ALF: Amusing, Ludicrous, and Funny

April 1, 2019 / thewritelife61 / 3 Comments

April does begin with April Fool’s Day, so this month we take a look at a few shows I call oddly wonderful. Some of them may be odd, some wonderful and some oddly wonderful. You get to decide. These are shows that were very different but popular hits.

In 1963, My Favorite Martian came to earth to live with a news reporter, Tim O’Hara. In 1978, Mork landed on earth from Ork and lived with Mindy. In 1986, ALF, aka Gordon Shumway, crashed into the Tanners’ garage and moved in with the family. In all three series, the extraterrestrial tries to adapt to earthly ways and causes a lot of complications for the people he lives with.

ALF aired in September of 1986 on NBC. Producer Bernie Brillstein was asked to catch Paul Fusco’s show with his puppet character. Brillstein had managed Jim Henson, so he knew something about this type of comedy. He thought ALF was hilarious and could be the center of a new sitcom. The company was Alien Productions; Fusco became a co-producer and Tom Patchett helped create the series, wrote the scripts, and directed the episodes. ALF produced 99 episodes (in syndication, it was 102 since there were three one-hour episodes during its time on the air).

ALF was one of the first sitcoms to use Dolby surround sound. The show was one of the most expensive sitcoms to produce because of the technical elements surrounding the puppet and the long tapings that developed. To try to help out with the expenses, ALF was licensed for a variety of toys, foods, and other types of merchandise. One fun fact is that every episode was the name of a song. Some of the shows were named, “Hungry Like the Wolf”, “Stayin’ Alive”, and “Gotta Be Me.”

ALF (alien life form) was a sarcastic, sometimes overbearing, character from Melmac. The Tanners take him in to protect him after he crashes into their garage. Willie Tanner (Max Wright) is married to Kate (Anne Schedeen) and they had two children, Lynn (Andrea Elson) and Brian (Benji Gregory). The plan is for ALF to repair his spaceship and then leave. Later ALF learns that his planet was destroyed by nuclear war. Eventually he becomes part of the family as he develops affection for them and vice versa.

Of course, ALF causes no end of trouble for the Tanners. In one episode, Brian is building a model of the solar system as we know it. ALF reveals to him that there are two planets past Pluto which Brian includes and then gets in trouble for.

Like Mork, as ALF becomes closer to the family, he is exposed to several of their friends and family. He is friends with Willie’s brother Neal (Jim Bullock), gets to know a psychologist Larry (Bill Daily), has a love-hate relationship with Kate’s mom, Dorothy (Anne Meara), and builds a relationship with a blind woman, Jody (Andrea Covell), who never realizes that ALF is not human.

ALF meant well and often was trying to help someone else when he caused many of his problems.

When Anne Schedeen became pregnant in real life, a baby was written into the show named Eric. ALF temporarily lives in the laundry room but eventually he and Willie convert the attic into a small apartment.

ALF often talks about eating cats. On Melmac, cats are raised for food. However, he bonds with the Tanners’ cat Lucky and, when Lucky dies, he becomes very sad. He has one heart that is located in his right ear, and he has eight stomachs. ALF claims he came from a large family, his best friend growing up was Malhar Naik, his girlfriend was Rhonda, he attended high school for 122 years, and was captain of his bouillabaisseball team. The sport was played on ice but used fish parts as bats and balls, requiring nose plugs on warm days. Melmac apparently had blue grass, a green sky, and a purple sun.

Despite the funny scripts and fond remembrances viewers had, it was a difficult show to work on. The human actors had trouble playing second fiddle to a puppet, and there were a lot of complications trying to film with ALF. The set was on high tension alert all the time. When the final scene was filmed, Max Wright, who had the hardest time adjusting to working with ALF, walked off the set and left without saying good-bye to anyone. Schedeen said “There was no joy on that set . . . it was a technical nightmare—extremely slow, hot and tedious.” A thirty-minute show could take 20-25 hours to shoot. Schedeen said she was fond of her screen children, but some adults on the show had difficult personalities. Later in life, Wright said he found out the show brought a lot of enjoyment to people and felt better about his time portraying Willie.

One of the issues was that the set was built on a four-foot platform with trap doors all over so ALF could appear anywhere. He was operated from underneath the set and the doors and holes could be treacherous. To avoid wear and tear on the real puppet, a stand-in was used to rehearse named RALF (rehearsal alien life form).

Luckily, none of all the problems behind the scenes leaked out to the public. The show was popular in season one. In season two, it reached number five. It continued to hold its own in season three, with tenth place. However, season four saw a sharp decline and the show came in at 39^th. In March of 1990, NBC moved the show from Monday to Saturday, but the ratings continued to decline.

The show had one of the most interesting endings in sitcom history. The production team hoped by having a cliffhanger at the end of season four, they could convince the network to bring it back for a fifth season, but it did not work that way. The Tanners take ALF to a field where an aircraft is going to reclaim him. Suddenly he’s circled by a group of military automatons. No one knew if he would be taken to Area 51 or escape. Viewers were left wondering what happened to ALF. NBC executive Brandon Tartikoff later admitted to Fusco they had cancelled the show prematurely.

Six years later, ABC aired a movie, Project: ALF. None of the original cast was in the film. The movie was not well received.

However, the movie was not the end of ALF. The character has had more lives than all the cats he ever ate combined. Marvel Comics developed a series of books in 1987 which ran for four years with 50 issues. An animated cartoon that aired Saturday mornings which was a prequel to the show also ran for a couple of years.

One of the most unexpected outcomes of the show and, in my opinion, one of the funniest, was ALF’s talk show which aired on TV Land. ALF was a talk show host with none other than Ed McMahon as his sidekick. It was on for only seven episodes but featured guests like Drew Carey and Merv Griffin.

Believe it or not, it didn’t end there. In 1987 while the show was still on the air, ALF appeared on an episode of Matlock. He was in an episode of Blossom when he denies her entrance to heaven in a dream. He was the only extra terrestrial to appear on The Love Boat: The Next Wave. He was a regular on Hollywood Squares. In addition to a bunch of other shows, he appeared on Good Morning America in 2011, on The Simpsons several times, twice on Family Guy, once in Young Sheldon, and a stuffed animal ALF was in a Big Bang Theory show. The guys buy a box at a garage sale after following someone they think could be Adam West. One of the items in the box is the ALF doll.

Photo: bigbangtheorywiki.wikinfofoundry.com

In addition to shows, ALF appeared in a variety of commercials including telephones, Delta Airlines, Super Bowl XLV, and Radio Shack.

If all that is not enough, in August of 2018, Variety reported that there was a possible ALF reboot coming from Warner Brothers. One of the rumored ideas is that ALF would emerge from Area 51 into a world that has drastically changed, somewhat like Austin Powers, I guess.

I’m not sure that it would be a good idea to bring ALF back. The original is a classic and extremely funny if you aren’t aware of all the background tension. I think we’ll let the show speak for itself. Here is a typical example of the conversations that Willie and ALF had around the breakfast table.

Willie: You can’t vote, ALF, you’re not a citizen.

ALF: I’ll apply for a green card.

Willie: That’s only if you want a job.

ALF: Pass. (After a pause) I know, I’ll marry Lynn, become a citizen, and then drop her like a hot potato.

Willie: ALF . . .

ALF: Sure, it will be hard on her at first. She’ll cry, drink a little too much, join up with a bongo player named Waquine.

Willie: ALF

ALF: You’d like Waquine, he doesn’t like beets.

Willie: Neither you nor Waquine may marry my daughter and you may not vote.

ALF: Fine, I won’t have a voice in government. Waquine will get deported, and they’ll make him eat beets.

Willie: How many cups of coffee have you had today?

ALF: Forty. Why?

I’m Feeling A Little Looney!

January 22, 2018 / thewritelife61 / 2 Comments

Today we get to explore one of my favorite animation sitcoms. If you wait long enough, everything comes back into style. In looking at new movies which will debut in the next few years, we have remakes coming of A Star is Born, Dirty Dancing, and Hitchcock’s classic The Birds. All-white kitchens that were popular in the 1950s have returned. One of the photos below is from the 1960s and one is from the past year. Can you tell which is which?

In my opinion, most of the reboots are lackluster and not nearly as good as the originals. Case in point is the Parent Trap. The original Disney version with Hayley Mills is much better than the remake with Lindsay Lohan. Sometimes a gem is created. Father of the Bride with Steve Martin and Diane Keaton is just as entertaining, if not better, than the original.

From 1930 through 1969, Warner Brothers produced tons of Looney Tunes cartoons – the golden age being 1944-1964. Many of us grew up with these cartoons and watched them in syndication with our kids. In 1996, many of these characters were featured in Space Jam, and a new generation of fans was created. In May of 2011, Warner Brothers again debuted Looney Tunes. Created by Spike Brandt and Tom Cervone, 52 episodes were produced in two seasons of shows that ran until August of 2014 on The Cartoon network. in reading the reviews of the shows and perusing blogs about the show, many people felt cheated by this new adaptation and considered it a betrayal of the Looney Tunes branding. I, on the other hand, loved them.

In 2011, the gang had grown up just as I had. Bugs Bunny lived in a wealthy, middle-class neighborhood. He made his fortune inventing a new carrot peeler; he even won a Nobel prize. The 30-minute sitcom included adult-oriented humor and dialogue-driven scripts, but it also appealed to kids. We had three different generations watching it at our house and everyone enjoyed it.

Bugs has a great sense of humor. He is extremely patient which is good because Daffy now lives with him. Their relationship is a cross between Felix and Oscar on The Odd Couple and George and Jerry on Seinfeld. Daffy tries a variety of get-rich quick schemes but none of them pan out. He can’t hold a job. He is either fired for incompetence, or he quits from laziness. He is constantly making trouble for Bugs with his friends and neighbors. Daffy is self-focused and rude to everyone. However, he truly wants to be a good friend and his heart sometimes gets in the way of his hare-brained schemes, no pun intended. Both characters are voiced by Jeff Bergman.

The rest of the Looney Tunes characters are also in the show. Porky (voiced by Bob Bergen) is highly intelligent and interested in culture. Daffy often tries to manipulate him. Porky quit his boring corporate job and opened his own catering service. He also serves on the city council. We see Porky writing and performing opera on episodes.

Speedy Gonzales (played by Fred Armisen) runs a pizza joint called Pizzarriba. The rest of the cast often dines there.

Several minor characters are Bugs’ neighbors. Yosemite Sam (Maurice LaMarche voices him) lives next door and causes no end of problems for Bugs who tolerates him almost as well as he does Daffy. Granny lives across the street with Tweety. Voiced by the amazing June Foray, Granny was an allied spy during World War II and now teaches piano. I’m not sure of all the details but apparently the show did not have permission to use the witch Hazel so Lezah who looks identical to her lives down the street (voiced by Roz Ryan).

Elmer Fudd shows up now and again as a local news reporter.

Lola, who appeared in Space Jam, is again Bug’s girlfriend. She is a bit scatter-brained and fast talking, but likable. (Kristen Wiig plays Lola.)

Daffy also has a long-suffering girlfriend, Tina. Tina is a female duck who works at The Copy Place. She’s very practical, and tries to get Daffy to grow up and become responsible. (Tina was voiced by Jennifer Esposito and Annie Mumolo.)

There is a bit of a Friends-like atmosphere about the show. The characters have character flaws, but they are all likable and fun loving. The plots feature adult problems and issues: dating, careers, fulfilling dreams, and mundane chores like going to the DMV.

There are three episodes that stand out for me as my favorites.

Newspaper Thief (2011) and Spread Those Wings and Fly (2013) are two shows that feature a lot of the humor that makes this show so much fun.

In Newspaper Thief, Daffy accuses the neighbors of stealing his newspaper. Bugs lectures him, and they plan a dinner party for Daffy to apologize. Instead of apologizing, he gets Porky to help him set up a trap to capture the thief. There are some great one-liners in the show.

In Spread Those Wings and Fly, Daffy and Porky go to hear a motivational speaker. Daffy is a skeptic and wants nothing to do with it. Of course, he is reeled in and buys books and motivational tapes. Porky understands the goal is to fly by pursuing your dreams, but Daffy takes it literally. He takes flying lessons, planning on becoming a pilot. He is terrible and wrecks the plane. He then becomes a stewardess, wearing high heels and is dressed like a female, even though Bugs explains guys can be flight attendants now. He quits when he realizes he literally flies back and forth to a city and doesn’t get any time to sight see. The ending of the show has everyone invited to Porky’s opera debut. Porky has pursued his dream of singing and performs for his friends. He is amazing, but Daffy totally misses the talent and complains about him the entire time. Before they leave, the camera pans to Daffy’s feet and shows him still wearing the high heels. He tells Bugs he likes the height they give him.

My favorite show though is Best Friend Redux. Bug’s best friend Rodney, whom he met at Camp when they were young, comes to visit for a couple of days. Daffy tries to figure out if he or Rodney is Bug’s best friend. Bugs tells him adults don’t have best friends; they just have friends. Daffy tries to make Bugs jealous by hanging out with Porky. When that doesn’t work, and he gets bored listening to Bugs and Rodney reminisce, Daffy steals Lezah’s time machine. He goes back to camp and convinces Rodney to go home because they overbooked. It works, although Little Porky who was at the camp in another cabin gets brought back to the future. Daffy takes him to the adult Porky’s house and drops him off. He goes home only to realize that Bugs doesn’t know him. Lezah explains Daffy can’t change history without changing the present. She said because Bugs never met Rodney, he never met Daffy because he meets Daffy at the post office mailing a letter to Rodney. Daffy realizes his error and goes back in time, taking little Porky with him. He stops Rodney’s bus and takes him back to camp to introduce him to Bugs. Then he puts Little Porky into their cabin instead of the boring one he was supposed to be in. At the end of the show, Rodney realizes why Daffy looks familiar. He says he looks like their camp director, Chuck Winnanatke which confuses Bugs who says that was not the camp director’s name. Daffy quickly gets them to change the subject.

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It seems like most people love or hate this reboot of Looney Tunes. Take a day this winter and have a Looney Tunes fest. Both seasons are available on DVD. You can revisit your nostalgic youth while enjoying the show from an adult point of view. I’d love to hear what you think of the show.