Favorite Shows of Yesteryear #1

I've been trying to think of ways to get back into writing here. And this is what I came up with. I'll start with an easy one - ALF. You know, the one about the alien from the planet Melmac who crash-lands into a family's garage, they take him in, and hilarity ensues?

I haven't seen an episode of ALF in a long, long time. I don't really remember that many episodes - which you must be so thankful for. I mainly remember being in sixth grade and getting together with my friend Freddie the day after a new ALF aired to review the most hilarious sequences.

I do still have one episode taped on VHS cassette. Thankfully, it is the quintessential episode of ALF. It's the one where ALF is going to soak in the hot tub, only the Tanners didn't have a hot tub, so he has to rig one up, and gives himself an electro-shock. He was reading a life insurance brochure in the tub, so a delusional ALF thinks he is not an alien, but an insurance salesman - specifically Wayne Schlagel of Michigan Life & Casualty. And the Tanners spend the two-part episode trying to cure ALF of his amnesia, so we are treated to a nice helping of flashbacks from previous episodes - for example, when ALF tried to hypnotize Lucky, the family cat, into believing that he is a bagel. Or when ALF did his best "Tom Cruise in Risky Business" impersonation. And all this is intertwined with ALF believing that he is the victim of a bad sales call and is being held hostage. Is it any wonder this was my favorite show when I was 12?

I was so affected by that episode that I made it my seventh-grade Halloween costume. It's really the only costume concept that I've come up with that I've ever been satisfied with. I wore a blazer and carried around a briefcase and printed up some business cards indicating that I was Wayne Schlagel of Micigan Life & Casualty.

ALF was fairly popular back in the day, but virtually none of the Tanner family - Willie, Kate, Lynne, or Brian, were ever seen on television again. However, ALF is still seen from time to time on commercials and stuff.