Andrea Elson Movies
- 1994
As a recording of Patsy Cline's "Crazy" wafts through the Rockefeller Center skating rink, Paul (Paul Reiser) and Jamie (Helen Hunt) prepare to celebrate Valentine's Day. This segues into an extended flashback to 1991, when bachelor Paul and bachelorette Jamie decide to move in together. Alas, Paul can't seem to make a lasting commitment -- and a pair of ice skates is a poor substitute for an engagement ring. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1993
A family wedding is in the offing, and each of the Bundys has a different reaction. Al (Ed O'Neill) daydreams about sexual dalliances while waiting for the service to commence; Peg (Katey Sagal) drives herself crazy choosing a proper outfit; Kelly talks the other bridesmaids into wearing matching black-leather minidresses; and Bud (David Faustino) has a prenuptial fling with bride-to-be Janie (Joey Lauren Adams). According to the network publicity, this is the episode in which Bud loses his virginity--a remarkable biological feat, inasmuch as he had already surrendered his innocence in the earlier episode "Kids! Wadaya Gonna Do?" ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1991
This is about as loosely based on the original Mary Shelley novel as you could ever get. A college experiment goes on to become REALLY Big Man on Campus--amazing the student body on the dance floor and on the football field. Get real! ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- William Ragsdale, Christopher Daniel Barnes, (more)
The fourth and final season of ALF was marked by the additional of a new recurring character: J.M. J. Bullock as Neal Tanner, obsequious younger brother of Willie Tanner (Max Wright), whose household has been hosting visiting space alien ALF for lo these past three years. Neal's apparent determination to remain with his brother's family on a permanent basis makes it all the more difficult for the Tanners to keep ALF's presence a secret from the dreaded Alien Task Force. A more significant addition to the cast had occurred at the tail end of season three, when Willie's wife, Kate (Anne Schedeen), gave birth to the family's third child, a son named Eric. Accustomed to trading wisecracks with the Tanner's older kids, Lynn (Andrea Elson) and Brian (Benji Gregory), ALF finds his conversations with baby Eric to be rather one-sided, so he finds other ways to express his fondness for the kid -- such as changing his first diaper in the season opener. From this point, let's jump ahead to the season finale, as chaotic an episode as has ever been concocted for any sitcom. Contacted by Skip and Rhonda, two fellow space creatures who like ALF had managed to escape the planet Melmac before it exploded into oblivion, ALF is invited to join his countrymen in establishing a new space colony. After bidding a tearful farewell to the Tanners, ALF prepares to leave their home -- when suddenly the minions of the Alien Task Force descend upon our nonplussed hero and place him under arrest! And that's the last we see of ALF until the 1990 TV movie Project: ALF, which belatedly details his fate after his capture. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Paul Fusco, Max Wright, (more)
- 1989
The made-for-TV Class Cruise is Animal House for the MENSA crowd. As a reward for their scholastic brilliance, a group of high school kids is rewarded with a 14-week ocean cruise. Not surprisingly, the snootier kids spend most of the trip fending off the idiocies of the "slobs." There's also plenty of tickle-and-tease sexual situations, few of which get past first base. So many TV regulars (including the ineluctable McLean Stevenson) appear in the cast that the original ads for this film didn't bill the actors, but instead listed the series in which they appeared. The best scenes belong to Ray Walston as grizzled, generously eyebrowed "Cappy Connors." Class Cruise first sailed into view on October 22, 1989. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
The former Gordon Shumway, refugee of the long-gone planet Melmac, continues to wreak hilarious havoc upon his adoptive Earth family the Tanners as ALF enters its third season. By this point in time, virtually every member of the viewing public knew that Gordon's "new" name, ALF, was an acronym for Alien Life Form. They also knew that, for all his wisecracks and anti-social excesses (such as eating everything that wasn't nailed down and breaking everything else), ALF had a heart of gold, else why would the Tanners not have turned him over to the dreaded Alien Task Force long ago? Typical third-season episodes include the opener, "Stop in the Name of Love," in which ALF helpfully arranges a blind date for teenager Lynn Tanner (Andrea Elson) after accidentally scaring off her boyfriend; the two-part Thanksgiving story "Turkey in the Straw," wherein a bum repays ALF's generosity by trying to report him to the authorities; "My Back Pages," a flashback to the "hippie" days of uptight suburbanites Willie and Kate Tanner (Max Wright, Anne Schedeen); "Superstition," in which ALF performs a bizarre Melmacian ritual to expunge himself from guilt after destroying the history book possessed by young Brian Tanner (Benji Gregory); and the season finale, "Varsity Drag," the story of ALF's brief and extremely eventful career as a newspaper delivery boy. Though viewership for ALF eroded a bit during its third season thanks to the formidable competition of CBS's Newhart and ABC's MacGyver, the series still managed to end up in a healthy 15th place in the Nielsens. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Paul Fusco, Max Wright, (more)
The beleaguered Tanner family continues to conceal the presence of their resident space alien from the authorities as ALF begins its second season. Series co-creator Paul Fusco is back as the voice of the pint-sized, giant-nosed extraterrestrial ALF, who in his efforts to "do right" by his adoptive family succeeds only in causing chaos whenever he moves a muscle. In the season's opening episode, Willie Tanner (Max Wright) becomes so fed up by ALF's antics that he exiles the alien to the family garage, whereupon ALF tries to get back into Willie's good graces by promising to be a good little...whatever he is for a whole week (fat chance!). The season's second episode is the now-classic spoof of Gilligan's Island, in which TV addict ALF finds himself marooned in an island of his own making with Bob Denver, Alan Hale Jr., Dawn Wells, and Russell Johnson! And in episode three, snoopy next-door neighbor Raquel Ochmonek (John LaMotta) becomes convinced that she's off her trolley when she accidentally sees ALF -- compelling the alien himself to convince Raquel that she's of sound mind (sort of). These three episodes pretty much set the tone for the rest of the season. New to ALF during season two is Josh Blake as Jake Ochmonek, the 15-year-old son of the Tanners' neighbors. Also new was the series' elevated spot in the Nielsen ratings; it ranked in tenth place, up from 28th place during its first season. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Paul Fusco, Max Wright, (more)
The cozy, respectable, and rather dull existence of the Tanner family is inexorably altered when an alien spaceship crashes into the family's garage in the opening episode of ALF's first season. Out pops a short, furry, orange-haired, and long-nosed space creature, who explains that he is Gordon Shumway from the recently destroyed planet Melmac. Nicknamed ALF (Alien Life Form) by the Tanners, our hero is invited to join the household, though before long, dad Willie Tanner (Max Wright) wishes he'd turned ALF over to the authorities. Not only does ALF stick his huge nose into everyone's business, but he also breaks everything he touches and eats like food is going out of style -- and he never tires of trying to chow down on the family's pet cat, Lucky. Meanwhile, Willie Tanner, his wife, Kate (Anne Schedeen), and their kids, Lynn (Andrea Elson) and Brian (Benji Gregory), work overtime trying to hide ALF's presence from their boorish neighbors, Trevor and Raquel Ochmonek (John LaMotta, Liz Sheridan). Additionally, the Tanners attempt to keep ALF a secret from Kate's overbearing mother, Dorothy (Anne Meara), though she eventually tumbles to his existence and agrees to keep mum. Though ALF was not the most popular sitcom on NBC's 1986-1987 schedule (that honor was bestowed upon The Cosby Show), the series performed well in the ratings during its first season, ranking at number 28 right between Miami Vice and Hunter. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Max Wright, Anne Schedeen, (more)
