This
Emmy Award nominated, Golden Globe Award winning
sitcom focuses on the wildly hilarious research of the human race as experienced by a 4 member team of
extraterrestrials. This crew finds themselves immersed in current day American society under the assumed group identity of the Solomom family. Let's meet them...
- Dick Solomon (John Lithgow), High Commander, the family patriarch, physics professor at Pendelton University trying to instill advanced scientific knowledge upon this technically unsophisticated race. What Dick possesses in intellectual prowess, he drastically lacks in understanding the workings of interpersonal relationships on this planet.
- Sally Solomon (Kristen Johnson), mission tactics and weapons officer, Dick's attractive "sister". This blonde bombshell warrior finds herself in regular limbo as she attempts to make sense of Earth from a woman's perspective. Having never been female before, she's in for many surprises from anatomical/hormonal differences to veiws on courtship, employment and much more.
- Harry Solomon (French Stewart), communications officer liason to the Big Giant Head, resident oddball whose overt differences from the "family" are most comonly dismissed by telling people he was adopted. Harry's outlandishly distinct personna could be considered a tad bizzare by general Earth standards, but his wacky idiosyncracies help the rest of the Solomons appear to blend in with the population a bit better.
- Tommy Solomon (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), information officer, Dick's "son". Chronologically, he's actually the oldest of the team, but for this mission he's forced to begin his Earth experience as a young American teenage male. He is unmercifully faced with all the awkwardness inherent in this stage of physical and emotional development. Plus, there's the normal pressures of academic and social expectations. It's no wonder that he's more cynical than most young adults.
3rd Rock has a superior supporting cast including
Jane Curtin,
Wayne Knight,
Elmarie Wendel,
Simba Khali and others. The show also boasts entertaining guest appearances by folks such as
William Shatner (recurring role),
Roseanne, and
Dennis Rodman.