Did You Know The Show Alf Had a Ton of Tension Between Cast and Crew

Sometimes questions like this are asked to raise the tension level so that people become interested in the show again, while at other times it’s a simple explanation of what went on during the actual show and how truthful the retelling is. To hear it from those that might know something, Alf was a very tense show between cast and crew since there were a lot of different aspects of the show that had to go just right in order to make it happen the way it did. From the perspective of the audience, it might have looked as though the family wasn’t perfect and that Alf was a bit of a troublemaker, but things usually wrapped up nicely and didn’t appear to be that tense. But behind the scenes, it was a little different since there were trapdoors in the set pieces for the puppeteers that had to maneuver Alf around and the live actors had to navigate these without looking down quite often. Imagine watching an actor slip through a trap door that they forgot was there and having to explain that somehow in the show. It could be done, but at the same time, the reaction given would be all too real on the part of the actor.

It’s kind of a kick in the pants when we have to learn that what looked like it would have been a fun show to film really wasn’t since an episode apparently took two days to finish and was shot in front of a live audience no less, so added pressure was there for the actors to get it right and to make sure that they hit their marks. Of course, things didn’t always go as smoothly as they should since there was resentment on the part of the live actors as well who didn’t want to play second fiddle to a puppet. Admittedly the show was about Alf, but it still has to burn a working actor to have to get less credit than a construct that can’t move or speak on its own. This of course was just one of the leading causes of tension, but it did continue to grate on the actors as the show went on. The idea that this show would think to come back now is kind of funny given all the problems it had back in the day. But with the advances in technology that have taken place since this show first aired it’s not hard to see that a lot of the difficulty would be eliminated by making Alf animatronic or CGI, or both. The idea of bringing him back might be DOA at this time, but there’s definitely someone out there that’s ambitious enough to make a go of it, and possibly bring him onto a big network if they can get the attention of the right people. But would it be worth it?

Alf was a decent idea in his own time when people were excited to see his antics and didn’t give that much thought to what went on behind the scenes. Back then it was easy to believe that the show was all fun and games, but obviously it wasn’t since the actors weren’t having a good time, the crew wasn’t having a good time, and the tension apparently never eased up long enough for those involved to really air out their differences. Bringing the show back right now might appeal to some folks, but a lot of people would be asking a huge number of questions as to why Alf was coming back now, what the story was going to be about, who would be filling in for the cast, and so on and so forth. It feels like a mess waiting to happen if anyone decides to take it on, but again, there’s likely someone that’s going to try, so it’s best to be ready if someone decides to make such an attempt. This does make a person think about just how many other shows might have been a bit of a nightmare behind the scenes since unless a show was willing to take a person behind the scenes to showcase just what was going on it’s hard to say that everything was a-okay at all times. Even thinking that Alf was a problematic show is bound to surprise some people to be fair.

But realistically, a lot of shows have had a few issues in the past and a lot of people haven’t had any idea until it was revealed years later after the show was over and done with or perhaps in an expose that was created to show the people just what was really going on. To see that your favorite actors don’t really get along in real life is a shock, but sometimes it’s not that big of a surprise.