can you educate a casual ALF fan or point me to a good summary on these horror stories?
The short of it is, the shoots were grueling, long and technically frustrating. The filming set was incredibly complicated because there was a small army of technicians controlling ALF as he moved around the Tanner home. One small mistake during a long take would require a lot of setup to go again.
Logistical considerations had the Tanner house set up with many chasms and pits in the floor everywhere, so apparently it was incredibly easy to turn around, take the wrong step and drop into the void. The shot changes, so one pit is covered and another opens up.
Max Wright (Willie Tanner) is said to have been particularly haunted by his experience filming ALF - the unexpected success being the down side. Willie played the butt of most of the jokes on the show as ALF routinely berated him and cost him fortunes plural. ALF lost his baby, had him arrested... blew up his kitchen etc, etc. For four years and 102 episodes that was the schtick.
Max infamously descended into a crack smoking bender which was plastered all over the tabloids some years after the series before returning to the stage. I don't think he's been seen for a few years. There is almost certainly no chance any of the original cast will return. Prove me wrong? I love the Tanners but a sarcastic alien could play off nearly anyone. Roseanne is looking for a show.
http://mentalfloss.com/article/86458/out-world-oral-history-alf
An except from the link above:
Gregory (played Brian Tanner): We were rehearsing a script where Max makes kind of a cage for ALF and I get locked up in it. And I flubbed a line and Max flipped out on me. I’m nine years old and he’s screaming. I’m bawling.
Fusco (ALF): He was a classically trained theater actor. I think maybe he would’ve rather been doing theater instead of television, but you take the jobs that come along. I can’t speak for him, but it’s possible he might have felt trapped the longer the series went on.
Cameron: This is one of my favorite show biz stories: They’re blocking a scene and Anne Schedeen (Kate Tanner) says, "Do I really need to be in this scene?" And then someone else asks the same thing. Max was a very hard worker trying to do the show. He started saying, "I’m here to work. Are you here to work?" Pretty soon they’re all screaming at each other and the set clears. As he’s walking off, Max starts screaming. "Put us all on sticks! We’re the puppets here! We’re the puppets!"
