Alf

I bought the four series (seasons) of Alf on DVD. The picture quality is not really up to par...bad or no remastering at all.

This show brings back a lot of childhood memories and laughs for me. Any thoughts on this 80s show?

Trivia: The guy who played Willie Tanner (Max Wright) has been arrested a few years ago for sexually exploiting a homeless person or something like that. That destroys a bit the illusion of him being a nice and shy guy.

Maybe this belongs in the "Foreign Comedy" forum, I don't know.

It does, and it's been moved.

I loved Alf. Loved his wise cracking ways. It was all good clean fun.

One of his most memorable quips was something about the only good cat is a stir fried cat.

He always reminded me of Burt from Soap for some reason, was he the voice?

Quote: AngieBaby @ January 10 2013, 8:09 PM GMT

I loved Alf. Loved his wise cracking ways. It was all good clean fun.

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Mostly clever and family friendly one liners. But sometimes it could get saucy as well. I liked the one with Kate's alcoholic schoolfriend. Alf met her by accident and together they drank all night. In the morning Alf puked in Willie and Kate's bathroom. But he also helped her to stop the boozing and advised her to seek help at the Betty White Clinic.

Quote: AngieBaby @ January 10 2013, 8:09 PM GMT

He always reminded me of Burt from Soap for some reason, was he the voice?

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No, his voice was provided by the pupeteer Paul Fusco.

I also really love this show. It was very popular in Germany at its time and is still repeated frequently and has a big fanbase here. It may be a bit old-fashined for today's standards, but is still holds up and is still very much fun to watch. I think what made it so great is that despite it being a family-oriented comedy, it still was suprisingly seroius and deep and often dealt with difficult topics like pollution, world peace, foreigners or troubled family relationships, but was still enjoyable enough to make you laugh. It was also very satirical and poked fun at the US-American society: The Ochmonneks were typical American neighbours from hell, and the police and the governemt were almost always portrayed as cruel, stupid idiots. All in all it was really quite witty, and there are not many sitcoms around today that reach this level.

I don't think it's been repeated here since the 80s. Not on a channel I've ever had anyway. I know I loved it then, but I've no idea what I'd think of it now.

I recently bought the four series on DVD. In wondered if I'd like it that much now that I'm in my 30s. I do. And surprisingly, some jokes are pretty racy...at least from series two on. Series 1 was very mild and family friendly, but the elements Unfunny German mentioned became more obvious the longer the show went on.

I used to love this as a kid, but don't think I'd be keen on it now. Though the opening credits would probably still make me laugh (well, the bit where Alf breathes on and wipes the camera anyway - that used to get me every single week!)

I understand this was a complete nightmare to make as well?

Alf had a very warm atmosphere. I loved it when I was a child. And I still love it)

What an annoying noise:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jT2glRNPCFs

Quote: Gordon Bennett @ 7th August 2013, 7:38 PM BST

What an annoying noise:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jT2glRNPCFs

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That was probably the inspiration for the most annoying sound in the world: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cVlTeIATBs

I like it a lot but am vague on the detail. I was in my early 20s when it started.

Was recently discussing other things from that time which are now big or even legendary.

We agreed that it is the sort of age when there is a bit of a TV vacuum because mainly then it is going out.

That's for the long term unless there's the effort later to discover it.