ONE SEASON WONDERS: Aliens in the Family

On Wednesdays, I take a look at shows that lasted one season or less. Here's a look at 1996's Aliens in the Family!

ALIENS IN THE FAMILY

March 15, 1996 - August 31, 1996
8 episodes
ABC

Starring: John Bedford Lloyd, Margaret Trigg, Michelan Sisti, Joey Mazzarino, Paige Tiffany, Alice Dinnean, Michael Gilden, Chris Marquette, Julie Dretzin, David Rudman, John Kennedy

Created by: Andy Borowitz & Susan Borowitz

Plot: Single Dad Doug (Lloyd) is kidnapped by a single alien mom, Cookie (Trigg) and there's a Brady Bunch-type setup but where one side is made up of aliens (played by puppets from Jim Henson's Creature Shop) and one side is humans (Tiffany & Marquette). Rounding out the main cast is Cookie's friend, Sally (Dretzin).

Brief Pilot Review:

It's hard to believe this show was on Broadcast TV in primetime in 1996. It's as juvenile as a 60s sitcom but without any of the charm or class. It feels more like a live action sitcom you might have seen at the time on something like Nickelodeon or the Disney Channel. The aliens are creepy and the humans are all bad actors. There is nothing creative or clever in the writing. They painfully go through some of the exposition at the beginning of the episode with incredibly stilted dialogue. I guess I didn't need to see what happened to get the family to this point but they sort of addressed it in the theme song. It definitely needed to be done in a better way than the dialogue that happened.

The filming style is very odd. I'm not sure if it's because of the puppets or something else, but it was off-putting. It made everything seem low budget even though the puppets were very clearly designed with some care. Maybe that's where all their money went? Among other weird choices was to use canned laughter (obviously not a live audience) but then use it so sparingly that there were some really awkward silences. It's almost like everyone who worked on this show had never worked on TV before. It really was an embarrassing pilot from start to finish except for some cool (albeit creepy) looking puppets.

What Went Wrong:

In 1996, ABC still had a stranglehold on Friday nights with their TGIF lineup but the lineup was aging. They chose not to premiere any new shows on the night in the Fall of 1995, sticking with their lineup of Family Matters, Boy Meets World, Step by Step and Hangin' with Mr. Cooper. This was also the first season where Disney was the parent company of ABC, an arrangement that continues to this day. ABC was also licking its wounds in early 1996 when 3rd Rock From the Sun, a pilot that ABC had passed on, became a surprise hit for NBC. ABC decided to give its Friday night lineup a jolt in March 1996 with two new shows - Muppets Tonight and Aliens in the Family, both of which used puppets. Although the Friday night lineup was youth-oriented, the two new shows seemed to appeal to an even younger demographic (Disney's influence?) than more teen-friendly shows like Boy Meets World. 

Aliens in the Family was a far inferior show to 3rd Rock From the Sun and it invited comparisons because of the alien theme. That only made ABC look worse for passing on 3rd Rock and picking up this dud. Critics were not kind to Aliens in the Family and the audience had no interest in the show. It aired for just two weeks on Friday night in 1996 before being pulled from the lineup. It eventually resurfaced months later on Saturday mornings, probably where it should have aired in the first place. The series was so bad it didn't even become a cult hit like so many genre flops do. It has just been mostly forgotten.

Tomorrow: A look at Happy Days Season 8 (Part 1)

Next Wednesday: A One Season Wonder look at The Preston Episodes!