For those of a certain age, the name ALF brings back happy memories of the TV sitcom of the 80s that introduced the world to Gordon Shumway, an Alien Life Form – ALF – who crash lands in suburbia and is taken in by the Tanner family. Following the announcement that Shout! Factory acquired the rights to the franchise in February, fans have been treated to the first new ALF video as Shout! Factory TV prepares for a marathon of the original series starting this Friday, April 8th at 8 pm ET.
The new short video promo features the character himself in all his glory, going meta on how his experiences were the motivation for the series. Once again performed by Paul Fusco, for those who watched the original series between 1986 and 1990, it is like stepping back in time because, just like all practical effects, puppets don’t age and ALF is just the same now as he always was.
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According to the press release:
“ALF is taking over Shout! Factory TV for over two days of everyone’s favorite wise-cracking, cat-eating alien. All 102 episodes (51 hours) from ALF’s four-season run on NBC will be presented in order from start to finish. We’ll be celebrating ALF’s return to streaming with all-new interstitials featuring ALF himself!”
Shout! Factory’s Jeffrey Peisch expressed his delight to be welcoming ALF to the channel in a statement released when the acquisition was originally announced. He said, “I couldn’t be more excited that Shout! Factory will be marketing and distributing ALF and working with the series’ creators, Paul Fusco and Tom Patchett. ALF was an instant classic when it debuted on network television over 30 years ago, and the series stands the test of time and appeals to multiple generations.”
Related: ALF Celebrates 35th Anniversary with NECA Ultimate Action Figure
Shout! Factory TV Will Be Bringing More ALF Content in Future
Shout! Factory TV
It seems that ALF has found his perfect home at Shout Factory TV, as while the series is currently available to purchase from Amazon and is also streaming on various ROKU channels and IMDb TV among others, it will not just be old episodes airing. Creators Fusco and Patchett previously revealed that as well as the marathon of original episodes, they will also be bringing new content and unseen and restored art and footage from the archives. As they said themselves, “This is the moment ALF fans have been waiting for.”
While shows being canceled in mid-flow is seemingly all the rage with streamers like Netflix right now, back in the 80s, there were also a number of popular programs that were surprisingly cut off in their prime. One such show was ALF, which brought its fourth season to a close in 1990 with the expectation of resolving things the following year. However, that never happened, and it was six years before fans were able to see the series come to a proper conclusion in the 1996 TV movie Project ALF. Since then, there has been one unsuccessful attempt to relaunch the franchise in 2018, but it didn’t seem to get anywhere near actually going into full development. If Shout! Factory will be attempting a full revival will undoubtedly rest on the viewership of their upcoming marathons. For ALF fans everywhere, they can only wait, watch and hope that the smart-talking alien will soon be back with a full new series in the not too distant future.
ALF Celebrates 35th Anniversary with NECA Ultimate Action Figure
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About The Author
Anthony Lund
(1950 Articles Published)
Anthony Lund is an author, songwriter and puppeteer from a small village in the U.K. with an avid love of all genres of TV and film. As well as keeping up with the lastest entertainment news and writing about it for MovieWeb, he works as a video editor, voice over artist and production designer. A child of the 80s, he is the owner of almost 2000 books, more toys than his children, three Warner Bros. Store Gremlins and a production used Howard The Duck movie script.
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