Syndication Files 08.05.09: 3rd Rock From The Sun
Posted by Porfirio Diaz on 08.05.2009
"3rd Rock From The Sun" is a tale about four extraterrestrial beings beaming down to Earth to take a crash course on the study on human life. What, do they not have Google on their home planet? This week’s edition of the Syndication Files deals with aliens, the show’s hilarious “fish out of water” concept, and a whole lot of “Dick”.
Being a human being is not hard. Amy Winehouse just makes it look hard.
Syndication Files # 8
3rd Rock from the Sun
The basic premise of the show
"As many intelligent people know, aliens are all around us. This is a story of a band of four such explorers. In order to blend in, they have assumed human form. This is the High Commander [Dick]. He has assembled an elite team of experts: A decorated military officer [Sally], a seasoned intelligence specialist [Tommy] and, well, they had an extra seat [Harry]."
"Our home for this mission was Earth, a third-rate planet. I got a third-rate car, a job at a third-rate university and now we were looking at a third-floor apartment." – Dick Solomon
The Mork and Mindy of our generation!
3rd Rock from the Sun was created by the husband and wife team of Terry and Bonnie Turner, who are also responsible for creating That ‘70s Show. They originally made the pitch for their show to ABC, but were turned down. NBC saw potential for this extraterrestrial "fish out of water" sitcom. After all, the concept worked well for other sitcoms such as Mork and Mindy, Alf, and the epic Caveman show Mystery Science Theater 3000 (oooooo, have to remember that one).
So NBC snatched the show up as a midseason replacement in the beginning of 1996 hoping for another alien ratings buster. 3rd Rock from the Sun beamed into our television sets for the first time on January 9, 1996.
The basic premise of the show is this: four aliens beam down to Earth as humans and study how we live.
Simple, right?
Now for a deeper premise of the show: A group of unrelated extraterrestrial researchers are ordered to journey to Earth (hence the title of the show) as human life forms in an attempt to live within our civilization as a normal family in the fictional town of Rutherford, Ohio. During their study of humanity (and through the course of the series), the four individuals become quite comfortable to the Blue Planet yet also find the challenges of living in a human society that's completely foreign to them.
Yes folks, that's how it's done
This slapstick sitcom stars John Lithgow as mission commander (or as the more well-known title of "High Commander") Dick Solomon. His alien character takes on the identity of father and college physics professor at Pendelton State University. Ironically despite being the oldest family member, he's actually the youngest of the crew. His maturity level is somewhere between childlike and juvenile as he often tries to overcome everyday human struggles through immature acts of yelling and tantrums. He's also pompous, judgmental and completely self-absorbed (his three perfect qualities of friendship). He would use his high power of command to have things go his way and takes great pleasure in doing so. While he does teach his class about the wonderful world of physics, he usually uses his students to gain a better understanding of common humanity issues such as feelings and casual sex. However his highly advanced physic knowledge leaves his students very hopelessly confused, just like in real life.
College professors should act more like Dick
At least he grades on a curve…
…sort of
Plus he's great with smart ass one-liners such as this one: "Where would we be without the agitators of the world attaching the electrodes of knowledge to the nipples of ignorance?"
Dick's second-in-command is Sally Solomon (Kristen Johnston). She's a lieutenant, security officer, and a student of the study of womanhood. You see, the alien themselves are described as asexual. The group had a contest among themselves over who would be the woman on this mission and of course, Sally lost. At first Sally had a difficult time adjusting to womanhood but as soon as she was able to discover the unique traits about woman (breasts have "greater power when they collide" and that women have more "holes" than men), she decided that being a woman isn't so bad. She's also a highly-skilled combat tactician and highly addicted to violence which somehow makes her a little bit hotter.
Looks like she still needs some adjusting
Rounding out the crew are Harry and Tommy Solomon. Harry (squinty-eyed French Stewart) was originally not part of the mission but as explained in the introduction, they had an extra seat. His main purpose is to act as the crew's transmitter. He would boom out "Incoming message from the Big Giant Head!" before posing in a weird antenna-like stance while delivering the message. He's a clueless dolt but he's quite the ladies man and is never shy about flaunting other people with his exotic sexual behavior.
Tommy (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is the crew's information officer and plays as Dick's juvenile son. Just like with Dick, the irony is that he's the oldest and wisest member of the crew, yet he's confined to the body of a horny teenager. While his task is to gather information about Earth, he usually gets his information from media outlets such as films and television shows.
Now here they are feeding a baby…and failing. Pnwed.
These four live together and experience the life of human emotions, illness, dreams, death, and more importantly, sex. The show is based around the alien's point of view about what they learn on Earth. They are very intelligent forms of life that analyze every experience but of course misunderstandings come up when the alien's behave outside the norm when dealing with the culture we live in. Using superior knowledge is not always the answer when dealing with our so-called complex civilization. They have no worldly powers, unless you count the power of expressing the brutal truth. Man, they sure don't hold back on the truth to some of our customs.
That's truly a Hallmark moment
3rd Rock from the Sun is a mixture of high level witty humor and broad slapstick comedy. Sort of like Seinfeld meets Friends, but with aliens. The sense of humor comes from various sources, with the main source from each alien's character trait and their observation of humanity. Fox example, Dick is arrogant and wants everything to be about him. Some episodes center on his childlike behavior of wanting everything to go his way, which usually ends up making things worse. Another source of humor comes from the love relationship aspect such as the on/off relationship with Dick and anthropology professor Dr. Mary Albright (Jane Curtin). Mary is attracted to Dick's cheerful and childish display. Why? I don't know, but Mary does get a face full of Dick's irregular behavior throughout the series. Let's not forget about the masculine relationship between Sally and Office Don Orville (Wayne Knight). The show eventually became successful enough for special guest stars to come out of the woodworks and join in on the fray, including Roseanne, Dennis Rodman, and William Shatner as the "Big Giant Head". Somehow that seems appropriate.
Imagine ABC executive's shock when a show that they turned down turned into a hit. The show gathered 31 Emmy nominations, 6 Golden Globe nominations, and a variety of other awards. John Lithgow in his first major comedic role won 3 Emmys for "Outstanding Actor – Comedy Series" (1996, 1997, 1999) while also winning a Golden Globe for "Best Actor – Musical or Comedy Series (1996). The show itself didn't gather much award success but at least people noticed how much of a good show this was. Too bad that NBC kept dicking around with the show's timeslot, moving it from timeslot to timeslot until people eventually got confused and moved on. In the show's six year run, 3rd Rock from the Sun was aired on 18 different timeslots, more than any other television series ever. It wouldn't be long before the show ran out of stream.
The ASC award winning 3D dream sequence
Tired of the low ratings, NBC canceled the series in the early part of 2001. The series finale aired on May 22, 2001, ending with 139 episodes. It was time for the aliens to beam back up to their home planet, but not before Mary found out about the family's dark secret. She seemed pretty mellow about the fact that the guy she had relations with was in fact an alien. That's pretty kinky. The final screen was the crew gathering together in the Rambler for one last time while singing Elvis Costello's "Fly Me to the Moon" as they are beamed away and the show ends.
Or did it?
The alternate ending
The alternate ending was used in case of a possibility that the show would return. So far, it has not. Perhaps the aliens have grown tired of our national problems and disastrous economy as much as we do.
Can't say that I blame them.
Commercial Break
Weeeeee!!
The Free Credit Report band is back with another singing ad campaign, this time on a roaster coaster!
I love their jingles. Is there any way we can include this as one of the top 5 best musicals?
Oh why not? Here are the other six commercials they have done.
I love their continuity. They do it better than most shows. Right, Simpsons?
Catchy, isn't it?
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And with that, I'm out of time. Out like the credibility of the 2004 World Series Champion Red Sox!
