| Don Orville | |
|---|---|
 Wayne Knight as Sergeant Don Orville | |
| First appearance | "Assault with a Deadly Dick" |
| Last appearance | "The Thing That Wouldn't Die: Part 2" |
| Created by | Bonnie and Terry Turner |
| Portrayed by | Wayne Knight |
| In-universe information | |
| Species | Human |
| Gender | Male |
| Title | Police Sergeant |
| Occupation | Police Officer |
| Significant other | Sally Solomon (on-off girlfriend) |
Officer Donald Leslie "Don" Orville is a fictional character in the NBC sitcom 3rd Rock from the Sun. He is portrayed by Wayne Knight and works as a Police Sergeant in the fictional town of Rutherford, Ohio, though he is consistently referred to as "Officer" throughout the series.
Work
Don works as a police officer and later sergeant in the series and is often shown to be somewhat incompetent. In The Physics of Being Dick, he lets Dick interrogate a criminal with him, despite it being highly illegal.[1] When he is paged, he never appears to know what any of the crime codes mean.
Don is known to make blunders, for example, in Stuck With Dick, when he thinks Mary's house has been broken into, he bursts in through the front door shouting "Ass right there, freeze hole!"[2] In Dick's Big Giant Headache, Part II, he also claims to be always losing things, adding "I even lost a whole dead guy once”.[3]
As the final season draws to a close, he hides in a frozen food freezer during the robbery of a local store, admitting that he is a coward who only joined the police force because he thought he'd be safe around all the other officers. He subsequently retires from the Rutherford Police Department to open a muffin shop before being convinced to re-enlist. Eventually, Don is rehired at the rank of Police Officer.[4]
Relationship
Throughout the series, he maintains an on-off relationship with Sally Solomon, a strong woman able to persuade him to do anything she wants.
As an ongoing gag, one of the pair is always able to tell when the other has entered the room, where Don will gaze at Sally lustfully and say "Hello Sally" and she gazes at him in a sultry way and answers, "Hi Don." Another running gag for the pair is that their conversations tend to be somewhat dramatic, and reminiscent of an old film noir 1950s crime drama.
In the Alternate Universe, Don is still dating Sally, but he is the philandering Mayor of New York City. He admits to being married to someone else, which causes Sally to break up with him due to her feelings of guilt.
Musical Talent
Officer Don has a hidden musical talent in the form of being a first-class singer, of a wide vocal range and style. This first became evident when he and Sally went out for a night of Karaoke. He was mobbed by admirers at his entrance to the venue, and his stellar performance quickly explained why. When he was returning to the house, Sally confided that to her delight and surprise, Don was a "Karaoke god!"
Trivia
Don's name is based on "Officer Don" and "Orville the Green Dragon", who were characters on the local NBC Atlanta affiliate from the 1950s through the 1970s. The creators of the show named Don as a tribute to WSB-TV's "The Popeye Club", an afternoon kids show that was hosted by "Officer Don" and played by announcer Don Kennedy. "Orville" was a dragon puppet.
Notes
- ↑ "The Physics Of Being Dick". 3rd Rock from the Sun. Season 3. Episode 21. 1998-02-25. NBC.
- ↑ "Stuck With Dick". 3rd Rock from the Sun. Season 3. Episode 18. 1998-04-30. NBC.
- ↑ "Dick's Big Giant Headache". 3rd Rock from the Sun. Season 4. Episode 24. 1999-05-25. NBC.
- ↑ "The Thing That Wouldn't Die". 3rd Rock from the Sun. Season 6. Episode 19. 2001-05-22. NBC.