ALF Reborn on Ryan Reynolds' Maximum Effort Channel, in Ads for Big Brands

Yesterday's popular culture can never die, thanks in large part to modern brands riding endless waves of nostalgia.

In the latest throwback, Ryan Reynolds' Maximum Effort Channel joins with streaming service Fubo to create "Maximum Moments," sponsored content that features ALF, the lovable alien life form with a penchant for eating cats. For this campaign, ALF stars in ads touting Mint Mobile, Fubo, Hims, Ring and MNTN. (His popular sitcom originally ran from 1986-90.)

These vignettes debut on MEC's July 29 "ALF Caturday" marathon, which includes episodes of the show and extensions across podcasts and social media.

Throughout the ads, we see ALF interacting with Eric—a baby born during the series' run, but now all grown up—on topics such as cellphone family plans, hair loss, cutting the cord, playing ding dong ditch and more. Each comes complete with a laugh track and vintage sitcom music.

"It was a pleasure working with Maximum Effort Channel and ALF agrees they showed great insight and intelligence in approaching him for their campaign," says the character's creator, puppeteer and voice, Paul Fusco."

"At Maximum Effort, we love taking risks and blurring the lines between shows and sponsorship because we believe both can be equally entertaining," says co-founder Ryan Reynolds in press materials. "Besides my irrational love of ALF growing up, one of the reasons we licensed this show was precisely because Paul, Shout! Studios and our intrepid brand partners wanted to plot with us to bring ALF back to life. Tune in this Caturday!"

CREDITS

Ideation and Creative Concepts by Maximum Effort
Produced by Really Original
Directed by Oren Brimer