5 DAYS UNTIL THE SECOND EPISODE OF ALF'S HIT TALK SHOW!

"Heeeeeeeeeere's ALF!"

And with that boisterous shout from Ed McMahon Wednesday night, the late night talk show torch was officially and undeniably passed directly from Johnny Carson to ALF.

Not Leno. Not Letterman. Not Arsenio. Not O'Brien. Not Kilborn. Not Sajak. Not Chevy Chase.

ALF!

What a fantastic premiere. My goombah has finally been given a horse he can ride! TV Land served it up right too. Wednesday nights at 10pm just became appointment viewing. (Which is too bad for South Park, but that always repeats several times later in the week anyway, so as ALF would say, no problem.)

Ed was great. The "spin-ins" ("Dr. Phil, Medicine Woman", "Spongebob Newhart", "Touched By A Charlie's Angel") were great. The cameo by Henry Winkler was cool (especially since he used to exec produce ALF's former time slot rival, "MacGyver"). Drew Carey was great. The man on the street bit fell flat (because ALF wasn't in it). Dennis Franz was okay (even though he's from a Bochco show and Bochco once dissed ALF...hiss!). And the girl with the ALF tattoo was a sweet bit.

And of course, throughout the show, the ol' ALFer was in top form, firing off superb one-liners left and right like a box of Roman candles dropped into a campfire. I know that coming from me this may sound biased, but facts are facts: ALF captured and brought back the feel and comedic rhythm of Carson like no other host has before or since.

The Shield, 22 Minutes and Family Guy better watch out...if ALF decides to compete for the 2005 ALF Cup, the whole season will be a mere formality!

***

PS: Sorry, but again this week the local band name selection was sorely lacking. Maybe next week.