Alf (TV series)

Alf is an American televisionsitcom that ran from 1986 to 1990 and was created by Paul Fusco. The series consisted of 102 episodes and a TV movie.

The series was a great success in America and then an even bigger success in many European countries such as Germanyand Poland . In Germany the series was so popular that the even for tv made movie there in the cinemas was screened under the title Alf der Film. In the Netherlands the series is broadcast by TROS, RTL5 andVeronica. All four seasons have been released on dvd in 2009/2010 in Netherlands.



Content
[hide] *1 Content  ==Content[ Edit] == The show, featuring Alf, a alien that has fled his home planet Melmak because this was on the point of exploding. He follows with his spaceship the radio signal of an amateur radio station and ends up as on Earth.There plunges his ship down in the garage of the family Tanner, a middle-class family consisting of social worker Willie (Max Wright), his wife Kate (Anne Schedeen) and their two children: teenage daughter Lynn (Andrea Elson) and son Brian (Benji Gregory).
 * 2 Characters
 * Gordon Shumway/ALF 2.1
 * 2.2 The Tanner family
 * 2.3 The Ochmonek family
 * 2.4 Other
 * 3 Production
 * 4 Episodes
 * 5 Roles
 * 6 Spin offs
 * 6.1 Tv movie
 * 6.2 cartoon series
 * 6.3 Marvel comic
 * 6.4 Talk show
 * 6.5 Attraction
 * 7 Merchandising
 * 8 Trivia
 * 9 external links

Because Alf cannot return to Melmak he becomes a member of the family. The cat's family, Tanner called Lucky, since then his life is no longer certain as cats are a delicacy on Melmak. Fortunately for Lucky gets Alf later in the series more respect for him.

Because the family decision to keep secret Alfs existence (especially since there are plenty of scientists and soldiers who Alf would like investigations) creates many comic situations. Especially the spontaneous visits of the neighbors, the Ochmonek family, deliver the necessary hilarity on. Alf is generally hidden in the kitchen as there are people come to visit. During the series, he learns to know a few other people outside the Tanners like Willies brother Neal, Kates mother Dorothy, the nephew of the Ochmoneks '; Jack, the psychiatrist Larry, and Jody, a blind woman. Also he learns more and more about the earthly life and Earthly culture. This is common as strange on him about it, while the right is strange behavior for Alfs Tanners.

During the last episode he receives a signal through the radio of his girlfriend Rhonda and friend Skip, which also have survived the explosion of the planet Melmak. He decides to go with them and not to remain on Earth. However, doesn't manage to Board their spaceship to come and soon after he is captured by a group of scholars who had an eye on him from the beginning. ==Characters[ Edit] == ===Gordon Shumway/ALF[ Edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" len="1" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] === <p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:22.3999996185303px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">ALF is the main character in the series. His name is the abbreviation for "Alien Life Form". This is a name that the family Tanner has given him. Alfs actual name is Gordon Shumway

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:22.3999996185303px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">Alf is a small alien with a pointed snout and entirely covered with brown-orange hair. He has 8 stomachs and a huge haul in cats.

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:22.3999996185303px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">He is according to Terrestrial era born on 28 October 1756 Melmak on the East side of the planet. He has 122 years training on Melmak followed at a college. He was also captain of the Bouillabaisseballteam ever (a sport played on ice with a clam if ball).

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:22.3999996185303px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">Alf is often problematic in terms of character, cynical and sarcastic. It takes the Tanners great bother him to keep hidden to the outside world. However, if things get out of hand, however, he does all he can to put things right. ===The Tanner family<span class="mw-editsection" len="344" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" len="1" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ Edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" len="1" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] === ===The Ochmonek family<span class="mw-editsection" len="346" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" len="1" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ Edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" len="1" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] === ===Other<span class="mw-editsection" len="333" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" len="1" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ Edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" len="1" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] === ==Production<span class="mw-editsection" len="336" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-family:sans-serif;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" len="1" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ Edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" len="1" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] == <p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:22.3999996185303px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">The production of Alf was technically difficult and demanding. All four main actors – Max Wright (Willie Tanner), Anne Schedeen (Kate Tanner), Andrea Elson (Lynn Tanner) and Ben Hertzberg a.k.a. Benji Gregory (Brian Tanner) – admitted that there is a high level of tension on the set<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-autogenerated1_1-0" len="187" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[1]. Max Wright gave in an interview that he really hated to have to work together with an inanimate object that most good sentences got<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-autogenerated1_1-1" len="187" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[1] .According to Anne Schedeen left Max after the last shooting day without saying anything of the set.
 * William "Willie" Francis Tanner: the father of the family. He is a social worker and amateur radio. Furthermore collects Willy model trains. Willie graduated from Claremont High School. He was a hippie in the 1960s.
 * Katherine "Kate" Daphne Halligan Tanner: the mother of the family. She is a graduate in history of art and sometimes works as a broker. She also has interest in poems.
 * Lynn Tanner: the oldest child of the Tanners. She is a teenager and very shy at the start of the series. ALF tries to give her more confidence, such as by her for a beauty contest.
 * Brian Tanner: the oldest son and middle child of the Tanners. He seems the most with ALF on be able to shoot.
 * Eric Tanner: the youngest child of the Tanners. He is born in the third season.
 * Neal Tanner: Willies brother. He stays a while at the Tanners after his wife leaves him, and so he meets ALF.
 * Dorothy Halligan: Kates MOM. She is a widow and has a love-hate relationship with ALF. She is initially afraid to enter into a new relationship to ALF convinces her that it is better for her to marry again. She marries with a jazz musician called "Whizzer".
 * Whizzer: a Jazz musician and is in season 1 Dorothy's new husband. He can absolutely not with ALF handle.
 * Raquel Ochmonek: the neighbor of the Tanner family. She has a great desire to have children, but she and her husband have never had children. She is very curious and gets to see ALF twice, but never behind that he lives at the Tanners. She was a cheerleader at her high school.
 * Trevor Ochmonek: the neighbor of the Tanner family. He is a veteran of the Korean war.
 * Jake Ochmonek: the nephew of Raquel and Trevor. He comes at them live after his father and his mother should not go to jail for him can worries there they Kleptomaniac is. Jake has a predisposition to technique.His aunt sees him as a replacement for the son they never had. He learns ALF common and can get along well with him.
 * Jodie: a blind woman with whom ALF enters into a relationship in season 1. They never get by that ALF no man is, already notice them that he is small and hairy.
 * Larry Dykstra: a psychiatrist who help the family to Tanner comes when ALF and Willie get heavy disagreement. He learns so ALF common.
 * The Alien task force: a Government Department that deals with investigating alien activity on Earth. ALF draws their attention several times, and at the end of the series they get to catch him.

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:22.3999996185303px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">For a 30-minute episode was often a production time of 20 to 25 hours. To the puppeteers that Alf had to operate to give space, the sets were built on a raised platform full of hatches in the floor. The trapdoors had to sometimes be moved a few times in the middle of a scene to the puppeteers to take another position in.

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:22.3999996185303px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">Paul Fusco was the primary puppeteer. He operated with one hand the mouth of the doll, and an arm with his other hand. A second puppeteer, Lisa Buckley, Paul helped from behind the scenes, and servant Alfs other arm. Alfs facial expressions such as eye-and oorbewegingen were sent by a third person by means of a remote control.

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:22.3999996185303px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">For the scenes in which Alf actually walk around became an actor in a suit used. This actor was Michu Meszaros. ==Episodes<span class="mw-editsection" len="339" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-family:sans-serif;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" len="1" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ Edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" len="1" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] == ==Division Of Roles<span class="mw-editsection" len="339" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-family:sans-serif;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" len="1" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ Edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" len="1" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] == <p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:22.3999996185303px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">Michu Meszaros was the actor in the Alf costume. Paul Fusco operated the Alf-pop, and supplied voice.
 * Max Wright – Willie Tanner
 * Anne Schedeen -Kate Tanner
 * Andrea Elson – Lynn Tanner
 * Benji Gregory – Brian Tanner
 * John LaMotta – Trevor Ochmonek
 * Liz Sheridan -Raquel Ochmonek
 * Josh Blake – Jake Ochmonek (seasons 2-4)
 * Jim j. Bullock -Neal Tanner (season 4)
 * Lucky the Cat-himself
 * Lisa Buckley – Alf Assistant/puppeteer
 * Bob Fappiano – Alf Assistant/puppeteer

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:22.3999996185303px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">Notable guest appearances

==Spin offs<span class="mw-editsection" len="337" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-family:sans-serif;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" len="1" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ Edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" len="1" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] == ===Tv-film<span class="mw-editsection" len="335" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" len="1" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ Edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" len="1" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] === <p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:22.3999996185303px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">Alfs kidnapping by the scholars at the end of the series served as the basis for an additional season, that has never been created. To finalize the series in 1996 was still a TV movie titled Project Alf. The film takes place six years after the series off. ===Cartoon Series<span class="mw-editsection" len="342" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" len="1" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ Edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" len="1" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] === <p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:22.3999996185303px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">Because of the success of the series, there was also a cartoon series made about Alf called ALF: The Animated Series. The cartoon showed Alfs Melmak experiences on his home planet before it was blown up. As Alf was a name that the family gave to him when he came to Earth Tanner is Alf in the cartoon series always with his real name. The series consisted of 26 episodes. The series also got a spin-off entitled ALF Tales. ===Marvel Comic<span class="mw-editsection" len="339" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" len="1" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ Edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" len="1" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] === <p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:22.3999996185303px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">The American company Marvel Comics started in 1987 a comic book series based on the TV series Alf. The comic series ran four years on.
 * Bill Daily -Dr. Larry Dykstra
 * Anne Meara – Dorothy Halligan Deaver
 * Paul Dooley -Whizzer Deaver

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:22.3999996185303px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">The strip closed loosely to the TV series, but was significantly different on a number of issues (such as the birth of Eric Tanner). Further contained the classic Marvel comic strip characters and other many parodies of pop culture parodies in the form of "flashbacks about Melmak". ===Talk show<span class="mw-editsection" len="336" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" len="1" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ Edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" len="1" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] === <p lang="en" len="573" style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:22.3999996185303px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">In 2004 are some episodes made of Alf's Hit Talk Show, as the title indicates a talk show with the fictional alien as the host. ===Attraction<span class="mw-editsection" len="337" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" len="1" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ Edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" len="1" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] === <p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:22.3999996185303px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">In Warner brothers movieworld Germany in 1996 was a dark ride where Alf the leading role together with the gremlins . Visitors were first piloted in a cinema where a "seemingly" normal episode of Alf gets to see. But this is suddenly disturbed by a brutish invasion of Gremlins had hidden on the set. Hereinafter referred to as the Alf calls to flee for Gremlins. After which the visitors have to drive by the film set in a kind of Trolly to flee to the Gremlins. Alf is in various scenes of the attraction to see where he is trying to hold back the Gremlins along with Gizmo. The attraction is since 2002 (due to the expiry of the rights with Warner Bros.) closed to the public. The attraction is no longer in operational state (was previously during Halloween every now and then still open) because the attraction converted into Scooby Doo the ride in 2004. ==Merchandising<span class="mw-editsection" len="341" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-family:sans-serif;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" len="1" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ Edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" len="1" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] == <p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:22.3999996185303px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">The series brought with it a large merchandising . So there appeared a trading card game of the series, released by Topps. Most of these cards contain pictures of the show, but some were intended as parody of basketball cards, with Alf who practiced the sport Bouillabaissebal. In 1988 appeared a Alf-calendar showing the public holidays of the planet Melmak.

<p lang="en" len="282" style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:22.3999996185303px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;">There is also a video game for the Sega Master Systemof Alf, in which Alf must repair his ship. ==Trivia<span class="mw-editsection" len="334" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-family:sans-serif;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" len="1" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ Edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" len="1" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] ==
 * The popularity of the series led there in Germany that the place-name signs from the village of Alf were regularly stolen by souvenir collectors.
 * Alf has agreements with the Elves, Elves and certain types of gnomes.