Rijndri
Load of rubbish!!
TeenzTen
An action-packed slog
Hulkeasexo
it is the rare 'crazy' movie that actually has something to say.
moshomaniac
I was in Kindergarten when this out-of-this-world comedy debuted. ALF, an alien from the planet Melmac, crashed landed in the attic of an American family called the Tanners in 1986, and into the hearts of millions. Rather than tell a comprehensive review of the series, I just wanted to mention how the series impacted all of us back in the 80s. ALF was a cultural phenomenon, ranking up there with 80s icons like Max Headroom, E.T., and Indiana Jones. Gordon Shumway(aka ALF) was a wisecracking, cat-eating, accident-prone, T.V. loving, constantly hungry, but always lovable extraterrestrial, the brainchild of Paul Fusco, co-creator and the voice of ALF. ALF was a series that was cut off before its prime, ending on an unresolved cliff-hanger. When I saw the DVD first put out in the early 2000s, I bought it, wondering if the show would still be as fun for me as a kid. To my astonishment, I found I not only like it as much as an adult, but even more. They have jokes in there that are aimed at adult audiences too(ALF's emulates Tarmac the Magnificent on the tonight show, and does an impression of Mork from Mork and Mindy). All in all, ALF is still a fun series, but left a bit of a bittersweet note with me as well: that sitcoms that are wholesome and family-friendly have all but the dust. Well, we'll always have memories, and nothing can change that.
pesic-1
One of the most memorable series from my childhood. Most of the episodes were very good, and at times the humour was absolutely brilliant.However, there was a problem with the central premise: Alf is a mentally ill individual. The only way they could extract maximum humour out of Alf's character was, unfortunately, to turn him into a tyrannical, psychotic monster. And we can, for the most part, ignore that fact and just enjoy the humour. But every once in a while I personally became a little tired of it.So the thing that makes Alf so funny is also the thing that ultimately alienates a devoted viewer.Another complaint on my part is that the series was already starting to exhibit signs of 'political correctness', which was only starting to kick in back in the 80s.Still, the writing is mostly good, the characters are likable and well played, and the supporting roles played by Liz Sheridan and John LaMotta were superb. These two proved invaluable for the series, and a good counterpoint to the ordinary and dull Tanners.Eventually the cast became tired of being upstaged and dominated by a puppet and the series was brought to an abrupt and dissatisfying end. Yes, this series has the worst ending in the history of sitcoms.Still, I give it eight stars. I'd give it ten on the nostalgia scale, but considering some of the flaws I think eight is pretty accurate.
James Ghent
ALF was a great show for family entertainment value, it was clean and was very original at the time with a main character who was a wise cracking alien, the cast was all really good and it was actually pretty funny most of the time. My fave characters were the guy who played Willie and the Okmonaks next door (sorry if I spelled that wrong but you have to admit it's a tough name to spell).I loved this show when I was a kid. I picked up the DVDs for season one the other week and have to admit it is not as good as I remember but hey it's been like twenty years or whatever, it was an awesome show and I bet kids would still love it. The guy who played ALF or at least played the voice of ALF was perfect with great timing and all the good jokes in the show were ALF's wisecracks.
Aaron1375
Yes, the funny thing is "Small Wonder" was the lesser known show, but lasted 96 episodes (only 9 episodes less than this one did) and lasted the same amount of seasons. This one by far though started out the hottest, but like so many shows it fizzled late in its life. It did a rather fast fizzle too, as one minute it was one of the most popular shows on television, the next it was gone after a very weak conclusion that was very reminiscent of the ending to "Mork and Mindy" which basically ended on a cliffhanger that would never get resolved. This one sort of tried to resolve the ending by having a television movie years later, but I have never saw that one so I can not comment on how well it wrapped things up. Here you have your alien that lands in a family's garage and then lives and becomes part of the family. All the family learns to really love him, until the end where the mother for some reason goes from accepting Alf to kind of disliking him to an extreme degree. There are a lot of funny episodes to be seen, but then there are more than a few flop episodes too. I loved the one with the alien roach and the one where Alf buys the daughter a car when he is cruising and his hair is blowing in the wind. The family can be described as not very consistent as they act one way one episode and have different values the next. Also, the mother and father were supposedly at Woodstock which raised the question my dad asked "why did every set of parents in these shows attend Woodstock?" Seriously, Woodstock was not attended by the whole world and I would think it would be rare for a mother and father to have attended that function and quite frankly still be together. Alf though is the star and he by far carries the show. There was the typical neighbor in this show who gets nosy and almost catches Alf and then that neighbor had a kid move in with them and he got to meet Alf too. For the most part it was okay, I think a different family would have helped immensely, but this probably explains why this show which is more well known did falter so fast and in the end made only a few more episodes than the lesser known now show "Small Wonder".
