3rd Rock from the Sun is an American television sitcom created by Bonnie and Terry Turner, which originally aired from January 9, 1996, to May 22, 2001, on NBC. The show is about four extraterrestrials who are on an expedition to Earth, the third planet from the Sun, which they consider to be a very insignificant planet. The extraterrestrials pose as a human family to observe the behavior of human beings.

The show premiered three years after the film Coneheads, which was also written by the couple and featured a similar premise of aliens arriving on Earth and assimilating into American society. Coneheads also starred Jane Curtin as one of the titular alien Coneheads and featured a supporting cast including Jan Hooks, Phil Hartman, Julia Sweeney and Laraine Newman, all of whom appeared as guest stars on 3rd Rock from the Sun.