stated that he despised supporting a technically demanding inanimate object that received most of the good lines of dialog. He admits to being "hugely eager to have ALF over with."[7] Anne Schedeen has said that on the last night of taping, "there was one take and Max walked off the set, went to his dressing room, got his bags, went to his car and disappeared. [...] There were no goodbyes." Schedeen herself said "there was no joy on the set [...] it was a technical nightmare – extremely slow, hot and tedious. [...] A 30-minute show took 20, 25 hours to shoot." While fond of her on-screen children, Schedeen said some adults had "difficult personalities. The whole thing was a big dysfunctional family." Schedeen added, "It's astonishing that ALF really was wonderful and that word never got out what a mess our set really was."[7] Elson, who suffered from bulimia during the second season of shooting, stated, "If ALF had gone one more year, everybody would have lost it."[7] Wright would eventually reflect more kindly on ALF, saying in June 2006, "It doesn't matter what I felt or what the days were like, ALF brought people a lot of joy."[7]
Fusco was secretive about his character up until the series premiere. During the show's production, Fusco refused to acknowledge that the puppet ALF was anything other than an alien. All involved with the production were cautioned not to give away any of ALF's secrets.
Cast interviews since the show ended have revealed a few details about making the series: To make room for the puppeteers, the entire set was built on a raised platform with dozens of trapdoors in the floor. The trapdoors had to be reset multiple times, sometimes during a single scene.
Fusco was the principal puppeteer. He used one hand to control ALF's mouth, leaving the other free to control one of the puppet's arms. A second puppeteer, Lisa Buckley, assisted Fusco beneath the stage, operating the other arm. Together with a third person, (Bob Fappiano), who controlled ALF's facial and ear movements via an RC controller offstage, they worked in concert to make ALF's movements fluid and believable. During tapings, Paul would wear a head-mounted microphone which was used to record his voice for the ALF character. All of this made for a painstaking process and there were countless mistakes and retakes.
To avoid wear and tear on the principal ALF puppet, the performers rehearsed with a battered, early version of ALF that was nicknamed "Ralph".[citation needed] Often during rehearsals, Fusco would substitute his hand for the puppet.
In an interview on Late Night with Conan O'Brien, Tina Fey said that her biggest frustration as producer of NBC's 75th anniversary special was dealing with ALF's "people". Fey said Fusco would only allow ALF to appear on the show if the puppeteers were completely hidden from everyone else, even the studio audience. After his cameo (as an audience member), ALF disappeared through a hole in the riser, was stuffed into a case, and immediately hustled out of the building.
While a puppet was usually used for ALF, there were some shots of the tiny alien running or walking around. This was accomplished by actor Michu Meszaros wearing an ALF costume. This can be seen in one of the series' intros, which concludes with the Tanner family getting their picture taken; ALF, played by Meszaros, walks over to be part of the photo.
Fusco also co-produced the series with Tom Patchett. Patchett also co-created, wrote, and directed the series. The series was produced by Alien Productions and was first syndicated by Warner Bros. Television and Lorimar-Telepictures. The North American syndication rights are currently owned by Debmar-Mercury because its parent company, Lionsgate, now owns home video rights.
Spin-offs
Animated series
To capitalize on the success of the series, a spin-off animated series was produced, airing Saturday mornings on NBC. ALF: The Animated Series, set on ALF's home planet of Melmac, ran from 1987 to 1988, and was produced by DIC Entertainment. This was a prequel series, set on Melmac before the planet exploded. The show focused on ALF, his family, his friends, and girlfriend Rhonda and their various exploits. Each episode was book-ended by a live-action sequence involving ALF talking to the television viewers, setting up the episode and commenting on it afterward.
When the cartoon entered its second season, it was paired in a one-hour block with its own spin-off ALF Tales, which took Gordon and the cast of characters from Season One, and recast them as characters from assorted classic fairy tales.
Select episodes of both shows are included as special features on the ALF: Season 2 DVD as well as the cartoon-specific releases ALF Animated Adventures – 20,000 Years in Driving School and Other Stories and ALF and The Beanstalk and Other Classic Fairy Tales.
Marvel Comics
An ALF comic book was published by Marvel Comics' Star Comics imprint beginning in 1987 and ran for four years, totaling 50 issues and nearly a dozen specials.
The comic loosely followed the continuity of the television show (though it featured alternate takes on certain episodes, like the birth of Eric Tanner) and featured numerous parodies of Marvel Comics characters and other pop-culture parodies in the form of "Melmac Flashbacks." It was the first instance to feature ALF's natural family in a reverse scenario where Willie Tanner is an astronaut who crashes his spaceship into ALF's garage on Melmac, and the Shumway family works to protect Willie from hostile Melmackians.
TV movie
In 1996, a 90-minute television movie named Project ALF aired on ABC. This movie picked up six years after the events of the TV series, with ALF in government custody, and focuses on a scientist and military police officer who breaks ALF out of government custody. It did not feature any of the Tanner family, but they were briefly referenced.
ALF's Hit Talk Show
In 2004, ALF's Hit Talk Show debuted on U.S. cable channel TV Land, featuring ALF as a Johnny Carson-type TV talk-show host and co-starring Ed McMahon as his sidekick. Guests included Drew Carey, Tom Green, and Merv Griffin. It ran for seven episodes.
Other media
Guest appearances and references
As a result of the show's success, ALF has made guest appearances on a number of television programs, such as a Season 2 episode of NBC's Matlock in 1987, NBC's Blossom, UPN's The Love Boat: The Next Wave, and the 1980s version of Hollywood Squares, where he also memorably hosted part of one episode in March 1987. The animated version of ALF also made an appearance in the "all-star" animated drug-prevention television special Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue in 1990. In the early 2000s (decade), ALF appeared in a series of commercials for the 10-10-220 telephone service with former Steelers quarterback Terry Bradshaw and wrestling legend Hulk Hogan. ALF's last appearance to date was in November 2007, when he appeared as "TV Icon of the Week" on The O'Reilly Factor.
The character has also been referenced in various media numerous times over the years, being a pop-culture icon. Notable appearances include The Simpsons, the 2009 Eminem music video "We Made You", the 2010 film Hot Tub Time Machine, and television series The Big Bang Theory.
Merchandise
Like many shows of its day, ALF was also the subject of a trading card series by Topps. Most featured stills from various episodes, but a few cards parodied baseball cards by depicting players of the Melmacian sport "Bouillabaisseball," complete with stats such as "Splats." The yellow-bordered first series was released in 1987, with a red-bordered second series released in 1988.[8]
During the time that the original TV series was popular, some ALF-related merchandise was sold, including a 1987 22-inch plush doll produced by Coleco, and a 1988 calendar with Melmac's planetary holidays, such as Shout at a Shrub Day, prominently marked.[9]
Music
In 1987, Dutch remixer and producer Ben Liebrand created a song called Stuck on Earth with samples from one of the ALF shows.[10] During 1988, Burger King ran a promotion called "The Many Faces of ALF," giving away themed ALF puppets and a cardboard record with each kids meal. These records featured original recordings sung by ALF – titled Melmac Girls, Cookin' with ALF, Melmac Rock, and Take Me, ALF, to the Ballgame.
Tommi Piper, the actor who dubbed ALF's voice for German audiences, spent twelve weeks in the German pop charts in 1989. The single featured Amélie Sandmann (as the voice of Rhonda) and was called Hallo ALF Hier Ist Rhonda (translated Hello ALF, This Is Rhonda). He also featured as ALF on various themed mix albums introducing songs by pop artists of the time and other original compositions.
An ALF alarm clock is mentioned about 52 seconds into "Weird Al" Yankovic's song "eBay". There is no official video, but fans have assembled video montages which show a photograph of the actual alarm clock.
Video games
There are six video games and one printing program based on ALF: 1987's ALF, also known as ALF: The First Adventure for various computer systems, such as the Commodore 64, IBM, and Apple II, 1989's ALF for the Sega Master System, four educational games for IBM and Apple II computers were released in 1993 called ALF's U.S. Geography, ALF's Thinking Skills, ALF's World of Words, and Add & Subtract With ALF, and the printing program ALF's Party Kit.
DVD releases
North America – edited
Lionsgate Home Entertainment has released all four seasons of ALF on DVD in Region 1. All releases contain edited episodes (syndicated versions), although "Try to Remember" from Season One, "ALF's Special Christmas" from Season Two and, "Make 'em Laugh" from Season Four were full length, although "Try to Remember" was the censored version used in reruns, and "Make 'em Laugh" had 7 seconds of dialogue at the beginning removed. Lions Gate insisted that they were forced to utilize the edited version, as it would be cost prohibitive to remaster the original broadcast versions for release when the edited versions were already available, leading to much criticism and poor sales.[11] In addition, most music was removed from the episodes, shortening some episodes by up to six minutes.
| DVD Name |
Ep # |
Release Date |
Additional Information |
| Season One |
26 |
August 10, 2004 |
Contains all 26 episodes from Season One
- Gag/Outtakes Reel
- Original Unaired Pilot
- The hour-long clip show "Try to Remember" is full length, but a censored version.
|
| Season Two |
26 |
August 23, 2005 |
Contains all 26 episodes from Season Two
- Contains the first episode of ALF: The Animated Series and the first episode of ALF Tales
- The hour-long Christmas special runs approximately 47 minutes and is unedited
|
| Season Three |
26 |
May 30, 2006 |
Contains all 26 episodes from Season Three |
| Season Four |
24 |
September 5, 2006 |
Contains all 24 episodes from Season Four
- The episode "Make 'Em Laugh" runs 23:27 and is nearly unedited, with a single line of dialogue edited out
|
Video Service Corp. previously released two other DVDs of ALF. The ALF Files was released exclusively in Canada on November 1, 2002. It contained three episodes, "Tonight, Tonight", "Try to Remember", and "ALF's Special Christmas", but unlike the season sets, these episodes were presented in their full-length, unedited versions. "Try to Remember", much like the Season One set, was the censored version where ALF's amnesia is caused by a cranial concussion rather than being electrocuted (the electrocution version received much parental criticism when it first aired on February 9, 1987).
On September 13, 2005 Project: Alf was released. Both DVDs featured optional commentary by creator Paul Fusco, with co-creator Tom Patchett joining him on the first release.
Europe – unedited
Warner Bros. Home Video released the first season of ALF in Germany on September 4, 2009, and in the Netherlands and France on September 9. The DVDs are in PAL format, with English-language menus. The language selections available are English, French, German and Spanish, with subtitles available in French, Dutch, Spanish, English and German.
The episodes span 4 discs and are unedited, unlike their American edited counterparts, with a few exceptions:
- A scene where ALF is singing a song by Alvin and the Chipmunks was excised because of music copyright issues.
- In the first season episode "Try to Remember", the cause of ALF's amnesia is changed from an electric shock to slipping and hitting his head, and ALF's "water and electricity don't mix" safety lecture is removed (this edit was first made when the episode was rerun during the summer of 1987).
- One edited U.S. version from the second season ("Somewhere Over the Rerun") was used, although unlike the region 1 DVD, the music (mainly the Gilligan's Island theme) is not edited out.
- The final episode "Consider Me Gone" has the "To Be Continued" caption before the end credits roll, which was edited out in the region 1 sets.
| DVD Name |
Ep # |
Release Date |
Additional Information |
| Season One |
26 |
September 4, 2009 |
Contains all 26 episodes from Season One
- No bonus features
- Almost all original music
- Mostly unedited episodes, except for "For Your Eyes Only" and "Try to Remember"
|
| Season Two |
26 |
December 11, 2009 |
Contains all 26 episodes from Season Two
- No bonus features
- All original music
- Mostly unedited episodes, except for "Somewhere Over the Rerun"
|
| Season Three |
26 |
June 25, 2010 |
Contains all 26 episodes from Season Three
- No bonus features
- All original music
- Unedited episodes
|
| Season Four |
24 |
October 15, 2010 |
Contains all 24 episodes from Season Four
- No bonus features
- All original music
- Unedited episodes
|
Oceania – unedited
In Region 4, Warner Home Video released the first and second seasons of ALF on DVD in Australia & New Zealand on April 7, 2010.[12][13] Season 3 will be released on October 5, 2011.[14]
Syndication
In the United States, ALF started its run in local syndication in the fall of 1990 and continued until 1994. The show also aired on Odyssey (now Hallmark) from April 5, 1999 to August 2002 and on WGN America from October 5, 2008 to December 27, 2009 with two back-to-back episodes each Sunday at 6:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.
In Latin America, the show can be seen on Nick@Nite Latin America. In Spain this show airs in Boing every weekday at 11:30 pm. It's also shown daily in Australia, at 4:30 p.m on 7TWO. In Germany, ALF is shown on Kabel 1, in Serbia on THIRDROMETV, in Denmark on TV 2 Zulu, in Ukraine on ICTV, in Russia on TV3 Russia, and in Bulgaria, on bTV Comedy, Diema and Diema 2. ALF is even dubbed into Japanese with George Tokoro dubbing ALF and airs as "アルフ" (Arufu) every Tuesday night at 7:25 p.m. on NHK.Also in Slovakia dubbed into Slovak language aired on TVM and Czech rep. on TV NOVA.
Awards
In the USA alone, ALF has won numerous awards. In 1987 the show won a People's Choice Award for Favorite New TV Comedy Program; in 1988 it won Favorite Show at the Kids' Choice Awards; and at the 1989 Kids' Choice Awards, ALF himself won Favorite TV Actor. Benji Gregory and Andrea Elson were also nominated in various Young Actor categories for their work on ALF at the Young Artist Awards during 1987–1989, with the show also receiving a nomination for Best Family Television Series.[15]
Controversy
In 2010, blooper footage surfaced in which ALF was made to deliver racial jokes and inappropriate sexual comments. He was actually mocking a then-recent episode of L.A. Law dealing with Tourette syndrome. Asked to comment, producer Steve Lamar stated that the footage was from a time when things were not so "ridiculously PC".[16]
See also
References
- ^ O'Connor, John J. (September 22, 1986). "TV reviews; "Together we stand" and "ALF"". New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/1986/09/22/arts/tv-reviews-together-we-stand-and-alf.html?scp=9&sq=ALF&st=cse. Retrieved 2010-08-10.
- ^ Weinstein, Steve (December 23, 1987). "How a Wisecracking Puppet Toddled Into the Hearts of Viewers". The Los Angeles Times. http://articles.latimes.com/1987-12-23/entertainment/ca-20780_1. Retrieved 2010-08-26.
- ^ "Ain't Nothin' but an Alf". The Los Angeles Times. August 14, 1988. http://articles.latimes.com/1988-08-14/entertainment/ca-511_1_teaching-alf. Retrieved 2010-08-26.
- ^ "Show Business: Stranger in A Strange Land". Time. March 21, 1988. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,967048,00.html. Retrieved 2010-11-07.
- ^ Zurawik, David (March 23, 1990). "Consider ALF Gone . . . Unless He Phones Home". The Los Angeles Times. http://articles.latimes.com/1990-03-23/entertainment/ca-965_1_alf-show-years. Retrieved 2010-08-26.
- ^ "Nielsen's top 50 shows"
- ^ a b c d e "Where Are They Now? ALF 1986–1990". People Weekly. 2000-06-26. http://www.tvshows.de/alf/e-people.htm. Retrieved 2008-08-12.
- ^ "From Kids' Coloring Books to Adult Humor Publications, Cuddly Character Is Sending Merchandisers Into Orbit". The Los Angeles Times. December 23, 1987. http://articles.latimes.com/1987-12-23/entertainment/ca-20778_1_alf-product. Retrieved 2010-08-26.
- ^ Gendel, Morgan (August 26, 1986). "Coleco Plays The Odds, Pays For Ads For 'Alf'". The Los Angeles Times. http://articles.latimes.com/1986-08-26/entertainment/ca-17809_1_alf-products. Retrieved 2010-08-26.
- ^ "DMH:Ben Liebrand MINIMIX". Mixhistory.mixfreaks.nl. http://mixhistory.mixfreaks.nl/Liebrand/mini1987.html. Retrieved 2010-09-29.
- ^ Lacey, Gord (August 13, 2004). "ALF – Lions Gate Explains Syndication Episodes on DVD Set". TVShows On DVD.com. http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/ALF/2067. Retrieved December 31, 2009.
- ^ http://www.ezydvd.com.au/DVD/alf-the-complete-season-1-4-disc-set/dp/811463
- ^ http://www.ezydvd.com.au/DVD/alf-the-complete-season-2-4-disc-set/dp/811464
- ^ http://www.ezydvd.com.au/DVD/alf-season-3-4-disc-set/dp/819710
- ^ ALF (1986) Awards
- ^ All Headline News
External links
