Aliens in the Family

Aliens in the Family
Genre Sci-fi/fantasy Sitcom
Created by Andy Borowitz
Susan Borowitz
Written by Susan Borowitz
Andy Borowitz
Patricia Marx
Charlie Rubin
Directed by Tom Trbovich
Starring John Bedford Lloyd
Margaret Trigg
Theme music composer Todd Rundgren
Composer(s) Joe Carroll
Peter Thom
Country of origin United States
Original language(s) English
No. of seasons 1
No. of episodes 8
Production
Executive producer(s) Andy Borowitz
Susan Borowitz
Brian Henson
Producer(s) Ritamarie Peruggi
Running time 2224 minutes
Production company(s) The Jim Henson Company
Jim Henson Productions
The Stuffed Dog Company
Release
Original network ABC
Audio format Dolby Surround
Original release March 15 (1996-03-15) – August 31, 1996 (1996-08-31)

Aliens in the Family is an American sci-fi/fantasy sitcom that aired on ABC, conceived as part of its TGIF lineup.

Premise

The show was about single dad Doug Brody (John Bedford Lloyd), who is abducted by single alien mom Cookie (Margaret Trigg). The two fall in love, get married, and try to live a normal life on Earth as a mixed family. Much of the series humor was derived from gags involving the assimilation of the alien family into everyday life—despite being pink and having massive heads (all of the aliens were puppets designed by Jim Henson's Creature Shop), everyone on Earth seems to accept their presence, and in spite of possessing technology far superior to that of Earth, the aliens all go about their everyday lives in the same fashion as all the humans.

Although not the focus of the show, the character to receive the most attention in episodes was Bobut, Cookie's infant son. Baby Bobut could talk, had a genius-level IQ, and was perpetually plotting a grisly fate for those around him (though the series position as a family show meant that Bobut's plans were always family-friendly: for example, wreaking havoc on the city by causing a frog to grow ten times its size).

Episodes

Ep # Title Airdate Synopsis
1 "Meet the Brodys" March 15, 1996
2 "Bobut Conquers All" March 22, 1996
3 "Cookie Makes Some Dough" July 27, 1996
4 "You Don't Have a Pet to Be Popular" August 3, 1996
5 "Too Good to Be True" August 10, 1996
6 "Respect Your Elders" August 17, 1996
7 "Dissected and Neglected" August 24, 1996
8 "A Very Brody Tweeznax" August 31, 1996

Cancellation

The show premiered on March 15, 1996; ABC pulled the series from its TGIF lineup after two weeks, replacing the show's scheduled third airing with re-runs of other TGIF programs. The show did not return for over four months and finally burned off the rest of its episodes on Saturday mornings in the summer of 1996.

Jaleel White, who starred as Steve Urkel on another TGIF program (Family Matters), was a vocal critic of TGIF adding Jim Henson programs onto the TGIF block (Aliens in the Family debuted the same year as Muppets Tonight) and speculated that their addition ruined the block's credibility by changing its target demographic from whole families to children.[1]

Cast

Puppeteers

Production notes

The series was created, written by and executive produced by Andy and Susan Borowitz. Brian Henson, son of Jim Henson, also served as executive producer. The series theme song was written and performed by Todd Rundgren.[2]

References

  1. Hal Boedeker (July 18, 1997). "He's A Goober But CBS Has A Lot Riding On Urkel TV". Orlando Sentinel. Retrieved October 18, 2012.
  2. "Aliens in the Family: Cast and crew". tv.yahoo.com. Retrieved 2008-10-05.

External links

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