AVERAGE

An easygoing family sitcom, in spite of a troubled production, in the Mork & Mindy vein, about the chaotic romps of a UFO.

Gordon Shumway was his real name, the alien that crashed into the Tanners’s garage. One might have expected a simple rubber creature that wants to phone home, but this furry and very human alien quickly adapted to the American way of life. The family hid him away from the authorities, but concealing a rude, cat-eating alien wasn’t easy. Paul Fusco’s voice talents gave the hairy dude his character and charm.

Max Wright was also right for the part of Willie whose hairline kept receding and bank account grew smaller as ALF invented one costly scheme after another. 

1986-1990:U.S. 97 episodes. Color. Created by Paul Fusco, Tom Patchett. Cast: Max Wright (Willie Tanner), Anne Schedeen (Kate Tanner), Andrea Elson (Lynn Tanner), Benji Gregory (Brian Tanner), Liz Sheridan, John LaMotta. Voice of Paul Fusco (ALF).

Trivia: Most of the time ALF was a puppet (performed by Fusco), but in the first season the diminutive Mihaly ”Michu” Meszaros played him whenever full-body shots were needed. Followed by an animated series in 1987-1989 and a TV movie, Project: ALF (1996).

Quote: “If you had eaten that dish towel, I would have been very angry… That’s a sentence I never thought I would hear myself say.” (Wright to ALF)