Paul Fusco
Encyclopedia
Paul Fusco is an American
puppeteer
, voice-over artist and character actor
who is best known as the voice, creator, and puppeteer of ALF
. He formed the production company Alien Productions with Tom Patchett and Bernie Brillstein
.
in Hamden, CT
where his interest in television
and film
began. His early career included a stint performing on a local children's TV show and various other work which included both puppeteering and stage magic
/ventriloquism
. In the early-1980s
, he met puppet builders and fellow puppeteers Bob Fappiano and Lisa Buckley who were both embarking on careers within the TV industry and they joined his team. Together they made various TV specials for HBO, Showtime and others including The Crown Of Bogg and The Valentine's Day That Almost Wasn't.
Around 1984-1985, Fusco created the ALF
character using an alien looking puppet that was hanging around his house which he used to annoy his family and friends. He wanted to create a TV show based around the character and through Bernie Brillstein
he met Tom Patchett, and together they came up with the concept behind the ALF
sitcom. They pitched the idea to NBC
's Brandon Tartikoff
who loved the idea and commissioned the show. ALF was a huge success, beginning in 1986 and lasting four seasons during which 102 episodes were produced.
An animated series, titled ALF: The Animated Series
and later ALF Tales also aired on NBC
towards the end of the live action sitcom which Fusco also created and produced. A co-production of DIC
, Alien Productions, Lorimar-Telepictures
and Saban Entertainment, the cartoons portrayed Gordon Shumway (ALF) and his family in their days on Melmac before the planet blew up. The actual animation part was bookended by a present day live action ALF reading viewers letters and telling stories about life back home. Space Cats
, a Paul Fusco-produced show in association with Marvel Productions
(which didn't feature ALF) also ran on NBC during the early-1990s
, which was a mix between live action
puppetry
and animation
. The episodes would begin with the live action puppetry where "Captain Catgut", the leader of the Spacecats, would receive a mission briefing about the trouble at hand in the episode. Fusco provided the voice of Captain Catgut. It was cancelled after just 13 episodes when NBC withdrew its commitment to kids' shows on Saturday mornings.
In 1996 a TV movie was aired on ABC called Project ALF
co-starring Martin Sheen
. The movie (produced by Paul Fusco Productions) saw ALF escaping from the military base where he had been held for testing, but the scientist who he thinks will help him is really plotting to expose his existence to the world on a TV talk show.
From 1996 until 2001, ALF made many guest appearances on TV including The Cindy Margolis Show
, Talk Soup
and Love Boat: The Next Wave. From then on ALF was firmly on the comeback trail appearing on NBC's 75th Anniversary Show and the TV Land Awards 2003. During 2004 he revived his guest spot on Hollywood Squares
appearing many times and had also signed a deal with phone company 10-10-220 to be "spokesalien" in their commercials. ALF merchandise returned with posters, figures, t-shirts and DVD
s being released as part of a major new licensing agreement.
With the ALF renaissance in full swing 2003-2004 also saw the alien return to TV in his own series, ALF's Hit Talk Show
, created and produced by Paul Fusco for TV Land
. The show was a mix of celebrity chat and skits filmed in front of a live studio audience from Hollywood's Sunset Boulevard
. One season was taped featuring guest stars including Henry Winkler
and Drew Carey
. Between 2004 and 2006, all four seasons of the ALF sitcom were released on DVD, featuring new appearances by ALF as he hosted the menus on each disc. Extra material also included the rare unaired pilot as an addition to the one that ended up as the show's first episode. September 2006 marked the 20th anniversary of ALF's debut on American TV, and in November 2007 he appeared as "TV Icon of the Week" on "The O'Reilly Factor
". According to the commentary on the Canadian "ALF Files" DVD Fusco has tentative plans for a new ALF movie set on Melmac and there may also be more talk show episodes in some form.
Paul Fusco lives with his wife Linda and son Christopher.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
puppeteer
Puppeteer
A puppeteer is a person who manipulates an inanimate object, such as a puppet, in real time to create the illusion of life. The puppeteer may be visible to or hidden from the audience. A puppeteer can operate a puppet indirectly by the use of strings, rods, wires, electronics or directly by his or...
, voice-over artist and character actor
Character actor
A character actor is one who predominantly plays unusual or eccentric characters. The Oxford English Dictionary defines a character actor as "an actor who specializes in character parts", defining character part in turn as "an acting role displaying pronounced or unusual characteristics or...
who is best known as the voice, creator, and puppeteer of ALF
ALF (TV series)
ALF is an American science fiction sitcom that originally aired on NBC from 1986 to 1990, created by Paul Fusco. The title character was Gordon Shumway, a friendly extraterrestrial nicknamed ALF , who crash lands in the garage of the suburban middle-class Tanner family.The series starred Max...
. He formed the production company Alien Productions with Tom Patchett and Bernie Brillstein
Bernie Brillstein
Bernard J. "Bernie" Brillstein was an American film and television producer, executive producer and talent agent.-Life and career:...
.
Biography
As a student, Paul Fusco worked in the audio-visual department of Hamden High SchoolHamden High School
Hamden High School is a four year high school for grades 9 through 12. It is located at 2040 Dixwell Avenue in Hamden, Connecticut. It is part of the Hamden Public School System and is the only public high school within the town of Hamden....
in Hamden, CT
Hamden, Connecticut
Hamden is a town in New Haven County, Connecticut, United States. The town's nickname is "The Land of the Sleeping Giant." Hamden is home to Quinnipiac University. The population was 58,180 according to the Census Bureau's 2005 estimates...
where his interest in television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
and film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
began. His early career included a stint performing on a local children's TV show and various other work which included both puppeteering and stage magic
Magic (illusion)
Magic is a performing art that entertains audiences by staging tricks or creating illusions of seemingly impossible or supernatural feats using natural means...
/ventriloquism
Ventriloquism
Ventriloquism, or ventriloquy, is an act of stagecraft in which a person manipulates his or her voice so that it appears that the voice is coming from elsewhere, usually a puppeteered "dummy"...
. In the early-1980s
1980s
File:1980s decade montage.png|thumb|400px|From left, clockwise: The first Space Shuttle, Columbia, lifted off in 1981; American President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev eased tensions between the two superpowers, leading to the end of the Cold War; The Fall of the Berlin Wall in...
, he met puppet builders and fellow puppeteers Bob Fappiano and Lisa Buckley who were both embarking on careers within the TV industry and they joined his team. Together they made various TV specials for HBO, Showtime and others including The Crown Of Bogg and The Valentine's Day That Almost Wasn't.
Around 1984-1985, Fusco created the ALF
ALF (TV series)
ALF is an American science fiction sitcom that originally aired on NBC from 1986 to 1990, created by Paul Fusco. The title character was Gordon Shumway, a friendly extraterrestrial nicknamed ALF , who crash lands in the garage of the suburban middle-class Tanner family.The series starred Max...
character using an alien looking puppet that was hanging around his house which he used to annoy his family and friends. He wanted to create a TV show based around the character and through Bernie Brillstein
Bernie Brillstein
Bernard J. "Bernie" Brillstein was an American film and television producer, executive producer and talent agent.-Life and career:...
he met Tom Patchett, and together they came up with the concept behind the ALF
ALF (TV series)
ALF is an American science fiction sitcom that originally aired on NBC from 1986 to 1990, created by Paul Fusco. The title character was Gordon Shumway, a friendly extraterrestrial nicknamed ALF , who crash lands in the garage of the suburban middle-class Tanner family.The series starred Max...
sitcom. They pitched the idea to NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
's Brandon Tartikoff
Brandon Tartikoff
Brandon Tartikoff was a television executive who was credited with turning around NBC's low prime time reputation with such hit series as Hill Street Blues, L.A. Law, ALF, Family Ties, The Cosby Show, Cheers, Seinfeld, Miami Vice, The Golden Girls, Knight Rider, The A-Team, St...
who loved the idea and commissioned the show. ALF was a huge success, beginning in 1986 and lasting four seasons during which 102 episodes were produced.
An animated series, titled ALF: The Animated Series
Alf: The Animated Series
ALF: The Animated Series was an animated cartoon spin-off based on the live-action Sitcom series ALF. It premiered on September 26, 1987 and ran for 26 episodes.-Synopsis:...
and later ALF Tales also aired on NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
towards the end of the live action sitcom which Fusco also created and produced. A co-production of DIC
DiC Entertainment
DIC Entertainment was an international film and television production company. In addition to animated television shows such as Ulysses 31 , Inspector Gadget , The Littles , The Real Ghostbusters , Captain Planet and the Planeteers , and the first two seasons of the English adaptation of...
, Alien Productions, Lorimar-Telepictures
Lorimar-Telepictures
Lorimar-Telepictures was a production and television syndication firm established in 1986 with the merger of Lorimar and Telepictures until both TV divisions became separate in 1988...
and Saban Entertainment, the cartoons portrayed Gordon Shumway (ALF) and his family in their days on Melmac before the planet blew up. The actual animation part was bookended by a present day live action ALF reading viewers letters and telling stories about life back home. Space Cats
Space Cats
Space Cats is a cartoon series for television that aired on NBC in 1991. It is a comedy show about alien felines helping mankind. It was from Paul Fusco, the creator of ALF.-Plot:...
, a Paul Fusco-produced show in association with Marvel Productions
Marvel Productions
Marvel Productions Ltd. , last called New World Animation, was a television and film studio subsidiary of Marvel Entertainment Group , based in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, then New World Entertainment and News Corporation/Fox...
(which didn't feature ALF) also ran on NBC during the early-1990s
1990s
File:1990s decade montage.png|From left, clockwise: The Hubble Space Telescope floats in space after it was taken up in 1990; American F-16s and F-15s fly over burning oil fields and the USA Lexie in Operation Desert Storm, also known as the 1991 Gulf War; The signing of the Oslo Accords on...
, which was a mix between live action
Live action
In filmmaking, video production, and other media, the term live action refers to cinematography, videography not produced using animation...
puppetry
Puppetry
Puppetry is a form of theatre or performance which involves the manipulation of puppets. It is very ancient, and is believed to have originated 30,000 years BC. Puppetry takes many forms but they all share the process of animating inanimate performing objects...
and animation
Animation
Animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. The effect is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in several ways...
. The episodes would begin with the live action puppetry where "Captain Catgut", the leader of the Spacecats, would receive a mission briefing about the trouble at hand in the episode. Fusco provided the voice of Captain Catgut. It was cancelled after just 13 episodes when NBC withdrew its commitment to kids' shows on Saturday mornings.
In 1996 a TV movie was aired on ABC called Project ALF
Project ALF
Project: ALF is a 1996 ABC TV movie directed by Dick Lowry. It is the sequel to the final episode, "Consider Me Gone" , of the ALF TV series...
co-starring Martin Sheen
Martin Sheen
Ramón Gerardo Antonio Estévez , better known by his stage name Martin Sheen, is an American film actor best known for his performances in the films Badlands and Apocalypse Now , and in the television series The West Wing from 1999 to 2006.He is considered one of the best actors never to be...
. The movie (produced by Paul Fusco Productions) saw ALF escaping from the military base where he had been held for testing, but the scientist who he thinks will help him is really plotting to expose his existence to the world on a TV talk show.
From 1996 until 2001, ALF made many guest appearances on TV including The Cindy Margolis Show
The Cindy Margolis Show
The Cindy Margolis Show was a short lived television show which was filmed in Miami Beach, Florida and hosted by Cindy Margolis. The premise of the show was to have a lot of young people party and dance around a stage on which various events took place such as bikini contests...
, Talk Soup
Talk Soup
Talk Soup was a television show produced for cable network E! that debuted on January 7, 1991, and aired until August 2002. Talk Soup aired selected clips of the previous day's daily talk shows—ranging from daytime entries like The Jerry Springer Show and to celebrity interview shows like The...
and Love Boat: The Next Wave. From then on ALF was firmly on the comeback trail appearing on NBC's 75th Anniversary Show and the TV Land Awards 2003. During 2004 he revived his guest spot on Hollywood Squares
Hollywood Squares
Hollywood Squares is an American panel game show in which two contestants play tic-tac-toe to win cash and prizes. The "board" for the game is a 3 × 3 vertical stack of open-faced cubes, each occupied by a celebrity seated at a desk and facing the contestants...
appearing many times and had also signed a deal with phone company 10-10-220 to be "spokesalien" in their commercials. ALF merchandise returned with posters, figures, t-shirts and DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
s being released as part of a major new licensing agreement.
With the ALF renaissance in full swing 2003-2004 also saw the alien return to TV in his own series, ALF's Hit Talk Show
Alf's Hit Talk Show
Alf's Hit Talk Show is an American cable television talk show that aired on TV Land. It ran for seven episodes in 2004. The host is the puppet character Gordon Shumway, of '80s television fame. At the beginning of each show, Alf is introduced by his "sidekick", Ed McMahon. The show ran in a...
, created and produced by Paul Fusco for TV Land
TV Land
TV Land is an American cable television network launched on April 29, 1996. It is owned by MTV Networks, a division of Viacom, which also owns Paramount Pictures, and networks such as MTV and Nickelodeon...
. The show was a mix of celebrity chat and skits filmed in front of a live studio audience from Hollywood's Sunset Boulevard
Sunset Boulevard
Sunset Boulevard is a street in the western part of Los Angeles County, California, that stretches from Figueroa Street in downtown Los Angeles to the Pacific Coast Highway at the Pacific Ocean in the Pacific Palisades...
. One season was taped featuring guest stars including Henry Winkler
Henry Winkler
Henry Franklin Winkler, OBE is an American actor, director, producer, and author.Winkler is best known for his role as Fonzie on the 1970s American sitcom Happy Days...
and Drew Carey
Drew Carey
Drew Allison Carey is an American actor, singer, comedian, photographer, sports executive, and game show host. After serving in the U.S. Marine Corps and making a name for himself in stand-up comedy, Carey eventually gained popularity starring on his own sitcom, The Drew Carey Show, and serving as...
. Between 2004 and 2006, all four seasons of the ALF sitcom were released on DVD, featuring new appearances by ALF as he hosted the menus on each disc. Extra material also included the rare unaired pilot as an addition to the one that ended up as the show's first episode. September 2006 marked the 20th anniversary of ALF's debut on American TV, and in November 2007 he appeared as "TV Icon of the Week" on "The O'Reilly Factor
The O'Reilly Factor
The O'Reilly Factor, originally titled The O'Reilly Report from 1996 to 1998 and often called The Factor, is an American talk show on the Fox News Channel hosted by commentator Bill O'Reilly, who often discusses current controversial political issues with guests.The program was the most watched...
". According to the commentary on the Canadian "ALF Files" DVD Fusco has tentative plans for a new ALF movie set on Melmac and there may also be more talk show episodes in some form.
Paul Fusco lives with his wife Linda and son Christopher.
Credits
- The O'Reilly FactorThe O'Reilly FactorThe O'Reilly Factor, originally titled The O'Reilly Report from 1996 to 1998 and often called The Factor, is an American talk show on the Fox News Channel hosted by commentator Bill O'Reilly, who often discusses current controversial political issues with guests.The program was the most watched...
(1 episode, 2007) - ALF's Hit Talk ShowAlf's Hit Talk ShowAlf's Hit Talk Show is an American cable television talk show that aired on TV Land. It ran for seven episodes in 2004. The host is the puppet character Gordon Shumway, of '80s television fame. At the beginning of each show, Alf is introduced by his "sidekick", Ed McMahon. The show ran in a...
(7 episodes, 2004) - Hollywood SquaresHollywood SquaresHollywood Squares is an American panel game show in which two contestants play tic-tac-toe to win cash and prizes. The "board" for the game is a 3 × 3 vertical stack of open-faced cubes, each occupied by a celebrity seated at a desk and facing the contestants...
(2004) - TV Land Awards: A Celebration of Classic TV (2003)
- NBC 75th Anniversary Special (2002)
- The Cindy Margolis ShowThe Cindy Margolis ShowThe Cindy Margolis Show was a short lived television show which was filmed in Miami Beach, Florida and hosted by Cindy Margolis. The premise of the show was to have a lot of young people party and dance around a stage on which various events took place such as bikini contests...
(1 episode, 2000) - The Love Boat: The Next WaveThe Love Boat: The Next WaveThe Love Boat: The Next Wave is an American television series which was based on the ABC sitcom The Love Boat. The series aired on UPN from 1998 to 1999.-Plot:...
(1 episode, 1999) - Project ALFProject ALFProject: ALF is a 1996 ABC TV movie directed by Dick Lowry. It is the sequel to the final episode, "Consider Me Gone" , of the ALF TV series...
(1996) - Spacecats (1991)
- BlossomBlossomIn botany, blossom is a term given to the flowers of stone fruit trees and of some other plants with a similar appearance that flower profusely for a period of time in spring...
] (1 episode, 1991) - A Very Retail Christmas (1990)
- Cartoon All-Stars to the RescueCartoon All-Stars to the RescueCartoon All-Stars to the Rescue is an animated drug prevention television special starring many of the popular cartoon characters from American weekday, Sunday morning and Saturday morning television at the time of this film's release...
(1990) - ALF Tales (1988)
- MatlockMatlock (TV series)Matlock is an American television legal drama, starring Andy Griffith in the title role of attorney Ben Matlock. The show originally aired from September 23, 1986 to May 8, 1992 on NBC, where it replaced The A-Team, then from November 5, 1992 until May 7, 1995 on ABC.The show's format was similar...
(1 episode, 1987) - ALF: The Animated SeriesAlf: The Animated SeriesALF: The Animated Series was an animated cartoon spin-off based on the live-action Sitcom series ALF. It premiered on September 26, 1987 and ran for 26 episodes.-Synopsis:...
(1987) - ALFALF (TV series)ALF is an American science fiction sitcom that originally aired on NBC from 1986 to 1990, created by Paul Fusco. The title character was Gordon Shumway, a friendly extraterrestrial nicknamed ALF , who crash lands in the garage of the suburban middle-class Tanner family.The series starred Max...
(102 episodes, 1986–1990) - Dumbo's CircusDumbo's CircusDumbo's Circus was a live-action/puppet television series that aired on Disney Channel, featuring the character of Dumbo from the original film.Many of the show's cast went on to star is the popular Christian radio series, Adventures in Odyssey....
(1985) - A Thanksgiving Tale (1983)
- An Easter Story (1983)
- Santa's Magic Toy Bag (1983)
- The Valentine's Day that Almost Wasn't (1982)
- The Crown of Bogg (1981)