3rd Rock from the Sun

Four aliens arrive on Earth, form human bodies and assume the identities of Dick, Sally, Harry and Tommy — the Solomon family — to conduct experiments and observe life on the planet.

When Tommy comes down with a terrible cold after a make-out session with his lab partner Dina, the other aliens also get sick for the first time, and they’re all convinced that they’re dying.

When Nina enquires about Dick’s birthday to update her records, Dick has no idea how to respond — the concepts of age and “acting his age” are meaningless to him. Dick informs the other aliens that they need to know how old they are and they also need birthdays.

Dick gives Tommy an assignment to check out high school. Meanwhile, Sally, in a quest to experience sex, goes out on a date and returns home giggly and girlish, only to be devastated when Brad, her date, doesn’t call as promised.

Sally complains to Dick that, as second in command, she never gets to make decisions. Dick runs into some of his students in a restaurant, sees one of them smoking and is fascinated by how sophisticated he looks. Grabbing a cigarette, Dick is hooked with one puff.

Dick feels the need to experience physical affection, and when a hug from Harry misses the mark, his thoughts turn to Dr. Albright. He experiences jealousy for the first time when Dr. Albright responds warmly to an old friend who has turned up unexpectedly.

Sally takes on the job of researching women and their grooming and beauty secrets. Tommy runs into August, a girl from school. And when Dr. Albright leaves town for a short retreat, Dick feels devastated and abandoned.

Relations become strained between Tommy and his girlfriend August when Cheryl, a cheerleader, enters the picture. Dick, Sally and Harry attend a party in honor of Dr. Hanlin, a universally-disliked faculty member. When the doctor drops dead at the party, Dick, whose honesty Dr. Hanlin admired, is perplexed to learn that his dying wish was for him to deliver a eulogy at the funeral.

Dick confides in Dr. Albright that he and Sally can't seem to stop fighting, and Mary tells him it's the same with her younger brother Roy. But when Dick meets Roy, he immediately likes him and invites him to dinner with the Solomon family. During dinner, much to Mary's embarrassment and the Solomon's' alarm, Roy tells a story about being abducted from a cornfield by an alien spacecraft.

Dr. Albright uses flattery to convince Dick to attend a faculty meeting in her place, but Dick immediately alienates the group by innocently revealing her true feelings: they're a bunch of stodgy, boring old men. When Dr. Albright is furious with him, a perplexed Dick learns that the "truth" can have many degrees and nuances.

Sally takes command of the bake sale at Tommy's school and, with drill sergeant tactics, whips the mothers into shape and makes the sale a success. Dick and Harry attend an art class where Mary Albright is studying painting and Harry, who has never been good at anything on this planet, discovers his true talent.

Harry has a new job at a video store where he takes his work very seriously. Tommy is one of his first customers, renting a David Copperfield magic show that he thinks will save him the trouble of reading the Dickens novel. Dick convinces Dr. Albright that he should accompany her to Chicago to receive an anthropology award, and they wind up stuck in a snowstorm.

The Solomons meet their neighbors the Mullers, whom they've been observing from afar. Dick makes overtures of friendship to Frank Muller, who is curious but responsive. However, when the Solomons pay a visit at 3:00 A.M. and reveal to the Mullers that they've been spying on them, the friendship strains. Dick feels that they've been treated unjustly and experiences anger for the first time.

When Nina tells Dick that Stanford has no graduate records on him and Dick reacts defensively, Dr. Albright observes that it's virtually impossible to get a straight answer from Dick about his past. Dr. Albright becomes convinced that Dick is actually Manny Rosenberg, a 1960s activist whom she knew briefly and who has been in hiding from the FBI in decades.

When Dick confronts Sally about her obsessive shopping habits, she decides that it's time she and Harry get jobs to earn their own money. Feeling excluded when Nina and Dr. Albright do some female bonding, Dick dresses in drag, crashes a women's study group meeting in the teacher's lounge, shares his feelings and humiliates Dr. Albright.

When Dick and Sally meet with Tommy's teacher, they learn that Tommy is having trouble fitting in. Sally is less concerned with Tommy's problem than with getting to know his handsome teacher, Mr. Randell. The aliens are mystified when Tommy announces that they must have an ethnic identity because, to them, all earthlings look alike, and Dick resolves to do some research on the issue.

When the aliens' car stereo is ripped off while they're at the mall, Harry and Sally pay a visit to the police station to report it and begin discussing security measures. Dick thinks they're being paranoid, but when he gets mugged at the ATM, he becomes disenchanted with the human race and demands justice.

Harry acts upset and even a bit rebellious and Dick figures Harry needs a father figure. Sally meets Mr. Randell's mother.

When Dick learns that Dr. Albright is getting a bigger, better office and is leaving him with a new, eccentric office mate, he's devastated and tries to make her change her mind. But she won't hear of it, so Dick quietly makes a few phone calls.

Tommy has sent a report to the aliens' boss, the Big Giant Head, informing him that Dick has been squandering time in pursuit of an earth woman. When Dick hears about it, he vows to have a successful date with Dr. Albright. Nina intercedes on Dick's behalf, and Dr. Albright agrees to go to dinner at a Japanese restaurant where Dick dazzles her with his prowess as a chef.