PAUL SCHEER

Watching this blooper reel from ALF makes it seem like the cast and crew had a great time working on this show, but after doing some research about the show on wikipedia, I suddenly realized that the entire cast was dying on the inside and on second viewing the reel becomes much more ironic and way more uncomfortable.

FROM WIKIPEDIA…The production of ALF was technically difficult and demanding. All four lead actors - Max Wright (Willie Tanner), Anne Schedeen (Kate Tanner), Andrea Elson (Lynn Tanner) and Ben Hertzberg aka Benji Gregory (Brian Tanner) - admit that there was a high level of tension on the set.

Max Wright stated that he despised “supporting a technically demanding inanimate object that hogged most of the good lines.” He admits to being “hugely eager to have it [ALF] over with.” Anne Schedeen said that on the last night of taping ALF “there was one take and Max walked off the set, went to his dressing room, got his bags, went to his car and disappeared. There were no goodbyes.” Schedeen herself said “there was no joy on the set…A 30 minute show took 20, 25 hours to shoot.” While fond of her on screen children, Schedeen said some adults had “difficult personalities. The whole thing was a big dysfunctional family”. Elson, suffered from bulimia during the second season of shooting, stated “If ALF had gone one more year, everybody would have lost it.”

HERE’S MY FAVORITE TIDBIT…

Fusco is notoriously secretive about his character. During the show’s production, Fusco refused to acknowledge that ALF was anything other than an alien. All involved with the production were cautioned not to give away any of ALF’s secrets.