Series synopsis
3rd Rock from the Sun is an American family sci-fi & fantasy comedy drama television series that premiered on NBC on January 9, 1996. It ended on May 22, 2001. It was created by Terry Turner, Bonnie Turner. It stars John Lithgow, Kristen Johnston, Jane Curtin and Joseph Gordon-Levitt.
The high commander of an alien expedition lands on Earth -- what he considers to be the least-important planet -- in human form as Dick Solomon. Along for the ride are his alien compatriots Harry, Sally and Tommy -- who is the eldest of the group but is now angrily trapped in a teen's body.
Premise
The high commander of an alien expedition lands on Earth -- what he considers to be the least-important planet -- in human form as Dick Solomon. Along for the ride are his alien compatriots Harry, Sally and Tommy -- who is the eldest of the group but is now angrily trapped in a teen's body.
Premise: There's a new family in town. They're not from another city... They're from another planet.
Cast and characters
Leading cast
- John Lithgow as Dick Solomon
- Kristen Johnston as Sally Solomon
- Jane Curtin as Mary Albright
- Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Tommy Solomon
- French Stewart as Harry Solomon
- Simbi Khali as Nina Campbell
- Wayne Knight as Don Orville
- Elmarie Wendel as Mrs. Dubcek
Guest cast
- John Mahoney as Dr. Leonard Hamlin
- Ian Lithgow as Leon
- Marnette Patterson as Volleyball Girl
- Susan Leslie as Kissing Woman
- Marla Sokoloff as Dina
- Rachel Davies as Flora
- Pat Lach as Mother
- Lauren Graham as Laurie Harris
- Danielle Nicolet as Caryn
- Chris Hogan as Aubrey Pitman
- Benjamin King as Man In Bar
- Robert Lynch as Doug
Episodes
This series spans 6 seasons with 139 episodes.
| Season | Episodes | First aired | Last aired |
|---|---|---|---|
| Season 1 | 20 | January 9, 1996 | May 21, 1996 |
| Season 2 | 26 | September 22, 1996 | May 18, 1997 |
| Season 3 | 27 | September 24, 1997 | May 20, 1998 |
| Season 4 | 24 | September 23, 1998 | May 25, 1999 |
| Season 5 | 22 | September 21, 1999 | May 23, 2000 |
| Season 6 | 20 | October 24, 2000 | May 22, 2001 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Brains and Eggs The leader of an alien recon party on Earth discovers he has "feelings" for a professor. |
January 9, 1996 |
| 2 |
Post-Nasal Dick When Tommy catches a bug, the crew gets its first taste of human illness. |
January 16, 1996 |
| 3 |
Dick's First Birthday Dick is introduced to the concept of birthdays--and it dawns on him that he's getting old. |
January 23, 1996 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
See Dick Continue to Run (2) While Dick is trapped in the basement, Evil Dick begins a plan to impregnate all women in Ohio. |
September 22, 1996 |
| 2 |
See Dick Continue to Run, Continued (3) Evil Dick plans to take over the world and pick up where Dick left off with Albright. |
September 22, 1996 |
| 3 |
Hotel Dick Aghast at the treatment of aliens in a hit science fiction movie, the Solomons attend a science fiction convention to try to set the record straight -- and Sally's first experience of hotels get her hooked on room service. |
September 29, 1996 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Fun with Dick and Janet (1) Sally, Tommy and Harry return from the home planet with a surprise for Dick: a bride-to-be. |
September 24, 1997 |
| 2 |
Fun with Dick and Janet (2) Dick tries to hide his Janet predicament from Mary; Officer Don suspects that aliens have landed. |
September 24, 1997 |
| 3 |
Tricky Dick Dick and Albright wage a war of practical jokes and Sally tires of Don when she meets a yoga instructor. Meanwhile, Tommy joins a rock band, with Harry as his roadie. |
October 8, 1997 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Dr. Solomon's Traveling Alien Show Randy "sells" Harry to a circus, where he achieves popularity as the act "Hargo the Alien". In order to try to find him, Tommy and Vicki visit a psychic, but it turns out that she's actually seen the Hargo act herself and so knows where Harry is. Meanwhile, the loss of Harry means that the aliens' annual status report cannot be sent, so the Big Giant Head punishes Dick for not submitting it by slowly shutting down his brain. |
September 23, 1998 |
| 2 |
Power Mad Dick After Mary is made the new Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences, Dick uses her position to his advantage and ends up firing his arch nemesis, cafeteria worker Lucy, who then files a grievance. Sally prepares to lose her virginity to Don, but afterwards finds that she cannot talk to anyone about it, much to the other Solomons' annoyance. |
October 7, 1998 |
| 3 |
Feelin' Albright Dick attends a function with Mary and finds that, because she is Dean, he is ignored by everybody except the wives of the other Deans. In order to prove his worth, he decides to hold a fashion show to raise enough money to have the dilapidated statue of Admiral Pendleton restored. Meanwhile, Sally is horrified when she learns that Don had dated other women before her, and strives to track them all down. Harry and Tommy try to raise their own funds by setting up a lemonade stand. |
October 14, 1998 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Episode I: The Baby Menace The Solomons are relieved when Vicki's baby turns out to be human, but horrified when she announces her plans to sell her story to the papers. When a reporter comes sniffing around, Sally gives Dick the title of Security Officer and orders him to kill him; however he can't, so she makes him High Commander and herself Security Officer so that she can kill the reporter herself. Dick then reminds Sally that he is now the High Commander, and that there is nothing she can do to reverse it. |
September 21, 1999 |
| 2 |
Dick for Tat When a drunk Mary tells Dick she once had a fling with his archenemy Vincent Strudwick, he is outraged and decides to get even with the pair of them by convincing Strudwick's wife to sleep with him. Tommy supports Dick's decision, imagining double dates - himself with Alissa and Dick with Strudwick's wife. Meanwhile, Sally gets the hots for Don after he starts riding a police motorbike, but the pair crash and Don ends up in full body plaster. |
September 28, 1999 |
| 3 |
The Fifth Solomon Dick crashes the car into a tree and calls an insurance company to cover it, but the salesman informs him that in order to be covered, he needed to have taken out insurance before the crash. Instead, the salesman manages to convince Harry to buy insurance, but then ignores all of Harry's attempts to call him. Dick, meanwhile, is pleasantly surprised when he discovers just how much more advanced his rental car is than the old Rambler, and so sells the latter for scrap; however, the Solomons soon begin to miss it. |
November 2, 1999 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Les Liaisons Dickgereuses Mary's wealthy sister Renata Albright has donated a large sum of money to have an extension built onto Pendelton University, but Mary knows that it is in fact a spiteful gesture designed to quite literally block the sunlight into her office. To retaliate, Dick schemes with Mary that he will woo Renata, win her, and then break her heart. Meanwhile, Sally and Harry are given ten thousand dollars by Renata to convert their house into a teen center. |
October 24, 2000 |
| 2 |
Fear and Loathing in Rutherford Tommy is still reeling from his breakup with Alissa, but Sally and Harry convince him that if he can find an excuse to go over to her house, he can persuade her to watch a movie with him. When the pair leave the house together, however, Strudwick is suspicious and confronts Dick. Mrs. Dubcek suggests that they could have eloped, so Dick and Strudwick rush off to track them down before there's a baby on the scene, managing to accidentally abandon Mary in the process. Meanwhile, Tommy has rented a scary movie to watch with Alissa, in the hope that it might bring her into his arms, but Sally and Harry decide to show up and make it more real. |
October 31, 2000 |
| 3 |
InDickscretion Dick and Mary decide to go on a double date with Sally and Don, but things start to become uncomfortable when Dick and Sally begin talking incessantly about how good their other half is in bed. The next day Dick and Sally come to realize that neither Mary or Don said anything about how good they are, and immediately worry that they aren't. Meanwhile, in a food store, Mary and Don run into each other and, consumed by what they'd heard about each other in bed, share a kiss. Elsewhere, Harry and Tommy follow in the footsteps of Jack Kerouac and take to the open road. |
November 14, 2000 |
Production
Release
| Original network/platform | NBC |
|---|---|
| First aired | January 9, 1996 |
| Last aired | May 22, 2001 |
| Runtime | 22 minutes |
| Status | ended |
| Schedule | Tuesday |