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Core Regulars
Dr. Dick Solomon
Portrayed by John Lithgow
High Commander of the aliens and as such patriarch of the family, he teaches physics at the local university. He somehow manages to be a condescending genius while also being an idiotic manchild, and has an on-off relationship with his co-worker Mary.
- The Ace: Played with. To the outsider, he is amazing at sports, can play piano perfectly, has a good singing voice, is a physics genius, knows dozens of languages and is Fun Personified. It's just when people get to know him that they see his flaws.
- Afraid of Doctors: In the Halloween Episode.
- Ambiguously Jewish: An odd case, in which the Solomons had no (Earthly) ethnicity, but it became apparent that they should have some sort of cultural background. A passing comment leads them to realize that they behave more or less Jewish - and their last name is fitting as well.
- Berserk Button: He makes it no secret that he openly hates Mary's parents due to the way they've treated her like crap her entire life. He views Mary's dad as Lesser of Two Evils, but expresses nothing but disgust and horror regarding Mary's mother.
- Brutal Honesty:
- Most of the time except when he's denying his existence as an alien. The concept of lying was just as foreign to the aliens as emotions and gender were.
- One of the first season episodes focused on Dick discussing the concept of "ass kissing" to the other aliens in regards to a Jerkass professor who is having a party thrown in his honor, and fails to understand why people continue to suck up to him face-to-face yet badmouth him behind his back. Dick's blatant and carefree honesty towards the professor actually causes him to like Dick, so much so that he considers him a friend. When the professor dies at the party, Dick is shocked to learn afterwards that he's expected to deliver the eulogy at the funeral because the professor figured he was the only person who wouldn't lie.
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Dick's bizarre, childish behaviour is tolerated at the university because his advanced alien knowledge of physics makes him one of the best in his field (though he's actually really bad as a teacher. Tommy's pointed out that he's had the same students in his class for six years).
- Character Catchphrase:
- "Family meeting! FAMILY MEETING!" and, less frequently, "You're not family, GET OUT!"
- He also had variations on "Oh, my GOD! I'm GORGEOUS!"
- Also a frustrated shout of "DAMN!"
- As well as a rather self-assured, "Well, I am the high commander."
- Comically Missing the Point: Doesn't understand sarcasm or lying very well. An example would be when Mary compared his family to The Addams Family. Dick assumed she meant second president John Adams. When she states that wasn't what she meant, Dick thinks she meant John Quincy Adams and becomes enraged that she would compare his family to "that freakshow".
- Dating What Daddy Hates: The Big Giant Head is Dick's father and he makes clear he hates Mary, but he still reluctantly gives them his blessing.
- A Dick in Name: Episode titles lampoon it mercilessly.
- Did I Just Say That Out Loud?: Once blurted out to his class that Earth would be destroyed by a meteor in 2015.
- Ditzy Genius: On earth, Dick is considered brilliant and he considers himself much smarter than Einstein. He's also an idiotic pompous Manchild who can't even teach a young girl to play hopscotch without turning it into an argument.
- Dogged Nice Guy: To Mary.
- Easily Forgiven: Mary usually tends to forgive Dick after, at worst, several episodes, even after he's embarrassed her, unintentionally insulted her, and cheated on her. Somewhat makes sense considering not only is Dick very well-meaning under all the ego and bumbling, but also since Mary is a bit of a Broken Bird.
- Ethical Slut: He has an active sex life with Mary, and is very open to chat about it, but he won't turn down an offer from someone else if the opportunity arises.
- Four-Temperament Ensemble: Choleric with a dash of Sanguine.
- Gag Penis: Dick poses for a nude painting class in one episode. Apparently, he really lives up to his name.Harry: I'm gonna need more pink.
- I Can't Believe It's Not Heroin!: Got addicted to collecting stuffed animals called "Fuzzy Buddies". His friends and family staged an intervention when it reached the point that he had so many he was keeping them in the fridge.
- Innocently Insensitive: While he is a jerk (well, a dick), many times he tends to be accidentally obnoxious and/or tactless towards other people.
- Insufferable Genius: Absolutely this. It's only undone when his lack of understanding of Earth culture becomes apparent.
- It's All About Me: He's extremely selfish and narcissistic.
- Jerkass Has a Point: On more than one occasion, he makes a valid point in spite of being a jerk.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold:
- He's selfish, arrogant, condescending, and a complete Drama Queen, but he truly does love Mary and comes to care for the other aliens as family members rather than just crewmates. Worth noting that for better or worse, it's uncertain how much of this is due to his inexperience coping with human emotions.
- This is especially exemplified in the episode where he protects his family by telling Kathy Bates' character that he is the only alien in the group and comes very close to having his head cut open as a result, which is perhaps the first moment when he doesn't consider himself to be the most important thing in life, despite his frequent declarations to that effect.
- Large Ham: He has three voices — shouting, talking at normal volume but being overly emotional, and shouting while being overly emotional.
- Like Brother and Sister: With Sally.
- Literal-Minded: In one episode, Dick is trying to figure out what happens "when the spit hits the fan" by spewing sips of water into a desk fan.
- Manchild: How someone this immature is High Commander is dumbfounding.
- Meaningful Name:
- Dick is both a self-absorbed asshole and very... well-endowed. Fits both definitions of "dick" pretty well, no?
- Together with the rest of the family, they are "every Tom, Dick, and Harry", fitting with their names just being aliases they've taken while staying on Earth ("Sally" can be subtituted for "Harry" in some usages). This is lampshaded when Don refers to the three by name in that order and realizes they fit the idiom, thinking it's an amusing coincidence.
- Mundane Made Awesome: With Physics.
- Parental Favoritism: When it's revealed the Big Giant Head is Dick's father Sally believes Dick got high commander because "Daddy was playing favorites."
- Professional Butt-Kisser: Admits he became High Commander by doing this.
- Sadist Teacher: There's a reason he's teaching the same students for a majority of the series. While handing out a test to his class, he openly told them that none of them would be able to solve question four, which made up half the test. In one particular moment of frustration, he ordered them to write letters to their parents apologizing for wasting their money, which they had to bring to class with envelopes and stamps. This actually prompted a hearing by the university, and Dick still learns nothing from the incident (if anything, he doubles down).
- Sitcom Arch-Nemesis: Had three, the only frequent one being Vincent Strudwick. The other two were fellow alien Liam Neeson, and grumpy lunch lady Lucy.
- Small Name, Big Ego: "Oh my GOD! I'M GORGEOUS!"
- Strong Girl, Smart Guy: Smart Guy to Sally's Strong Girl. Dick is a Physics Professor, while Security Officer Sally is the strongest member of the cast, despite being in a female body.
- Techno Babble: Coupled with the above to intimidate a criminal into confessing a crime. Said babble had nothing to do with the criminal, and was just done to freak the guy out.
- Unsympathetic Comedy Protagonist: Though as is often the case, he becomes more sympathetic as the show goes on. It's very hard not to feel bad for him in situations where his true identity thwarts his relationship with Mary (such as in the beginning of the third season when his engagement to Mary is destroyed because the Big Giant Head assigns him a 'wife'), which shows there is some real sympathy for him from the audience.
- What Does She See in Him?: The other aliens hate Mary and don't understand what Dick's obsession with her is. As the series progressed their opinion of her as a person softened, but they still hated the idea of the two of them together.
Sally Solomon
Portrayed by Kristen Johnston
Security Officer and Dick's "sister", she comes to realize that by Earth standards, she's gorgeous, and learns to use her looks to get what she wants and use men as she pleases. However, she's still Security Officer and is easily the most badass member of the family when required.
- Action Girl: Although in reality the alien in Sally isn't a girl as much as a shivering purple tube, even in Sally's female body that tube is the strongest and most brazen member of the cast.
- Afraid of Blood: Ironically
- All Women Love Shoes: Sally loves shoes and was once addicted to buying shoes. Tommy commented that she had more shoes "than Italy". It reached a point that she was sleeping on shoe boxes. Funnily enough, her real alien form doesn't even have feet, so she becomes distressed every time she remembers she can't wear shoes ever again once the mission is over.
- Alliterative Name: Two S's.
- Amazingly Embarrassing Parents: While Dick, Sally, and Harry manage to humiliate Tommy on countless occasions, Sally's overbearing manner makes her the worst offender.
- Ax-Crazy: Borders on this at times, such as when her role as the security officer would require having to kill someone deemed a threat to the mission. Her solution to stop an auditor from discovering they're aliens was to snap his neck, and then the necks of everyone they encounter on the way home.
- Brutal Honesty: She has little tact and says what is on her mind whether it is rude or blunt or not.
- Dude Magnet: Men tends to fall for her quite often.
- Everyone Loves Blondes: She is considered a blonde bombshell on earth.
- Femme Fatale: She's able to use her looks to manipulate men.
- Four-Temperament Ensemble: Melancholic with a dash of Choleric.
- Gender Bender: Sally Solomon wasn't female before coming to Earth (whether the aliens have genders, and what they're like is not elaborated on), and initially wasn't pleased at the change.
- Girliness Upgrade: Originally rather tomboyish and hated her femininity. By the later episodes, she became a more feminine (but not girly) character, letting out her softer side.
- Hot-Blooded: By far the most hot-tempered of the aliens.
- I Call Him "Mister Happy": According to the finale she named her breasts "Veronique" and "Cindy".
- I Can Change My Beloved:
- In the last two episodes she turns Don into an effective police officer and gives him a backbone before leaving Earth, because she couldn't stand the thought of him spending the rest of his life as a muffin making coward.
- A weirdly unintentional case was when she met and attempted to convert a gay man. Sally had no idea what was going on.
- I Can't Dance: Demonstrated by Sally in "Dick Like Me."
- I Have Boobs, You Must Obey!: Gradually learns how to use this.
- Although even in the very first episode...Sally: [demonstrating squeezing her breasts together] They seem to have greater power when they collide. I'm not wrong am I?
- Although even in the very first episode...
- The Lad-ette: Justified, she's masculine because she's not a female at all, but an alien put into a female body.
- The Lancer: Not only is she officially the second in command, she's consistently the first to challenge Dick on his decisions and on how best to solve a problem that arises.
- Leg Focus: Her extremely long legs are often mentioned as one of her most attractive features. After an incident where she acts crazy at the police station, Don defends his choice to date her to his colleagues by pointing out that "she's got legs up to her face".
- Lethal Chef: Despite her supposed role as Token Female on earth, she's terrible at cooking.
- Like Brother and Sister: With Dick.
- Mama Bear:
- Sally occasionally treats Tommy this way, despite: A) being younger than him, technically; and B) his embarrassment.
- Also she is shown to take this to extreme degrees when put in charge of Ms. Dubcek's grandson. To the point where the others are not only jealous of the attention she gives him but are worried she may actually attempt to keep the child. Best exemplified when they accuse her of going soft and she retorts that she's still a warrior but now she's a defender rather than an attacker.
- Never a Self-Made Woman: She temporarily gets promoted to high commander by the Big Giant Head, but Sally becomes very disappointed when she realizes she only got the promotion because the Big Giant Head thinks she's hot.
- Number Two: She's Dick's official second-in-command.
- Psycho Ex-Girlfriend: She's aggressive, domineering and obsessive, which drives a few men away before she meets Don. Her reaction to being jilted for the first time was to break down her beau's door—still clutching her phone receiver and wearing last night's dress—and inquire about her date's phone service before breaking his arm.
- Statuesque Stunner: Kristen Johnston is 6' tall, and frequently plays this type of character. Much of the comedy in the early seasons comes from the conflict between her stunning Earth body and her alien identity as a warrior.
- Testosterone Poisoning: Which is odd when coming from a human female.
- Strong Girl, Smart Guy: Strong Girl to Dick's Smart Guy. Dick is a Physics Professor, while Security Officer Sally is the strongest member of the cast, despite being in a female body.
- Their First Time: People are shocked to learn that someone of Sally's looks only recently lost her virginity to someone like Don.
- Tomboy with a Girly Streak: She manages to be both The Lad-ette and a flirty Femme Fatale. Overall, she becomes slightly more feminine over the years.
- Tsundere: Type B towards Don.
- Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: With Don, but it's played with — Sally considers Don sexy (though it may just be the uniform and authority), and in one episode where she comes to obsess over her flaws, she convinces herself she's ugly and that Don is too good for her.
- Unsympathetic Comedy Protagonist: Not as much as Dick, but she still qualifies.
Harry Solomon
Portrayed by French Stewart
Dick's "brother", Harry is the "transmitter" with which they contact the Home Planet. Otherwise though, his role is deliberately ambiguous as even the narration in the early episodes states — "they had an extra seat".
- Amazon Chaser: With Janice, his weight-lifting policewoman girlfriend. Harry talks about how he'd love to climb her like a tree, saying "I'd be like a 5 year old at Disneyland." He also looks really forward to whenever she causes him bodily harm.Janice: Will you be my boyfriend?
Harry: If I say no, will you hurt me?
Janice: Maybe...
Harry: Well, in that case... no.
(Janice wraps her legs around Harry, brings him down to the floor and between her knees. Harry purrs in delight.) - The Casanova: He has had the most relationships with gorgeous women who could easily do better than him. His romantic interests have included Vicki Dubcek, Nina, Masha the Venusian (played by Cindy Crawford), a body builder policewoman named Janice, and in the last episode we find out that for the entire show he'd secretly been with Mrs. Dubcek.
- Character Catchphrase:
- "LET'S GO!" and "Incoming message from The Big Giant Head!"/"Transmission ending in three... two... one.. (sneezes)"
- Early on he also had "Prepare to be dazzled!"
- Characterization Marches On: When the series began, Harry was just as odd, only quiet and a little more deadpan. As the seasons went on he started becoming louder and more confident in his own skin, and subsequently, more like the Large Ham we know and love.
- Chick Magnet: Initially he's the only one in the family without a Love Interest but over time Harry is shown to be extremely popular with women for no apparent reason.
- Cloudcuckoolander: To the point where it actually hurts him to think too hard.
- Consolation Prize: Harry was given a free tote bag along with the body he selected, implying that it's an unpopular model.
- The Ditz: All four the aliens tend to act like idiots, but he's always the most stupid and clueless of them all.
- Dumbass Has a Point: It's very rare but he does occasionally have moments of clarity. When Dick and Sally were obsessed with collecting Fuzzy Buddies, Harry was the one to point out that they were cutting into their ability to afford food and rent.
- Eyes Always Shut: French Stewart, the actor who plays him, is naturally "squinty" and rarely has his eyes open more than slightly. This is particularly pronounced when he smiles, and he plays it up for comic effect.
- Four-Temperament Ensemble: Sanguine with a dash of Phlegmatic.
- Genius Ditz: He's not very bright in terms of book smarts, but he's the most artistically gifted and has surprisingly no trouble dating women way out of his league. He also cracked the bar code.
- Hidden Depths: Every once in a while, Harry will display that for his unassuming, odd demeanor, he can surprise even his family with a hidden talent. One episode showed that he was an excellent painter, to the point that even Dick was dumbfounded. Another episode saw Harry try his hand at magic tricks. For basic tricks, he was pretty good - he even escaped from a straitjacket on the first try!
- I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: He told Vicki that she should stay with the Big Giant Head because he was sincerely trying to do right by her and Eric Travis, and he didn't want Dick to get punished for disobeying orders.
- Kavorka Man: He's easily the oddest of the aliens, but if he opens his eyes fully, he suddenly becomes a chick magnet.
- Large Ham: Moreso as the series progresses.
- Likes Older Women: Has been with Mrs. Dubcek.
- Mad Artist: In the sense that he's an excellent painter but he's very weird, although that doesn't channel into his medium. He's literally just an artist who's kooky.
- Nice Guy: While his stupidity sometimes leads to unintentional Jerkass moments, Harry is overall well-meaning and certainly the nicest of the aliens.
- Real Life Writes the Plot: French Stewart was born with a nerve condition which causes him to appear half-asleep all of the time. He exaggerates the squinty look as Harry.
- Really Gets Around: He occasionally veers into anything that moves territory and has to be forcibly stopped from french kissing any female within reach.
- Too Dumb to Live: One of the earliest episodes of the series involves him taste-testing various house hold liquids to find out which are toxic. Guess what, he finds out, and asks the family to call poison control because the left side of his body is numb.
Tommy Solomon
Portrayed by Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Information Officer and Dick's "son". He's actually the oldest and perhaps smartest of the crew, and much of his character comes from being frustrated with the conflicts between his literal age and his teenaged body, such as why he can't date a middle-aged woman and hanging out at a senior's home where he fits right in.
- Becoming the Mask: When forced to act as the school's mascot "Hootie" he gets so into character that he stops answering to his own name. He's removed from the job after the football team loses and he attacks the coach for not pushing them hard enough.
- Butt-Monkey: He often finds himself in embarrassing situations at school. To an extent he tends to be this for his own family - see Dude, Where's My Respect? below.
- Compulsory School Age: Tommy is Really 700 Years Old, but he got the teenage body, so he has to go to High School. In fact, he was specifically put into a teenage body to go to High School. (He was awfully ticked about that, though.) In fact, in an early (perhaps the first) episode, he explicitly states that he's older than Dick and wonders why he has to be the adolescent.
- Deadpan Snarker: Tommy's so sharp he even does this without meaning to. In the final reflections on the roof at the end of most episodes, he tends to have the most cutting commentary.Sally: While we're on the subject of bodies, why is mine so much higher maintenance than yours?
Tommy: I think the economy depends on it. - Dirty Coward: He tried to sacrifice Alissa to save himself when it appeared that there was some maniac brandishing a power tool in Alissa's backyard. It was Sally and Harry pulling some hare-brained scheme to push the two back together again, and needless to say, they had the opposite effect.
- Dirty Old Man: He's a perverted old man inside a teenage boy's body.
- Dude Looks Like a Lady: He's told he looks like a girl a couple of times, mainly because of his long hair.
- Dude, Where's My Respect?: He's a lot more competent in his role as information officer than the others are in their own roles, but his efforts are frequently overlooked.
- Four-Temperament Ensemble: Phlegmatic with a dash of Melancholic.
- Grumpy Old Man: Tommy's actually the oldest of the aliens, and quite pissed that he's in a young body subjected to raging hormones.
- Important Haircut: He finally gets his hair cut towards the end of Season 3 in "Just Your Average Dick". Subverted as this was done in an attempt to maintain a sense of normalcy at the new apartment the Solomons moved into, and Tommy regretted it afterwards. That said, he sticks to it for the remainder of the series.
- Not So Above It All: Just because he's saner than everyone else doesn't mean he's exempt from acting like an idiot. In fact, while he's perhaps the most level-headed of the four, his teenage hormones constantly get him into trouble over the course of the series.
- Older Than He Looks: Tommy is the oldest alien, and acts Alter Kocker when he decides to retire and give up on acting his human age for an episode.
- Only Sane Man: Among a quartet made up of an egotistical Manchild, a gorgeous and aggressive Lad-ette, and a Too Dumb to Live Kavorka Man.
- The Smart Guy: The crew's Information Officer and perhaps smartest member.
- The Snark Knight: He could be considered a male Snark Knight, although to a much lesser degree than his ex girlfriend August.
- Teen Genius: Subverted. He has been given the body of a teenager, but he's actually the oldest (and definitely the smartest) of the crew.
- 10-Minute Retirement: "Portrait Of Tommy As An Old Man." Tommy tries to retire from the mission, sick of feeling like the Butt-Monkey, but he quickly gets tired of living at the local retirement home and returns by the episode's end. In the interim, we get the bizarre sight of teenage Tommy sharing the same mannerisms of the senior citizens around him.
- Too Much Information: Tommy wound up telling everyone at graduation in his valedictorian speech about how they made out on her parents bed.
Dr. Mary Albright
Portrayed by Jane Curtin
Dick's (initially reluctant) Earthling love interest and an anthropology professor at his college. As much as she finds Dick insufferable and his family bizarre, she does come to care for them. Her work in anthropology often makes her the perfect foil for Dick, who is befuddled by Earth customs and society.
- Broken Bird: Her parents dumped their emotional baggage on her when she was young. To a lesser extent, so did her brother Roy when he used her as The Scapegoat when their parents found his Playboys. Mary spent two years in therapy because she covered for him.
- Butt-Monkey: Especially in later seasons.
- Child Hater:Mary: Dick, I can't have children.
Dick: Oh Mary, why not?
Mary: Because I hate them. - Dating What Daddy Hates: Averted. Her parents both think Dick is the one for Mary. Mary's not sure how to feel about that. On Dick's part, he loathes the two for how they treated Mary when she was little, although he seems to think her dad is the Lesser of Two Evils while being simultaneously scared and disgusted of her mom.
- Dude, Where's My Respect?: She found her thesis in the bottom of box labelled "Sugar Puffs."
- Formerly Fat: When she was a child.
- Four-Temperament Ensemble: Melancholic
- Good Bad Girl: In her younger days.
- Hilariously Abusive Childhood: Her parents were emotionally abusive, and this is played for laughs.
- I Was Quite a Looker: Twenty years ago. Dick gets ahold of her nude photos from back then and shows them to her.Mary: Boy, I was a hottie, wasn't I?
- Lady Drunk: Borders on this. She's known at the local supermarket as the "White Zinfandel Lady".
- Last-Name Basis: Dick initially calls her "Dr. Albright", but permanently switches to "Mary" after they hook up. The other aliens refer to her as just "Albright". Nina and Vicki call her "Dr. Albright" while the other professors call her "Mary".
- Ms. Exposition: Often gets the job of explaining social conventions to Dick.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Had this moment when she realized she had sex with Dick while locked in the school library, under intoxication. This was during one of their "break up" periods.
- No-Sell: Drinking so much rendered her immune to the drugged wine given to her by Charlotte from "Alien Hunter". Of course, it didn't help when she knocked Mary out with the gnome.
- Not That Kind of Doctor: Not matter how many times Mary has to explain it, Vicki never gets that Mary's an anthropology professor.
- Only Sane Woman: Initially, until she was developed as pretty quirky herself.
- Really Gets Around: During one of her drunk moments, she admits to have slept with at LEAST 50 different men throughout her life.
- Small Name, Big Ego: Once compared herself to Abraham Lincoln in a speech to her colleagues. And, in Nina's words, "He did not come out favorably."
- Weirdness Magnet: Managed to have not one, but two relationships with two different alien beings.
- What Does She See in Him?: Her relationship with Dick.
- White Sheep: Mary's the only decent individual in her entire family. Her mom and dad are both inconsiderate cheats, the mom especially is a domineering drunken racist, her brother Roy's a pathetic loser who lies about being abducted by aliens to get women to sleep with him, and her sister Renata's a pompous bitch with a phony accent and a pathological need to destroy Mary's happiness any chance she gets. As a result, the Albrights tended to use Mary as their scapegoat for their emotional baggage. Mary spent years in therapy as a kid because she took the blame for Roy's collection of Playboys, and her parents justify the fact they stayed together all these years and made her life a living hell so they could "give her a happy home."
Later Additions
Nina Campbell
Portrayed by Simbi Khali
Dick and Mary's secretary, she's friends with Mary and often snarks at Dick's ignorance about humanity.
- Deadpan Snarker: Usually at Dick's expense, though sometimes Mary's as well.
- Four-Temperament Ensemble: Choleric
- Not So Above It All: While Nina is generally snarky about the oddities of the people around her, she has moments of giddiness herself, be it squeeing over getting Dick's Mister Potato Head, or gleefully participating in Dick's in-apartment rendition of Stomp.
- Only Sane Man: Whenever dealing with Mary and Dick.
- Pet the Dog: Nina normally seems to hold Dick in contempt (not entirely without reason, it must be said), but there are some moments when she makes it clear that she doesn't actually hate him.
- Promotion to Opening Titles: In season 3.
- Shipper on Deck: Sometimes she's portrayed as supporting the Dick/Mary ship, but other times she has a What Does She See in Him? attitude about their relationship.
- Sassy Black Woman: Combine this with Sassy Secretary, and Nina is the result.
- Sassy Secretary: Very prone to sassy remarks towards Dick, often with good reasons.
- Sexy Secretary: One episode involved Dick having romantic fantasies about Nina.
- Surrounded by Idiots: Most of the time you see Nina, she's 100% done with everyone.
Officer Don Orville
Portrayed by Wayne Knight
A portly, dim-witted cop with an overblown image of himself as an enforcer of justice. He's Sally's boyfriend and will do anything to please her, including playing up said overblown image to turn her on.
- Amazon Chaser: To Sally. He adores how forceful she is and doesn't mind that she's taller and more athletic than he is.
- Bad Cop/Incompetent Cop: Don's not really much of a cop, when you get right down to it.Don: (after watching TV with the Solomons) Well, better get back down to the station.
Tommy: Time to go on duty?
Don: No, I'm on duty; it's time to clock out. - Chivalrous Pervert: Told people that he and Sally had sex tons of times before they actually did. Don took offense when Sally asked if he told anyone after they did, at which he replied "of course not! What kind of heel do you think I am?"
- Delayed Reaction: In "Feelin' Albright", it takes him a few seconds before he realizes that his ex-girlfriends are gathered in one room.
- Four-Temperament Ensemble: Phlegmatic
- I Can't Believe a Guy Like You Would Notice Me: Don doesn't understand why a woman looking like Sally would want to be with him, but he ain't complaining. For her part, Sally isn't aware that Don is considered unattractive in Earth terms.
- Kavorka Man: With Sally it's understandable, as she's an alien with no knowledge of local standards of beauty (she's actually just attracted to the fact that he's a cop). However, it's played straight as Don has several good-looking ex-girlfriends as well as quite a few karaoke fangirls.
- Large Ham: This show borders on World of Ham.
- Lovable Coward: He puts up a tough front, but deep down he's this.
- Mistaken for Gay: In "A Friend in Dick", his friend Ernie believes that Dick's emotional outburst meant that Don was in relationship with a man.
- Only Friend: The only person who considers Dick a friend, as Dick finds out in one episode.
- Only Sane Man: Don often plays the part, especially in conversations with Sally where she takes up some ludicrous position about their relationship. He doesn't tell her she's wrong when it plays to his advantage.
- Panty Thief: Played with. In "Portrait Of Tommy As An Old Man," Don picks Sally's panties out of the laundry basket when she's out of the room, then panics and bolts with them before she gets back. When Sally finds out, however, she's so flattered she gives him the matching bra!
- Promotion to Opening Titles: In season 3.
- Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: With Sally.
Mrs. Mamie Dubcek
Portrayed by Elmarie Wendel
The Solomons' eccentric landlady. Lovely woman, very nice.
- Character Catchphrase: "Lovely (insert word), very nice..."
- Drop-In Landlord: Well, she is their landlady, and she drops in frequently, usually to flirt with somebody or completely ignore the craziness going on around her.
- Ethical Slut: She's a self-proclaimed nymphomaniac and proud of it. As is her daughter Vicki. No one has any problem with this except they're sick of her stories.
- Fag Hag: when Dick visits a gay bar (thinking it is an alien bar) he finds her there, declaring "These boys just love me"
- Four-Temperament Ensemble: Sanguine
- Lovable Sex Maniac: A female version, and her daughter seems like this as well.
- Mrs. Robinson: Has been with Harry Solomon.
- Noodle Incident: Her love life. In one episode she mentions being tricked into attending an intervention on two separate occasions.
- Not So Above It All: Inverted. We've seen that she's kooky and very promiscuous, but she's still the Solomons' landlady and doesn't appreciate it when they're late paying rent.
- Promotion to Opening Titles: In season 3.
- Really Gets Around: Has had multiple husbands and boyfriends, has at least two daughters, and a few illegitimate grandkids.
- The Stoner: Implied. The Stinger for one episode reveals her smoking Tommy's oregano by accident, then mentions it "Beats the hell out of basil."
- Verbal Tic: She always puts extra emphasis on the word "nice" when using her catchphrase.
Supporting Cast
Dr. Judith Draper
Portrayed by Ileen Getz
A fellow professor known for her monotone and sarcasm.
- Ambiguously Bi: In Judith's very first episode, Mary is Mistaken for Gay and Judith responds by sending her a lovely bouquet of flowers with a card Mary refuses to read. Of course, when she gets drunk with Don at a Superbowl party, she initially rebuffs his advances before making out with him.
- Conspiracy Theorist: One-time occurrence. Once thought the ladies room had a hidden camera and dismantled the ceiling tiles looking for it. Dick, of all people, was weirded out by this.
- Deadpan Snarker: When she's not The Comically Serious. Half of Judith's characterization is that she almost never smiles.
- Imaginary Friend: Mary believes her boyfriend Trent is imaginary.
- Noodle Incident: Entered Mary's office, and the respective episode, finishing a conversation with Mary that ended with her saying "and when they found him, he was completely devoured by woodland creatures."
- The Stoic: She showed emotions but in a very monotone way.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: With Mary. With Dick it depends on the episode.
Dr. Vincent Strudwick
Portrayed by Ron West
A doctor that antagonizes Dick later on in the show.
- Ascended Extra: His initial appearances are fairly minor during faculty events. He becomes more prominent after Tommy starts dating Alissa.
- Beard of Evil
- Sitcom Arch-Nemesis: To Dick.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: He doesn't become Dick's enemy until some time in the 4th season.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: With Mary.
August Leffler
Potrayed by Shay Astar
Tommy's first girlfriend. Originally introduced as an intelligent, feminist-oriented nonconformist, she became increasingly elitist and hypocritical as the show went along.
- All Girls Want Bad Boys: In the third season finale she becomes extremely attracted to Tommy when he starts acting like an Angry Chef and belittles her for asking for the recipe. She throws herself at him, but he kicks her out for suggesting they leave a souffle to burn so they can make out.
- Amicable Exes: For a while after their break up she still hung out with Tommy at his house, where it appeared they stayed friends. Once Alissa entered the picture the two of them seemed to have a mutual loathing for each other, where Tommy got the last laugh by convincing everyone their break-up left August a nervous wreck.
- Domestic Abuse: She's rather possessive and demanding of Tommy when she's not mocking him.
- Hypocrite: She breaks up with Tommy due to his "immaturity", after being caught cheating on him and lying about it to his face.
- Freudian Excuse: Subverted. In one early episode, Tommy considered dumping August for ditzy cheerleader Cheryl, which earned him some shit from both August and Sally. The subversion comes in that August quickly proved she was even more shallow than Tommy when she wasn't making him jump through hoops to prove his love.
- Jerkass: August is generally portrayed as an icy and disdainful female. She tends to play games with Tommy, making sure he would come at her beck and call.
- Laser-Guided Karma: When Tommy became editor of the school newspaper, he kept telling everyone that he broke up with August instead of the other way around. Whenever August tried to clarify what really happened, Tommy would instantly convince everyone she just couldn't handle being dumped and it left her a mess.
- Manipulative Bitch: She frequently plays mind games with Tommy to make him prove how much he loves her.
- Pet the Dog: Wrote a rather scathing review of Alissa's performance in the high school play, but told Tommy (the editor of the school paper at the time) that she would understand if he didn't print it since Alissa was his girlfriend.note
- The Snark Knight: August started off as this trope, but went through character decay, becoming rather hypocritical and just liking to look down at everyone.
- Straw Feminist:Tommy: Nina, I need a woman's point of view for something. Um, my girlfriend's not speaking to me because I didn't ask her to a dance.
Nina: Mmm. Send her flowers.
Tommy: She once told me that flowers reminded her of the morbid stench of death.
Nina: Okay... well, how about a gift? Maybe a nice makeup kit?
Tommy: She sees makeup as a way for the arrogant misogynists to decorate the women they own and turn them into, you know, like vacuous playthings.
Nina: Oh, I bet you two have a lot of fun.- August mocks Cheryl (who was Ruth Ann Torkelson in another screen life) as a slutty airhead who stuffs her bra to make boys think she's got big tits. That is... not how feminism works.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: Her initial apperance portrayed her as a more well-adjusted and pleasant person. As the show went on she gradually became more stuck-up and hypocritical, until she finally broke up with Tommy after she admitted that she was cheating on him.
Alissa Strudwick
Portrayed by Larisa Oleynik
Tommy's second girlfriend.
- Butt-Monkey: As a result of the aliens' antics spilling over into her relationship with Tommy. In her very last appearance, Tommy tried to use her as a human shield when they thought there was a maniac in her backyard (there wasn't, it was Harry and Sally).
- Girl Next Door: She's more sweet and approachable than Tommy's previous girlfriend August.
- Only Sane Woman: Half of her time on the show is spent wondering why her boyfriend is so clueless, buffoonish, and/or excessive. Also fulfills this role for the other Solomons on occasion.
- Poor Communication Kills: Tommy tries to apologize to her for Sally breaking them up, but since he tried passing a message down a line of people, the message became muddled and it made it sounded like he was threatening to sic Sally on her if she came near him.
- Star-Crossed Lovers: She's the daughter of Vincent Strudwick.
Recurring Characters
Vicki Dubcek
Portrayed by Jan Hooks
The skanky white-trash daughter of Mrs. Dubcek and Harry's on-off girlfriend. She repeatedly fails to understand that Mary is Not That Kind of Doctor and has a Southern accent for some reasonnote . Ultimately, she ended up being Queen of the Universe. Don't ask.
- Chewing the Scenery: Her conversations with Harry will usually begin to sound like they're in a porno. Their first sexual encounter happened on Thanksgiving, on Mrs. Dubcek's kitchen counter and involved Harry wearing a turkey carcass on his head.
- Clingy Jealous Girl: She becomes one for Harry in the fifth season finale. Even though she's married to the Big Giant Head, she still harbors feelings for Harry. When she's informed that he has a new girlfriend, she becomes angry and tries to vaporize her out of jealousy. This behavior vanishes when Harry tells her that if she really loves him, she'd want him to be happy with Janice, which she does allow.
- Cloudcuckoolander: Despite being a human, she occasionally acts just as nutty as the aliens.
- Double Entendre: Loves these.
- Freudian Excuse: Her psychotic behavior in "The Big Giant Head Returns Again" stems from how unhappy her marriage is, due to the fact she is unable to have sexual relations with her husband in his true form. The fact that Harry rebuffed her because he's now with Janice only pushed her over the edge.
- Heel–Face Revolving Door: Started as Face, then became Heel after marrying the Big Giant Head, then Face again after Harry gives her a "The Reason You Suck" Speech.
- Knight of Cerebus: Yeah, she's a Large Ham and a Lovable Sex Maniac... and then she not only tries to kill Harry's girlfriend but is prepared to murder Sally as well when she tries to stop her.Vicki: I am your queen, and you will BOW to me!
- Large Ham: After she becomes the Big Giant Head's wife, but even then she had plenty of moments.
- Lovable Sex Maniac: Most of her personality, really.
- Psycho Ex-Girlfriend: Becomes one as a Compressed Vice in "The Big Giant Head Returns Again". She seems to get over Harry at the end of the episode, but it was her last appearance on the show anyway. It's generally implied that Vicki's psychotic behavior stemmed entirely from gigantic frustrations she was having with her husband that had been going on ever since her last appearance.
- Really Get Around: She definitely inherited her mother's promiscuous nature.
- Weirdness Magnet: Much like Mary, two different aliens have professed their love for her.
The Big Giant Head
Portrayed by William Shatner
The aliens' Evil Overlord. The Ghost for most of the series, but he eventually showed up as an Adam Westing Shatner. On Earth, he goes by the alias "Stone Phillips", the name of an NBC reporter at the time of the show's run.
- Bad Boss: Briefly promoted Sally to high commander solely because she was good-looking. And that's just one example.
- Brutal Honesty: Not much for tact.
- Exactly What It Says on the Tin: His title as Big Giant Head isn't just because he's the "head" of all the aliens, it's implied that he really is a gigantic head.
- Idiot Ball: His whole purpose of coming to Earth is because the crew has done a subpar job. In one drunken night, he almost pushes his crew to mutiny and causes a PR disaster by exposing Earth to an alien baby.
- Jerkass: Unlike his four predecessors, "Stone" doesn't even bother making the effort to adjust to humanity's common courtesies.
- Luke, I Am Your Father: The Big Giant Head reveals that he is Dick's father. Tommy later likens this to Luke Skywalker finding out about Darth Vader, but Dick brushes him off, saying this is real life.
- Mars Needs Women: Offers to marry Vicki and make her, in her own words, "Queen of the frickin' universe".
- Meaningful Name: Once on Earth, the Big Giant Head proves himself to be staggeringly self-centered.
- Pointy-Haired Boss
Dr. Liam Neesam
Portrayed by John Cleese
An evil alien who's constantly wiser and more talented than Dick. He briefly worked at Dick's college as a biology professor.
- Always Someone Better: Superior at Physics to Dick despite being a Biology professor, better at sports, a fantastic chef, even seduces Mary at one point (and is better at sex)... the only thing Dick is better at is not being evil
- Arson, Murder, and Admiration: Dick calls him pompous, judgmental and completely self-absorbed... and immediately asks to be his friend. It doesn't last though as he ends up on the receiving end of it later on.
- The Bad Guy Wins: While he doesn't blow up the earth or turn everyone into primates, he does file a complaint that gets the Solomons' mission canceled.
- Berserk Button: He can't stand Céline Dion.Liam: Somebody tell her to stop, the boat sank, let it go!
- Brutal Honesty: Similar to Dick, his clueless veneer belies an utterly blunt and ruthless individual. Upon being told of Sally's availability, he quickly deduces the only reason someone as attractive as Sally would be single is because she's got a severe personality disorder.
- Dick Dastardly Stops to Cheat: Cheats at golf by distracting Dick with blow-horns despite clearly being a vastly superior golfer.
- Even Evil Has Standards:
- For as obnoxious as he is, even he can't stand Céline Dion.Liam: Somebody tell her to stop already, the boat sank, let it go!
- His reaction to learning Dick's "secret."Dick: I'm, uh... Canadian.
Liam: ...I'm so sorry.
- For as obnoxious as he is, even he can't stand Céline Dion.
- Evil Counterpart: He is basically exactly like Dick, except smarter, more successful, and much more sociopathic.
- Evil Is Petty: Was originally sent to blow up Earth. Why? We're blocking his home planet's view.
- Hate Sink: The more he appeared the more it became clear the audience is not supposed to side with him. Never mind his plans to either blow up the Earth or turn every human into a monkey, but he has zero compassion and lacks the capability to think about the needs of others. Even his decision to spare the Earth in his first appearance isn't very admirable, as he condescendingly describes Dick impressing him the way a parent would gush over something their two year old did. Not to mention he planned to melt half of Dick's brain to keep his secret.
- Jerkass: Insults or sexually harasses almost the entire cast within minutes of meeting them, claims that in a plane crash his floatation device will be "the person next to me", openly superior and condescending, and that is all before you learn he is an evil alien bent on destroying the Earth- in other words, he is more of a dick than Dick.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: Hits on Nina within seconds of meeting her despite being a professor, asks Albright to get him coffee despite her also being a professor, sexually assaults her more than once (once by removing her bra against her will), then later tells Sally that if a woman as beautiful as her doesn't have a boyfriend she must have a personality disorder.
- Silly Simian: In his second appearance, he came back to Earth with plans to turn everyone into monkeys in order to turn it into an amusement park, "Planet Monkey World". Dick winds up turning Liam into a chimpanzee in order to stop him. Unfortunately, Mary saw the whole thing, and this leads to Dick admitting he's an alien.
- Troll: During a game of golf with Dick, he repeatedly used an airhorn every time Dick tried to swing.
Bug Pollone, Leon, Caryn and Aubrey Pittman
Dick's four main students portrayed by David DeLuise, Ian Lithgow, Danielle Nicolet and Chris Hogan.
- Butt-Monkey: All four of them (especially Leon) suffer a lot of abuse from Dick and fail to graduate from college throughout the show's six-year run because Dick's extremely difficult class is a required course.
- The Dog Bites Back: In one episode, they get Dick brought before the disciplinary board for insensitivity. In another, Bug and Pittman delightfully mock Dick while he's working at a fast-food job.
- Glorified Sperm Donor: Once Sally asks Leon to conceive a child with her while believing they're the only people left alive while experiencing her first snowstorm. Leon doesn't exactly try to dissuade her, but to his dismay, Sally quickly realizes that everyone outside the house is alive after all, and he doesn't need to impregnate her.
- Hidden Depths: Leon is the worst student in Dick's class, but is also the only one who wants to pursue a physics career.
- I Banged Your Mom: In one episode, Dick has sex with Bug's mother and then brags about it to the class.
- Last-Name Basis: Pittman goes by his last name rather than Aubrey.
- Phrase Catcher: Dick eventually starts cutting off Caryn's rants with "Oh, shut up, Caryn".
- Right for the Wrong Reasons: Once, when Leon receives a message claiming that Dick's birthday party has been canceled, he shows up anyway due to feeling that Dick isn't the kind of person to call off a party for himself and just wants an excuse to yell at his students for not coming. Actually, the party was canceled by an alien hunter who wants some privacy to kidnap the Solomons.
- Smarter Than You Look: They are consistently struggling in Dick's class (much to his irritation and mockery), but it's demonstrated in "Dick and the Other Guy" that the deck is actually stacked against them. Dr. Neesam determines that Dick is including five unnecessary terms in an equation on the board; once it's appropriately simplified, all of the students (even Leon, much to his own surprise) fully understand it.
- Twofer Token Minority: Caryn is the only African-American and the only girl among Dick's core group of students.
- Women Are Wiser: Caryn is generally more practical and hard-working than her three male friends.
- You Will Be Spared: After Dick was replaced by his evil counterpart, Evil Dick assessed Leon with "You will be spared and made to carry heavy things."
