What’s Worth Watching: 3rd Rock from the Sun Takes Us Back to Simpler Times

3^rd Rock from the Sun, All six seasons streaming via Netflix

Before some desperate network inevitably tries to remake this supremely weird, weirdly endearing ’90s sitcom, take a look at the original. Four aliens—Dick (John Lithgow), Sally (Kristen Johnston), Tommy (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), and Harry (French Stewart) Solomon—come to Earth to pose as humans. Appropriately, the Solomons reside not in some coastal bastion of eliteness, but Rutherford, Ohio, outside of Cleveland. Yes, there’s a laugh track, and some typically hokey jokes, but this is one of the bizarre premise shows from that period to actually age well. Others may hold up Friends and Will & Grace as the gold standard for ’90s comedy, but 3^rd Rock deserves a place in that pantheon as well. Plus, neither of them had Joseph Gordon-Levitt.