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Of all the TV shows aired in the 1980s, few captured hearts as much as ALF, the sitcom centered on a sarcastic, cat-loving alien who crash-landed on Earth and moved in with the Tanner family. The series premiered on September 22, 1986, and became an overnight cultural phenomenon by combining traditional family sitcom tropes with the sheer absurdity of a puppet protagonist.
Paul Fusco created this program and also voiced the iconic, titular character. While all these were laugh tracks and over-the-top antics, just as with The Cosby Show and Cheers, there's not much room for a human cast to hold a candle to the zany premise of that starring role. Now part of its rich legacy is the contrast between its on-screen hilarity and behind-the-scenes difficulties.
While the alien gave audiences weekly laughs, it was a grueling ordeal for the actors. This all combined to create a feeling among most of the cast that this experience left them disillusioned with a character that was otherwise well-loved.
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From hours of shooting because of technical difficulties to being outdone by the puppet, many had complaints they openly aired in interviews, thus bringing the dark side to life working with such an iconic character.
Why did the cast of ALF resent the puppet star?
While ALF brought joy to millions of viewers, its intricate production process created a challenging environment for the cast. At the heart of the issue was the titular puppet, a 4'3" creation that required multiple puppeteers to operate.
The show’s set was built above ground to allow for ALF’s movements, making it difficult for actors to navigate their scenes. Every shot involving ALF took extra time to choreograph and execute, leading to production delays and extending shooting days to as long as 25 hours for a single episode.
Max Wright, who played patriarch Willie Tanner, bore the brunt of these difficulties as the character who most frequently interacted with ALF. While audiences adored the chemistry between Willie and the alien, Wright found it frustrating.
“It got tough to do stories where [ALF] could only interact with the five or six people he knew,” Paul Fusco admitted. He highlighted the limitations of the puppet’s design in an interview for People magazine in 2000.
For Wright, this meant performing as the straight man in scenes that often felt repetitive and confining. Anne Schedeen, who played Kate Tanner, shared her thoughts with People magazine in 2000. She described the set as a "dysfunctional family" and said the puppet's dominance overshadowed the joy of working on a sitcom.
“It was ALF and then there was the little family,” said Andrea Elson, who played Lynn Tanner told People magazine in 2000. She highlighted how the human characters often felt like secondary players on their show.
What made the on-set tension so unbearable?
The tension on the set of the show wasn’t solely due to the puppet’s technical demands—it also stemmed from the behavior of the show’s creator and star, Paul Fusco. As the voice of ALF, Fusco controlled much of the series’ comedic tone, but his behind-the-scenes conduct sometimes left cast members uncomfortable.
A notorious behind-the-scenes video revealed Fusco making crude jokes and using inappropriate language while in character as the alien, which only added to the strained atmosphere.
John LaMotta, who played the Tanners’ nosy neighbor Trevor Ochmonek, was particularly outspoken about his dissatisfaction. In a 2010 interview with TMZ, LaMotta called the show “the worst work I ever did” and described the experience as both creatively unfulfilling and personally frustrating.
For Anne Schedeen, the series’ technical demands and interpersonal issues made the set a joyless place. She described the atmosphere during the series finale as one of exhaustion and relief, noting how Max Wright left immediately after filming wrapped without saying goodbye to the cast or crew.
These challenges were compounded by the fact that the human actors were overshadowed in every sense by their inanimate co-stars. Unlike shows such as Mork & Mindy, where Robin Williams brought a human touch to an alien character, that relied entirely on the puppet.
The novelty of a non-human protagonist may have been a hit with viewers, but for the actors tasked with bringing the Tanners to life, it was a constant source of frustration.
ALF is currently available for streaming on Peacock.
