Hide your cats: Ryan Reynolds is bringing back ALF

Everyone's favorite centuries-old, wisecracking alien life form — a short list, to be sure — has chartered a flying saucer from the '80s to today. Thanks to Ryan Reynolds' Maximum Effort, ALF is back on Earth.

No, it's not an Oppenheimer tie-in with that episode where ALF tries to convince the U.S. president to end its nuclear program lest Earth suffer the same fate as his home planet of Melmac. The oddball NBC sitcom will return on Reynolds' Maximum Effort Channel on Saturday, July 29.

The reprise, through a partnership between Reynolds, ALF creator Paul Fusco, and the recently rebranded Shout! Studios, will not consist of full-length episodes. Instead, the channel will air old ALF episodes alongside ALF-centric shorts highlighting brands like Mint Mobile and Hims.

"At Maximum Effort, we love taking risks and blurring the lines between shows and sponsorship because we believe both can be equally entertaining," Reynolds said. "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."

The well-coiffed puppet, performed by Fusco, starred on ALF from 1986 to 1990. The hit sitcom centered around a family that takes in the alien (and hides him from nosy neighbors and government agencies) after he crash-lands in their garage.

Maximum Effort's marathon, dubbed the ALF "Caturday" Marathon because of the alien's famous hunger for cats, will feature ALF episodes, the ALF-starring sponsored content, and Maximum Effort's Podcats: The Pawdcast. The channel is available through Fubo, Amazon Freevee, LG Channels, Plex, Sling Freestream, Tubi, VIDAA, VIZIO Watchfree+, and Xumo Play.

This isn't the first time ALF's enduring cult following has prompted the puppet's return to TV. The Melmac native starred in TV Land's short-lived ALF's Hit Talk Show in 2004, an interview series featuring guests like Drew Carey, Bryan Cranston, and Tom Green. ALF also made an unexpected appearance in a bizarre episode of Mr. Robot.

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