Boxed In

At what point do the creative limitations you create for yourself actually harm your ability to create? And what can ALF teach us about that?One look at Paul Fusco’s IMDB page makes clear that he has not worked on anything but ALF since the early 1990s. He has essentially played one character for most of the past 40 years.It’s a good character, and given my elder millennial status, one that I remember fondly. I was one of the millions of people who loved ALF back in the late ’80s. But at what point do you realize, holy crap, you’ve backed yourself into a snarky alien corner?A recent video from the channel Treehouse Detective put an interesting spin on this TV classic, that it reflects the work of a creative person who was only willing to serve up his skills in one specific way. ALF must not be treated like a puppet, and it cannot be clear that Fusco is hiding under the weird creature he created.This high standard led to years of tension on the ALF set, as everyone needed to make way…