On the surface, the news clearly is good for NBC’s “3rd Rock From the Sun”: The network has renewed the comedy for a fourth season next fall.
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With that key question resolved, however, a larger one looms: Is there any way for “3rd Rock” (8 p.m. Wednesdays, WMAQ-Ch. 5) to regain the momentum that had propelled it to within an inch of becoming a breakout mega-hit?
NBC frittered away that precious opportunity when it moved the still-vulnerable show last fall to an unprotected time slot on Wednesdays. The network brags that “3rd Rock” has done better this season than any other NBC Wednesday comedy in years, but that’s not saying much. Even a post-Super-Bowl telecast — the episode was good, not great — failed to restart the buzz around the series.
The truth is, “3rd Rock” was a victim of NBC’s failed blitzkrieg last fall, an ill-considered scheduling offensive aimed at adding Sundays, Mondays and Wednesdays to the comedy territory it already controlled on Thursdays and, to a lesser extent, Tuesdays.
A more nurturing network would have left “3rd Rock” on Sundays where it might have been able to mature while, attracting more viewers. Instead, network brass shipped the young recruit to the Wednesday-night front, where it was blasted by the heavy artillery of ABC’s “The Drew Carey Show.”
Suddenly, nobody was talking about the show that everybody had been talking about. Fans who had eagerly awaited each new episode felt their ardor cool. The lack of heat even seemed to affect the consistency of a show that demands an extraordinary amount of creative energy from those behind the cameras as well as in front of them.
The unevenness is apparent in the series’ latest episodes, one of which featured a guest appearance by John Cleese as Prof. Liam Neesam, a man even more arrogant and overbearing than, but not even remotely so lovable as, professor Dick Solomon (series star John Lithgow).
It’s fun, admittedly, to watch such two commanding pros as Lithgow and Cleese going toe-to-toe on stage. But the bottom line is that this was a ratings-period stunt that failed to take maximum advantage of the show’s unique naive-aliens-on-Earth concept and its remarkable acting ensemble.
Next week’s entry, on the other hand, written by David Sacks and directed by Terry Hughes, is a jewel. Its focus is love and romance, uniquely human experiences, and it uses the theme to extract broad physical comedy, hilarious character-based jokes and some wry social commentary from its wonderful performers.
It is “3rd Rock” at its best. Let’s hope NBC allows the show to be its best next season.