Paul Fusco facts for kids

Paul Fusco is an American puppeteer, actor, television producer, writer, and director. He is most famous for being the puppeteer and voice of the main character, ALF, on the TV show ALF. Paul Fusco also created, wrote, produced, and directed parts of the show. He started a company called Alien Productions with Tom Patchett and Bernie Brillstein.

Paul Fusco's Career in Television

How the ALF TV Show Started

Paul Fusco began producing TV specials with puppets in the early 1980s. He created the ALF character in 1984. He used an alien-looking puppet he had at home to make his family and friends laugh. He really wanted to make a TV show about this fun character.

Through Bernie Brillstein, he met Tom Patchett. Together, they came up with the idea for the ALF sitcom. They shared their idea with NBC's Brandon Tartikoff, who loved it. NBC then decided to make the show. ALF became a big hit when it started in 1986. The show ran for four seasons and made 99 episodes.

Other Animated Shows and Projects

Paul Fusco also created and produced two animated series for NBC. These were ALF: The Animated Series and ALF Tales. These cartoons showed Gordon Shumway (ALF) and his family. They lived on their home planet, Melmac, before it exploded. The animated parts were introduced by the live-action ALF. He would read letters from viewers and tell stories about his life on Melmac.

Another show Paul Fusco produced was Space Cats. This show also aired on NBC in the early 1990s. It mixed live-action puppets with animation. Each episode started with live-action puppets. Captain Catgut, voiced by Fusco, was the leader of the Spacecats. He would get a mission to solve a problem. Space Cats had one season and 13 episodes. It was canceled when NBC stopped making Saturday morning cartoons.

ALF's Return to TV

NBC unexpectedly canceled ALF in 1990. The last episode of Season Four, "Consider Me Gone," ended with a cliffhanger. This meant the story was not finished. ABC offered Paul Fusco a chance to finish the story. They produced a TV movie in 1996 called Project ALF. Martin Sheen also starred in this movie. In the movie, ALF escapes from a military base. He was being held there for testing. A scientist he thought would help him was actually planning to show him to the world on a TV talk show.

Paul Fusco worked hard to keep ALF famous after Project ALF. Between 1996 and 2001, ALF appeared on many TV shows. These included The Cindy Margolis Show, Talk Soup, and Love Boat: The Next Wave. Fusco continued this trend by having ALF appear on NBC's 75th Anniversary Show. ALF also appeared at the 2003 TV Land Awards. From 2003 to 2004, ALF returned to Hollywood Squares. He also became the "spokesalien" for the phone company 10-10-220. New ALF merchandise like posters, figures, and T-shirts also became available.

The renewed interest in ALF led to ALF's Hit Talk Show in 2004. Paul Fusco created and produced this show for TV Land. It was a mix of celebrity interviews and comedy skits. The show was filmed in front of a live audience in Hollywood. It only lasted for eight episodes.

In November 2007, ALF was featured as the "TV Icon of the Week" on The O'Reilly Factor. In 2016, ALF made guest appearances on two different TV series. These were Mr. Robot and Young Sheldon.

In August 2012, Paul Fusco confirmed that Sony Pictures Animation had bought the rights to ALF. They planned to make a new ALF movie. This movie would mix CGI (computer-generated images) with live-action. The Smurfs producer Jordan Kerner was set to produce the film. Tom Patchett and Paul Fusco were also producers. As of July 2025, there have been no new updates on this movie.

Paul Fusco's Filmography

See also

In Spanish: Paul Fusco para niños