Alf

Alf

1986 - United States

US sitcom about an Alien Life Form (ALF), who follows an amateur radio signal to Earth only to crash land on the roof of a garage owned by the Tanners, a middle class family living in the suburbs of Los Angeles. 

Unable to return home, the 229 year-old alien is taken in by the Tanners' where he instantly wins over the family. They hide him from the US military and their nosy neighbours, the Ochmonek's. Like Mork in Mork and Mindy, ALF takes a comical if sometimes cynical view of life on Earth. Fearing that the planet might suffer the same fate as his own homeworld, he tries to convince the president of the USA to stop the nuclear program. 

ALF was portrayed by a live-hand puppet and voiced by the series' creator Paul Fusco. 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 admitted to a high level of tension on the set. The series ran for four years from 1986 and during that time NBC capitalized on the success of the series by airing a Saturday morning spin-off series ALF: The Animated Series, set on ALF's home planet of Melmac, which ran from 1987 to 1988. 

Fans of the series were left disappointed when the final episode ended with ALF being captured by the U.S. military. Apparently this was 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. But the series was cancelled and the conclusion was never made. It was finally resolved six years later in a TV movie Project ALF

Published on November 27th, 2018. Written by Laurence Marcus for Television Heaven.

Read Next...

Alice US TV Series

Based quite loosely on the 1974 Oscar-winning film Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, this situation comedy centered on Alice Hyatt (Linda Lavin), a widowed mother with a 12-year-old son who leave their New Jersey home to start a new life in Phoenix, Arizona.

Also tagged Us Sitcom

Bewitched

A witch marries a 'mortal' in 1960s America - and her family do not approve!

Also tagged Us Sitcom

Dear John

Meet John Lacey, a forty-something language teacher at a Comprehensive School. He has everything; a steady job, nice house, beautiful wife, loving son and a car. Until one day he gets home from work and finds a letter from his wife informing him that their relationship is over...

Also released in 1986

Amos n Andy

Amos N' Andy had the distinction of being one of the longest running (since 1929) and most popular US radio shows of all time before it came to TV screens in June of 1951. It also aired in the UK on the BBC between 1954 and 1957, making it the first US sitcom shown on British television.

Also tagged Us Sitcom

The Brady Bunch

Architect Mike Brady marries beautiful young Carol, who has three girls to care for. Likewise, Mike's previous wife's death has left him to raise his three boys all alone. In no time this amalgam becomes the ideal average American middle class family.

Also tagged Us Sitcom

la law

Legal and personal goings on at a Los Angeles law firm

Also released in 1986

Benson TV series

This spin-off of the Susan Harris-created farce Soap sent the Tate family's insolent African-American butler Benson to the mansion of Jessica Tate's bumbling cousin, Governor James Gatling. In other words, Benson went from one dysfunctional family to another.

Also tagged Us Sitcom

Executive Stress

Two of British comedy's most popular stars came together for this highly original and cleverly written series.

Also released in 1986

Barney Miller

American sitcom set in a New York City Police Department police station on East 6th St in Greenwich Village.

Also tagged Us Sitcom