The series "Alf": reviews, plot, actors and photos

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Alf is an American sci-fi comedy sitcom. He talks about an ordinary family who sheltered an alien named Alf. Four seasons aired from 1986 to 1990. After that, the series was unexpectedly closed, but received several sequels and spin-offs. It is one of the most popular sitcoms of the eighties.

Creators

The series was conceived and executive produced by puppeteer/voice actor Paul Fusco and veteran television writer Tom Patchett, who has previously worked on episodes of many well-known shows. Fusco designed the character Alpha, acted as the voice of the protagonist and controlled the puppet in most scenes of the sitcom.

Following the critical and positive reviews of "Alpha", Fusco and Patchett formed their own production company, focusing on creating shows based on their most successful creation.

History of Creation

The production of the series was approved by the channel after Paul Fusco helda little demo of your new character. Studio executives have approved the creation of a full-fledged sitcom about Alpha.

Production of the series was quite heavy from a technical point of view, especially for a comedy program. Also, the leaders of the channel were not satisfied with the fact that the Alpha character allows himself quite adult jokes and often drinks alcohol in the frame, in their opinion, the series was aimed primarily at a family audience. Fasco had to give in and change the character of the protagonist a little.

Storyline

The main plot of "Alpha" is as follows: an alien from the planet Melmak named Gordon Shumway crashes over one of the small towns of California. His ship crashes into the garage of an ordinary Tanner family. In addition to the alien, the main characters of the series "Alf" were the father of the family Willy, his wife Kate and two children, Lynn and Brian.

The family decides to adopt the alien, giving him the name Alf, which is based on an English abbreviation that can be translated as "Extraterrestrial Life Form". The Tanners have to hide the visitor's existence from their pesky neighbors and government agents from a special military alien research unit.

Characters

Gordon Shumway, aka Alf, is over two hundred years old. He is distinguished by a sarcastic and cynical character, a sharp mind and sometimes selfishness. Often his behavior leads to unpleasant situations for the Tanner family, but Alf corrects his mistakes at the end of the episode. Alf is not tall, his body is completely coveredfur. The character has become one of the most popular in American culture, receiving excellent reviews from viewers. Alf has been named one of TV Guide's Top 25 Sci-Fi Characters.

Willy Tanner is a social worker, It was his passion for radio engineering that led to the fact that the Alpha ship picked up the signal from Willy's receiver and landed in their garage. His relationship with the alien is one of the main themes of the series, he is sincerely passionate about astronomy and is glad that an alien got into his house, however, Alpha's behavior and his character often infuriate Willy.

Kate Tanner is Willy's wife, a housewife who occasionally works as a real estate agent. In the pilot episode, it was she who was against Alf staying in their house. Throughout the series, she has a pessimistic attitude, often trying to punish Alpha for his antics and instill discipline in him.

Lynn Tanner is the oldest child in the Tanner family. From the very beginning of the sitcom, she became friends with Alf, the plot of many episodes focuses on their relationship. The visitor from Melamak often helps her overcome her shyness. Sometimes Lynn's parents begin to strain her friendship with Alf, in one of the episodes Willy even jokes that their grandchildren will be covered in fur.

Brian Tanner is the son of Willy and Kate, at the time of the first episode he is six years old. He is sincerely glad that an alien has settled in his house, and becomes a close friend of Alpha. Tied to Lucky the cat, protecting him fromGordon's attempts to eat the animal.

Eric Tanner, the Tanners' third child, was born in the last episode of the series' third season.

Also, the Tanners' neighbors Trevor and Raquel Ochmonek often appear in the sitcom, who try to spy on the characters, as they hide the presence of an alien in their house from them.

Actors

The voice of Alpha was the character's creator, Paul Fusco, who controlled the doll with the help of two assistants. In some scenes where the alien needed to be shown in full growth, the dwarf actor Mihai Messaros, whose height was only eighty-three centimeters, was dressed as Alpha.

For actor Max Wright, the role of Willie Tanner became the main one in his career, after which he starred in several films and mini-series, and also actively worked in the theater. Disappeared from the screens in the middle of the last decade.

For other actors of the series "Alf" the project also became the pinnacle of their careers. After the sitcom's demise, Ann Schedeen, who played Kate, appeared in several more television shows, but for the past fifteen years she has hardly worked, teaching acting from time to time.

Andrea Elson, best known for her role as Lynn Tanner, appeared in several successful television series as a guest star after the end of the series, but after marriage and the birth of a child, she decided to end her acting career.

Benji Gregory, the performer of the role of Brian, after the end of filming in "Alpha" decided not to continue his acting career. He enteredSan Francisco Academy of Art, and then enlisted in the army, where he served for two years.

Closing and continuing

Despite the excellent reviews of "Alpha" among ordinary viewers and professional critics, after the second season, the series began to lose ratings. In addition, its production was extremely costly and difficult from a technical point of view. In addition, an important factor was that many of the actors of the project were unhappy with the fact that the main character is a doll that gets all the glory. According to Max Wright, during the production of the last season of the sitcom, the atmosphere on the set was heated to the limit.

The series was closed by the channel after the fourth season, which ended with Alpha being taken away by the military to a secret base. Fusco claims that he was promised the opportunity to film the fifth season and finish all the storylines. In the end, six years later, he was able to convince another network to approve the filming of the TV movie "Project Alf", which completed the alien storyline. The actors of the original series did not appear in the project.

Other projects

Even during the filming of the series, the channel tried to cover production costs through products with the image of the character. Photos of Alpha appeared on mugs, t-shirts and other products.

After closing the project, Paul Fusco created two animated series based on the sitcom, where he again voiced the character, and also launched an evening talk show with Alf as the host, it was closed after showing several episodes. In 2012, there were rumors aboutthat a feature-length film based on the series is in development. In 2018, it became known that work was underway to restart the series.

Ratings and reviews

The series received great reviews from the very beginning. "Alf" was a hit not only in the USA, the rights to show it were sold to many countries, it was especially successful in Germany and the territory of the former USSR. The show also won several awards, including Viewers' Choice and Kids' Choice.

Other projects featuring the character have received less positive reviews. Alf, however, remains one of the most popular characters in 80s pop culture, still making cameo appearances on other famous programs.