Alf, a rewatch thread

[Iggy]

For a while now I've thought of rewatching ALF from the first episode to the end of the show. I really wanted to see all of them in continuity, see how the characters developed and how the writing would evolve. I didn't want to do this with syndicated version as I always felt they ruined too much by cutting a lot of great content, and I only had about half a show taped on VHS. So now with all 4 uncut seasons in possession I can finally make the attempt.

You've probably seen these rewatch threads on various other forums. I'll try to watch an episode whenever I can and I'll write a little review about it here. And to make it more fun I'll rate the episodes between 1 and 5 stars with * marking a bad episode and ***** being a masterpiece. (I hope you won't take offense if some episodes get a bad review, I've been a big fan of this show for over 20 years now so it's not my intention to bash the series I love).

I'll also keep a list of things that Alf broke, I'll choose what I thought was the best joke in the episode, point some mistakes if they are spotted and list some various Melmac trivia, all just for kicks.

Hope you will all join in on the discussions here and share your own thoughts and feelings

[Iggy]

A.L.F. ****
written by Tom Patchett

And so we begin in Tanner's garage with a sequence that introduces each family member to us. For the most part it's all by the book. Brian is your typical kid who dislikes the food his Mom makes, Lynn a teenager who's choice of boyfriends doesn't meet her father's approval, and Kate a caring mother who'll forbid her son to spy on the neighbors with their telescope while still sneaking a peek herself before closing the curtains. Willie, like all nerdy grownups, is very likable right from the start and like all fathers seems very happy to have a son that shares his interests.

Alf starts a bit different than one would expect and he certainly wasn't written as a safe ball to sell to the studio. His edges seem a lot rougher, and his jokes and comments are direct to the point of being brash, giving the show it's distinctive humor. And while the short stature makes him seem cute the uncombed fur makes him appear almost dangerous at times (I emphasize almost). It's certainly not something you'd expect when you think about an alien that comes to share a sitcom with a human family. But it's also a brilliant move by Alf's producers and the biggest factor that got me to care for this character so much. Alf is just so well balanced that he always remains lovable without appearing scary; funny and provocative without being rude. It's like a perfect cup of coffee, not too sweet and not too bitter and makes you become addicted before you know it.

So with the characters introduced we're treated with a hilarious bathroom scene and a highlight of this episode without a doubt. So many great jokes here, "interesting concept" line when Alf flushes the toilet, "there's no need for you to shave, you look fine" from Willie, hilarious puppet work when Alf "attacks" the toilet paper and of course the Ochmonek bit (with the selected best joke of the ep. below). While Willie tries to repair the spaceship we see Alf befriend Lynn with an entertaining performance of "Proud Mary" and a nice little poke with "too dramatic" to sitcoms all around. If this was an episode of say, Full house, those tears would have been real and accompanied by a violin solo in the background. Hooray for sarcasm. We also see Alf brave through the Sesame Street becoming friends with Brian as well who already starts to impersonate him. Nice touch from the writers there.

Willie doesn't manage to repair the spaceship (no surprise there). So in the end it was Kate that reluctantly saved the day when the Alien Task Force guy showed up (and was he a character), showing us that she's the toughest nut to crack in this family, that Alf will have to work a lot more to get her full approval and that we'll be treated to plenty of conflict between them two.

To wrap this first review up, I thought this was certainly a good start to the show. The premise is interesting, the episode was well paced and the jokes were for the most part great (with only a few misses such as Brian's heavy, hairy and talks bit). If I had seen this on the TV for the first time I'm sure I would have returned to see the 2nd episode.


Best joke:
"Ochmonek. Sounds like a typo."

Things broken: Garage roof

Glitches: At the start of the episode Willie says he'll call his friend Nebojsa in Yugoslavia which the English subtitles showed as "Nemboshaba"... I don't know if it was written in the original script like that or it's just DVD specific.

wikiMelmac: Melmac was made of a substance melmac. (makes you google why Earth was named Earth, right? ).

[ALFicionado]

Great idea for a thread. I'll enjoy following this.

[Admin]

Same here, keep in coming!

[Iggy]

Strangers in the night *****
written by Thad Mumford & Paul Fusco

I don't plan to easily give out 5 stars but this episode was really fantastic. I'll even dare and call it perfect. Cause everything just flows so smoothly here making it feel like these people have already done a 100 shows. Amazing that this episode is only the second one they made. The sequences are funny and the background music from Psycho really connects them well adding both excitement and humor when we see Alf sneaking behind Raquel or trying to get into the house through the cat flap. Alf's narration is also a brilliant touch that makes this ep stand out even more.

The acting was great. Willie really nailed that annoyed-and-trying-to-remain-patient tone when he called home from the office. The Ochmoneks were amazing and felt so real and natural, even more amazing when you consider they only had like 30 seconds of screen time before this. But the best part of it all was the puppet work and the expressions they managed to pull off. The look that Alf gives Kate just before she says "make sure that he does [find something interesting to do]" or the window sequence when the window hits Alf on the head and then slams his fingers too, they just connected so well making it very easy to imagine that you're looking at a real live character here and not a simple puppet.

One more thing I'd like to applaud was the intro sequence in which we see Alf play with Brian again. And I find this to be such a nice touch. To see someone as old and intelligent and impatient as Alf spend so much time with Brian, patiently watching him play with toys and playing along with him... So much different then how he interacts with other Tanners, isn't it? And it's great, he's like that cool uncle you had and wanted to spend time with when you were a kid.


Best joke:
Willie: This is a jigsaw puzzle.
Alf: It's broken.
Willie: That's the object, you're supposed to put it together.
Alf: Why? I didn't break it.

Things broken: Missile man action figure

[TheOldAlfer1]

This is brilliant. Are you going to do one for each episode?!

[Admin]

It would definitely be amazing to have a list of everything ALF has ever broken on the show! That would definitely be worth a page on the website when complete.

[Iggy]

Yeah I plan to do a review of every episode this way. Again feel free to join in and add your comments, jokes you liked and things you didn't like and agree and disagree with me

And I will continue to keep track of all the things he broke, won't it be interesting to see it a gigantic list in the end?

Skipped work today so had a chance to do another one:


Looking for lucky ***
written by Bob Bendetson & Howard Bendetson

I was really disappointed by this episode. It gave us such a promising start, a hilarious intro sequence were Alf tries to hypnotize Lucky into thinking he's a bagel (how does he come up with something like that ) and then a brilliant shot in which the camera slowly pans through an unbelievably wrecked living room to show Alf pop out of the kitchen with a shirt and a cucumber doing a spoof of Tom Cruise's dance in Risky Business (see it here if you haven't before http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2UVsyVLLcE ) and then to coolly answer Kate that he had the music pretty loud and wouldn't have heard the phone if the called... it deserves a stand up ovation. Oh and the "hold it" announcement before the belch was also classic. I also like Kate and Brian haggling over what Brian will eat for breakfast, a funny scene there.

Sadly it goes downhill after this. I don't understand why the Tanners flip out cause they can't find Lucky right away. He's a cat and with the before seen cat flap can leave the house whenever he wants. My cat used to leave the house and wouldn't come home for days at times. It's what cats are like. But here everyone becomes crazy and after Alf coughs up an unconvincing fur ball the case is closed. I understand the need to advance the storyline in a 25 minute time space the show has but it just felt very forced to me.

So then Alf decides to go out of the house and look for Lucky himself, in broad daylight, nobody spots him until a dog-pound attendant catches him mistaking him for a dog. He locks him up and Alf manages to escape the shelter grabbing a cat from the little girl's hands and outrunning three people to get back home without any other alarm or pursuit. I know this is a sitcom so I might be being too serious about it all, but it has been noted from the start that the Tanners feared someone would turn in Alf if they saw him and were hiding him from public. A lot of episodes emphasise and deal with this. Why go through all the trouble when you could just say "oh that's just our dog"? I did like the girl from the dog-pound, she was mean .

I wasn't sure what to rate this one but due to a brilliant start I settled on ***. One * was for the hypnosis, another ** for the song and a * for the breakfast scene, and I deducted a * for the way Alf got out of the slammer. I am sorry the episode didn't take a different direction and that it ended up ignoring some of the rules the show previously set. I guess Bendetsons ran out of ideas...


Best joke:
(after returning home and seeing the mess in the living room)
Kate: Maybe we should have called first.
Alf: Well I had the music pretty loud, I probably wouldn't have heard the phone.

Things broken: Heirloom clock

Glitches: in the pilot episode Alf asks for a can of cat food saying he could use the roughage, here he says he wouldn't touch the stuff as he draws the line at intestinal byproducts

wikiMelmac: on Melmac a cat-fork joke is a classic

[Bring Back ALF]

This is great, im trying to do a similar thing on my ALF site, it gets a bit time consuming but good when you are on a roll.

I gave Looking For Lucky five paw prints as it felt a bit different to some of the other episodes in season 1, even had some location shooting!

Looking forward to reading some more of your reviews soon

[Iggy]

Oh I'll be sure to keep an eye on your reviews as well . It can get a bit time consuming but it can also be rewarding to give each episode some extra thought. I'm actually noticing some stuff now that I haven't before.


Pennsylvania 6-5000 ****
written by Donald Todd

Another very solid episode here. The writers are doing a great job of portraying Alf doing plain, everyday stuff and then making something funny and unexpected happen from it. When you think about it, he's stuck in the house all day so what's he going to do? Eat and watch TV. It takes really creative writing to come up with interesting situations with these limitations. To have Alf intervene on nuclear warfare by calling the president is one of those.

Cause you can just imagine him watching all sorts of mediocre afternoon talk shows and political forums and participating in them over the phone. When you think about it, he's your regular couch potato, and very human. His naive innocence is the only thing making him alien (besides his physical looks of course).

And we're really lucky this show was filmed in the 80s. Imagine if Alf lived in the present, with internet, forums and chat rooms and with reality shows taking over the TV... the show would have been more boring cause Alf could have gotten entertained a lot easier.

Plenty of nice moments here. Alf taping and rewatching Willies arrest was hilarious, twice cooked pork and "B., A. and W." jokes were also good and for some reason the shot where Alf is eating a banana always gets me to chuckle. We also hear Lash mentioned again, certainly a plus for continuity as is Raquel spotting Willie getting arrested. But the best scene for me was Willie and Kate's conversation in prison. If I'm not mistaken it's their first scene alone in the show and they handle it really well.

It's also interesting how the show makes fun of government officials, isn't it? First the Alien task force guy from the pilot, the two FBI agents here, then the two clerks in the president's plane, not to mention the president. A little bit of trivia here: the president was voiced by Harry Shearer who gives his voice to Mr. Burns (and various other characters) in the Simpsons.


Best joke:
Willie: Nuclear? You mean that's how your planet exploded?
Alf: No. We all plugged our hair driers at the same time.

Things broken: shortwave radio

[Iggy]

Keepin' the Faith **
written by Laurie Gelman

There's a good idea behind this one: what would happen if Alf found one of those "looking for a way to earn money now?" letters that we all so hate and automatically discard. The alien naiveness with a touch of too much enthusiasm and Willie's VISA is 4000$ in minus.

I like the fact that all the eaten food and broken things from previous episodes are kept in mind and are addressed in a family meeting at the beginning of the episode. What's even better is how Alf manages to annoy them during that meeting, bothering about why he wasn't invited then declining when he is (it always works ).

However it kind of remains bland, even though the trouble he got himself into was interesting ("ha, it's not how much you sell, it's how much you buy"). I think the party went on too smoothly in the end and that there was room for more there. The phone calls with Ginger were funny and the scene when Kate comes to comfort Alf while he plays the piano was a nice touch. But that was about it for this episode.

Best joke:
Phone calls with Ginger

Things broken: vacuum cleaner (off screen)

[Alfaholic]

Iggy I just want to say I think it's a great idea to rewatch all the episodes and post your review. I'm just now getting back into Alf after a 20 year break and I'll be right there along with you watching these episodes from the first season. Ha!

[Gordo]

Iggy I just want to say I think it's a great idea to rewatch all the episodes and post your review. I'm just now getting back into Alf after a 20 year break and I'll be right there along with you watching these episodes from the first season. Ha!

I'm right with ya, some classic episodes and lines get forgotten. As an ALF fan i really need to rewatch more episodes

[Iggy]

Been a bit busy this week so did two episodes here to catch up (thank God for Friday)...

6. For your eyes only ***
written by Mitzi McCall & Adrienne Armstrong

Again there's good continuation here. Alf is starting to feel lonely as he's left home alone again (no Psycho on TV this time) so he follows a radio show to get in touch with another person who's like that. A bit premature perhaps cause he certainly had plenty of social contact lately but it does fit ok in the grand scheme of character development.

I have to say I was a bit surprised to see Alf throw an anniversary party for Kate and Willie. He didn't show that much thought and care for some of our (human) customs but it's nice to see him like this. The life on Earth seems to have started to change him. I do not understand why Alf put stuff like toothpaste and playdoh in food. I thought he only ate regular food? Well along with some other oddities, but I didn't think he'd go for industrial polymers.

Jody is a nice character and gets along well with Alf, sharing a similar style of humor. She is more caution than him, understandable I guess due to her handicap. And the writers get a * for the idea to make her blind, I'm sure it's not easy to come up with new people whom Alf can communicate with unrestricted. With Jody we now have a unique situation cause she thinks he's a regular human and not an alien, so she'll treat him as such. A good addition to the show and I look forward to seeing her appear again.

It was also a good call to have Lynn help Alf sneak out of the house and that she came to pick him up and make sure he stayed out of trouble. Of all the Tanners so far she's the one that left the impression of being his "equal" so to speak. While Brian looks up to Alf and Willie and Kate have a sort of parent/child relationship with him, Lynn is the one who's just his good friend.

A big minus here is the fact they cut the Chipmunks song, and they did it in a clumsy and obvious manner that at first I thought my DVD was scratched and skipped a part. I found this on youtube later, such a good scene too. Jody and Alf both seemed to be having a great time there and ironically it's the one scene where I felt they connected the most - and it got cut out of the uncut show


Best jokes:
Alf: "I also eat when I'm not nervous"
Jody: "I eat when I'm depressed"
Alf: "I eat when I'm bored"
Jody: "I eat when I'm lonely"
Alf: "I eat all the time"
Jody: "I'm a little overweight"
Alf: "I'm short"
Jody: "I'm blind"
Alf: "You win"

Things broken: gravy boat, a glass, mirror in the laundry room (off screen), a bowl, several items in the bathroom



7. Help me Rhonda *****
written by Tom Patchett & Lloyd Garver

I always considered ALF to be a standalone episode show. Each story seemed self contained and it didn't matter if you missed the previous episode or a dozen of them, you could still just jump right back in. But now I see a very strong and thoughtfully constructed arc and I can only applaud the producers for the way they executed it. It all builds up just right, from the excitement of a new way of life, through boredom of being locked in the house to an emotional breakup when he realizes that he his home is gone forever.

There's a lot more drama and a lot less comedy in this one. There were some funny bits of course. The opening intro with Brian and Alf plotting for birthday presents (a minor complaint from me here is Brian's acting, I think the director could have given him a few more takes to play this scene better, he did the rest of the episode all right). Other Melmacians are hilarious and the scene in the alien diner was a good change from what you normally expect to see in the show. The cats dishes were great .

But most of the show was played very slowly, with a lot of emotion and a discrete soundtrack in the background. The scene in the laundry room was fabulous and Alf answering Willie's question: "What's wrong?", with: "Everything. I wanna go home." was a very strong moment. It was nice too see the Tanners tend to Alf afterwards, even if he did go a bit overboard with the soup and the vacuum cleaner and his other demands, just to tease Kate of course. And the final goodbye scene, with Willie's handshake and thanks for an extraordinary experience my friend was the best scene of the series so far. They really nailed it.

I am curious about one thing here: was this episode put here in case ALF got bad ratings and had to be cancelled? If the previous 6 episodes didn't get a good response from the audience, would Alf had left thus ending the show?


Best joke:
Kate: "Good luck"
Alf: "That's all you have to say?"
Kate: "Well, it's a long trip so if you have to use the bathroom now would be a good time"

Things broken: nothing broken this time but it is mentioned Alf set the shower on fire and buried the couch

[TheOldAlfer1]

More good stuff
Do you have a link to the Youtube clip of the Chipmunks song - I really like to see that. Agree, cut could have been better.

[Iggy]

Here it is, it starts at 3:50.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDYa1aCpPuI

There's Polish audio dubbed over the English one but you can still make out what they're saying. Pity they haven't dubbed the Chipmunks, that would have been funny to hear

[TheOldAlfer1]

Nice one Iggy

[fbhwes]

I just started doing this same thing . I was trying to decide if i wanted "re-experience" ALF or my other great love of all television time Buffy The Vampire Slayer. ALF won out so i came online to do some research of our favorite alien and it led me here. I am already up to Oh Tannerbaum

[Iggy]

Enjoy your rewatch fbhwes

Continuing with mine after a longish pause due to a major hardware failure... damn those electromagnetic weapons tests.



8. Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue *
written by Jerry Stahl

I don't know what happened here. In the last episode we had that whole thing with Rhonda. We saw Alf gulp when she heard her voice on the radio. So how, or more importantly WHY, did Mr. Stahl here get the idea to write a follow up episode in which Alf has a huge and sudden crush on Lynn. And not just that, but to have Kate think he has a crush on her and have her actually be disappointed when she found out that he prefers her daughter instead... It's just a huge mess that such character assassinations tend to make.

The rock video was cool and those costumes they put on Alf were great, but that's about the only good thing I could point out from this one.

Best joke:
Willie: "The decorating consists of a couple of posters, maybe a coat of paint."
Alf: "Boy you would have been a lot of fun during the Renaissance."



9. Jump ***
written by Gary Markowitz

We have a Willy episode here, and a first one that explores his character a bit more. It's a good solid attempt really. Played safe with the middle-age crisis and review of one's life accomplishments, something that most viewers can relate to. I must admit I found it surprising that Willy put a skydive on that list, somehow I don't see him as the extreme sports type (though I guess that was the point). I expected something like discover a new galaxy or write a concerto. I do applaud his better mousetrap plan .

There were also plenty of nice moments between Willy and the rest of his family. Especially the 3am conversation with Alf in the garage. It was maybe the most honest scene between them so far, very warm and easy going and just funny enough without spoiling the seriousness. It was also surprising to learn those things about Kate. Again she didn't strike me as the poetry type, she seemed too practical for it. And she certainly didn't seem like someone who dated as much. Not saying Anne Schedeen isn't attractive or anything, she does look great in this season.

The downside here, well, the dream sequence just felt too long. Even got close to the boundary of being boring. It was interesting to see Alf appear as the last person in that dream, one that Willie's subconscious marked as the most accomplished one. So because he appeared last could Willie be perceiving Alf as the biggest threat to disrupt his family order. Alf is a charismatic guy and it's possible Willie is feeling threatened on losing his position as head of this family. Something to keep an eye on in the future...

Best joke:

[Iggy]

10. Baby you can drive my car ****
written by Thad Mumford & Laurie Gelman

This one was fun. Alf does treat us with a fair share of surprises throughout the series but the image of him sitting in a red Ferrari he got for Lynn was one of the better ones. And of course we had to have Alf take the Ferrari for a spin, cause let's face it who would be able to resist, and get into all that trouble (the final buildup from Ms. Ochmonek to the police helicopter was great).

I'm not sure why Willie was so outraged about the car. Sure it's an expensive set of wheels for a teenager but Lynn doesn't seem like the type of person that would get spoiled by this. Not to mention it was bought with Alf's money. But you gotta have conflict, and Max Wright does some good acting again with going from total outrage shouting to a calm but irritated preach on how irresponsible Alf was.

The comedy here was also really good, Jim's Oysters, the mango farm, cocoa, the scene where Alf is speeding on the highway... it gave a very entertaining half an hour well deserving 4 stars.


Best joke:
Kate: "Lynn, how much money do you have in your savings account."
Lynn: "About 150 dollars."
Kate: "What if we kicked in another 150 with that, what kind of car would that buy?"
Alf: "A stolen one"

Things broken: garage door, a Ferrari