For those of you with Time Warner cable, there is a great channel called the HUB which shows reruns of Mork and Mindy, Facts of Life, Lois and Clark and the classic ALF, which I just watched with my daughters. I was all over ALF for at least the first couple of years it was on but watching it now I'm not sure exactly why. As my daughters noted, it really is kind of a creepy show. ALF, according to my oldest daughter did not look like an alien but rather some kind of messed up horse. It also creeped my girls out that aliens on plant Melmac where ALF is from like to eat cats. In fact, that was the plot of this whole episode. Everyone thought ALF ate the cat Lucky because the cat was missing and ALF coughed up a fur ball but in the end ALF was vindicated and they found the cat. Happy ending, cue the laugh track and ALF takes the episode out with a rollicking impression of Tom Cruise in Risky Business.

Crappy effects (the transition between ALF the puppet and ALF the little person is a fur costume is jarring). Really bad acting, the worst belonging to Max Wright who reportedly spent more time at the bar than he did memorizing the script. And the 80's wardrobe...suspenders and really puffy pants and even puffier hair...just dreadful. And in spite of all of this, all of the badness and corny jokes and horrible laugh track, thee 14 year old in me loved the hell out of it. I haven't watched an episode of ALF in 10 or 15 years and even though my 40 year old eyes judged it harshly, it still brought back a time when a socially awkward high school Freshmen couldn't wait for a new episode.

Time is cruel...glad I'm where I am now in life but can't believe the time in my life where I was excited about a new episode of ALF is gone forever.

you really "gottaletitgo"

It's amazing to realize the things we overlooked in the relative ignorant bliss of our youth.

Remember when ALF went on a blind date...and the lady was actually BLIND?

Heh.

Yeah.

KingBAD said:

you really "gottaletitgo"

Probably so...

PunkMistress said:

Remember when ALF went on a blind date...and the lady was actually BLIND?

Heh.

Yeah.

That's when the show jumpd the shark...basically at the end, there were dozens of people who one way or another knew about Alf's existence. Once it got outside the family, the show just fell apart. Because, before that it was a brilliant study of the family dynamic vis-a-vis the addition of a wisecracking cat eating corny joke telling alien.

GottaLetitgo said:

PunkMistress said:

Remember when ALF went on a blind date...and the lady was actually BLIND?

Heh.

Yeah.

That's when the show jumpd the shark...basically at the end, there were dozens of people who one way or another knew about Alf's existence. Once it got outside the family, the show just fell apart. Because, before that it was a brilliant study of the family dynamic vis-a-vis the addition of a wisecracking cat eating corny joke telling alien.

The 80s were full of "secret alien" shows; what was up with that?

ALF; Harry and the Hendersons; Small Wonder (I loved that show!); were there more?

PunkMistress said:

I didn't watch ALF much but I remember one episode that centered around a little girl with a terminal disease. Man, was it sad. I can still see the image of that little girl in her bedroom window, waving goodbye to ALF for probably the last time.

RodeoSchro said:

I didn't watch ALF much but I remember one episode that centered around a little girl with a terminal disease. Man, was it sad. I can still see the image of that little girl in her bedroom window, waving goodbye to ALF for probably the last time.

I'm sure at the time I was very excited about it.

(Announcer's Voice) Tonight on a very special episode of ALF...

The fact that I was ever in my life very excited about a special episode of ALF is a little bit messed up.