Ryan Reynolds Brings Back ALF in New Content

Ryan Reynolds’s Maximum Effort is bringing back ALF — kind of. The beloved puppet comedian will be starring in a series of “Maximum Moments” on Reynolds’s Maximum Effort Channel — a free, ad-supported channel that you can access through services like Tubi, Fubo, and Amazon Freevee. Maximum Effort, which airs re-runs of shows like Kids in the Hall, has also acquired the rights to re-air old episodes of ALF, the 1980s sitcom about an alien stranded on Earth and living in secret with a suburban family. Maximum Effort worked with ALF creator Paul Fusco and Shout! Studios, the nostalgia-fueled home entertainment company that currently holds the distribution rights for the show and its spinoffs.

The Maximum Effort Channel also features some more Reynolds-centric programming, including an original series that features Reynolds reading bedtime stories to the viewer, and reruns of Fifteen, a Canadian teen dramedy that aired on Nickelodeon in the U.S.

“At Maximum Effort, we love taking risks and blurring the lines between shows and sponsorship because we believe both can be equally entertaining,” Reynolds said in a statement. “Besides my irrational love of ALF growing up, one of the reasons we licensed this show was precisely because Paul, Shout! Studios and our intrepid brand partners wanted to plot with us to bring ALF back to life. Tune in this Caturday!”

You can see a video announcement below.

The Maximum Moments will serve primarily (or maybe exclusively?) as advertisements, bringing some levity to the FAST model and presumably, at least for a generation of fans who grew up with ALF, encouraging them to sit through the ads rather than getting up for a bathroom break. ALF shill for brands like Mint Mobile, Ring doorbells, and Fubo, among others. The spots will debut during an ALF marathon July 29, dubbed “Caturday.”

Most FAST platforms rely on inexpensive, licensed content, with little or no original programming. With streaming services in crisis right now, more and more studios are chasing FAST money — a model that more closely emulates the traditional, ad-supported TV strategy. The Maximum Effort Channel launched in June, as part of a deal with Fubo, but obviously is available on more than just Fubo. Given the fact that ALF will advertise for Fubo, it’s likely part of that deal was to help them expand by advertising their services on competitors like Freevee and Tubi.

It has been more than a decade since Fusco said ALF would return in a CG movie. The character’s name, “ALF,” is an acronym for Alien Life Form (his real name is Gordon Shumway), but also used for the character name–in the same way that “E.T.” served both purposes in Spielberg’s ’80s masterpiece. The series revolved around a wisecracking, cat-eating alien who crash-lands on Earth and stays with a suburban family who hides him from the U.S. government while he tries to return to his native Melmac. 

The series was a sensation for a couple of years, spawning Burger King toys, a comic book series and more before the public got ALF fatigue and the series was quietly cancelled. After showing up in spinoffs like ALF: The Animated Series, ALF Tales, the TV movie Project ALF, and the short-lived ALF’s Hit Talk Show, the affable alien went on to be a regular feature on VH1 specials and Hollywood Squares, and Fusco has been trying to generate interest in a feature film for a while now. Project ALF recently got its first-ever Blu-ray release from Shout!.

h/t The Hollywood Reporter