document_title: Student loans in the United States

question_text: when did the federal student loan program start

text: Student loans in the United States

text: Overview[edit]

text: Student loans play a very large role in U.S. higher education.[citation needed] Nearly 20 million Americans attend college each year. Of that 20 million, close to 12 million –  or 60% –  borrow annually to help cover costs. In Europe, higher education receives much more government funding, so student loans are much less common.[2] In parts of Asia and Latin America government funding for post-secondary education is lower –  usually limited to a few flagship universities, like the Mexican UNAM –  and there are no special programs under which students can easily and inexpensively borrow money.[2] However, in the United States, much of college is funded by students and their families through loans, although public institutions are funded in part through state and local taxes, and both private and public institutions through Pell grants and, especially with older schools, gifts from donors and alumni.[2][3] Some believe this substantially increases intergenerational correlations in income (having two generations of a family have similar earning ability), although other factors, including genetics, have been estimated to play a larger combined role.[4] Nonetheless, higher education in the United States has been shown to be an excellent investment both for individuals and for the public, even though differences in the returns to educational investment across schools has been overstated in many cases.[5][6][7]

text: Student loans come in several varieties in the United States, but are basically split into federal loans[8] and private student loans. The federal loans, for which the FAFSA is the application, are subdivided into subsidized (the government pays the interest while the student is studying at least half-time) and unsubsidized. Federal student loans are subsidized at the undergraduate level only. A subsidized loan is by far the best kind of loan, but an unsubsidized federal student loan is far better than a private student loan. Some states have their own loan programs, as do some colleges.[9] In almost all cases, these student loans have better conditions –  sometimes much better –  than the heavily advertised and expensive private student loans.[10]

text: Student loans may be used for any college-related expenses, including tuition, room and board, books, computers, and transportation expenses.

text: An unusual provision in the law prohibits student loans from being discharged through bankruptcy.

text: The main types of student loans in the United States are the following:

text:
Federal student loans made to students directly (Stafford and Perkins loans). These loans are made regardless of credit history (most students have no credit history); approval is automatic if the student meets program requirements. The student makes no payments while enrolled in at least half-time studies. If a student drops below half time or graduates, there is a six-month grace period. If the student re-enrolls in at least half-time status, the loans are deferred, but when they drop below half time again they no longer have access to a grace period and repayment must begin. All Perkins loans and some undergraduate Stafford loans receive subsidies from the federal government. Amounts of both subsidized and unsubsidized loans are limited. There are many deferments and a number of forbearances (cancellation of loan) one can get in the Direct Loan program.[11] For those who are disabled, there is also the possibility of 100% loan discharge (cancellation of loan) if you meet the requirements.[12] Due to changes by the Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008, it became easier to get one of these discharges after July 1, 2010.[13] There are loan forgiveness provisions for teachers in specific critical subjects or in a school with more than 30% of its students on reduced-price lunch (a common measure of poverty), and qualify for loan forgiveness of all their Stafford, Perkins, and Federal Family Education Loan Program loans totalling up to $77,500.[14] In addition, any person employed full-time (in any position) by a public service organization, or serving in a full-time AmeriCorps or Peace Corps position[15] qualifies for loan forgiveness (cancellation) after 10 years of 120 consecutive payments without being late.[16] However, loan forgivenesses or discharges are considered taxable income by the Internal Revenue Service under 26 U.S.C. 108(f).[17]
Federal student loans made to parents (PLUS loans): Much higher limit, but payments start immediately. Credit history is considered; approval is not automatic.
Private student loans, made to students or parents: Higher limits and no payments until after graduation, although interest starts to accrue immediately and the deferred interest is added to the principal, so there is interest on the (deferred) interest (which Is not the case with subsidized student loans). Interest rates are higher than those of federal loans, which are set by the United States Congress. Private loans are, or should be, a last resort, when federal and other loan programs are exhausted. Any college financial aid officer will recommend you borrow the maximum under federal programs before turning to private loans.

text: Federal loans[edit]

text: Federal loans to students[edit]

text: United States Government-backed student loans were first offered in 1958 under the National Defense Education Act (NDEA), and were only available to select categories of students, such as those studying toward engineering, science, or education degrees. The student loan program, along with other parts of the Act, which subsidized college professor training, was established in response to the Soviet Union's launch of the Sputnik satellite, and a widespread perception that the United States was falling behind in science and technology, in the middle of the Cold War. Student loans were extended more broadly in the 1960s under the Higher Education Act of 1965, with the goal of encouraging greater social mobility and equality of opportunity.[3][18]

text: Prior to 2010, Federal loans included both direct loans—originated and funded directly by the United States Department of Education—and guaranteed loans—originated and funded by private investors, but guaranteed by the federal government. Guaranteed loans were eliminated in 2010 through the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act and replaced with direct loans because of a belief that guaranteed loans benefited private student loan companies at taxpayers expense, but did not reduce costs for students.[3][18]

text: These loans are available to college and university students via funds disbursed directly to the school and are used to supplement personal and family resources, scholarships, grants, and work-study. They may be subsidized by the U.S. Government or may be unsubsidized depending on financial need. The U.S. Department of Education published a booklet comparing federal loans with private loans. In this same document, the government describes what you may use the loan for:

text: You may use the money you receive only to pay for education expenses at the school that awarded your loan. Education expenses include school charges such as tuition; room and board; fees; books; supplies; equipment; dependent childcare expenses; transportation; and rental or purchase of a personal computer.

text: Both subsidized and unsubsidized loans are guaranteed by the U.S. Department of Education either directly or through guaranty agencies. Nearly all students are eligible to receive federal loans (regardless of credit score or other financial issues). Federal student loans are not priced according to any individualized measure of risk, nor are loan limits determined based on risk. Rather, pricing and loan limits are politically determined by Congress. Undergraduates typically receive lower interest rates, but graduate students typically can borrow more. This lack of risk-based pricing has been criticized by scholars as contributing to inefficiency in higher education.[3]

text: Both types offer a grace period of six months, which means that no payments are due until six months after graduation or after the borrower becomes a less-than-half-time student without graduating. Both types have a fairly modest annual limit. The dependent undergraduate limit effective for loans disbursed on or after July 1, 2008 is as follows (combined subsidized and unsubsidized limits): $5,500 per year for freshman undergraduate students, $6,500 for sophomore undergraduates, and $7,500 per year for junior and senior undergraduate students, as well as students enrolled in teacher certification or preparatory coursework for graduate programs. For independent undergraduates, the limits (combined subsidized and unsubsidized) effective for loans disbursed on or after July 1, 2008 are higher: $9,500 per year for freshman undergraduate students, $10,500 for sophomore undergraduates, and $12,500 per year for junior and senior undergraduate students, as well as students enrolled in teacher certification or preparatory coursework for graduate programs. Subsidized federal student loans are only offered to students with a demonstrated financial need. Financial need may vary from school to school. For these loans, the federal government makes interest payments while the student is in college. For example, those who borrow $10,000 during college owe $10,000 upon graduation.

text: Unsubsidized federal student loans are also guaranteed by the U.S. Government, but the government, while controlling (setting) the interest rate, does not pay interest for the student, rather the interest accrues during college. Nearly all students are eligible for these loans regardless of financial need (on need, see Expected Family Contribution). Those who borrow $10,000 during college owe $10,000 plus interest upon graduation. For example, those who borrowed $10,000 and had $2,000 accrue in interest owe $12,000. Interest begins accruing on the $12,000, i.e., there is interest on the interest. The accrued interest is "capitalized" into the loan amount, and the borrower begins making payments on the accumulated total. Students can pay the interest while still in college, but few do so.

text: Federal student loans for graduate students have higher limits: $8,500 for subsidized Stafford and $12,500 (limits may differ for certain courses of study) for unsubsidized Stafford. Many students also take advantage of the Federal Perkins Loan. For graduate students the limit for Perkins is $6,000 per year.

text: Stafford loan aggregate limits[edit]

text: Students who borrow money for education through Stafford loans cannot exceed certain aggregate limits for subsidized and unsubsidized loans. For undergraduate dependent students, the maximum aggregate limit of subsidized and unsubsidized loans combined is $57,500, with subsidized loans limited to a maximum of $23,000 of the total loans.[19] Students who have borrowed the maximum amount in subsidized loans may (based on grade level—undergraduate, graduate/professional, etc.) take out a loan of less than or equal to the amount they would have been eligible for in subsidized loans. Once both the subsidized and unsubsidized aggregate limits have been met for both subsidized and unsubsidized loans, the student is unable to borrow additional Stafford loans until they pay back a portion of the borrowed funds. A student who has paid back some of these amounts regains eligibility up to the aggregate limits as before.

text: Graduate students have a lifetime aggregate loan limit of $138,500.

text: Federal student loans to parents[edit]

text: Usually these are PLUS loans (formerly standing for "Parent Loan for Undergraduate Students"). Unlike loans made to students, parents can borrow much more, usually enough to cover the remainder of the costs student financial aid does not cover. Interest accrues during the time the student is in school. No payments are required until the student is no longer in school, although parents may start repayment ahead of time if they want, thus saving on interest.

text: The parents are responsible for repayment on these loans, not the student. Loans to parents are not a 'cosigner' loan with the student having equal accountability. The parents have signed the master promissory note to repay the loan and, if they do not repay the loan, their credit rating will suffer. Also, parents are advised to consider what their monthly payments will be after borrowing for four years at this rate (initial loan documents will give the repayment schedule as if only one year of loans was taken out). What sounds like a "manageable" debt load of (for example) $200 a month from freshman year loans can mushroom to a much more daunting $800 a month by the time four years have been funded through loans. Borrowing is not free, and the more borrowed, the more expensive it is.

text: Under new legislation, graduate students are eligible to receive PLUS loans in their own names. These Graduate PLUS loans have the same interest rates and terms of Parent PLUS loans.

text: The current interest rate on these loans, set by the United States Congress in 2006, is 8.5%.

text: Disbursement: How the money gets to student or school[edit]

text: Federal Direct Student Loans, also known as Direct Loans or FDLP loans, are funded from public capital originating with the United States Treasury. FDLP loans are distributed through a channel that begins with the U.S. Treasury Department and from there passes through the United States Department of Education, then to the college or university and then to the student.

text: According to the United States Department of Education, more than 6,000 colleges, universities, and technical schools participate in FFELP, which represents about 80% of all schools. FFELP lending represents 75% of all federal student loan volume.

text: In 2010, the Health Care Reform Act incorporated provisions on Education, which terminated the Federal Family Education Loan Appropriations after June 30, 2010. From that date on, all government-backed student loans have been issued through the Direct Loans program.

text: Debt levels[edit]

text: The maximum amount that any student can borrow is adjusted as federal policies change. Current loan limits are below the cost of most four year private institutions and most flagship public universities, and students therefore typically borrow higher cost private student loans to make up the difference. Scholars have advocated increasing federal debt limits to reduce the interest charges to student debtors.[18]

text: The maximum amount that any student can borrow is adjusted as federal policies change. A study published in the winter 1996 edition of the Journal of Student Financial Aid, “How Much Student Loan Debt Is Too Much?” suggested that the monthly student debt payment for the average undergraduate should not exceed 8% of total monthly income after graduation. Some financial aid advisers have referred to this as "the 8% rule." Circumstances vary for individuals, so the 8% level is an indicator, not a rule set in stone. A research report about the 8% level is available at the Iowa College Student Aid Commission.[20]

text: The Economist reported in June 2014 that United States student loan debt exceeded $1.2 trillion, with over 7 million debtors in default. Public universities increased their fees by a total of 27% over the five years ending in 2012, or 20% adjusted for inflation. Public university students paid an average of almost $8,400 annually for in-state tuition, with out-of-state students paying more than $19,000. For two decades ending in 2013, college costs have risen 1.6% more than inflation each year. Government funding per student fell 27% between 2007 and 2012. Student enrollments rose from 15.2 million in 1999 to 20.4 million in 2011, but fell 2% in 2012.[21][22]

text: Standard repayment[edit]

text: When Federal student loans enter repayment, they are automatically enrolled in standard repayment.[23] Under it, a borrower has 10 years to repay the total amount of his or her loan. The loan servicer (whoever is sending the bill) determines the monthly bill by calculating a fixed monthly payment amount that will pay off the original loan amount plus all accrued interest after 120 equal payments (12 payments per year).

text: Payments pay off the interest building up each month, plus part of the original loan amount. Depending on the amount of the loan, the loan term may be shorter than 10 years. There is a $50 minimum monthly payment.

text: Income-Driven Repayment Plans[edit]

text: If a student's loan debt is high but their income is modest or zero, they may qualify for an income-driven repayment (IDR) plan. Most major types of federal student loans—except for PLUS loans for parents—are eligible for an IDR plan.[24] Income-driven plans allow borrowers to cap their monthly payments to 10%, 15%, or 20% of disposable income for up to 20 or 25 years, after which the remaining balance is forgiven.[25]

text: Currently, four specific IDRs are available:

text: 1. Income-Based Repayment (IBR)

text: 2. Pay As You Earn (PAYE)

text: 3. Revised Pay As You Earn (REPAYE)

text: 4. Income-Contingent Repayment (ICR)

text: Discharge of student loans[edit]

text: United States Federal student loans and some private student loans can be discharged in bankruptcy only with a showing of "undue hardship." In contrast to credit card debt, which often can be discharged through bankruptcy proceedings,[26][27][28][29] this option is not generally available for educational loan debt.[30][31][32] Additionally, those seeking to discharge their student loan debt must initiate an adversary proceeding, a separate lawsuit within the bankruptcy case where they illustrate the required undue hardship.[33] Many borrowers cannot afford to retain an attorney or the additional litigation costs associated with an adversary proceeding, let alone a bankruptcy case. Further complicating matters, the undue hardship standard varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, but is generally difficult to meet, making student loans practically non-dischargeable through bankruptcy. In most circuits discharge depends on meeting three prongs in the Brunner test:[34]

text: As noted by the district court, there is very little appellate authority on the definition of "undue hardship" in the context of 11 U.S.C. § 523(a)(8)(B). Based on legislative history and the decisions of other district and bankruptcy courts, the district court adopted a standard for "undue hardship" requiring a three-part showing: (1) that the debtor cannot maintain, based on current income and expenses, a "minimal" standard of living for herself and her dependents if forced to repay the loans; (2) that additional circumstances exist indicating that this state of affairs is likely to persist for a significant portion of the repayment period of the student loans; and (3) that the debtor has made good faith efforts to repay the loans. For the reasons set forth in the district court's order, we adopt this analysis. The first part of this test has been applied frequently as the minimum necessary to establish "undue hardship." See, e.g., Bryant v. Pennsylvania Higher Educ. Assistance Agency (In re Bryant), 72 B.R. 913, 915 (Bankr.E.D.Pa.1987); North Dakota State Bd. of Higher Educ. v. Frech (In re Frech), 62 B.R. 235 (Bankr.D.Minn.1986); Marion v. Pennsylvania Higher Educ. Assistance Agency (In re Marion), 61 B.R. 815 (Bankr.W.D.Pa.1986). Requiring such a showing comports with common sense as well.[35]

text: While federal student loans can be discharged administratively for total and permanent disability, private student loans cannot be discharged outside of bankruptcy.[30][31][32]

text: One set of empirical data comes from Education Credit Management Corporation, which serviced loans for twenty-five lending agencies and the United States Department of Education; in 2008 it was reported that of 72,000 loans in bankruptcy proceedings, only 276 debtors attempted discharge, and by November 2009 of the 134 resolutions thus far, 29 resulted in total or partial discharge.[36]

text: A review of records in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Washington found that 57% of the 115 adversary proceedings reviewed in a 5-year period resulted in partial discharge, through settlement or trial; however, the authors cautioned not to generalize the results of this small sample.[37] 86% involved either (or both) the United States Department of Education or the Education Credit Management Corporation, a nonprofit which services loans where the student has declared bankruptcy.[37]

text: The rules for total and permanent disability discharge underwent major changes as a result of the Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008. Loan holders are no longer required to be unable to earn any income, but instead the standard is "substantial gainful activity" (SGA) as a result of disability. The new regulations took effect July 1, 2010.[38] Under further changes set to take effect July 1, 2013, if a borrower is determined to be disabled by the Social Security Administration, that determination will be accepted as proof of total and permanent disability if the SSA placed the individual on a five- to seven-year review cycle (the longest currently used by SSA).[39]

text: Private student loans[edit]

text: These are loans that are not guaranteed by a government agency and are made to students by banks or finance companies. Private loans cost more and have much less favorable terms than federal loans, and are generally only used when students have exhausted the borrowing limit under federal student loans. They are not eligible for Income Based Repayment plans, and frequently have less flexible payment terms, higher fees, and more penalties.[3][18][40]

text: Advocates of private student loans suggest that they combine the best elements of the different government loans into one: they generally offer higher loan limits than federal student loans, ensuring the student is not left with a budget gap. Unlike federal parent (PLUS) loans, they generally offer a grace period of six months (occasionally 12 months) with no payments due until after graduation; however, interest accrues and is added to the principal. Most experts unconnected to the private loan industry recommend private student loans only as an expensive last resort, because of the higher interest rates, multiple fees, and lack of the borrower protections which are built into the federal loans.[41][42]

text: Private student loan types[edit]

text: Private student loans generally come in two types: school-channel and direct-to-consumer.

text: School-channel loans offer borrowers lower interest rates but generally take longer to process. School-channel loans are "certified" by the school, which means the school signs off on the borrowing amount, and the funds are disbursed directly to the school. The "certification" means only that the school confirms the loan funds will be used for educational expenses only, and agrees to hold them and disburse them as needed. Certification does not mean that the school approves of, recommends, or has even examined the terms (conditions) of the loan.

text: Direct-to-consumer private loans are not certified by the school; schools don't interact with a direct-to-consumer private loan at all. The student simply supplies enrollment verification to the lender, and the loan proceeds are disbursed directly to the student. While direct-to-consumer loans generally carry higher interest rates than school-channel loans, they do allow families to get access to funds very quickly — in some cases, in a matter of days. Some argue that this convenience is offset by the risk of student over-borrowing and/or use of funds for inappropriate purposes, since there is no third-party certification that the amount of the loan is appropriate for the education needs of the student in question, or that it will be used only for education.[43]

text: Direct-to-consumer private loans was the fastest growing segment of education finance with the "percentage of undergraduates obtaining private loans from 2003–04 to 2007–08 rose from 5 percent to 14 percent" and were under legislative scrutiny due to the lack of school certification.[44][45] Loan providers range from large education finance companies to specialty companies that focus exclusively on this niche.[43][45] Lenders often push such loans by advertising: "no FAFSA required," or "Funds disbursed directly to you." But since the passing of Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010(HCERA), the death knell sounded for private sector lending under the Federal Family Education Loan Program (FFELP). Since July 1, 2010, no new student loans have been made under the FFELP; all subsidized and unsubsidized Stafford loans, PLUS loans, and Consolidation loans have been made solely under the Federal Direct Loan Program.[45]

text: Private student loan rates and interest[edit]

text: Federal student loan interest rates are set by Congress, and fixed. Private student loans usually have substantially higher interest rates, and the rates fluctuate depending on the financial markets. Some private loans disguise the true cost of borrowing by requiring substantial up-front origination "fees", which enable deceptively lower interest rates to be offered. Interest rates also vary depending on the applicant's credit history.

text: Most private loan programs are tied to one or more financial indexes, such as the Wall Street Journal Prime rate or the BBA LIBOR rate, plus an overhead charge. Because private loans are based on the credit history of the applicant, the overhead charge varies. Students and families with excellent credit generally receive lower rates and smaller loan origination fees than those with poorer credit histories. Money paid toward interest is now tax deductible. However, lenders rarely give complete details of the terms of the private student loan until after the student submits an application, in part because this helps prevent comparisons based on cost. For example, many lenders only advertise the lowest interest rate they charge (for good credit borrowers). Borrowers with bad credit can expect interest rates that are as much as 6% higher, loan fees that are as much as 9% higher, and loan limits that are two-thirds lower than the advertised figures.[46]

text: Private student loan fees[edit]

text: Private loans often carry an origination fee, which can be substantial. Origination fees are a one-time charge based on the amount of the loan. They can be taken out of the total loan amount or added on top of the total loan amount, often at the borrower's preference. Some lenders offer low-interest, 0-fee loans.[citation needed] Each percentage point on the front-end fee gets paid once, while each percentage point on the interest rate is calculated and paid throughout the life of the loan. Some have suggested that this makes the interest rate more critical than the origination fee.[citation needed]

text: In fact, there is an easy solution to the fee-vs.-rate question: All lenders are legally required to provide you a statement of the "APR (Annual Percentage Rate)" for the loan before you sign a promissory note and commit to it. Unlike the "base" rate, this rate includes any fees charged and can be thought of as the "effective" interest rate including actual interest, fees, etc. When comparing loans, it may be easier to compare APR rather than "rate" to ensure an apples-to-apples comparison. APR is the best yardstick to compare loans that have the same repayment term; however, if the repayment terms are different, APR becomes a less-perfect comparison tool. With different term loans, consumers often look to "total financing costs" to understand their financing options.

text: Private student loan cosigners[edit]

text: Eligible loan programs generally issue loans based on the credit history of the applicant and any applicable cosigner/co-endorser/coborrower. This is in contrast to federal loan programs that deal primarily with need-based criteria, as defined by the EFC and the FAFSA. For many students, this is a great advantage to private loan programs, as their families may have too much income or too many assets to qualify for federal aid but insufficient assets and income to pay for school without assistance. The benefit of a co-signer is that a lender considers the income and credit history of both the student and the co-signer, which improves the student's chances of being approved for a student loan.[47]

text: Many international students in the United States can obtain private loans (they are usually ineligible for federal loans) with a cosigner who is a United States citizen or permanent resident. However, some graduate programs (notably top MBA programs) have a tie-up with private loan providers and in those cases no cosigner is needed even for international students.[48]

text: After a student and the student's co-signer are approved for a student loan, a private student loan lender may offer a co-signer release option, which "releases" the original co-signer from any financial responsibility for the student loan. There are several student loan lenders who offer co-signer releases and other benefits.[49]

text: Private student loan terms[edit]

text: In contrast with federal loans, whose terms are public and standardized, the terms for private loans vary from lender to lender. However, it is not easy to compare them, as some conditions may not be revealed until the student is presented with a contract (promissory note) to sign. A common suggestion is to shop around on all terms, not just respond to "rates as low as..." tactics that are sometimes little more than bait-and-switch. However, shopping around could damage your credit score.[50] Examples of other borrower terms and benefits that vary by lender are deferments (amount of time after leaving school before payments start) and forbearances (a period when payments are temporarily stopped due to financial or other hardship). These policies are solely based on the contract between lender and borrower and not set by Department of Education policies.

text: Criticism of U.S. student loan programs[edit]

text: In 1987, then-Secretary of Education William Bennett argued that “... increases in financial aid in recent years have enabled colleges and universities blithely to raise their tuitions, confident that Federal loan subsidies would help cushion the increase.”[51] This statement came to be known as the “Bennett Hypothesis.” In July 2015 (revised in March 2016), a Staff Report was published by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the conclusions of which indicate that institutions more exposed to increases in student loan program maximums tend to respond with disproportionate raises in tuition prices:

text: In this paper, we use a Bartik-like approach to identify the effect of increased loan supply on tuition following large policy changes in federal aid program maximums available to undergraduate students that occurred between 2008 and 2010. We construct institution-specific changes in program maximums as the interaction of an institution exposure to the maximums in each aid program (the fraction of qualifying students) and the legislated program maximums. We find that institutions that were most exposed to these maximums ahead of the policy changes experienced disproportionate tuition increases around these changes, with effects of changes in institution-specific program maximums of Pell Grant, subsidized loan, and unsubsidized loan of about 40, 60, and 15 cents on the dollar, respectively.[1]

text: The federal student loan program has been criticized for not adjusting interest rates according to the riskiness of factors that are under students' control, such as choice of academic major. Critics have contended that this lack of risk-based pricing contributes to inefficiency and misallocation of resources in higher education, and lower productivity in the labor market.[3] However, recent research indicates that while high levels of student loan debt, coupled with high default rates, present a number of challenges for individual student loan borrowers and for the federal government (which must cover the defaults through taxes), they do not necessarily place a substantial burden on society at large.[52]

text: After the passage of the bankruptcy reform bill of 2005, both federal and private student loans are not discharged during bankruptcy (prior to the passage of this bill, only federal student loans were unable to be discharged). This provided a credit risk free loan for the lender, averaging 7 percent a year.[53] In January 2013, the "Fairness for Struggling Students Act" was unveiled. This bill, if passed, would once again allow private student loans to be discharged in bankruptcy.[54] The bill was referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee where it died.[55]

text: Some critics of financial aid claim that, because schools are assured of receiving their fees no matter what happens to their students, they have felt free to raise their fees to very high levels, to accept students of inadequate academic ability, and to produce too many graduates in some fields of study. About one-third of students, whether or not they graduate or find jobs that match their credentials, are financially burdened for much of their lives by their debt obligations, instead of being economically productive citizens. When those former students default on their obligations, the burdens are shifted to taxpayers. Lastly, the proportion of graduates who come from poor backgrounds has actually declined since 1970.[56]

text: In 2007, the Attorney General of New York State, Andrew Cuomo, led an investigation into lending practices and anti-competitive relationships between student lenders and universities. Specifically, many universities steered student borrowers to "preferred lenders" that charged higher interest rates. Some of these "preferred lenders" allegedly rewarded university financial aid staff with kick backs. This led to changes in lending policy at many major American universities. Many universities have also rebated millions of dollars in fees back to affected borrowers.[57][58]

text: The biggest lenders, Sallie Mae and Nelnet, are criticized by borrowers. They frequently find themselves embroiled in lawsuits, the most serious of which was filed in 2007. The False Claims Suit was filed on behalf of the federal government by former Department of Education researcher, Dr. Jon Oberg, against Sallie Mae, Nelnet, and other lenders. Oberg argued that the lenders overcharged the United States Government and defrauded taxpayers of over $22 million. In August 2010, Nelnet settled the lawsuit and paid $55 million.[59]

text: In an effort to improve the student loan market, startups like LendKey, SoFi (Social Finance, Inc.), Konsolidate and CommonBond were founded to offer student loans and refinance loans at lower rates than traditional repayment systems using an alumni-funded model.[60][61] According to a 2016 analysis by online student loan marketplace Credible, about 8 million borrowers could qualify to refinance their loans at a lower interest rate.[62]

text: The New York Times published an editorial in 2011 in support of allowing private loans to again be discharged during bankruptcy.[63]

text: In June 2010, the amount of student loan debt held by Americans exceeded the amount of credit card debt held by Americans.[64] At that time, student loan debt totaled at least $830 billion, of which approximately 80% was federal student loan debt and 20% was private student loan debt. By the fourth quarter of 2015, total outstanding student loans owned and securitized had risen to, and surpassed, $1.3 trillion.[65] This rising student debt is contributing to the expanding wealth gap.[66]

text: With each passing year, student debt continues to rise. Nearly two-thirds of undergraduates are in debt. By graduation, their student loan debt averages around $26,600. One percent of graduates leave college with $100,000 or more of student loan debt. In 2013, the federal debt had grown to $16.7 trillion. Six percent of that debt comes directly from student loans making student loans only second to mortgages in consumer debt. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau reported that as of May 2013, federal student loan debt had reached $1 trillion bringing the total number for outstanding student loan debt to $1.2 trillion. However, this amount does not include what students take from savings accounts, borrow from parents, or charge to their credit cards in order to pay for their education. In actuality, the burden of student debt is much greater than these numbers indicate.[67] The Federal Reserve Bank of New York's February 2017 Quarterly Report on Household Debt and Credit reported that 11.2% of aggregate student loan debt was 90 or more days delinquent in the final quarter of 2016.[68]


document_title: The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower

question_text: who is at the top of the dark tower

question_tokens: who is at the top of the dark tower

root

text: The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower

text: Plot summary[edit]

text: Beginning where book six left off, Jake Chambers and Father Callahan battle the evil infestation within the Dixie Pig, a vampire lounge in New York City featuring roast human flesh and doors to other worlds. After fighting off and destroying numerous "Low-Men" and Type One Vampires, Callahan sacrifices himself to let Jake survive. In the other world - Fedic - Mia, her body now physically separated from Susannah Dean, gives birth to Mordred Deschain, the biological son of Roland Deschain and Susannah. The Crimson King is also a "co-father" of this prophetic child, so it is not surprising when "baby" Mordred's first act is to shapeshift into a spider-creature and feast on his birth-mother. Susannah shoots but fails to kill Mordred, eliminates other agents of the Crimson King, and escapes to meet up with Jake at the cross-dimensional door beneath the Dixie Pig which connects to Fedic. Maturing at an accelerated rate, Mordred later stalks Roland and the other gunslingers throughout this adventure, shifting from human to spider as the need arises, seething with an instinctive rage toward Roland, his "white daddy."

tag: p

text: In Maine, Roland and Eddie recruit John Cullum, and then make their way back to Fedic, where the ka-tet is now reunited. Walter (known in other stories as Randall Flagg) plans to slay Mordred and use the birthmark on Mordred's heel to gain access to the Tower, but he is easily slain by the infant when Mordred sees through his lies.

text: Roland and his ka-tet travel to Thunderclap, then to the nearby Devar-Toi, to stop a group of psychics known as Breakers who are allowing their telepathic abilities to be used to break away at the beams that support the Tower. Ted Brautigan and Dinky Earnshaw assist the gunslingers with information and weapons, and reunite Roland with his old friend Sheemie Ruiz from Mejis. The Gunslingers free the Breakers from their captors, but Eddie is wounded after the battle and dies a short while later. Roland and Jake pause to mourn and then jump to Maine of 1999 along with Oy, in order to save the life of Stephen King (whom he writes to be an omniscient secondary character in the book); the ka-tet have come to believe that the success of their quest depends on King surviving to write about it through his books.

text: They discover King about to be hit by a van. Jake pushes King out of the way but Jake is killed in the process. Roland, heartbroken with the loss of the person he considers his true son, buries Jake and returns with Oy to Susannah in Fedic, via the Dixie Pig. They are chased through the depths of Castle Discordia by an otherworldly monster, then depart and travel for weeks across freezing badlands toward the Tower.

text: Along the way they find Patrick Danville, a young man imprisoned by someone who calls himself Joe Collins but is really a psychic vampire named Dandelo. Dandelo feeds off the emotions of his victims, and starts to feed off of Roland and Susannah by telling them jokes. Roland and Susannah are alerted to the danger by Stephen King, who drops clues directly into the book, enabling them to defeat the vampire. They discover Patrick in the basement, and find that Dandelo had removed his tongue. Patrick is freed and soon his special talent becomes evident: his drawings and paintings become reality. As their travels bring them nearer to the Dark Tower, Susannah comes to the conclusion that Roland needs to complete his journey without her. Susannah asks Patrick to draw a door she has seen in her dreams to lead her out of this world. He does so and once it appears, Susannah says goodbye to Roland and crosses over to another world.

text: Mordred finally reaches and attacks Roland. Oy viciously defends his dinh, providing Roland the extra seconds needed to exterminate the were-spider. Oy is impaled on a tree branch and dies. Roland continues on to his ultimate goal and reaches the Tower, only to find it occupied by the Crimson King. They remain in a stalemate for a few hours, until Roland has Patrick draw a picture of the Crimson King and then erase it, thus wiping him out of existence except for his eyes. Roland gains entry into the Tower while Patrick turns back home. The last scene is that of Roland crying out the names of his loved ones and fallen comrades as he had vowed to do. The door of the Dark Tower closes shut as Patrick watches from a distance.

text: The story then shifts to Susannah coming through the magic door to an alternate 1980s New York, where Gary Hart is president. Susannah throws away Roland's gun (which does not function on this side of the door), rejecting the life of a gunslinger, and starts a new life with alternate versions of Eddie and Jake, who in this world are brothers with the surname Toren. They have only very vague memories of their previous journey with Susannah, whose own memories of Mid-World are already beginning to fade. It is implied that an alternate version of Oy, the billy-bumbler, will also join them.

text: In a final "Coda" section, King urges the reader to close the book at this point, consider the story finished with a happy ending, and not venture inside the Tower with Roland. For those who do not heed the warning, the story resumes with Roland stepping into the Dark Tower. He realizes that the Tower is not really made of stone, but a kind of flesh: it is Gan's physical body. As he climbs the steps, Roland encounters various rooms containing siguls or signs of his past life. When he reaches the top of the Tower, he finds a door marked with his own name and opens it. Roland instantly realizes, to his horror, that he has reached the Tower countless times before. He is forced through the door by the hands of Gan and transported back in time to the Mohaine desert, back to where he was at the beginning of The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger, with no memories of what has just occurred. The only difference is that, this time, Roland possesses the Horn of Eld, which in the previous incarnation he had left lying on the ground after the Battle of Jericho Hill. Roland hears the voice of Gan, whispering that, if he reaches the Tower again, perhaps this time the result will be different; there may yet be rest. The series ends where it began in the first line of book one: "The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed."

text: Reception[edit]

text: The novel won the British Fantasy Award in 2005.[1]

text: Film sequel[edit]

text: On May 18, 2016, Stephen King tweeted a photo of the Horn of Eld with the caption 'Last Time Around', referring to the end of the final book and revealing that the upcoming 2017 film is a sequel to the book series rather than a direct adaptation. In the beginning of the film, Roland has the Horn of Eld, which he received at the end of The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower.[2].


document_title: 3rd Rock from the Sun

question_text: who starred in 3rd rock from the sun

question_tokens: who starred in 3rd rock from the sun

text: 3rd Rock from the Sun

text: Overview[edit]

text: This section does not cite any sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (May 2012) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

tag: table

text: Basic premise[edit]

text: The premise of the show revolves around an extraterrestrial research expedition attempting to live as a normal human family in the fictional city of Rutherford, Ohio, said to be 52 mi (84 km) outside of Cleveland, where they live in an attic apartment. Humor was principally derived from the aliens' attempts to study human society and, because of their living as humans themselves while on Earth, to understand the human condition. This show reflects human life from the perspective of aliens and many sources of humor are from the learning experiences the alien characters have. Most of the episodes are named after the protagonist "Dick". In later episodes, they are more accustomed to Earth and often are more interested in their human lives than in their mission.

text: The show also takes humor from its mirroring of all human anthropological expeditions and their assumptions of superiority to the "natives", as well as their inability to distinguish themselves from the natives. Dr. Mary Albright (Jane Curtin) is a professor of anthropology at (fictional) Pendelton State University, and many of the issues with which the four aliens struggle appear in her conversation and work. Furthermore, these four alien researchers end up looking more or less like joyriders as they get drawn further and further into human life.

text: Dick Solomon (John Lithgow), the High Commander and leader of the expedition, is the family provider as a physics professor at Pendelton (with Ian Lithgow, John Lithgow's oldest son, playing one of his less successful students). Information officer and oldest member of the crew Tommy (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) has been given the body of a teenager and is forced to enroll in high school (later college), leaving security officer Sally (Kristen Johnston) and "the one with the transmitter in his head", Harry (French Stewart) to spend their lives as 20-somethings hanging out at home and bouncing through short-term jobs. The show also involves their relationships with humans, mostly their love interests.

text: The family often communicates through Harry with their off-world (and usually unseen) boss, the Big Giant Head, who when he finally visits Earth, appears in the body of William Shatner. Harry unexpectedly (and often in inconvenient circumstances) stands up, his arms stiff (acting as the antenna), and proclaims: "Incoming message from the Big Giant Head."

text: Typical episode themes[edit]

text: Almost all the episodes stem from the Solomons' difficulties, and successes, in integrating themselves into Earth culture and understanding human customs — they are always desperately trying to "read" humans correctly, and when they succeed (or think they succeed), they are ecstatic.

text: Details about their alien nature are rarely given and inconsistent, except to reinforce the idea that their former lives were almost barren of emotion, unlike most of the relationships humans have with each other. Their original forms, for example, are described as nonsexual, with reproduction a matter of sending packets of genetic material to each other in the mail. Leaders like the Big Giant Head are unelected and assumed infallible (in fact, it is stated that politicians on their planet are chosen by seeing which one can outrun the giant fireball). The upshot is that living in an Earth culture provides the Solomons with an almost intolerable degree of emotional stimulation and conflict. Although they are ill-equipped to handle such an emotional maelstrom, they love it.

text: Several episodes feature send-ups of TV and films. For example, in the episode "Dick's Big Giant Headache", both Dick and the Big Giant Head mention seeing something on the wing of the plane after having traveled by airline. That was a nod to both Lithgow and Shatner having played the same role of the passenger who sees a gremlin on the wing in The Twilight Zone (Shatner in Nightmare At 20,000 Feet and Lithgow in the film remake).

text: Common mythology[edit]

text: Occasionally, references would be made to specific features of the aliens' abilities and of their experiences on their own world, which built up a common mythology for the show. The theme of the idiot savant repeatedly resurfaces, since each member of the family makes up for their extreme naïveté with some special skill owing to their alien nature.

text: Though Dick's understanding of physics is far weaker than his "son" Tommy's, it is implied that even his basic scientific knowledge makes advanced Earth physics appear rudimentary, leading to his becoming respected in his field despite his childish behavior. A segment from an episode has him reading a passage from A Brief History of Time and laughing at Stephen Hawking's description of virtual particles quipping, "These Earth people will swallow 'anything'." Even so, Dick is often shown as the member of the family with the least to recommend in terms of his ability, leading them to question his right to command. Sally, for instance, is amazingly physically strong and fit, able to fight and defeat large groups of men much larger than her (even when doing so is unnecessary and culturally inappropriate).

text: Tommy, although 14 years old at the show's beginning, is actually the oldest of the four and was assigned the role of teenager because it was felt he was the only one who could handle its stress. He has the ability of near-instant recall and has an encyclopedic knowledge about Earth society, which often seems useless to his colleagues, but ensures that he remains a straight-A student.

text: Harry's behavior is naive, endearing, and bizarre. Somehow, this mental condition gives him an inexplicable sex appeal for women and makes him the only Solomon with any talent in the arts – Harry often seems to have a knack for all fine arts, including music and theater. He is consistently shown as being a very talented painter, especially as a portraitist and caricaturist. He often seems like the "wise fool" of folk narratives – the one everyone calls stupid who ends up knowing what is really important.

text: Relationships with humans[edit]

text: Each alien becomes involved in various relationships with humans throughout the course of the series, primarily focusing on Dick's infatuation– at first met with disgust and then, finally, reciprocation– with anthropology professor Dr. Mary Albright (Jane Curtin), who shares an office with him. Much is often made of Mary's angst, insecurity, and neuroses brought on by a lifetime of studying the human condition, as well as an unstable relationship with her parents, and the cheerful, childlike naïveté displayed by Dick, the primary factor in him that attracts her.

text: Sally similarly acquires a long-term boyfriend, Officer Don Orville (Wayne Knight), an overweight and incompetent police officer who becomes attracted to her after several incidents in which he is forced to confront or arrest the Solomons for various crimes. Sally's attraction to him has little to do with his physical appearance and more to do with his perceived power and authority as a police officer (and in particular, his uniform). The two generally have conversations while speaking in a manner similar to an old 1930s crime drama. One joke that is used between Don and Sally quite a bit is their greeting to each other when Don comes over to their apartment. Don will walk in, stop dead in his tracks, give Sally a seductive look, and say, "Hello, Sally," to which Sally responds, nearly melting, by seductively answering, "Hi, Don." This is also in sharp contrast with Knight's other well-known character, Newman from Seinfeld, in which Jerry always greets him with a disdainful "Hello, Newman."

text: Tommy manages an on-again, off-again relationship with classmate August Leffler (Shay Astar), a reserved ice queen teenager and later with the more bubbly Alissa Strudwick (Larisa Oleynik).

text: Harry has a relationship with his landlady Mrs. Dubcek's (Elmarie Wendel) daughter Vicki (played by Jan Hooks), in an on-screen relationship that often features overly melodramatic scenes. Harry, despite no apparent skills in the art of seduction, also manages to foil a plot to dissolve the Earth by seducing Mascha (Cindy Crawford), one of a coven of strikingly beautiful Venusians who tried to overthrow the Earth by seducing its men into giving them everything of value.

text: Some humor comes from the fact that at some point in the show, most of the character relationships have been mixed up — a strange attraction is briefly shown between Mary and Tommy because of their similar passion for the social sciences and the study of humanity, in which Tommy chooses to step aside and let Dick pursue her instead. Nina (Simbi Khali), Dick's assistant who primarily serves as his straight man and comic foil, is seen briefly having a fling with Harry. Mrs. Dubcek, who is at first merely a source of comic relief, her own bizarre foibles and imperceptibly causing her to be a terrible role model for proper human behavior to the Solomons, is also revealed to have had a fling with Harry.

text: Alien quirks[edit]

text: Initially, the only reference to the aliens' true forms is a comment made in the first episode, when upon discovering that human heads cannot swivel to 180°, Dick asks: "Then how do they lick their backs?". As time went on, the show began to intersperse concrete references to the aliens' nature and their home world which played a role in affecting the show's plot. They usually described their original bodies as "gelatinous purple tubes" that lacked sex organs or most of the forms of physical definition that humans possess. In fact, when Sally asks why she had to be the woman, Dick reminds her why, telling her, "It's because you lost."

text: Evidently, individuals in their species are so near-identical to each other that the Solomons were unaware of the concept of race or ethnicity, and had never invented one for themselves, leading them to attempt to choose one (a source of humor since the Solomons all appear quite white). Mrs. Dubcek enlightens them when she refers to her second husband as "one of you people ... you know, Jewish." She figured this out from their surname, Solomon. Amazed, Harry exclaims, "Mazel tov!"

text: The Solomons encounter other seemingly alien beings, most notably, Jell-O, or when in one episode Dick and a friend of Mary's remain confused throughout—they know they are "different"—but Dick thinks "alien" and the friend thinks "gay". Their first encounters with snow and dreaming cause general hysteria.

text: Cast[edit]

text: 3rd Rock maintained a constant ensemble cast; the four main characters are Dick, Sally, Tommy, and Harry. Several other main characters who left or joined the show through its original run supplemented these four, and numerous guest stars and one-time characters supplemented all of them. The three male aliens' names are a play on the phrase "Tom, Dick and Harry" which is a placeholder for multiple unspecified people. (When Don eventually notices this, they look uncomfortable and Tommy says, "Well, it's not like it's a deliberate attempt on our part to seem average," which is of course exactly what it is.)

text: Main characters[edit]

text:
John Lithgow as Dick Solomon: Though the High Commander and head of the expedition to Earth, he is often the most childlike member of the group, being, ironically, the youngest of the crew, despite being the oldest family member (at least appears to be the oldest due to his body). Much of the behavioral or societal-based troubles faced by the crew in their mission while on Earth frequently arise from some juvenile act perpetrated by Dick, troubles which in turn are forced to be overcome by the entire troupe with a great deal of reluctance.
Kristen Johnston as Sally Solomon: With a rank of lieutenant, she is the security officer and second-in-command. She has been called Dick's sister, but was sometimes introduced as Tommy's sister earlier in the series, and, on one occasion, claimed to be his mother, although never Dick's daughter and certainly not his spouse; failure to clarify the exact relationship between Tommy, Harry, and Sally led to humorous confusion whenever either Harry or Sally attempted to act as Tommy's guardian. Sally was chosen to be the woman because she apparently lost some sort of contest and was not too thrilled about it; while the alien species is described as asexual, Sally seems to have a harder time trying to figure out womanhood than the others do manhood. She files a request to be made male early in the mission, though later decides she liked being a woman. A later episode had Dick and her switching bodies on orders from the Big Giant Head, which caused much confusion both on their parts, as they had gotten used to their respective genders while on Earth, and the other characters, as they could not get used to Sally acting like Dick and vice versa.
French Stewart as Harry Solomon: Originally, he was not part of the mission, but just happened to go for the ride because an extra seat was available. Later, it becomes known that a chip is in his head, and he becomes the Communicator or Transmitter. Occasionally, he gets a message from the Solomons' leader, the Big Giant Head, and shakes violently in the middle of a sentence and squats down, with his arms at 90° angles, declaring "Incoming message from the Big Giant Head!", before going through the motions of delivering the message, which always ends with a violent sneeze. He poses as Dick and Sally's brother, and Tommy's uncle. Harry is often known to be the simplest family member, is occasionally impulsive and misunderstands people. He is also prone to misfortune. Though he seems to fit in on Earth with the earthlings better than anyone else, this is implied because he is seen as dimwitted. Whether he is really dimwitted or just more sensitive to his surroundings is unclear, however.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Tommy Solomon: Information officer and third-in-command behind Sally, Tommy plays the role of Dick's adolescent son, yet he is the oldest and smartest of all the aliens. Throughout the series, Tommy continually reminds the others of his superior intelligence and greater age. Gordon-Levitt left the series (after the fifth season concluded) as a primary character, only appearing as a recurring character in just over half the episodes of season six. In the show, this is explained by Tommy's graduating from high school and moving out to college.
Jane Curtin as Dr. Mary Albright: Dick's colleague and on-and-off girlfriend, Mary is aware that Dick is an insensitive idiot, but appreciates his joie de vivre and quirkiness. Reference is often made to the insecurity caused by her bad parenting, and the fact that before Dick arrived, she was known for sleeping around, and had even been nicknamed "Dr. Slutbunny".
Simbi Khali as Nina Campbell (seasons 3-6, recurring previously): Dick's and Mary's administrative assistant, she finds Dick beyond the pale.
Elmarie Wendel as Mrs. Mamie Dubcek (seasons 3-6, recurring previously): Mrs. Dubcek is a "blast from the past", namely the '60s. She boasts of having danced naked with Jack Kerouac in a cage. In addition to being the landlady, she is a friend to the Solomons.
Wayne Knight as Officer Don Leslie Orville (seasons 3-6, recurring previously): As Sally's boyfriend, he is an underachieving, spineless police officer, who has a talent for romanticizing his rather mundane job. Sally is completely enraptured by his stories, and is reduced to simpering and giggling around him.

tag: ul

text: Recurring characters[edit]

text:
David DeLuise as Bug Pollone: one of Dick's students (DeLuise's father Dom appears as Bug's father in one episode)
Ian Lithgow as Leon: one of Dick's students, played by John Lithgow's oldest son
Danielle Nicolet as Caryn: one of Dick's students
Chris Hogan as Aubrey Pitman: one of Dick's students
Ileen Getz as Dr. Judith Draper: professor at Pendelton and colleague of Mary
Shay Astar as August Leffler: Tommy's first girlfriend (in seasons 1–3, sparsely appears in seasons 3 and 4)
Larisa Oleynik as Alissa Strudwick: Tommy's second girlfriend (in seasons 4–6)
Ron West as Dr. Vincent Strudwick: Alissa's father and rival to Dick (in seasons 2–6)
William Shatner as The Big Giant Head: the aliens' boss, he goes by the name Stone Philips on the Earth (in seasons 4 and 5), and is later revealed to be Dick's home planet biological father
Jan Hooks as Victoria Marie "Vicki" Dubcek daughter of Ms. Dubcek, Harry's on-and-off girlfriend (seasons 2-4) who ends up having a child with the Big Giant Head (in season 5)
John Cleese as Dr. Liam Neesam: a professor who briefly has a relationship with Mary, and is later revealed to be an evil alien (in seasons 3 and 6)
Chyna as Janice: a muscular female police officer who is briefly Harry's girlfriend
Michael Milhoan as Coach Strickland: high school PE teacher at Tommy's high school, enjoys picking on Tommy and other unathletic students

text: Guest stars[edit]

text: Production[edit]

text: Theme music[edit]

text: The show's opening theme music was composed by Ben Vaughn, and for the first three seasons, it was originally a 1950s-style rock-and-roll instrumental piece; the theme was extended slightly in season three, when Simbi Khali, Elmarie Wendel, and Wayne Knight were officially made series regulars and added to the opening credits. Only one alternate version of the theme was used during the course of the show's run. For Christmas episodes, jingle bells were added to the theme. For the sixth and final season, a modern jazz underline version of the theme was used during that season. The only major change to the theme was in season four through five, when the original Ben Vaughn version was replaced by a big band cover of the theme, performed by the group Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, and was only used during that season. During season one, James Earl Jones provided a voice introduction describing the crew.

text: Title sequence[edit]

text: The opening title sequence, which was produced by the London graphic design firm SVC Television, opens with computerized shots of planets and celestial bodies, some either with the planets dancing or moving in warp speed. It opens and closes with a shot of Earth (which at the open is where the show's title logo appears, after a sunburst appears on the side of Earth). For the sixth and final season only, the typeface of the cast and creators' names was altered.

text: Distribution[edit]

text: Broadcast[edit]

text: The six seasons had 139 episodes in the series.

text:
Season
Episodes
Originally aired

Season premiere
Season finale

1
20
January 9, 1996 (1996-01-09)
May 21, 1996 (1996-05-21)

2
26
September 22, 1996 (1996-09-22)
May 18, 1997 (1997-05-18)

3
27
September 24, 1997 (1997-09-24)
May 20, 1998 (1998-05-20)

4
24
September 23, 1998 (1998-09-23)
May 25, 1999 (1999-05-25)

5
22
September 21, 1999 (1999-09-21)
May 23, 2000 (2000-05-23)

6
20
October 24, 2000 (2000-10-24)
May 22, 2001 (2001-05-22)

text: Of 139 episodes of the series, 108 contained "Dick" in the title (in reference to John Lithgow's character). While some of the episode titles with "Dick" in them are innocent (i.e., "Tom, Dick and Mary", "Dick Is From Mars, Sally Is From Venus"), others are more risque and often are double entendres (i.e., "Sensitive Dick", "A Dick Replacement", "Frozen Dick", "Shall We Dick"), due to the fact that the word "Dick" is both a short form of Richard and a slang term for penis. One episode from season six used an abbreviation for a title, "B.D.O.C.", since the full title ("Big Dick on Campus") was deemed too risque.

text: During the show's sixth and final season, John Lithgow commented to several media outlets that "3rd Rock" had been moved to more than fifteen different time slots in six years, causing its ratings to decrease substantially.

text: Syndication[edit]

text: In the United States, the series is distributed for syndication by Carsey-Warner Distribution, and entered broadcast syndication in September 1999, where it continued until the fall of 2004. In 2004, the show moved into limited-run barter syndication, where it remains; The Program Exchange handles distribution for Carsey-Werner.[1] ABC Family aired reruns between 2002 and 2006. Reruns of the series aired on TV Land from 2008 through 2010. In the fall of 2010, ReelzChannel began airing the series. This series rerun is now also aired on Malaysia's national broadcast TV channel RTM's TV2 in the 12:30am time slot on Tuesday and Wednesday nights. In the United Kingdom, the series originally aired on BBC Two from 1996 to 2001 and ITV2 later repeated the entire series from 2005 to 2006. Cable network Virgin Media currently has 40 episodes from seasons 1 and 2 available 'on demand' from the Comedy Central menu option. The series began airing from the beginning on Channel 4 in the United Kingdom from May 12, 2014.[2] A repeat of Channel 4's episodes are broadcast on 4Seven. In the Republic of Ireland, 3e run reruns of the show during the late night slot after Conan at 12:30 am. Netflix made the complete series available online in March 2011. It was removed several months later in the fall of 2011 but returned on March 15, 2015, but was removed again exactly two years later. In the fall of 2011, Canada's TVTropolis cable channel began airing the show, and featured a long weekend marathon run of episodes. The entire series is also available in the United States on Hulu Plus. The Hulu Plus streams of the show are presented in a 16x9 aspect ratio and HD. It's also set to air on Laff.

text: DVD releases[edit]

text:
Region 1
Anchor Bay Entertainment released all six seasons of 3rd Rock from the Sun on DVD for the first time in 2005-2006.[3][4][5][6][7][8] Seasons 1 & 2 contain the edited, syndicated versions of the episodes instead of the original broadcast versions. As of 2010, these releases have been discontinued and are out of print. On these DVDs, the bloopers segments (on the last disc of each season) are in 16:9 format, indicating the series may have been filmed in 16:9 format.

text: On May 4, 2011, Mill Creek Entertainment announced they had acquired the rights to re-release the series on DVD in Region 1.[9] They have subsequently re-released seasons 1-4. These releases contain the unedited, original broadcast versions of the episodes.[10][11] Seasons 5 and 6 were re-released on January 8, 2013.[12][13][14]

text: On May 14, 2013, Mill Creek released 3rd Rock from the Sun - The Complete Series on DVD in Region 1.[15]

text:
Region 2
Network DVD released all six seasons on DVD in the UK. While seasons 1-4 feature unedited versions of the episodes, seasons 5 and 6 feature syndicated, edited episodes. Network re-released the series in 2008 in individual set and a complete collection.

text:
The Complete Season One (released May 17, 2004)[16]
The Complete Season Two (released June 21, 2004)[17]
The Complete Season Three (released August 30, 2004)[18]
The Complete Season Four (released October 25, 2004)[19]
The Complete Season Five (released January 24, 2005)[20]
The Complete Season Six (released January 24, 2005)[21]
The Complete Series (released October 25, 2004)[22]
Series One (re-released November 3, 2008)[23]
Series Two (re-released November 3, 2008)[24]
Series Three (re-released November 3, 2008)[25]
Series Four (re-released November 3, 2008)[26]
Series Five (re-released November 3, 2008)[27]
Series Six (re-released November 3, 2008)[28]
The Complete Series (re-released November 3, 2008)[29]

text:
Region 4
Magna Home Entertainment released all six seasons on DVD in Australia between 2005 and 2007. These releases have been discontinued and are now out of print.

text: On November 15, 2010, Beyond Home Entertainment re-released all six seasons on DVD in Region 4.[30][31][32][33][34][35] The complete collection was also released three days later, on November 18.[36]

text: As of January 2012, all seasons are available through Netflix. On February 4, the series was removed, although returned to availability on March 15, 2015. The series has since been removed.[37]

text: Seasons 1 and 2 were available to download in the UK through iTunes, but are no longer and no episodes or seasons have been made available digitally since.

text: The entire series is currently available to Amazon Prime users through Amazon Video in the US.

text: Reception[edit]

text: Nielsen rankings[edit]

text:
Season
TV season
Rank

1
1995–1996
22[38]

2
1996–1997
28[39]

3
1997–1998
44[40]

4
1998–1999
77[41]

5
1999–2000
82[42]

6
2000–2001
89[43]

text: Awards and nominations[edit]

text: In 1997, 3rd Rock won the most Primetime Emmy Awards (five from eight nominations) for a television series:

text:
1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001 — Outstanding Lead Actor — Comedy Series — John Lithgow
1997, 1998, 1999 — Outstanding Supporting Actress — Comedy Series — Kristen Johnston
1996, 1997 — Outstanding Hairstyling for a Series — Pixie Schwartz
1996 — Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series — James Burrows
1998 — Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series — Terry Hughes
1997 — Outstanding Special Visual Effects — Glen Bennett, Visual Effects Artists; Patrick Shearn, Visual Effects Supervisor; Chris Staves, Visual Effects Artists
1997, 1999, 2000 — Outstanding Sound Mixing — Comedy Series
1998 — Outstanding Sound Mixing — Comedy Series — "A Nightmare on Dick Street"
1997, 1998 — Outstanding Costume Design — Series — Melina Root
1997, 1998 — Outstanding Comedy Series
1997 — Outstanding Choreography — Marguerite Derricks
1998 — Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series — Jan Hooks as Vicki Dubcek
1998 — Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series — John Cleese as Dr. Neesam
1999, 2000 — Outstanding Multi-camera Picture Editing for a Series
1999 — Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series — Kathy Bates as Charlotte Everly and Laurie Metcalf as Jennifer
1999 — Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series — William Shatner as the Big Giant Head
2000 — Outstanding Cinematography for a Multi-camera Series

text: John Lithgow received an Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series for each year the show was broadcast, winning the Emmy in 1996, 1997, and 1999. Accepting the 1999 award, he said, "Many wonderful things have happened to me in my life, but the two best are 3rd Rock and my dear family."[44]

text: Golden Globe Awards

text: 1997 — Best Actor in a Television Comedy or Musical — John Lithgow

text: Screen Actors Guild Awards

text: 1996, 1997 — Best Male Actor — Comedy Series — John Lithgow

text: Other media[edit]

text: A tie-in book, 3rd Rock from the Sun: The Official Report On Earth, was released in 1997. It is essentially a report of the Solomon's findings during their stay on Earth. Primarily a source of humor, the book includes such features as "What to do if you encounter Jell-O", a fan biography of Katie Couric written by Harry, and Sally's version of a Cosmo quiz. Portions of the book are included in the booklets inside each season set of the series.

text: Despite the report's being set within the fictional world of 3rd Rock, a foreword written by John Lithgow himself is included in which he explains how he was abducted by the 3rd Rock producers and forced to work on their production. A Post-it note is attached to the foreword, apparently written by Dick Solomon, stating he does not know why the foreword is there, but that Lithgow is an Earth actor who appeared in "some helicopter movie".


document_title: New Amsterdam

question_text: who controlled new york before it became an english colony

text: New Amsterdam

text: History[edit]

text: Early settlement (1609–1625)[edit]

text: This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (January 2013) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

text: In 1524, nearly a century before the arrival of the Dutch, the site that later became New Amsterdam was named New Angoulême by the Italian explorer Giovanni da Verrazzano, to commemorate his patron King Francis I of France, former Count of Angoulême.[2] The first recorded exploration by the Dutch of the area around what is now called New York Bay was in 1609 with the voyage of the ship Halve Maen (English: "Half Moon"), captained by Henry Hudson[3] in the service of the Dutch Republic, as the emissary of Maurice of Nassau, Prince of Orange, Holland's stadholder. Hudson named the river the Mauritius River. He was covertly attempting to find the Northwest Passage for the Dutch East India Company. Instead, he brought back news about the possibility of exploitation of beaver by the Dutch who sent commercial, private missions to the area the following years.

text: At the time, beaver pelts were highly prized in Europe, because the fur could be felted to make waterproof hats. A by-product of the trade in beaver pelts was castoreum—the secretion of the animals' anal glands—which was used for its medicinal properties and for perfumes. The expeditions by Adriaen Block and Hendrick Christiaensen in 1611, 1612, 1613 and 1614, resulted in the surveying and charting of the region from the 38th parallel to the 45th parallel.[4] On their 1614 map, which gave them a four-year trade monopoly under a patent of the States General, they named the newly discovered and mapped territory New Netherland for the first time. It also showed the first year-round trading presence in New Netherland, Fort Nassau, which would be replaced in 1624 by Fort Orange, which eventually grew into the town of Beverwyck, now Albany.

text: Dominican trader Juan Rodriguez (rendered in Dutch as Jan Rodrigues), born in Santo Domingo of Portuguese and African descent, arrived on Manhattan Island during the winter of 1613–1614, trapping for pelts and trading with the local population as a representative of the Dutch. He was the first recorded non-Native American inhabitant of what would eventually become New York City.[5][6]

text: The territory of New Netherland was originally a private, profit-making commercial enterprise focused on cementing alliances and conducting trade with the diverse Indian tribes. Surveying and exploration of the region was conducted as a prelude to an anticipated official settlement by the Dutch Republic, which occurred in 1624.

text: Pilgrims' attempt to settle in the Hudson River area[edit]

text: In 1620 the Pilgrims attempted to sail to the Hudson River from England. However, the Mayflower reached Cape Cod (now part of Massachusetts) on November 9, 1620, after a voyage of 64 days.[7] For a variety of reasons, primarily a shortage of supplies, the Mayflower could not proceed to the Hudson River, and the colonists decided to settle near Cape Cod, establishing the Plymouth Colony.

text: Dutch return[edit]

text: The mouth of the Hudson River was selected as the ideal place for initial settlement as it had easy access to the ocean while also securing an ice-free lifeline to the beaver trading post near present-day Albany. Here, Indian hunters supplied them with pelts in exchange for European-made trade goods and wampum, which was soon being made by the Dutch on Long Island. In 1621, the Dutch West India Company was founded. Between 1621 and 1623, orders were given to the private, commercial traders to vacate the territory, thus opening up the territory to Dutch settlers and company traders. It also allowed the laws and ordinances of the states of Holland to apply. Previously, during the private, commercial period, only the law of the ship had applied.

text: In May 1624, the first settlers in New Netherland arrived on Noten Eylandt (Nut or Nutten Island, now Governors Island) aboard the ship New Netherland under the command of Cornelius Jacobsen May, who disembarked on the island with thirty families in order to take legal possession of the New Netherland territory.[8] The families were then dispersed to Fort Wilhelmus on Verhulsten Island (Burlington Island) in the South River (now the Delaware River), to Kievitshoek (now Old Saybrook, Connecticut) at the mouth of the Verse River (now the Connecticut River) and further north at Fort Nassau on the Mauritius or North River (now the Hudson River), near what is now Albany.

text: A fort and sawmill were soon erected at Nut Island. The latter was constructed by Franchoys Fezard and was taken apart for iron in 1648.

text: Fort Amsterdam (1624)[edit]

text: The threat of attack from other European colonial powers prompted the directors of the Dutch West India Company to formulate a plan to protect the entrance to the Hudson River. In 1624, 30 families were sponsord by Dutch West India Company moving from Nut Island to Manhattan Island, where a citadel to contain Fort Amsterdam was being laid out by Cryn Frederickz van Lobbrecht at the direction of Willem Verhulst. By the end of 1625, the site had been staked out directly south of Bowling Green on the site of the present U.S. Custom House. The Mohawk-Mahican War in the Hudson Valley led the company to relocate even more settlers to the vicinity of the new Fort Amsterdam. In the end, colonizing was a prohibitively expensive undertaking, only partly subsidized by the fur trade. This led to a scaling back of the original plans. By 1628, a smaller fort was constructed with walls containing a mixture of clay and sand.

text: The fort also served as the center of trading activity. It contained a barracks, the church, a house for the West India Company director and a warehouse for the storage of company goods.[9] Troops from the fort used the triangle between the Heerestraat and what came to be known as Whitehall Street for marching drills.

text: Verhulst, with his council, was responsible for the selection of Manhattan as a permanent place of settlement and for situating Fort Amsterdam. He was replaced as the company director-general of New Amsterdam by Peter Minuit in 1626. To legally safeguard the settlers' investments, possessions and farms on Manhattan island, Minuit negotiated the "purchase" of Manhattan from a Manahatta band of Lenape for 60 guilders worth of trade goods. According to the writer Nathaniel Benchley, Minuit conducted the transaction with the Lenape chief Seyseys, who was only too happy to accept valuable merchandise in exchange for an island that was actually mostly controlled by the Weckquaesgeeks.[10] The deed itself has not survived, so the specific details are unknown. A textual reference to the deed became the foundation for the legend that Minuit had purchased Manhattan from the Native Americans for 24 dollars' worth of trinkets and beads, the guilder rate at the time being about two and a half to a Spanish dollar. The price of 60 Dutch guilders in 1626 amounts to around $1,100 in 2012 dollars.[11] Further complicating the calculation is that the value of goods in the area would have been different than the value of those same goods in the developed market of the Netherlands.

text: The Dutch exploited the hydropower of existing creeks by constructing mills at Turtle Bay (between present day East 45th- 48th Streets) and Montagne's Kill, later called Harlem Mill Creek (East 108th Street). In 1639 a sawmill was located in the northern forest at what was later the corner of East 74th Street and Second Avenue, at which African laborers cut lumber.[12][13]

text: The New Amsterdam settlement had a population of approximately 270 people, including infants. In 1642 the new director-general Willem Kieft decided to build a stone church within the fort. The work was carried out by recent English immigrants, the brothers John and Richard Ogden. The church was finished in 1645 and stood until destroyed in the Slave Insurrection of 1741.

text: A pen-and-ink view of New Amsterdam,[14][15] drawn on-the-spot and discovered in the map collection of the Austrian National Library in Vienna in 1991, provides a unique view of New Amsterdam as it appeared from Capske (small Cape) Rock in 1648. Capske Rock was situated in the water close to Manhattan between Manhattan and Noten Eylant, and signified the start of the East River roadstead.

text: New Amsterdam received municipal rights on February 2, 1653, thus becoming a city (Albany, then named Beverwyck, received its city rights in 1652.) Nieuw Haarlem (now known as Harlem) was formally recognized in 1658.

text: The first Jews known to have lived in New Amsterdam arrived in 1654. First to arrive were Solomon Pietersen and Jacob Barsimson, who sailed during the summer of 1654 directly from Holland, with passports that gave them permission to trade in the colony.[16] Then in early September, 23 Jewish refugees arrived from the formerly Dutch city of Recife, which had been conquered by the Portuguese in January 1654.[17] The director of New Amsterdam, Peter Stuyvesant, sought to turn them away but was ultimately overruled by the directors of the Dutch West India Company in Amsterdam.[18] Asser Levy, an Ashkenazi Jew who was one of the 23 refugees, eventually prospered and in 1661 became the first Jew to own a house in New Amsterdam, which also made him the first Jew known to have owned a house anywhere in North America.[19]

text: In 1661 the Communipaw ferry was founded and began a long history of trans-Hudson ferry and ultimately rail and road transportation.[20] On September 15, 1655, New Amsterdam was attacked by 2,000 Indians as part of the Peach Tree War. They destroyed 28 farms, killed 100 settlers, and took 150 prisoners.

text: English capture[edit]

text: On August 27, 1664, while England and the Dutch Republic were at peace, four English frigates sailed into New Amsterdam's harbor and demanded New Netherland's surrender, whereupon New Netherland was provisionally ceded by Stuyvesant. On September 6, Stuyvesant sent lawyer Johannes De Decker and five other delegates to sign the official Articles of Capitulation. This was swiftly followed by the Second Anglo-Dutch War, between England and the Dutch Republic. In June 1665, New Amsterdam was reincorporated under English law as New York City, named after the Duke of York (later King James II). He was the brother of the English King Charles II, who had been granted the lands.[21]

text: In 1664, Jan van Bonnel built a saw mill on East 74th Street and the East River, where a 13,710-meter long stream that began in the north of today's Central Park, which became known as the Saw Kill or Saw Kill Creek, emptied into the river.[22][23] Later owners of the property George Elphinstone and Abraham Shotwell replaced the saw mill with a leather mill in 1677.[22][24] The Saw Kill was later redirected into a culvert, arched over, and its trickling little stream was called Arch Brook.

text: In 1667 the Treaty of Breda ended the conflict. The Dutch did not press their claims on New Netherland. In return, they were granted the tiny Island of Run in North Maluku, rich in nutmegs, and a guarantee for their de facto possession of Suriname, captured by them that year.

text: In July 1673, during the Third Anglo-Dutch War, the Dutch briefly occupied New York City and renamed it New Orange.[25] Anthony Colve was installed as the first governor. Previously there had only been West India Company directors. After the signing of the Treaty of Westminster in November 1674, the city was relinquished to the English and the name reverted to "New York". Suriname became an official Dutch possession in return.

text: Cartography[edit]

text: The beginnings of New Amsterdam, unlike most other colonies in the New World, were thoroughly documented in city maps. During the time of New Netherland's colonization, the Dutch were the pre-eminent cartographers in Europe. The delegated authority of the Dutch West India Company over New Netherland required maintaining sovereignty on behalf of the States General, generating cash flow through commercial enterprise for its shareholders, and funding the province's growth. Thus its directors regularly required that censuses be taken. These tools to measure and monitor the province's progress were accompanied by accurate maps and plans. These surveys, as well as grassroots activities to seek redress of grievances,[15] account for the existence of some of the most important of the early documents.[26]

text: There is a particularly detailed city map called the Castello Plan produced in 1660. Virtually every structure in New Amsterdam at the time is believed to be represented, and by a fortunate coincidence it can be determined who resided in every house from the Nicasius de Sille List of 1660, which enumerates all the citizens of New Amsterdam and their addresses.[27]

text: The city map known as the Duke's Plan probably derived from the same 1660 census as the Castello Plan. The Duke's Plan includes the earliest suburban development on Manhattan (the two outlined areas along the top of the plan). The work was created for James (1633–1701), the duke of York and Albany, after whom New York City and New York State's capital Albany were named, just after the seizure of New Amsterdam by the British.[28] After that provisional relinquishment of New Netherland, Stuyvesant reported to his superiors that he "had endeavored to promote the increase of population, agriculture and commerce...the flourishing condition which might have been more flourishing if the now afflicted inhabitants had been protected by a suitable garrison...and had been helped with the long sought for settlement of the boundary, or in default thereof had they been seconded with the oft besought reinforcement of men and ships against the continual troubles, threats, encroachments and invasions of the British neighbors and government of Hartford Colony, our too powerful enemies."

text: The existence of these city maps has proven to be very useful in the archaeology of New York City. For instance, the Castello map aided the excavation of the Stadthuys (City Hall) of New Amsterdam in determining the exact location of the building.[29][30]

text: Layout[edit]

text: The maps enable a precise reconstruction of the town. Fort Amsterdam was located at the most southern tip of the island of Manhattan, which today is surrounded by Bowling Green. Battery Park is a reference to its batteries, or cannons.

text: Broadway was the main street that led out of town north towards Harlem. The town was surrounded to the north by a wall leading from the eastern to the western shore. The course of this city wall is today Wall Street. A canal led from the harbor inland and was filled in 1676, which today is Broad Street.

text: The layout of the streets was winding, as in a European city. Only starting from Wall Street going toward uptown did the typical grid become enforced long after the town ceased to be Dutch. Most of the Financial District overlaps New Amsterdam and has retained the original street layout.

text: Legacy[edit]

text: The 1625 date of the founding of New Amsterdam is now commemorated in the official Seal of New York City. (Formerly, the year on the seal was 1664, the year of the provisional Articles of Transfer, assuring New Netherlanders that they "shall keep and enjoy the liberty of their consciences in religion", negotiated with the English by Peter Stuyvesant and his council.)

text: Sometimes considered a dysfunctional trading post by the English who later acquired it from the Dutch, Russell Shorto, author of The Island at the Center of the World, suggests that the city left its cultural marks on later New York and, by extension, the United States as a whole.[31]

text: Major recent historical research has been based on a set of documents that have survived from that period, untranslated. They are the administrative records of the colony, unreadable by most scholars. Since the 1970s, a professor named Charles Gehring has made it his life's work to translate this first-hand history of the Colony of New Netherland.

text: The scholarly conclusion has largely been that the settlement of New Amsterdam is much more like current New York than previously thought. Cultural diversity and a mind-set that resembles the American Dream were already present in the first few years of this colony. Writers like Russell Shorto argue that the large influence of New Amsterdam on the American psyche has largely been overlooked in the classic telling of American beginnings, because of animosity between the English victors and the conquered Dutch.

text: The original 17th-century architecture of New Amsterdam has completely vanished (affected by the fires of 1776 and 1835),[32][33] leaving only archaeological remnants. The original street plan of New Amsterdam has stayed largely intact, as have some houses outside Manhattan.

text: The presentation of the legacy of the unique culture of 17th-century New Amsterdam remains a concern of preservationists and educators. The National Park Service celebrated in 2009 the 400th anniversary of Henry Hudson's 1609 voyage on behalf of the Dutch with the New Amsterdam Trail.[34][35]

text: The Dutch-American historian and journalist Hendrik Willem van Loon wrote in 1933 a work of alternative history entitled "If the Dutch Had Kept Nieuw Amsterdam" (in If, Or History Rewritten, edited by J. C. Squire, 1931, Simon & Schuster).

text: A similar theme, at greater length, was taken up by writer Elizabeth Bear, who published the "New Amsterdam" series of detective stories that take place in a world where the city remained Dutch until the Napoleonic Wars and retained its name also afterwards.

text: One of New York Broadway theatres is the New Amsterdam Theatre. The name New Amsterdam is also written on the architrave situated on top of the row of columns in front of the Manhattan Municipal Building, commemorating the name of the Dutch colony.

text: Although no architectural monuments or buildings have survived, the legacy lived on in the form Dutch Colonial Revival architecture. A number of structures in New York city were constructed in the 19th and 20th century in this style, such as Wallabout Market in Brooklyn, South William Street in Manhattan, West End Collegiate Church at West 77th Street, and others.


document_title: Legend (2015 film)

question_text: who played the kray twins in the film

question_tokens: who played the kray twins in the film

text: Legend (2015 film)

text: Plot[edit]

text: In the 1960s, Reggie Kray is a former boxer who has become an important part of the criminal underground in London. At the start of the film, his twin brother Ron is locked up in a psychiatric hospital for insanity and paranoid schizophrenia. Reggie uses threats to obtain the premature release of his brother, who is rapidly discharged from hospital. The two brothers unite their efforts to control a large part of London's criminal underworld. One of their first efforts is to muscle-in on the control of a local night club, using extortion and brutal violence.

text: Reggie enters into a relationship with Frances, the sister of his driver, and they ultimately marry; however, he is imprisoned for a previous criminal conviction, which he cannot evade. While Reggie is in prison, Ron's mental problems and violence lead to severe setbacks at the nightclub. The club is almost forced to close after Ron scares away most of the customers. When Reggie is finally released from prison, the two brothers have an all-out fist fight on the first night after Reggie's release, but they manage to partially patch things up.

text: The brothers are approached by Angelo Bruno of the Philadelphia crime family on behalf of Meyer Lansky and the American Mafia, to try to interest them in a crime syndicate deal. Bruno agrees to a fifty-fifty deal with Reggie to split London's underground gambling profits in exchange for local protection from the Kray brothers. Initially, this system is highly lucrative for the Kray brothers. However, Ron barely concealed volatility results in him publicly murdering George Cornell, an associate of the Torture Gang, rivals of the Krays. Scotland Yard, as a result, opens a full investigation of the Kray brothers.

text: Reggie beats and rapes Frances and she leaves him. Reggie then approaches her to start afresh offering her a holiday to Ibiza. However, she is soon found dead after committing suicide with an overdose of prescription drugs. The brothers' criminal activities continue and Ron pays petty criminal, Jack McVitie to kill Leslie Payne, Reggie's partner who controls the legal side of the Kray's operations. He only wounds Payne, who then turns the brothers over to Detective Superintendent Leonard "Nipper" Read, the head of the investigation. Reggie finds out and brutally stabs McVitie during a party hosted by Ron. The testimony given by Payne means that Ron is arrested and charged with Cornell's murder. The final scene shows a police squad breaking down the door to Reggie's flat in order to apprehend him for McVitie's murder.

text: The closing captions indicate both brothers receiving criminal convictions for murder. They died five years apart, Ron from a heart attack in 1995, and Reggie from cancer in 2000.

text: Cast[edit]

text: Tom Hardy as Ronald "Ronnie" Kray and Reginald "Reggie" Kray[8]

text: Emily Browning as Frances Shea[13][14]

text: Christopher Eccleston as Leonard "Nipper" Read[13]

text: David Thewlis as Leslie Payne[13]

text: Taron Egerton as Edward "Mad Teddy" Smith[19]

text: Chazz Palminteri as Angelo Bruno[13]

text: Paul Bettany as Charlie Richardson

text: Colin Morgan as Frankie Shea[22]

text:
Tara Fitzgerald as Mrs. Shea, Frances and Frankie's mother.
Aneurin Barnard as David Bailey[25]

text: Paul Anderson as Albert Donoghue

text:
Duffy as Timi Yuro
Kevin McNally as Harold Wilson
John Sessions as Lord Boothby
Alex Giannini as Antonio Caponigro
Sam Spruell as Jack McVitie
Adam Fogerty as Big Pat[28]

text: Production[edit]

text: Development[edit]

text: On 12 October 2013, it was announced that Brian Helgeland had written a script and would be directing a film focusing on the life of Reggie Kray who, with identical brother Ronald, formed the notorious Kray twins. Helgeland said the film would concentrate on Reggie's attempts to control the psychopathic tendencies of his younger twin.

text: Helgeland spoke of hanging out in London with well-known Krays associate Freddie Foreman, saying, "I had drinks with him in his local haunt. When we finished he got up to go and they feted him at the bar. I said to him, 'what about the bill?' and he replied, 'we don't pay."[29]

text: Helgeland attended the Cannes Film Festival with Working Title's Tim Bevan and Chris Clark to talk to potential buyers of the film and showing test footage of Hardy playing the twins.[30][31]

text: Casting[edit]

text: On 18 April 2014, it was announced that Helgeland would write and direct the film, with the shooting being based in the United Kingdom and with Hardy starring as the male leads.[32] Five days later it was stated that Browning was in negotiations for a role as the film's female lead.[33]

text: Filming[edit]

text: Crews and cast were spotted filming scenes at Falmouth Road, London, St Anne's Limehouse in Limehouse[34][35] and in the Windmill Walk area around London Waterloo.[36] Filming also took place in Caradoc Street in Greenwich, London in June 2014.

text: Principal photography started on 12 June 2014. The film was released in September 2015.[19][37]

text: Release[edit]

text: Financing for Legend was provided by StudioCanal, which also distributed the film throughout the territories of the United Kingdom, France, New Zealand and Germany in addition to handling international sales, which started at the beginning of the Cannes Film Festival.[38] On 30 April 2014, Brian Oliver's Cross Creek Pictures acquired the North American distribution rights to Legend from StudioCanal, with a planned 2015 theatrical release through Universal Pictures in its distribution deal with the studio and Oliver also named as a producer on the film.[39][40] Sales to other territories such as Asia, Africa and much of Europe are being completed.[41] The film was originally set for a 2 October 2015, U.S. release, but it was moved to 20 November 2015.[42]

text: Legend premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on 12 September 2015 at Roy Thomson Hall.

text: Marketing[edit]

text: On 13 June 2014, the first image of the film was published, featuring Hardy as the Kray twins.[8][43] A promotional poster attracted publicity because it made a two-star review from The Guardian appear to be a four- or five-star review by placing the two stars between the heads of the Krays.[44][45]

text: Home media[edit]

text: Legend was released on DVD and Blu-ray in the United Kingdom on 25 January 2016 and in the United States on 1 March 2016.[46]

text: Reception[edit]

text: Box office[edit]

text: As of 31 January 2016[update], Legend has grossed $41,636,816 worldwide; $27,960,112 in the United Kingdom and $1,872,994 in North America.[6]

text: Critical response[edit]

text: On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 61% based on 164 reviews and an average rating of 5.9/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "As a gangster biopic, Legend is deeply flawed, but as a showcase for Tom Hardy – in a dual role, no less – it just about lives up to its title."[47] On Metacritic the film has a score of 55 out of 100 based on 31 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[48]

text: Awards and nominations[edit]

text:
Year
Award
Category
Nominee(s)
Result
Ref

2015
British Independent Film Awards
Best Performance by an Actor in a British Independent Film
Tom Hardy
Won
[49]

Detroit Film Critics Society
Best Actor
Tom Hardy
Nominated
[49]

Las Vegas Film Critics Society
Best Picture

Nominated
[49]

Satellite Awards
Best Actor – Motion Picture
Tom Hardy
Nominated
[49]

2016
Empire Awards
Best British Film

Nominated
[50][51]

Best Actor
Tom Hardy
Nominated
[50][51]

Houston Film Critics Society
Best Actor
Tom Hardy
Nominated
[49]

London Film Critics' Circle
Actor of the Year
Tom Hardy
Nominated
[52]

British/Irish Actor of the Year
Tom Hardy
Won
[52]

Saturn Awards
Best International Film

Nominated
[53]

Toronto Film Critics Association
Best Actor
Tom Hardy
Won
[49]