The sitcom "My Brother the Alien" is cancelled by Fox before it has even reached the halfway point of its first episode due to instant Nielsen ratings indicating low viewer interest. This is an in-joke referring to Fox's cancellation of Alien Nation (1989) in 1990.
The film takes place from December 27, 1999 to January 1, 2000.
Five minutes into the movie you see "Rambo 6" on a movie theater entrance marquee; an obvious joke based on all the sequels the movie industry keeps producing. In real life, as of 2025, there have been five Rambo movies, with the latest released in 2019.
The theater sign with "Rambo 6" on it, as well as quite a bit of additional footage, is from the original 1988 movie and has been used in every single intro for the TV series and follow-up made for TV movies. Almost all of the footage used from the movie is from the opening scene where Sykes (James Caan) is driving through the city with his partner and the scene that follows.
Along with Le seigneur du temps (1996), this is one of two 1996 Fox television film continuations of a cancelled science fiction series to take place in California in December 1999 and January 2000.
David Faustino: As Felix Navidad, the star of the promptly cancelled Fox sitcom "My Brother the Alien".