ALF Reboot In the Works at WBTV
Earth to Gordon Shumway: Book an appointment with your groomer.
Warner Bros. is in the early stages of developing a reboot of the beloved ’80s alien sitcom ALF, TVLine has learned exclusively. The original series — which centered on a hairy, sarcastic extraterrestrial who is taken in by a middle-class family — ran for four seasons NBC, with the series finale airing March 24, 1990. All told, 102 episodes were produced.
Warner Bros. is searching for a writer to spearhead the update. A rep for the studio declined to comment for this story.
Despite being off the air for nearly three decades, ALF — an acronym for Alien Life Form — remains something of a hot pop culture property. In recent years, the title character has popped up (or been referenced) on a number of TV series (The Simpsons, Family Guy, The Big Bang Theory, Mr. Robot) and films (Guardians of the Galaxy, Hot Tub Time Machine). He has also appeared in commercials for DirecTV and Radio Shack, as well as the video game XCOM: Enemy Unknown. Reruns can currently be found on Me-TV and via the Starz app.
Paul Fusco was the puppeteer and voice behind the ALF character, as well as the seriess co-creator, writer, director and EP. It’s unclear what his involvement would be in the potential reboot.
NBC dumps so many great shows and brings back a puppet show? No thanks.
I’d rather have Timeless back.
ALF was nothing more than an ordinary sitcom in its first iteration, so I have no interest at all in a reboot. I’m with you, I’d rather see Timeless return with another season or five.
It’s not NBC bringing this back, it’s Warner Bros. It could end up on The CW or something, for all we know.
well if it ends up on CW then Alf will be a transgender gay alien hunted by ICE whom wants to deport him after he illegally crossed the border from Mexico after his ship crashed there
So it’d then be more representative of our current America. Not that you’d have a true understanding of this country all the way over in Russia.
Less than 5% of America identify as a member of the Alphabet group, so not very representative
And to think, how many more would come out if there were even 5% less of the population identifying as close-minded bigots such as yourself and the uninspired Eric below.
No. Just No. Stop with the reboots / revivals. It’s too much. Get new ideas, bring in new people. DO SOMETHING other than rehash what was. I’m all about nostalgia, but it’s getting out of hand.
+1
Whoa, how much more are they going to scrape the bottom of the barrel? Does anyone in Hollywood have an original idea anymore for a television show?
As long as Paul Fusco is involved, and they don’t substantially change ALF’s look (no CGI, keep the puppet!), I am down! Bonus points if they can use some meta comedy and poke fun at the original series.
They’d almost certainly use CGI. I read an article awhile back that said the show was a nightmare to film because of all the trap-doors, etc. necessary for ALF. CGI would save time, money and frustration.
Ordinarily I’d agree. However, If Fusco is involved, and he almost certainly will be given that he basically has full control – it’ll be puppetry. Perhaps CGI for the occasional full-body shot, but for the main shots, and anything frontal – I have no doubt that Alien Productions will insist on the real puppet, those guys are very particular and protective.
I’m with you. The remarkable puppetry was part of the charm of the original ALF series. And Fusco was the mastermind behind the whole thing, so it wouldn’t work without him. As far as I’m concerned, ALF never really went away; he’s just been on hiatus. He’d be as funny in 2019 as he was in the ‘80s.
I sometimes think some reboots of old shows could be cool but I think it looks like they are running out of ideas. Some old show reboots I would like would be Airwolf, maybe they could try Knight Rider again and do better than the 2008 reboot. I know they had an Adam-12 reboot but maybe they could try that again and maybe Emergency? Or The A-Team?
I loved ALF 30 years ago when I was 40. Now I just want Code Black back!!!!!
lol…the younger generation clamors for reboots of “classic” shows they are just discovering, due to streaming…and when they’re announced, they fail to watch them until they’re similarly available in “bingeable” format. The folks who watched these shows during first runs say there were GOOD reasons these shows were canceled in the 1st place. The networks greenlight limited runs of 8 or so episodes, yet they pull the new shows for similar ratings in 8 airings. I think there is a reason these reboots do better when released all at once on Netflix. I also think those of us who do watch live need to tweet while we do to remind the Networks og what the live watching demographic likes and watches. But most of the generation who watches live did not grow up with social media, and at most, discuss the shows online when they’re finished. Network TV is killing their live numbers on their own, it seems. ;)
For the love of God, Why!?!?!?
Because ALF is awesome!
Bring back shows that never had proper endings, or bring back shows where the kids are all grown up, those are interesting. Bringing back a show that is so 80’s in concept and execution is a bad, bad, bad, bad, bad idea. I was fine with Girl meets world, fuller house, and Raven’s home. Roseanne and will & grace bothered me because both shows ran their course and had proper endings and to bring them back they had to retcon their respective finales, and x files and heroes reborn made us realize there was a reason the shows were canceled in the first place.
I’d disagree that the shows you mentioned had “proper” endings. Roseanne with the death of the husband and what, they won the lottery or something – sorry, I never watched the show – is always mentioned as a good show with an awful ending. Will & Grace – the ending was horrible, with a flash-forward where the title characters had basically become strangers, if not actual enemies. Now I can forget that future ever happened and enjoy the new episodes.
When I say “proper ending” I don’t mean everyone was happy with how it ended or it was well received, but it WAS written and intended as a finale, most shows don’t get such a luxury. A lot of shows end on a cliffhanger, and some just end with no special Episode. Like it or not both shows had “proper” endings. There are many shows out there with loose plot threads just dangling in the wind, or characters fates up in the air, or their lives are just going through the motions, never having received a happy ending of any kind. I’d rather see Raven Baxter raising her kids who inherited her psychic gift then see Will & Grace both still single and still living together.
There was a follow-up film, Project ALF, where he is captured by a task force. There was, I believe, an animated series and a talk show of sorts on TV Land or some other network.
YES!
This is the one reboot that needs to happen ASAP!!!
STOP!
“Collaborate and listen?”
LOL nice one!
“In the Name of Love”?
Give it a chance. ALF had the greatest line of dialogue in TV history: “I’m a people junkie!”
I would be a breath of fresh air than all that other crap on tv one bad show after another..
all those reality shows please get a life oh don’t forget the house hoos….and host of bull !
Give me Wayward Sisters.
Is Small Wonder next?
HA! I didn’t see this and posted the same. Crazy. Although at this point, I might like SMALL WONDER.
I’m still awaiting the reboot of My Mother The Car.
Another reboot? A reboot of one of the most idiotic shows that was ever on television? Great…..more wasted airspace, piled high with garbage like this. Definite pass on this junk.
Given the number of commenters on this site who applauded the return of Last Man Standing, you have no reason not to be ecstatic at the return of ALF.
Don’t want to see it…..
I feel like the world is coming to an end and this is a cruel joke. What’s next SMALL WONDER?
Only will care if this is a continuation of Alf’s appearance from MR ROBOT.
Time to lock up your cats. Lol!
Good comment. I was thinking almost the same thing.
This would be way cooler if they could combine it with the 24 prequel.
ALF as the younger Jack Bauer?
Please do. You have no idea the joy it brings my 11 yr old. He hums ,”Start spreading the news” a lot after the episode where Alf has a nightmare. Start off with web episodes. And let ppl comment along with a contest to welcome in new writers.
How on Earth is Alf getting a reboot before Xena: Warrior Princess, especially when NBC would presumably have the right to exploit Javier Grillo-Marxuach’s ideas for the reboot from his short time as show runner before the reboot was canned?
Lucy Lawless is obviously soon going to be very busy executive producing and starring in her new Australian TV series “My Life is Murder”, which will presumably be distributed internationally on CBS, so a revival unfortunately seems even less possible than before. But, a tale of two, very different heroines joining forces to fight for the greater good is pretty timeless and worthy of further exploration.