Twenty years ago, a very unusual show appeared on the newly born FOX network. Sure, it was a buddy-cop show like dozens of others but in this show one of the cops was literally from another world. Eric Pierpoint was cast as the young, idealistic Newcomer cop ‘George Francisco’ to play along side Gary Graham’s human detective ‘Matthew Sikes’. Because it was considered “science fiction”, Alien Nation could address and comment on topics such as prejudice, immigration, racism, and slavery that other network show shied away from. Pierpoint would embrace the genre and guest star in many other sci-fi series including Babylon 5 and four Star Trek spin-off series.
In our interview, Eric Pierpoint reminisces about his time on the show and talks about how, even twenty years later, Alien Nation still speaks to topics and controversies that are every bit as relevant today as they were in 1989.
[Edited by Steve Crump]