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59 of 61 persons found the following review helpful.
A Hilarious Sci-Fi Comedy!
By M. Hart
When a group of four extraterrestrial aliens assumed humane form in order to study humanity, the results were hilarious on NBC’s 1996-2001 sitcom “3rd Rock from the Sun”. The unrelated traveling extraterrestrial foursome takes up residence in the fictional midwestern college town of Rutherford, Ohio. The “High Commander” (John Lithgow) takes on the identity of a father and college physics professor named Dick Solomon. The “Security Officer” (Kristen Johnston) takes on the female identity of Dick’s sister Sally. The “Information Officer” (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) takes on the identity of Dick’s son Tommy. The fourth alien (French Stewart) takes on the identity of Dick’s brother Harry. Having never experienced life as humane beings, the alien foursome quickly find that dealing with strange humane sensations and senses may be very challenging. This was exceptionally true for Sally, who, as a woman, experiences a more outstanding array of emotions. Then, there’s the humane woman that inadvertently captures Dick’s heart: a college professor by the name of Dr. Mary Margaret Albright (Jane Curtain). Dick falls madly in love with Mary, who for a long time has little interest in Dick’s advances and thinks that Dick is a bit odd. Then there’s Dick’s humane secretary Nina Campbell (Simbi Khali), who likewise thinks he’s very odd. Other humans that the Solomon’s many times interact with are their eccentric landlady Mrs. Dubcek (Elmarie Wendel) and Police Officer Donald ‘Don’ Orville (Wayne Knight). Don becomes rather infatuated with Sally. Other humans that Dick interacts with many times are the students in his physics classes. As regularly appearing guest actors, these include Leon (Ian Lithgow, John Lithgow’s son), Bug Pollone (David DeLuise, the son of Dom DeLuise), Aubrey Pitman (Chris Hogan), Caryn (Danielle Nicolet) and Judith Draper (Ileen Getz).
8 of 8 persons found the following review helpful.
You’ll Laugh Yourself Silly
By John Parker Marmaro
Not to repeat all the fantasti points made by other reviewers, this second season of 3rd Rock is even funnier than the first. With topflight writing, and a brilliant ensemble cast performing before a live audience, this season holds a great deal of of the highlights of the entire series. Just some of the things to look out for:
In “Much Ado About Dick”, the penultimate cocktail party at the Dean’s house is a veritable hoot culminating in Dick singing “Night and Day” at the piano with Sally, Tommy and Harry backing him up in full harmony;
In “Dick and the Single Girl”, the great Christine Baransky sings the terrifi and sultry “You’ve Awakened My Passion, Dick Solomon” (and her reference to Nikolai Lobachevsky is a wry nod to Tom Lehrer and his song “Lobachevsky”);
And in the fantasti two-part season finale, “Nightmare on Dick Street”, the dream sequences are perfectly delicious: Dick’s nightmare sequence– where his captors and he run into the expressionistic backdrop, and Jane Curtin does her fantasti Marlene Dietrich impression (“First I sing a song I wrote this morning: Falling in love again…”)and Dick faces the Mother of All Jellos; Sally’s is a delicious Fellini movie — at times in Italian with subtitles– and she later delivers the cherished line, “I could never give myself to poultry…”; Tommy’s is expressionistic and includes his music teacher seducing him to the strains of “Bali Hai”; and Harry’s is a delightful musical comedy dance number to the Randy Newman song, “Life Has Been Good to Me”– and he is a terrific dancer!
And the extras are great, in particular the Season Two Bloopers, which are hilarious. All in all, a wondrous release! I can’t wait for Season Three (which if I recall begins with Tommy, Sally and Harry returning with the Big Giant Head’s niece, whom He commands to be Dick’s wife– played by Roseann Barr).
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