ALFsplaining

"Seeing Willie and Kate reminiscing over their old stuff in the attic and show the family film footage of them attending the Woodstock festival, ALF asks Willie about the 1960s, causing Willie to ponder if he abandoned the ideals he held during those years." The Wonder Years was doing big business in 1988 with its melancholic boomer look back at the sixties so if its good enough for Fred...

"Kate starts working and then discovers that she is pregnant." My that is inconvenient timing but if anyone knows how schedule a joke its Willie Tanner and his clearly fully functional downstairs which has put a fictional baby in Kate's fiction factory. Its an episode clearly written on the fly to accommodate Anne Schedeen's real-life pregnancy and Pod Detectives Baker and Matthe...

"ALF must avoid the Alien Task Force when a homeless guy blows the whistle on him." Im sure he's had worse blown on him....I mean, erm....happy Thanksgiving. Or Fappinao if you're from Melmac like ALF who is in danger of being pulled apart for experiments thanks to the shady behaviour of Flakey Pete. Its almost like his name was trying to tell us something. Sat in the van waiting for action are Be...

"The Tanners are invited to a Thanksgiving dinner with the Ochmonek's bizarre relatives" TWO PARTS? And we're getting double Trevor and Raquel?? Strap us down and feed us rubber vomit! And who wrote this? The bloke who did ALF's Christmas Special? Oh ffffff...... ...well, this is going to be an interesting Fappiano for Ben Baker and John Matthews. But could it be a miracle? I...

NOTE: If the video doesnt play, check out the alternate source here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovYesOJsi88 And this is the panto poster we are discussing: https://bsky.app/profile/pantosplaining.bsky.social/post/3m52374ra622q If you've got this far into the series of "ALFsplaining" you'll be unsurprised that Ben Baker and John Matthews are pretty obsessional men. Not about anything predictab...

If you've got this far into the series of "ALFsplaining" you'll be unsurprised that Ben Baker and John Matthews are pretty obsessional men. Not about anything predictable of course - this ALF podcast proves that! But as we've a week between episodes of the sitcom, we thought you might like to learn about another of our big shared loves - panto posters. Listen along to the pil...

"ALF reveals that Lynn is dating Eddie to her parents' dismay." They do seem obsessed with Lynn dating oddballs, dont they? And few come odder than Michael "Des" "Barnes", aka that British bloke who was in all the American sitcoms. Equally odd and also with erm...well you know, Ben Baker and John Matthews are also here. But you knew that. If we make your teeth chatter comedically, why not consider...

"ALF hosts The Tonight Show for Johnny Carson...." ALF is live across America and its not a dream sequence. I mean, its not really much of anything but who needs explanations when you've got the U.S' most beloved late night talk show of all time? Its all a ruse to make a clip show but there's a fair bit of new material with the ALFer meeting lots of interesting guests, includ...

"Trevor and Raquel have a falling-out, so ALF and Jake try to get them back together." Oh boy, its an Ochmonek episode! Finally things will be getting back on track after a weird pair of openers. This comedy masterclass will be overseen by visiting romance experts in the field Ben Baker and John Matthews who attempt to bring harmony to another episode of ALF. If thinking of us makes Chic...

"ALF meets his guardian angel who makes him see life without the Tanners, and vice versa." A wonderful life - it is?! ALF's getting out of the house by means of fantasy again and this time it involves Sheena Easton. Ben Baker and John Matthews look on confused and wondering how this all ties into "Saved By The Bell", Bloomingdale's or Donald Trump. All will be revealed...

"Lynn's date at the drive-in goes well until she discovers ALF hiding in the back of the car." We're back! Unless you're listening to this in the moon year of 2027 in which case we never went away so shut up. Ben and John are here with more than a little befuddlement as to the....everything of this episode, and in particular, the beer mat it was seemingly penned upon. Please...

The second part of our exclusive chat with Paul Fusco , the man who gave the world ALF , voice and soul. In this part he talks about the strangest merchandise to make the shelves, celebrity fans, who ALF would be feuding with on social media right now, the influence of Monty Python and The Two Ronnies on his humour, there's an encounter with right wing pundit Bill O'Reilly , why ALF is nee...

What do you do when you finally meet God? Its a question Ben and John are about to learn the answer to as they meet the person central to their obsession this past fifty episodes - Paul Fusco , puppeteer, producer, writer, and creator of both the show and, of course, ALF himself. He gives a rare all-access interview talking about how ALF came to exist, his early work, the oft-reported tensions on...

NOTE: DONT LISTEN TO THIS ONE BEFORE YOU HEAR SEASON TWO! Thought you were done with Ben Baker and John Matthews for the summer? Not even close! Not only will we have lots more exciting one offs here and there but there's the now standard series lookback where we go over our favourite episodes of the second run alongside some listener-doxxing stats, an investigation into the TV landscape our furry...

"After realizing that Willie and Kate have emptied Lynn's college fund to support him, a guilty ALF gets ten newspaper routes to earn money for the family." Another episode in which ALF learns a valuable lesson about....nah, of course not...although he is briefly aware of his impact on the Tanners. Ben Baker and John Matthews fully weigh up the impact he's had on them too as we r...

"The Tanners plan a party for ALF, who is depressed that he is the only one of his species." There have been some odd episodes of ALF this season but your hosts Ben Baker and John Matthews might have been officially outfoxed by this mix of dream sequences, sketches, downplayed melodrama, boffo gags, horrendous sound effects and confusing the blind. We'll miss it when its gone. If you...

"ALF plays pink elephant for Kate's alcoholic friend Maura" Crack open a tinny and pour that nebuchadnezzar of floor polish as its a boozy, woozy sort of episode with a very special message - although your hosts Ben Baker and John Matthews are struggling to find it in amongst the salad and dry heaving. Maybe don't listen to this one whilst eating.... If you want to help us buy mo...

"ALF gets a ventriloquist dummy in the mail that takes control of him." Well that all seems perfectly straightforward! Join Ben Baker and John Matthews for a surprisingly not very meta look into a puppeteer's art, soul and hooves. Helping them out on pre-recorded tape are former guests Al Jean , Mike Reiss and Phil Fletcher who all add some interesting pointers on the episode which i...

"Willie gets a promotion that relocates him to San Diego, however despite hating the new job and proclaiming how much he loves the house they currently live in, it takes drastic moves by ALF to make him realize what he's doing." Willie's out! And we're all bowing under its enormous pressure as his new job takes him away from the loving bosom of his family....and the actual bo...

"Willie tries to teach Brian nonviolence in dealing with a school bully, but changes his ways when the bully's lowlife father comes to the Tanner residence and insults the entire family." An episode about Brian being repeatedly punched in the face? Erm..., we didnt kill him. That is to say, your hosts Ben Baker and John Matthews didnt, as they're still rubbing liniment into their...

Here on ALFsplaining, we are big fans of balance - be it following every Howard Jones track with one by Nik Kershaw or one of them seals with a beachball you used to see at the zoo in old cartoons. And so after speaking to the lovely Mike Reiss , Ben and John thought it only right and proper to talk to his former long-term writing partner Al Jean . Like Reiss, he also worked on Sledge Hammer, The...

In today's very special episode of "ALFsplaining", Ben and John speak to the writer Mike Reiss . If you aren't familiar with the name - firstly, C'MON - but you'll know the shows he's worked on, including "Sledge Hammer!" , "The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson" , "It's Garry Shandling's Show" and "The Simpsons" where...

"The Tanners take in a stray dog, much to ALF's dismay. " It's big guest name time as Anne Ramsay from "The Goonies" and "Throw Momma From The Train" appears as an unscrupulous dog purchaser several months before her early passing. She does not look well throughout but still overshadows Ben Baker and John Matthews who look like stuttering tramps next to her ac...

"ALF moves in with his blind friend Jody in her condo." Remember Blind Jody? Well, she's back - in....well, still blind form but she needs a place to stay and apparently that means only one man. Or alien. Perfect hosts Ben Baker and John Matthews have laid out the best silverware too for their houseguest Nina "Buckers" Buckley who shocks everyone by already being a massive...

"ALF spots a criminal by his neighbor's house, and walks inside to investigate." We left Ben and John on a cliffhanger - our first of the series but far from its last - with ALF trapped Chez Ochmonek as the Police close in on him. How will Willie get him out of this one? And who'll get Willie out too? Its an exciting one so fetch your popcorn and a gunbelt as its time to visit a very strange episo...