ALF
ALF is a half-hour American television sitcom that originally ran on NBC from 1986 to 1990 and was created by Paul Fusco. The title character was Gordon Shumway, a friendly extraterrestrial nicknamed ALF (for Alien Life Form) who crash lands in the garage of the suburban middle class Tanner family. 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 was portrayed by a puppet operated primarily by Fusco, or, in some instances, by dwarf actor Michu Meszaros wearing an ALF costume.
ALF 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 a city called Riverside (most likely in Los Angeles, California, as Willie mentioned his work was located there in episode 18 of the show) consisting of the social worker Willie, his wife Kate, their teenage daughter Lynn, younger son Brian, and the 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 (the Ochmoneks), until he can repair his spacecraft. He generally hid in the kitchen. It was eventually revealed that ALF’s home planet Melmac exploded because of a catastrophe involving nuclear bombs. ALF in Episode four of season one is trying to convince the president of the USA to stop the nuclear program as he is scared that Earth might share Melmac’s fate. ALF was off the planet because he was part of the Melmac Orbit Guard. Gordon Shumway (AKA ALF) is homeless, but he isn’t the last survivor of his species. He became a permanent member of the family, although his culture shock, survivor guilt, general boredom, despair, and loneliness frequently caused difficulty for the Tanners.
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’s using 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 school, that there were two planets beyond Pluto called “Alvin” and “Dave”. However, after a call was made to an astronomical organization, Willie explained that “Dave” could have been the planetoid Chiron, or “Object Kowal”, after its discoverer.
The original series spans over 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 without the Tanner family, including Willie’s brother Neal, Kate’s mother Dorothy (with whom ALF has a love-hate relationship — he refers to her as the Wicked Witch of the West), her husband Whizzer, the Ochmoneks’ nephew Jake, a psychologist named Larry, and a blind woman named Jody (who never quite figures out that ALF isn’t human, though she is aware through touch that he is short and very hairy). Changes pass within the Tanner household over the course of the series, including the birth of a new child, Eric (The explanation for adding a baby in the series was that Anne Schedeen was pregnant and expecting a child at the time), ALF’s move from his initial quarters in the laundry room to a converted attic “apartment”, and the death of Lucky the cat; in the final instance, ALF finds that, despite his occasional attempts to catch Lucky with the intention of making the cat a meal, he has come to love and respect the family pet too much to do anything untoward with Lucky’s remains.
In the series finale, ALF is about to be rescued by other survivors of his home planet, but is instead captured by the American military, and the viewer is left to ponder ALF’s ultimate fate. This was not supposed to be the finale, as the original airing ended on a “To Be Continued” note. The producers supposedly had a verbal agreement with NBC to get at least one more episode to resolve the cliffhanger. NBC never made good on the deal, and no more episodes were created. The story does continue in the movie Project ALF.
CAST
Max Wright - Willie Tanner
Anne Schedeen - Kate Tanner
Andrea Elson - Lynn Tanner
Benji Gregory - Brian Tanner
John LaMotta - Trevor Ochmonek
Liz Sheridan - Raquel Ochmonek
Josh Blake - Jake Ochmonek (seasons 2-4)
Jim J. Bullock - Neal Tanner (season 4)
Lucky the Cat - himself
Lisa Buckley - Alf assistant/puppeteer
Bob Fappiano - Alf assistant/puppeteer
Michu Meszaros was the actor within the ALF costume. Paul Fusco operated the ALF puppet, supplied ALF’s voice, and co-produced the series with Tom Patchett. Patchett also co-created, wrote, and directed the series.
Notable Guest Starring Cast
Bill Daily - Dr. Larry Dykstra
Anne Meara - Dorothy Halligan Deaver
Paul Dooley - Whizzer Deaver
Appearances / References in other Media
Jerry Stahl, writer for episodes of ALF, was portrayed by Ben Stiller in the autobiographical movie Permanent Midnight, details Stahl’s rise to fame and his addiction to heroin. In the movie ALF is portrayed as “Mr. Chompers”
Alf appeared himself in one episode of the Blossom’s TV series.
The animated version of Alf made an appearance in the drug prevention video Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue.
ALF also appeared in the long-distance plan 10-10-220 commercials on American television.
ALF has made many appearances on Hollywood Squares.
ALF appeared as a guest on The Love Boat: The Next Wave.
ALF has appeared in 2 episodes of Family Guy, once as a recovering drug addict in a flashback special. Peter also thought Brian’s costume was Alf. Also he appeared in the episode “I Never Met the Dead Man”; Peter has a dream where he is in a house that is spinning in a tornado (referencing The Wizard of Oz), where ALF passes and waves at Peter in a rocking chair.
ALF appeared briefly on Chappelle’s Show as a ghost figure.
An unreleased pilot was shot, although not titled ALF. Project 3445 was poorly received. Test audiences claimed that they felt ALF’s relationship with Willie was “too intimate” and that the original puppet made them feel “uncomfortable” in an unspecified manner.
ALF has appeared on several The Simpsons episodes. In one cartoon, Alf has a cameo in a police lineup of Illegal Aliens {also in the line up was other “Aliens” such as Marvin the Martian; Chewbacca; Gort (The Day the Earth Stood Still)!}. He also appears “in pog form” as Milhouse van Houten trades Bart Simpson’s soul for $5 in the episode Bart Sells His Soul. He was also a special guest at Springfield’s “Bi-Mon Sci-Fi-Con”. Alf also appears on many episodes on the cover of Homer’s TV Guide (prominently on flashbacks that happened in the ’80s, and on old issues of the TV Guide stored in the Simpson’s basement). Simpson’ producers Al Jean and Mike Reiss both worked on Alf. Simpson producers Al Jean and Mike Reiss both worked on ALF.
ALF has been referenced many times on the Adult Swim series Stroker and Hoop.
ALF is referenced in an episode of Stargate SG-1 entitled “SIGHT UNSEEN”. As the final scene comes to a close, the joke applied is a reference to the fact that Anderson’s previous show, MacGyver, aired opposite of ALF during most of its run.
ALF is referenced in the 10/16/1989 episode of Mama’s Family entitled “Tri-State’s Most Wanted”. Upon seeing a sketch of a criminal suspect drawn by daughter-in-law Naomi Harper, Mama criticzes it by saying “Oh, I didn’t know ALF was on the run.”
ALF was referenced in the second season of 30 Rock. He was one of Dr. Spaceman’s famous clients, appearing in a photograph on the wall.
In November 2007, ALF appeared as a guest on The O’Reilly Factor.
Alf was mentioned in the Fox show Arrested Development When the star said “That’s the horrible blood-sucking Alien? It looks like ALF.”
ALF is mentioned in “Weird Al” Yankovic’s song “eBay” from his Poodle Hat CD. In the song about the “worldwide garage sale” that is the auction website, he says, “Tell me why I got that ALF alarm clock?”
Alf is mentioned in Scrubs, (episode 115, My Bed Banter and Beyond) when JD goes over what in his opinion is funny. “Alf… very funny.”
Alf makes an appearance, like many other characters from sci-fi and horror movies and tv-series, on the animated series Tripping the Rift episode “Creaturepalooza” from the second season.
In Married… With Children, Peg says that a poll determined more women wanted to hook up with Alf than with Al.
In Saved By The Bell, Zack asked Screech that he found out ALF is a puppet when Screech said that something bad happened. Screech also said once he’s not allowed outside of home after ALF.
The Radio Show Big O and Dukes constantly referenced the jokes from ALF.
In the Danish animation film “Rejsen til Saturn” / “Journey to Saturn” Alf appears in the audience of an Space Convention for nerds.
In Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie, the pirates come up with an excuse to not take Jonah to Tarshish, and Larry says “And ALF is coming on in half an hour”.
VIDEO
Watch the Pilot Episode: