Entertainment29 Years Ago, This Wild Sci-Fi Sitcom Took Over TV and Is a Funnier Replacement for ‘The Big Bang Theory’

They truly don’t make ’em like this anymore. Years before The Big Bang Theory, NBC boasted one of the best sitcom lineups, with its slate of elite Must-See TV Thursday shows. Debuting as a mid-season replacement in January 1996, an unassuming, yet hilarious, sci-fi-themed sitcom emerged, 3rd Rock from the Sun. The series followed an eccentric family, the Solomons: patriarch and physics professor, Dick Solomon (John Lithgow); Dick’s teenage son, Tommy Solomon (Joseph Gordon-Levitt); Dick’s younger sister, Sally Solomon (Kristen Johnston); and Dick’s younger brother, Harry Solomon (French Stewart). The kooky family holds a radical secret: they are all alien scientists from another planet.