Sad Ending - ALF (1986) Discussion

Yes, it was sad indeed and totally inappropriate for a sitcom.

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[–] TheButlerDidItYes 9 years ago

Yes, it was sad indeed and totally inappropriate for a sitcom.

What were they thinking in ending it that way? Not only was it inappropriate for a sitcom it would've been inappropriate for a drama as well. And it's even more inappropriate since a lot of children probably watched the show and loved ALF. I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of children cried and were traumatized.  

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[–] GreenGoblinsOckVenom86 9 years ago

I've heard they had planned to continue with another season but were unable to.

If you hate the Amazing Spider-Man movies, you are on my ignore list.

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[–] crazydude1989 9 years ago

Something tells me they knew it already had been cancelled as they were making the episode because numerous sources say Max Wright just walked off the set after the last take, got his bags in his dressing room and didn't say goodbye. He just disappeared. That is said by Anne Schedeen. Or maybe he wanted to quit even if it got picked up for one last season, and knew a way to get out of the contract.

Like the proverbial cheese, I stand alone. Even while seated.

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[–] haynese_98 9 years ago

NBC exec Brandon Tartikoff did promise Paul Fusco they'd bring ALF back for a TV movie. Unfortunately, Tartikoff left NBC the next year to take care of his daughter, plus he had to deal with his own recurring cancer.

With Tartikoff out, Fusco could only get a TV movie deal on ABC.

A couple becomes a couple when there's a house on the horizon

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[–] Thereturnofmyrtle 9 years ago

No. that was fabulous.

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[–] blaque108 9 years ago

It was a terrible ending.

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[–] FridayOnElmStreet 9 years ago

Yeah, I always hated the last episode.

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[–] model101 9 years ago

I remember seeing it a kid when it first aired, and I was like what because it had to be continued on it's first airing. I waited all summer hoping it would come back as I didn't know it was cancelled. Then it never came back.

I am still waiting for a PROPER conclusion to it 25 years later (Project ALF doesn't count since it sucked).

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[–] Galaxy_Nova 9 years ago

Project Alf does count because it was in cannon. And I personally enjoyed it.

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[–] DoctorNordo 9 years ago

The ending was nowhere near as depressing as the Christmas Special was.

Kid with terminal cancer? Check.
Suicidal widower? Check.
Anecdotes of abject poverty and homelessness? Check.

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[–] dm7686 9 years ago

Yeah I feel the same way, that was the worst ending to a tv show, that I can remember, sooo stupid, I mean why not have him picked up by his girfriend and brought back to where he was from, that really would have been a great ending, it still would have been sad, but atleast he wouldnt have got captured and just end like that, I dont know what the producers were thinking.

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[–] haynese_98 9 years ago

Fusco and the other producers were pretty sure the cast were going to leave or get fired but they thought they could get at least one more season with Alf being in a different setting. Unfortunately, Alf's ratings had dived, Major Dad was a big hit, and it was decided to shelf Alf with the hopes then of coming back for a TV movie. Even more unfortunately Brandon Tartikoff had to leave NBC because of his daughter's car crash and another recurrence of his cancer, which eventually killed him at the age of 48.

Alf has made several comebacks with a little success. The Project Alf TV movie wasn't all that great but the 10-10-220 commercials were pretty good.

Shall we play a game?

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[–] dm7686 9 years ago

Yeah I liked those 10 10 220 commercials also, they were funny

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[–] jtmovies 8 years ago

It's funny to believe that Fresh Prince took the time slot next season. Imagine those two on the same night if Alf had been renewed. I liked Alf's pairing with the Hogan Family though.

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[–] TVippy 8 years ago

Was that the reason they were in the commercials together with Hogan?

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[–] TVippy 8 years ago

I think the only reasonable explanation that can be given here is that the people making the series all hated their jobs, except Fusco himself.
If not, they would've gathered for one final episode and make it for free and release it somehow. How did they not feel they owed it to the people to end it half-decently?
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I own you.https://goo.gl/0avZjB

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[–] LittleBrother55 8 years ago

I decided to check this board to see if there were any new posts about the passing of Michu Meszaros, the actor who played "ALF".

Since I'm "here", I may as well put my 2¢ in.

Yes, the series finale was way too dark-- not just for children, but for anyone who liked the characters.

Obviously, the viewers didn't know what a Hell on earth the production was, at least according to most of the cast.

So if the makers felt a need to "vent" all of this hidden darkness with such a bleak closing, it's a shame that they couldn't bring themselves to be more considerate of the "innocent" audience.

Also, FWIW: off the top of my head, the animatronic sitcom "Dinosaurs" also ended on a very dark note: a snowfall that's the beginning of an Ice Age, leaving all of those funny, endearing characters facing certain extinction.

I don't know, now that I think more about it it does seem kind of spiteful to send fans away from a sitcom with such negative closings.

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[–] seaphil-87-260699 8 years ago

I never saw the last episode. I remember seeing a commercial during the final season, implying that ALF returned to his home planet. But I'd stopped watching it by then. Not sure why.
What exactly happened on the final episode? If ALF was captured by the military, was it ever explained what became of him?

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[–] CSM_Model_101 8 years ago

I never saw the last episode. I remember seeing a commercial during the final season, implying that ALF returned to his home planet. But I'd stopped watching it by then. Not sure why.
What exactly happened on the final episode? If ALF was captured by the military, was it ever explained what became of him?

ALF was going to go with his Friends Skip and Rhonda who contacted him early that episode. It was because of this contact that led the Alien Task Force to know where they were going to land to pick up Gordon (Alf's real name). Alf says his good-byes and the who family drives off to the field where he is to be picked up. Just as the ship was about to land, the Alien Task Force pulls up and originally when it aired there was a too be continued marker. But the show got cancelled and it never got resolved until about 1996.
There was a movie for ABC called Project ALF. ALF is now with the military and the Tanners are off in Iceland I believe (it's only mentioned in the film, you don't see the Tanners at all). By the end of the film, ALF becomes the ambassador for Earth. That is it.

He never gets reunited with Skip or Rhonda. Never see the Tanners again, nothing.

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[–] seaphil-87-260699 8 years ago

That IS sad.

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[–] LittleBrother55 8 years ago

Yeah, I mercifully forgot about that creepy, cheesy ABC movie.

See: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0117397/combined

It's a classic case of adding insult to injury.

I mean, if you cut the production team a lot of slack, you might excuse them for botching the original series finale. Supposedly they believed there would be a 5th Season, and wrote the very dark story line with some idea that it was a season-ending cliffhanger "to be continued" in the next season.

If the next "season that never was" actually involved getting rid of the Tanners and instead keeping ALF as an Alien Task Force captive, it's just as well that it didn't come off. It would've been a disaster.

But when ABC greenlighted ALF's return, it's just too bad, and a shame, that there was no attempt to make amends for the ugly season finale.

There are no end of threads, even recently, discussing how much the original cast hated working on the series. But unless they were truly out of the business, or committed to other projects, I'm sure they could've been induced to appear in a decently-written sequel.

Maybe it's wishful thinking, but if they'd produced a script that reflected the strengths of the original series, and figured out a way to provide "closure" with an upbeat story-- or at least an upbeat ending-- that and a nice payday might've done the trick to get the original cast on board.

Maybe the original cast (apart from Fusco) were worried that a successful sequel might lead to the series returning. 😉

As it is, somebody got a payday out of producing that forgettable monstrosity. It was so bad that it eliminated any danger of an ALF reboot.

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