Totally Rad Staff
6. ALF: The Animated Series
Aired: 1987-1989
Network: NBC
Number of episodes: 26
A year after the premiere of the sitcom ALF — about a wise-cracking alien named Gordon Shumway who eats cats and ends up stranded on earth with a classic sitcom family (what luck!) — NBC launched the inevitable Saturday morning cartoon spin-off. Though presented like a typical sitcom, ALF: The Animated Series was a prequel to the live-action series and followed Gordon (“ALF” was merely his earth-bound nickname, standing for Alien Life Form) and his family on the planet Melmac prior to its explosion. Gordon/ALF was voiced by Paul Fusco, who did the puppeteering and voice of the alien on the live-action show (Fusco also co-created ALF). Another animated ALF series, ALF Tales, featured the show’s characters recreating various fairy tales; it ran alongside The Animated Series in 1988 and 1989.
