On ALF, Lisa Buckley and Bob Fappiano assisted Fusco with performing the furry brown alien.

Since ALF, the character has appeared in various other media, including television series, comic books, and video games.

However, Fusco's brief performance as ALF won over Brillstein, who thought the character was hilarious and strong enough to be the focus of a series.

Underneath the trap doors and holes on the set floor, Fusco would be assisted by a second puppeteer, Lisa Buckley, who was responsible for controlling the character's left hand.

When creating ALF's voice, Fusco initially took inspiration from that of Rowlf the Dog, a Muppet character performed by his creator, Jim Henson.

However, the character indicated he had been involved in some version of Melmac's military, as he references an organization known as the Orbit Guard, and claims he had been given orders to mobilize not long before the destruction of the planet.

Throughout the series, Alf's body was depicted to be considerably denser and hardier than that of humans, as he survived several close range explosions with little physiological damage, though he did contract amnesia during season one in the two—part episode Try to Remember as the result of electric shock (later broadcasts of the episode would edit this to being a head injury of unknown cause).

In the season one episode Wild Thing, Alf warned the Tanners of (and later underwent) what he called a "complex physiological and psychological transformation", which he stated all Melmacians go through every 75 years.

This caused the individual to compulsively seek out cats, and required them to be locked away for a roughly twelve hour period from sunset to sunrise.

The change also gave Alf previously unknown abilities, such as the capacity for seemingly flawless imitation, as he would duplicate the voices of Lynn, Brian, and Willie Tanner in rapid succession.

Evading the Tanners when he escaped confinement and stealing the Ochmonech's riding lawn mower, he travelled to a zoo, where he kidnapped a tiger off-screen, hinting at the enhancement to his physical strength during his transformation.

In the comics produced by Marvel, Alf displayed the ability to turn invisible for limited periods of time by eating sponges.

In the issue, Alf claimed to have strength approaching that of the Grey Hulk, and was shown lifting the Tanner home completely off its foundations.

[3][5] Also, the episode "Try to Remember" depicted ALF using an electric mixer in a bathtub and getting amnesia, which caused a child to attempt this and nearly electrocute himself.

His family members are his father Bob, his mother Flo, his younger brother Curtis, his little sister Augie, his dog Neep, and his bird Harry.

[2] The film was intended to also be a backdoor pilot for a new series, but was poorly received by the audience, partly due to the absence of the Tanners.

For virtually the entire series' run, the creative team was: Michael Gallagher (script) and Dave Manak and Marie Severin (art).

[53] ALF-related merchandise was sold during the show's original run, including a 1987 22-inch plush doll produced by Coleco, and a 1988 calendar with Melmac's planetary holidays, such as "Shout at a Shrub Day", prominently marked.

[2] In 1987, Dutch remixer and producer Ben Liebrand created a song called "Stuck on Earth" with samples from an episode of ALF.

He also featured as ALF on various themed mix albums introducing songs by pop artists of the time and other original compositions.