Is ALF Coming Back to Earth? The '80s Sitcom Is Set For a Reboot

lmt · ‎05-19-2010

In news so far-fetched a network executive actually made a joke about it back in 2015, '80s family hit ALF is set for a reboot. Warner Bros. is developing a new series of the show, with original writers Tom Patchett and Paul Fusco attached.

ALF ran for four seasons from 1986 to 1990 on NBC, and there were a whopping 102 episodes of the sitcom broadcast during that time. It told the story of a "friendly extra-terrestrial," who crash-landed on Earth and wound up living with a suburban middle class family. ALF (an acronym for Alien Life Form) was a puppet performed and voiced by Fusco. With Fusco on board, it seems like ALF himself will be similar to the '80s original, though he'll live with a new family in this modern reworking.

The Hollywood Reporter describes the reboot as being "in very early development," with no network attached yet. But with the current obsession with rebooting and reworking nostalgic classics, it seems likely we may see every '80s kid's favorite alien back on our screens soon.

ms traditional · ‎03-09-2010

i hope it remains light-hearted so we can all share a laugh - for a change.

lmt · ‎05-19-2010

@ms traditional wrote:
i hope it remains light-hearted so we can all share a laugh - for a change.

@ms traditional I hope so too.

I did watch the show back in the day. Not my favorite, but it was cute.

chrystaltree · ‎05-10-2010

I think every old sitcom from the 80's being rebooted. As I recall, Alf didn't las long the first time around. Wasn't it just a season or two? I liked it but I like all the shows that get cancelled quickly.

lmt · ‎05-19-2010

@chrystaltree wrote:
I think every old sitcom from the 80's being rebooted. As I recall, Alf didn't las long the first time around. Wasn't it just a season or two? I liked it but I like all the shows that get cancelled quickly.

@chrystaltree ALF ran for four seasons from 1986 to 1990 on NBC, and there were a whopping 102 episodes.

Every day it seems plans for another reboot are announced. I posted an article about the Facts of Life getting rebooted. There was some interesting information in the article about why so many old shows are getting rebooted.

drizzellla · ‎03-14-2010

I am cleaning right now and happen to run across Season One of ALF. The 4- disc set. We never opened it. I better watch it before the new shows come on. Guess it was a Christmas gift from someone to someone.

Wonder if Max Wright will also be in the reboot.

bathina · ‎03-14-2010

One of the creators of this show was high on heroin every day. His story was portrayed in the movie Permanent Midnight with Ben Stiller playing the main character. The movie was fantastic. The show not so much.

lmt · ‎05-19-2010

@drizzellla wrote:
I am cleaning right now and happen to run across Season One of ALF. The 4- disc set. We never opened it. I better watch it before the new shows come on. Guess it was a Christmas gift from someone to someone.

Wonder if Max Wright will also be in the reboot.

@drizzellla I kind of doubt it. According to the above article, ALF will be living with a new family. And there's this.........

alf max wright sex drugs scandal

He was one of TV's favorite dads on the hit Eighties sitcom ALF.

But Max Wright's life is now a long way from the bright lights of Hollywood more than two decades on.

The 75-year-old actor, who played Willie Tanner on the popular show, was recently pictured taking out the garbage from his modest apartment in Hermosa Beach, California, looking disheveled.

He has certainly led a troubled and difficult life since his career heyday, including cancer, legal problems, and even a gay sex and drugs scandal.

Since ALF ended in 1990, life has been very up-and-down for Max, with his only other regular sitcom role coming with Norm from 1999 until 2001.

In the meantime, the actor was treated for a 1995 diagnosis of lymphoma and later was arrested on two occasions - in 2000 and 2003 - for drunk driving.

While his TV and film career dwindled over the years - the actor's last television role was in the 2005 TV movie, Back To Norm - Max returned mainly to the theatrical world.

ALF may have brought Max his greatest fame, but he has admitted to hating the idiosyncratic and gruelling sitcom about a sarcastic alien who moved in with a suburban family.

In a 2000 'Where Are They Now?' interview with People, Max described the 1986-1990 production as 'hard work and very grim.'

'I was hugely eager to have it over with,' he added, although he conceded that ALF 'brought people a lot of joy.'

The bizarre comedy about a furry, cat-eating alien named Gordon Shumway was an unlikely hit for NBC, becoming the fifth-most-watched show on television during ALF's second season.

Declining ratings and the reported dissatisfaction of most of the actors, however, led to a surprise cancellation after the comedy's fourth season.

Due to the inherent nature of producing a show featuring hand-operated puppets, ALF was technically difficult and demanding on series creator Paul Fusco as well as its four lead actors.

As confirmed during a 2006 People magazine interview that there were high levels of tension on the set, Max Wright stated that he despised supporting a technically demanding inanimate object that received most of the good lines of dialogue. He admitted to being "hugely eager to have ALF over with.

Artie Lange, who later worked with Wright on The Norm Show, told of a time when Wright had become "crazed" and attacked ALF, causing producers to have to pull Wright off the puppet.

Anne Schedeen, who played wife Kate, added that on the last night of taping, "there was one take and Max walked off the set, went to his dressing room, got his bags, went to his car and disappeared. There were no goodbyes."

Schedeen herself said "there was no joy on the set...it was a technical nightmare – extremely slow, hot and tedious... A 30-minute show took 20, 25 hours to shoot."

While fond of her on-screen children, Schedeen said some adults had "difficult personalities. The whole thing was a big dysfunctional family." Schedeen added, "It's astonishing that ALF really was wonderful and that word never got out what a mess our set really was."

Andrea Elson, who played daughter Lynn and who suffered from bulimia during the second season of shooting, stated, "If ALF had gone one more year, everybody would have lost it."

Nataliesgramma · ‎03-28-2015

My hubbby liked this show when it was on......me not so much...

Judaline · ‎03-10-2010

Oh, my, how sad this whole story is. We loved/love Alf. (Alien Life Form). We get him week-ends on METV. It took me back. It's every bit as funny. The droll voice on that guy got me every time. I'm very sorry to hear about Max Wright. Another droll voice in the family. From what I've read, it's exactly how he really felt! If Alf returns, will it be the same actor?I once read an article about how they wanted to keep it a secret who the actor was playing him. I once saw his picture and I had to quickly look away. That can't be our real Alf. No word ever about any puppet. What the heck gives?