‘Fantasmas’ Just Aired the ‘ALF’ Parody to End All ‘ALF’ Parodies
There’s no shortage of otherworldly strangeness in Julio Torres’ new HBO series Fantasmas (as in, the show opens on a discussion at the Crayola factory about creating a clear crayon) but even so, one aspect of this bonkers new series takes the surreality to a whole new level. In fact, the scene was so bizarre that I found myself pausing and rewinding to figure out how it had happened. Did anyone else have “ALF parody starring Paul Dano” on their bingo cards?
In Fantasmas, Torres—the former Saturday Night Live writer behind such masterpieces as HBO’s Los Espookys and the comedy Problemista—plays a fictionalized version of himself. The series premiered on Friday night and sends Julio on a mission to find his lost oyster-shaped earring, even as the more practical aspects of his life start to crumble around him. One might think that a show like this would not concern itself with a dated sitcom from the 1980s, but nevertheless, the show’s ALF parody, titled MELF, plays soon after the opening scene. When Julio hitches a ride in the show’s Uber alternative called Chester—named after Chester, the person who drives the car—the driver insists that MELF (and only MELF) plays in the background.
At first, it seems as though we are watching the first episode of MELF, but gradually, it becomes clear that what’s unfolding on screen is more like an accelerated, montage-laden play-through of the show’s narrative arc. (One thing about Fantasmas: Do not try to watch it by multi-tasking, or you will quickly find yourself lost in the dada wackiness.) In the show-within-a-show, MELF—a lilac-colored alien with pink paws and face, from the planet MELF—crash-lands in the home of a suburban family of four. Paul Dano plays the patriarch, while GLOW alum Sunita Mani plays his doting wife. MELF loves cookies and spaghetti, and eventually, Dano’s character comes to love MELF to a degree that most would consider inappropriate.