Now, hear me out. I know this was a well-received and fairly top-rating sitcom during its primetime run. But amidst all the other hit '90s sitcoms (Friends, Seinfeld and Frasier being the three biggest), today 3rd Rock from the Sun seems really the most forgotten and, both retrospectively and from a contemporary perspective, the most niche. That, to me, qualifies it for cult status.
I was raised on this remorselessly funny and unexpectedly wise show; practically every Sunday night when it aired in Australia, my whole family watched and enjoyed it together, and I proudly now own the entire series box set. It follows four aliens who've been sent to Earth to conduct a study of human life and culture for their supreme leader, the Big Giant Head. To pull this off, they disguise themselves as a regular human family, the Solomons: there's Dick (John Lithgow in the role he was born to play), the imperious but immature High Commander; Sally (Kristen Johnston) the ferocious military expert who must adjust to being a woman on Earth; Tommy (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), the elderly intelligence specialist who's now a teenage boy; and Harry (French Stewart), the bizarre messenger who only came along because their ship had a spare seat. They assume residence in the small town of Rutherford, Ohio, where Dick works as a physics professor at Rutherford University, but this jeopardizes their mission because he instantly falls heads over heels in love with his ambitious but neurotic colleague Mary Albright (Jane Curtin). Meanwhile, all the Solomons have to learn to integrate with their chainsmoking, horny landlady Mamie Dubcek (Elmarie Wendel); Dick's professorial arch-nemesis Vincent Strudwick (Ron West), whose daughter Alyssa (Larissa Oleynik) Tommy dates, no less; his invariably sassy assistant Nina (Simbi Khali); and Sally's cop boyfriend Don Orville (Wayne Knight), among others.
3rd Rock from the Sun won eight Emmys (including five combined for Lithgow and Johnston) and two Golden Globes over its six seasons, and today it has aged barely, if at all. I can understand if it's not for everybody; it's as unsubtle as sitcoms come. But that's just why I've always adored it; I prefer comedy that goes for in-your-face territory, and I don't think that style can't be genuinely witty or multi-layered, either. Like most TV shows its quality does slip near the end, but it never jumped the shark. Creators Bonnie and Terry Turner and their fellow writers collectively do a very sharp job of drawing this premise out and managing the science of joke-telling, but 3rd Rock simply wouldn't have been the same without its immaculate cast. Over all six seasons their chemistry, comic timing and enthusiasm for the project never falters once. But from re-watching it as an adult, what now strikes me as most unusual about it is its wisdom. The Solomons quickly fit in so well with their surroundings because overall they're actually just as normal and sane, if not more so, than the human characters. That's a very profound and important sentiment to convey, in these times of deep conflict and disunity.
All in all, 3rd Rock from the Sun is a timelessly entertaining and insightful cult slice of television history.
3rd Rock from the Sun won eight Emmys (including five combined for Lithgow and Johnston) and two Golden Globes over its six seasons, and today it has aged barely, if at all. I can understand if it's not for everybody; it's as unsubtle as sitcoms come. But that's just why I've always adored it; I prefer comedy that goes for in-your-face territory, and I don't think that style can't be genuinely witty or multi-layered, either. Like most TV shows its quality does slip near the end, but it never jumped the shark. Creators Bonnie and Terry Turner and their fellow writers collectively do a very sharp job of drawing this premise out and managing the science of joke-telling, but 3rd Rock simply wouldn't have been the same without its immaculate cast. Over all six seasons their chemistry, comic timing and enthusiasm for the project never falters once. But from re-watching it as an adult, what now strikes me as most unusual about it is its wisdom. The Solomons quickly fit in so well with their surroundings because overall they're actually just as normal and sane, if not more so, than the human characters. That's a very profound and important sentiment to convey, in these times of deep conflict and disunity.
All in all, 3rd Rock from the Sun is a timelessly entertaining and insightful cult slice of television history.
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