what would the 5th season have been about and what would the season finale have been?
of 2 episode Ideas: What if WIllie and Alf changed bodies, like the old switcheroo? and what if they had an Episode of Alf being Batman and driving the Batmobile.
I just watched an interview with PAUL Fusco, the creator of Alf. He says that the fifth season was going to be Alf being controlled by the military. He was going to move the show away from the Tanners and Toward being a fish out of water in the military. This annoying alien that you can't get rid of. For those of you old enough to remember Sergeant Bilko, that's how he described it.
shareI appreciate that TV "showrunners" are confronted with the prospect of making drastic changes to sitcoms if there's reason to believe that the original premise has reached a point of diminishing returns, i.e. sagging ratings.
It's easy to say this in hindsight, but it's hard to believe that Fusco thought ALF fans would adjust to a complete break with the Tanners, and ALF becoming a captive of the military.
I never heard the "Bilko" comparison before. And I may be skeptical that turning ALF into a "draftee" of sorts would have succeeded because of the overly-dark and grim "season finale" that became a series finale.
Based on that spooky transition, the new situation seems more like "ALF meets 'The X-Files'" than ALF being a Bilko-type "bad boy".
I know successful sitcoms can be set in grim surroundings, e.g. M*A*S*H and even "Hogan's Heroes".
And "Futurama" fans may remember a hilarious episode that involved the Planet Express crew going back in time to Area 51 in Roswell-- where the alien crustacean, Dr. Zoidberg, is indeed captured by the US military.
That worked as a one-time episode, but I can't see it working as an ongoing premise. Apparently the network agreed.