ALF - A 90's Kid's Perspective

It's interesting to me that this is going to be my first blog post. I never would have thought when I was cooking the idea of "Audio-Alpha" up in my head that I would be hopping in a time machine and reviewing a T.V. show that aired in the 80's. To be fair (and to make you 80's kids feel less dated) I was born in the 80's.... in the first half of 1989 anyway... ok ok more towards the middle... May of
1989.

Before I kick this off, I'd like to shed some light on how this journey through the entire, "ALF" series started and how it coinsides with the pains of being a child of the 90's with older siblings of the 80's. A few weeks ago my English teacher from Miami posted a link to a comedian on Facebook (The teacher is Tom Schmidlin... look him up and take his English 111 and 112 classes if you are looking to go to Miami Hamilton... very cool dude). I looked for the link to no avail.. sorry! Anyways, the comedian made a joke about ALF and then BOOM!..... that's literally how the journey started. Anticlimactic? Sorry. I suppose an alien abduction story would have been a much cooler way to jump start my ALF journey! No no.. don't worry... that's not all that contributed to the spark. I'm pretty sure it had something to do with the fact that I'm a child of the 90's. I grew up in a household with 6 brothers and sisters (how Mormon of my mom and dad) and my two oldest siblings got to rock out the 80's while the rest of us were really 90's kids. Growing up with a punk rock older brother and his friends, who to this day still sport T's with the NES controller or Fraggle Rock, I have always been bombarded with sentences like, "Man, back in the day I had Transformers, TMNT, the NES...". How do you compete with that level of cool? As a 90's kid you're forced to watch as the 80's kids school you on vintage 80's stuff that is somehow, through the mere fact that it existed, the reason the world doesn't spontaneously explode and kill us all! The closest we come to the 80's is researching something that was popular, or obscure and different, on the internet and then going out and buying a belt buckle or shirt of it from Hot Topic... and acting like we are a unique individual for discovering it. In the words of ALF, "HAH". Anyways.... after hearing the comedian say, "ALF" I decided that it was time to quit being that 90's kid and reach out and touch the untouchable... wait that sounds weird... umm... I mean it was time to quit being that uncool 90's kid, pull a Marty McFly, hop in my DeLorean DMC-12, and travel back to the 80's to see what the hype about this ALF show was all about.

It didn't take me long to figure out how to view the show. The entire series is available to watch on YouTube... but if there are any legal issues with that.... then I really watched it via Hulu. Needless to say I discovered gold. There are four main reasons why:

First (Obvious) Reason: The way ALF looks

My first impression of ALF was basically, "What the hell.... this character looks weird as hell" but his looks somehow grew on me. When you think of a successful T.V. show that has a puppet as a main character you think of a cute cash cow like... Elmo.. not a 3 foot awkward looking alien with a giant nose. To me ALF was just different.... he stood out in a good way. If you look like that and have 4 seasons under your belt then the show must be good!

 

Wanna Buy Some Crack Kids?

  
 Second Reason: ALF

The cast for the show overall was pretty weak in comparison to ALF himself. In fact many of the earlier episodes had rather weak plots with numerous moments of overacting... but somehow... ALF made up for all of that. The development of his character was genius. He was extremely obnoxious, loud, destructive, rude, blunt, and inconsiderate... but at the same time was a very caring "do gooder". I think that what made me love ALF so much was what would come out of his mouth... his witty comebacks... his many insults to the character Kate... wait... his many insults to every character on the show. No one was safe when it came to the wrath of ALF. I also loved how ALF did whatever the hell he wanted. In just about every single episode he stole money from Willie, ate all the food in the house, and did crazy things like flood the house in an attempt to make an ice skating rink. The best part was that when ALF would get in trouble he would usually just hurl back an insult, or some smart remark, and go about his day like nothing happened. His character was so wild... there was even an episode where he admitted to watching Kate and Willie while they slept... creepy haha. Perhaps the most unforgettable thing about ALF, aside from his laugh, is the ongoing joke about him wanting to eat the cat Lucky.... ALF you are welcome to all four of the cats at my parents house.... no really.... go ahead... eat up...

Third Reason: Lack of Censorship

I would venture to say that aside from ALF himself... the thing I loved the most about this show was the lack of extreme censorship. I can't tell you how many times my jaw dropped when ALF did things like talk about transvestites, homosexuality, or suggest murder suicides. ALF even talked about seeing Kate naked and spoke about walking in on Kate and Willie having sex. There was one specific episode that left me in awe and made me love the show even more... the episode where ALF became a drug addict... well a cotton addict.. haha. There are many other things that surprised me like ALF causing the death of a person or curse words that were used in the show.... bottom line... I never knew what to expect in an episode because it seemed like just about anything went! I'll never forget when ALF repeatedly called someone a wiener! ALF... you are my hero!

Final Reason: References

I think that the last thing that made the show great was all the references to real world things and people that were made throughout the show. ALF often spoke of, or hurled insults at, celebrities that were relevant at the time the show aired. He also referenced things like Star Trek, Psycho, ET, and even Letterman. The list of references that were made goes on and on. ALF also did things like play Atari. It was cool because it made you feel as if ALF really was in the real world. I thought it was a very clever way to "bring ALF to life".

Conclusion

I thought about sharing my thoughts on the series finale in this blog post but I have decided not to. I'd rather leave it be a mystery to any readers who are curious about the show. I will say this much.... in order to fully experience the series finale you really need to watch the show from beginning to end. Then get on the internet and do some research about the show. Overall.... ALF is 80's gold!

Dubbed An 80's Child

After finishing the show my girlfriend who can rightfully claim the 80's dubbed me an 80's child. It's official bitches..... I can hang with the cool kids now... just gotta run to hot topic...