A ChucksConnection TV Series Feature

Joseph Gordon-Levitt wears black high tops in the series.

3rd Rock From The Sun

3rd Rock from the Sun. Situation Comedy. Broadcast from September, 1996 until June, 2002 on NBC. This satirical comedy is about a group of aliens who come to earth, and transform themselves into what they think is a typical American family. This transformation gives the aliens human emotions and physical needs without the understanding of what they mean or without the inhibitions normally present in humans. Dick Solomon (John Lithgow), their leader takes the position of a college professor, Sally Solomon (Kristen Johnston), their military expert poses as his sister, and Tommy Solomon (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), their intelligence expert who actually is the oldest of the group, is transformed into a long-haired teenager who always wears baggy clothes and black high top chucks.

The family is rounded out by Harry Solomon (French Stuart), their communications receptor from their outer space supervisor, the Big Head (William Shatner in occasional guest appearances), and the least adept at fitting into human culture. The uninhibited reactions that the Solomons have to human life turn everyday events into unusual situations.

The aliens lack of inhibition sets up a lot of the comedy in the series, and also serves as a send-up our human culture. Dick plays his role of college professor in a manner that is self-centered, egotistic, exuberant, and hilarious. His romance with colleague Dr. Mary Aubright (Jane Curtin) is madcap and eccentric, and his behavior in the office with Dr. Aubright and office manager Nina (Simbi Khali) is often hilariously outrageous. We see Sally Solomon as a 6-foot tall, sexy woman, but actually Sally was a guy on her home planet and was a great warrior. Sally's romance with Officer Don Orville (Wayne Knight) is full of very interesting insights into human behavior as she experiences the emotions of love for the first time and from a woman's point of view. The scripts are often full of shameless puns and coincidences, like the episode where they mention that the three male characters are named Tom, Dick, and Harry.

Harry Solomon, with his mismatched outfits and squinty eyes plays the most comical role, and when he appears he always has some biting observation to make, based on his misunderstanding of life of Earth. He still has a lot to do to really understand what goes on on the Third Rock (Earth). As the series developed over the years, Harry acquired a girl friend Vicki (Jan Hooks) and finally learns something about romance and love. The young teenager Tommy Solomon seems to understand what goes on the planet more than the grown ups, because he has the opportunity to learn with his schoolwork and eventually acquires a girl friend. In the past several seasons, Tommy has cut his hair and wears more contemporary clothes, but still wears black high top chucks. The Solomons even had a chance to move to suburbia in one episode, but they soon decided that they preferred their more Bohemian existence downtown, living in the flat over their landlady's garage. And this allows the Solomons to continue their wacky and off-beat behavior as they continue to observe and explore human culture.

Do you know of other television shows or series where a main character wears Converse All Star Chuck Taylors? Can you describe a favorite episode or two from the series, or do you have additional information about the shows described here already? Do you have videotapes, DVDs or shot captures of episodes from any of the series that haven't been given an in depth article on this site? If you do, email us at chucksphotos@chucksconnection.com and we will add the information to the television pages.

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