By Eric Jayne
A favorite TV show from my youth was ALF. The popular NBC sitcom, which ran from 1986 to 1990, was about a three-feet tall furry, wisecracking Alien Life Form (“ALF”) who crash landed his spaceship in a suburban family’s backyard garage. The family protects ALF from the military and nosy neighbors throughout the series while ALF tries to make sense of life on earth.
One of my favorite scenes from the show is where the family patriarch, Willie, clears up confusion about a $10,000 balloon payment being for their home mortgage and not for an actual balloon. He also helped ALF understand that they are not selling their garage as they prepared for a garage sale. “So you understand what a balloon payment is?” Willie asks ALF. “Yeah”, responds ALF. “And you know what a garage sale is?” asked Willie. After ALF confirms that he does he asks “Now can you explain secular humanism again?” To which Willie says “No”. Here's a YouTube link to the full episode (the scene happens in the first 3 minutes with the opening credits wedged between the exchange).