Mork and Mindy
Encyclopedia
Mork & Mindy is an American science fiction
sitcom broadcast from 1978 until 1982 on ABC
. The series starred Robin Williams
as Mork, an alien
who comes to Earth from the planet Ork in a small, one-man egg-shaped spaceship. Pam Dawber
co-starred as Mindy McConnell, his human friend and roommate. Mork and Mindy married in the show's final season.
In 1997, the episode, Mork's Mixed Emotions, was ranked #94 on TV Guide's 100 Greatest Episodes of All Time.
from the sitcom Happy Days
. The character of Mork, played by a then-unknown Robin Williams
, first appeared in the Happy Days Season 5 episode, "My Favorite Orkan," which was a take on the 1960s sitcom, My Favorite Martian
. Williams' character Mork attempts to take Richie Cunningham back to his planet of Ork as a human specimen, but his plan is foiled by Fonzie
(though all this turned out to be simply a dream Richie had). The character proved to be popular enough with the audience to go forward with the planned series of his own. In Mork & Mindy, Mork resides in the present-day city of Boulder, Colorado
, of the late-1970s and early-1980s as opposed to the late-1950s setting of Happy Days
.
Mork's egg-shaped spacecraft lands on Earth with a mission to observe human behavior. Mork is assigned his mission by Orson, his mostly-unseen and long-suffering superior (voiced by Ralph James
), who has sent Mork to Earth to get him off Ork, due to the fact humor is not permitted on Ork. To fit in, Mork dresses in Earth clothing (a suit, which he wears backwards). He befriends 21-year old Mindy (Pam Dawber
) after she is stranded one evening after an argument with her boyfriend. Mork offers assistance, and Mindy, not seeing his back or the on-backwards suit, assumes he is a priest, mistaking his wardrobe gaffe for a priest's collar. Mindy is taken by Mork's willingness to listen (unknown to her, he is simply observing her behavior as part of his mission), and the two become friends. They walk back to her apartment, when Mindy sees his backwards suit and Mork's rather unconventional behavior for a priest. She asks him who he really is, and the innocent Mork, having not learned how to lie, tells her the truth.
After discovering Mork is an alien, Mindy promises to keep his true identity a secret and allows him to move into her attic
. However, Mindy's father, Fred (Conrad Janis
), expresses outrage that his daughter is living with a man (particularly one as bizarre as Mork). Fred's mother-in-law, Cora (Elizabeth Kerr), presents a much less conservative view, and approves of Mork and the living arrangement. Mindy and Cora also work at Fred's music store where Cora gives music lessons to a young child named Eugene (Jeffrey Jacquet), who becomes Mork's friend. Also seen occasionally were Mindy's snooty old friend from high school, Susan (played by Morgan Fairchild
) and the possibly-insane Exidor (played by Robert Donner
).
Storylines usually centered on Mork's attempts to understand human behavior
and American culture as Mindy helps him to adjust to life on Earth. At the end of each episode, Mork reports back to Orson on what he has learned about Earth. These end-of-show summaries allow Mork to comment humorously on social norms.
It usually ends up frustrating Mindy as Mork can only do things according to Ork customs. For example, lying to someone, or not informing them it will rain is considered a practical joke (called "splinking") on Ork.
Mork's greeting
was "Na-Nu Na-Nu" along with a hand gesture similar to Mr. Spock's Vulcan salute
from Star Trek
combined with a handshake. It became a popular catchphrase at the time, as did "Shazbot" (Shozz-bot), an Orkan profanity
that Mork used. Mork also said "kay-o" in place of okay
.
This series was Robin Williams' first major acting break and became famous for Williams' use of his manic improvisational comedic talent. Williams would make up so many jokes during filming that eventually, the scripts had specific gaps where Williams was allowed to perform freely. In many scenes, Dawber apparently had to bite her lip to avoid laughing and ruining the take.
The series was hugely popular in its first season. The Nielsen ratings
were very high, ranking at #3 behind Laverne & Shirley
(#1) and Three's Company
(#2), both on ABC, which was the highest rated network in the US in 1978. The show even garnered slightly higher ratings than the show that spawned it, Happy Days (#4). However, the network management sought to improve the show in several ways. This was done in conjunction with what is known in the industry as counterprogramming
, a technique in which a successful show is moved opposite a ratings hit on another network. The show was moved from Thursdays, where it outrated CBS
' The Waltons
, to Sundays where it replaced the cancelled sci-fi series Battlestar Galactica
. The show now aired against two highly-rated shows: NBC
's anthology series entitled The Sunday Big Event and CBS
' revamped continuation of All in the Family
entitled Archie Bunker's Place
.
The second season saw an attempt to seek younger viewers and premiered a new, disco
arrangement of the gentle theme tune.
The characters of Fred and Cora were dropped from the regular cast. It was explained that Fred went on tour as a conductor
with an orchestra
, taking Cora with him. Fred and Cora made return appearances in later episodes. Recurring characters Susan and Eugene made no further appearances after season one and were never mentioned again.
New cast members were added. Among the new supporting character
s were Remo and Jean DaVinci (Jay Thomas
and Gina Hecht
), a brother and sister from New York City who owned a new neighborhood deli
where Mork and Mindy now spent a lot of time. Also added as regulars were their grumpy neighbor Mr. Bickley (who was seen occasionally in the first season and ironically worked as a verse writer for a greeting-card company) portrayed by Tom Poston
, and Nelson Flavor (Jim Staahl), Mindy's snooty cousin who ran for city council.
The show's main focus was no longer on Mork's slapstick
attempts to adjust to the new world he was in, but on the relationship between Mork and Mindy on a romantic level.
In a two-part, second-season episode, Raquel Welch
appeared as Captain Nirvana of the Necrotons, an alien species of beautiful women that were enemies of the Orkans.
Due to the abrupt changes to the show and time slot, ratings slipped dramatically (from #3 to #27). The show was quickly moved back to its previous timeslot and efforts were made to return to the core of the series; unfortunately ratings did not recover.
Mindy's father and grandmother returned to the series. The show acknowledged this attempt to restore its original premise, with the third season's hour-long opener titled Putting The Ork Back in Mork.
Several new supporting characters were added to the lineup. Joining were two children from the day-care center where Mork worked. They were the intellectual Lola and the gluttonous Stephanie. Also added was Mindy's close friend Glenda Faye Comstock (Crissy Wilzak). Crissy lasted one season as a regular.
When these ideas failed to improve ratings, many wilder ideas were tried to attempt to capitalize on Williams' comedic talents. The season ended at #49 in the ratings.
In the fourth season, Mork and Mindy were married. Jonathan Winters
, one of Williams' idols, was brought in as their child, Mearth. Due to the different Orkan physiology
, Mork laid an egg, which grew and hatched into the much older Winters. It had been previously explained that Orkans aged "backwards", thus explaining Mearth's appearance and that of his teacher, Miss Geezba (portrayed by then 11-year-old actress Louanne Sirota
). Other attempts included the use of special guest stars. Unfortunately, those changes failed to increase ratings, and the show ended at a dismal No. 60. After four seasons, and 95 episodes, Mork & Mindy was canceled.
was inspired to create the character of Mork after directing an unusual and memorable episode of The Dick Van Dyke Show
in which van Dyke's Rob Petrie believed the Earth had been surreptitiously invaded by walnut-eating aliens who stole humans' thumbs and imaginations.
When he moved on to direct Happy Days
, he introduced Mork in a similarly atypical season-five episode entitled My Favorite Orkan.
In it, Richie tells everyone he has seen a flying saucer
, but no one else believes him. Fonzie
tells him that people make up stories about UFO
s because their lives are "humdrum". Then while Richie's at home, Mork walks in. He freezes everyone with his finger except Richie and says he was sent to Earth to find a "humdrum" human to take back to Ork. Richie runs to Fonzie for help. When Mork catches up to him, he freezes everyone, but finds himself unable to freeze Fonzie due to The Fonz's famous and powerful thumbs. Mork challenges Fonzie to a duel
: finger vs. thumb. After their duel, The Fonz admits defeat, and Mork decides to take Fonzie back to Ork instead of Richie. Then, Richie wakes up and realizes he was dreaming. There is a knock on the door and much to Richie's dismay, it is a man who looks exactly like Mork except in regular clothes asking for directions. When production on Mork & Mindy began, an extra scene was filmed and added to this episode for subsequent rerun
s. In the scene, Mork contacts Orson and explains that he decided to let Fonzie go, and was going to travel to the year 1978 to continue his mission. In the pilot episode of Mork and Mindy, Orson tells Mork that he is assigning him to study the planet Earth. Mork remembers that he's been to Earth before to collect a specimen (Fonzie) but he "had to throw it back, though. Too small."
Fonzie and Laverne of Laverne & Shirley
appeared in the first episode of the show. In this segment, Mork relays to Mindy his trip to 1950s Milwaukee where Fonzie sets Mork up on a date with Laverne.
Mork returned to Happy Days
in a 1979 episode in which Mork tells Richie that he enjoys coming to the 1950s because life is simpler and more "humdrum" than in the 1970s. Fonzie sees Mork and immediately tries to run away, but Mork freezes him and makes him stay. He eventually lets him go, but not before Fonzie asks Mork to reveal two things about the future: "cars and girls". Mork's response is "In 1979... both are faster." to which the Fonz replies "Whoa!" The episode is mostly a retrospective
in which clips are shown as Richie and Fonzie try to explain the concepts of love and friendship
to Mork.
and CBS DVD have released the first three seasons of Mork & Mindy on DVD in Regions 1, 2 and 4
.
reran the show from March 4, 1991 to November 27, 1995. The show has also aired on FOX Family Channel in the late 1990s. It has aired in recent years on Me TV
.
In an interview with Garry Marshall
on June 30, 2006, Pat O'Brien
mentioned that Mork & Mindy was filmed on Paramount
stage 27, the former studio for his infotainment
program The Insider
.
The house from the show is located at 1619 Pine Street, just a few blocks away from the Pearl Street Mall
in Boulder. This was also used in the show as Mindy's actual address in Boulder, as shown in the episode, Mork Goes Public.
The same house was later used for exterior shots on the series Perfect Strangers
in Episode 21 of Season 5, This Old House, where the cousins, Larry and Balki, remodel a home for a fix and flip in hopes of huge profits. Often mistaken, it was not the house the cousins moved into with their wives during the final two seasons. In addition, it was used in three episodes of Family Matters as Myra's house.
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
sitcom broadcast from 1978 until 1982 on ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
. The series starred Robin Williams
Robin Williams
Robin McLaurin Williams is an American actor and comedian. Rising to fame with his role as the alien Mork in the TV series Mork and Mindy, and later stand-up comedy work, Williams has performed in many feature films since 1980. He won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance...
as Mork, an alien
Extraterrestrial life
Extraterrestrial life is defined as life that does not originate from Earth...
who comes to Earth from the planet Ork in a small, one-man egg-shaped spaceship. Pam Dawber
Pam Dawber
Pam Dawber is an American actress best known for her lead television sitcom roles as Mindy McConnell in Mork & Mindy and Samantha Russell in My Sister Sam .-Life and career:...
co-starred as Mindy McConnell, his human friend and roommate. Mork and Mindy married in the show's final season.
In 1997, the episode, Mork's Mixed Emotions, was ranked #94 on TV Guide's 100 Greatest Episodes of All Time.
Premise and initial success
The series was a spin-offSpin-off (media)
In media, a spin-off is a radio program, television program, video game, or any narrative work, derived from one or more already existing works, that focuses, in particular, in more detail on one aspect of that original work...
from the sitcom Happy Days
Happy Days
Happy Days is an American television sitcom that originally aired from January 15, 1974, to September 24, 1984, on ABC. Created by Garry Marshall, the series presents an idealized vision of life in mid-1950s to mid-1960s America....
. The character of Mork, played by a then-unknown Robin Williams
Robin Williams
Robin McLaurin Williams is an American actor and comedian. Rising to fame with his role as the alien Mork in the TV series Mork and Mindy, and later stand-up comedy work, Williams has performed in many feature films since 1980. He won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance...
, first appeared in the Happy Days Season 5 episode, "My Favorite Orkan," which was a take on the 1960s sitcom, My Favorite Martian
My Favorite Martian
My Favorite Martian is an American television sitcom that aired on CBS from September 29, 1963 to May 1, 1966 for 107 episodes...
. Williams' character Mork attempts to take Richie Cunningham back to his planet of Ork as a human specimen, but his plan is foiled by Fonzie
Fonzie
Arthur Herbert Fonzarelli is a fictional character played by Henry Winkler in the American sitcom Happy Days . He was originally a secondary character, but eventually became the lead...
(though all this turned out to be simply a dream Richie had). The character proved to be popular enough with the audience to go forward with the planned series of his own. In Mork & Mindy, Mork resides in the present-day city of Boulder, Colorado
Boulder, Colorado
Boulder is the county seat and most populous city of Boulder County and the 11th most populous city in the U.S. state of Colorado. Boulder is located at the base of the foothills of the Rocky Mountains at an elevation of...
, of the late-1970s and early-1980s as opposed to the late-1950s setting of Happy Days
Happy Days
Happy Days is an American television sitcom that originally aired from January 15, 1974, to September 24, 1984, on ABC. Created by Garry Marshall, the series presents an idealized vision of life in mid-1950s to mid-1960s America....
.
Mork's egg-shaped spacecraft lands on Earth with a mission to observe human behavior. Mork is assigned his mission by Orson, his mostly-unseen and long-suffering superior (voiced by Ralph James
Ralph James
Ralph Torrez James was an American voice and character actor. Although he did a few voices for the Looney Tunes, James might be remembered best for performing the voice of Mr. Turtle in the classic commercials for Tootsie Pops which ran throughout the 1970s...
), who has sent Mork to Earth to get him off Ork, due to the fact humor is not permitted on Ork. To fit in, Mork dresses in Earth clothing (a suit, which he wears backwards). He befriends 21-year old Mindy (Pam Dawber
Pam Dawber
Pam Dawber is an American actress best known for her lead television sitcom roles as Mindy McConnell in Mork & Mindy and Samantha Russell in My Sister Sam .-Life and career:...
) after she is stranded one evening after an argument with her boyfriend. Mork offers assistance, and Mindy, not seeing his back or the on-backwards suit, assumes he is a priest, mistaking his wardrobe gaffe for a priest's collar. Mindy is taken by Mork's willingness to listen (unknown to her, he is simply observing her behavior as part of his mission), and the two become friends. They walk back to her apartment, when Mindy sees his backwards suit and Mork's rather unconventional behavior for a priest. She asks him who he really is, and the innocent Mork, having not learned how to lie, tells her the truth.
After discovering Mork is an alien, Mindy promises to keep his true identity a secret and allows him to move into her attic
Attic
An attic is a space found directly below the pitched roof of a house or other building . Attic is generally the American/Canadian reference to it...
. However, Mindy's father, Fred (Conrad Janis
Conrad Janis
Conrad Janis is an American jazz musician and also a theatre, film, and television actor. In the fall of 1953, he played eldest son Edward in the Ezio Pinza situation comedy Bonino on NBC...
), expresses outrage that his daughter is living with a man (particularly one as bizarre as Mork). Fred's mother-in-law, Cora (Elizabeth Kerr), presents a much less conservative view, and approves of Mork and the living arrangement. Mindy and Cora also work at Fred's music store where Cora gives music lessons to a young child named Eugene (Jeffrey Jacquet), who becomes Mork's friend. Also seen occasionally were Mindy's snooty old friend from high school, Susan (played by Morgan Fairchild
Morgan Fairchild
Morgan Fairchild is an American actress. She achieved prominence during the late 1970s and early 1980s with continuing roles in several television series, in which she usually conveyed a glamorous image. Fairchild has also performed in live theater and played guest roles in television comedies...
) and the possibly-insane Exidor (played by Robert Donner
Robert Donner
Robert Donner was an American actor who made many appearances in television series and films in a career spanning more than 40 years.-Early life and career:...
).
Storylines usually centered on Mork's attempts to understand human behavior
Human behavior
Human behavior refers to the range of behaviors exhibited by humans and which are influenced by culture, attitudes, emotions, values, ethics, authority, rapport, hypnosis, persuasion, coercion and/or genetics....
and American culture as Mindy helps him to adjust to life on Earth. At the end of each episode, Mork reports back to Orson on what he has learned about Earth. These end-of-show summaries allow Mork to comment humorously on social norms.
It usually ends up frustrating Mindy as Mork can only do things according to Ork customs. For example, lying to someone, or not informing them it will rain is considered a practical joke (called "splinking") on Ork.
Mork's greeting
Greeting
Greeting is an act of communication in which human beings intentionally make their presence known to each other, to show attention to, and to suggest a type of relationship or social status between individuals or groups of people coming in contact with each other...
was "Na-Nu Na-Nu" along with a hand gesture similar to Mr. Spock's Vulcan salute
Vulcan salute
The Vulcan salute is a hand gesture consisting of a raised hand, palm forward with the fingers parted between the middle and ring finger, and the thumb extended. Often, the famous line, "Live long and prosper", is said after it. The salute was devised and popularised by Leonard Nimoy, who...
from Star Trek
Star Trek: The Original Series
Star Trek is an American science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry, produced by Desilu Productions . Star Trek was telecast on NBC from September 8, 1966, through June 3, 1969...
combined with a handshake. It became a popular catchphrase at the time, as did "Shazbot" (Shozz-bot), an Orkan profanity
Profanity
Profanity is a show of disrespect, or a desecration or debasement of someone or something. Profanity can take the form of words, expressions, gestures, or other social behaviors that are socially constructed or interpreted as insulting, rude, vulgar, obscene, desecrating, or other forms.The...
that Mork used. Mork also said "kay-o" in place of okay
Okay
"Okay" is a colloquial English word denoting approval, acceptance, agreement, assent, or acknowledgment. "Okay" has frequently turned up as a loanword in many other languages...
.
This series was Robin Williams' first major acting break and became famous for Williams' use of his manic improvisational comedic talent. Williams would make up so many jokes during filming that eventually, the scripts had specific gaps where Williams was allowed to perform freely. In many scenes, Dawber apparently had to bite her lip to avoid laughing and ruining the take.
The series was hugely popular in its first season. The Nielsen ratings
Nielsen Ratings
Nielsen ratings are the audience measurement systems developed by Nielsen Media Research, in an effort to determine the audience size and composition of television programming in the United States...
were very high, ranking at #3 behind Laverne & Shirley
Laverne & Shirley
Laverne & Shirley is an American television situation comedy that ran on ABC from January 26, 1976, to May 10, 1983...
(#1) and Three's Company
Three's Company
Three's Company is an American sitcom that aired from March 15, 1977, to September 18, 1984, on ABC. It is based on the British sitcom, Man About the House....
(#2), both on ABC, which was the highest rated network in the US in 1978. The show even garnered slightly higher ratings than the show that spawned it, Happy Days (#4). However, the network management sought to improve the show in several ways. This was done in conjunction with what is known in the industry as counterprogramming
Counterprogramming
In Broadcast programming, counterprogramming is the practice of offering television programs to attract an audience from another television station airing a major event.-Television:...
, a technique in which a successful show is moved opposite a ratings hit on another network. The show was moved from Thursdays, where it outrated CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
' The Waltons
The Waltons
The Waltons is an American television series created by Earl Hamner, Jr., based on his book Spencer's Mountain, and a 1963 film of the same name. The show centered on a family growing up in a rural Virginia community during the Great Depression and World War II. The series pilot was a television...
, to Sundays where it replaced the cancelled sci-fi series Battlestar Galactica
Battlestar Galactica
Battlestar Galactica is an American science fiction franchise created by Glen A. Larson. The franchise began with the Battlestar Galactica TV series in 1978, and was followed by a brief sequel TV series in 1980, a line of book adaptations, original novels, comic books, a board game, and video games...
. The show now aired against two highly-rated shows: NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
's anthology series entitled The Sunday Big Event and CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
' revamped continuation of All in the Family
All in the Family
All in the Family is an American sitcom that was originally broadcast on the CBS television network from January 12, 1971, to April 8, 1979. In September 1979, a new show, Archie Bunker's Place, picked up where All in the Family had ended...
entitled Archie Bunker's Place
Archie Bunker's Place
Archie Bunker's Place is an American sitcom originally broadcast on the CBS network, conceived in 1979 as a spin-off and continuation of All in the Family. While not as popular as its predecessor, the show maintained a large enough audience to last for four seasons, until its cancellation in 1983...
.
Second season
Disco
Disco is a genre of dance music. Disco acts charted high during the mid-1970s, and the genre's popularity peaked during the late 1970s. It had its roots in clubs that catered to African American, gay, psychedelic, and other communities in New York City and Philadelphia during the late 1960s and...
arrangement of the gentle theme tune.
The characters of Fred and Cora were dropped from the regular cast. It was explained that Fred went on tour as a conductor
Conducting
Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. The primary duties of the conductor are to unify performers, set the tempo, execute clear preparations and beats, and to listen critically and shape the sound of the ensemble...
with an orchestra
Orchestra
An orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...
, taking Cora with him. Fred and Cora made return appearances in later episodes. Recurring characters Susan and Eugene made no further appearances after season one and were never mentioned again.
New cast members were added. Among the new supporting character
Supporting character
A supporting character is a character of a book, play, video game, movie, television or radio show or other form of storytelling usually used to give added dimension to a main character, by adding a relationship with this character...
s were Remo and Jean DaVinci (Jay Thomas
Jay Thomas
Jay Thomas is an American actor, comedian and radio talk show host.-Personal life:Thomas was born in Kermit, Texas. He was raised in his Italian American mother's Roman Catholic faith, although his father was Protestant....
and Gina Hecht
Gina Hecht
-Television:* 1979–1981: Mork & Mindy .... Jean DaVinci* 1979: Hizzonner .... Melanie* 1987: Everything's Relative .... Emily Cabot* 1988: HeartBeat .... Patty* 1989: Baywatch: "Panic at Malibu Pier" .... Gina Pomeroy...
), a brother and sister from New York City who owned a new neighborhood deli
Delicatessen
Delicatessen is a term meaning "delicacies" or "fine foods". The word entered English via German,with the old German spelling , plural of Delikatesse "delicacy", ultimately from Latin delicatus....
where Mork and Mindy now spent a lot of time. Also added as regulars were their grumpy neighbor Mr. Bickley (who was seen occasionally in the first season and ironically worked as a verse writer for a greeting-card company) portrayed by Tom Poston
Tom Poston
Thomas Gordon "Tom" Poston was an American television and film actor. He starred on television in a career that began in 1950...
, and Nelson Flavor (Jim Staahl), Mindy's snooty cousin who ran for city council.
The show's main focus was no longer on Mork's slapstick
Slapstick
Slapstick is a type of comedy involving exaggerated violence and activities which may exceed the boundaries of common sense.- Origins :The phrase comes from the batacchio or bataccio — called the 'slap stick' in English — a club-like object composed of two wooden slats used in Commedia dell'arte...
attempts to adjust to the new world he was in, but on the relationship between Mork and Mindy on a romantic level.
In a two-part, second-season episode, Raquel Welch
Raquel Welch
Jo Raquel Tejada , better known as Raquel Welch, is an American actress, author and sex symbol. Welch came to attention as a "new-star" on the 20th Century-Fox lot in the mid-1960s. She posed iconically in a animal skin bikini for the British-release One Million Years B.C. , for which she may be...
appeared as Captain Nirvana of the Necrotons, an alien species of beautiful women that were enemies of the Orkans.
Due to the abrupt changes to the show and time slot, ratings slipped dramatically (from #3 to #27). The show was quickly moved back to its previous timeslot and efforts were made to return to the core of the series; unfortunately ratings did not recover.
Third season
For the third season, Jean and Remo were retained as regulars.Mindy's father and grandmother returned to the series. The show acknowledged this attempt to restore its original premise, with the third season's hour-long opener titled Putting The Ork Back in Mork.
Several new supporting characters were added to the lineup. Joining were two children from the day-care center where Mork worked. They were the intellectual Lola and the gluttonous Stephanie. Also added was Mindy's close friend Glenda Faye Comstock (Crissy Wilzak). Crissy lasted one season as a regular.
When these ideas failed to improve ratings, many wilder ideas were tried to attempt to capitalize on Williams' comedic talents. The season ended at #49 in the ratings.
Fourth season
Despite the show's steady decline, ABC agreed to a fourth season of Mork, but executives wanted changes.In the fourth season, Mork and Mindy were married. Jonathan Winters
Jonathan Winters
-Early life:Winters was born in Bellbrook, Ohio, the son of Alice Kilgore , a radio personality, and Jonathan Harshman Winters II, an investment broker. He is a descendant of Valentine Winters, founder of the Winters National Bank in Dayton, Ohio...
, one of Williams' idols, was brought in as their child, Mearth. Due to the different Orkan physiology
Physiology
Physiology is the science of the function of living systems. This includes how organisms, organ systems, organs, cells, and bio-molecules carry out the chemical or physical functions that exist in a living system. The highest honor awarded in physiology is the Nobel Prize in Physiology or...
, Mork laid an egg, which grew and hatched into the much older Winters. It had been previously explained that Orkans aged "backwards", thus explaining Mearth's appearance and that of his teacher, Miss Geezba (portrayed by then 11-year-old actress Louanne Sirota
Louanne Sirota
Louanne Sirota is an American actress. She played the title role in Annie in the 2nd National Company in Los Angeles in 1979. After her breakthrough in the film Oh, God! Book II, she was nominated for a Saturn Award for Best Actress in 1981. She went on to play Annie again in the 1st National...
). Other attempts included the use of special guest stars. Unfortunately, those changes failed to increase ratings, and the show ended at a dismal No. 60. After four seasons, and 95 episodes, Mork & Mindy was canceled.
Happy Days connection
Actor-director Jerry ParisJerry Paris
Jerry Paris was an American actor and director best known for playing Jerry Helper, the dentist and next door neighbor of Rob and Laura Petrie, on The Dick Van Dyke Show.-Life and career:...
was inspired to create the character of Mork after directing an unusual and memorable episode of The Dick Van Dyke Show
The Dick Van Dyke Show
The Dick Van Dyke Show is an American television sitcom that initially aired on the Columbia Broadcasting System from October 3, 1961, until June 1, 1966. The show was created by Carl Reiner and starred Dick Van Dyke and Mary Tyler Moore. It was produced by Reiner with Bill Persky and Sam Denoff....
in which van Dyke's Rob Petrie believed the Earth had been surreptitiously invaded by walnut-eating aliens who stole humans' thumbs and imaginations.
When he moved on to direct Happy Days
Happy Days
Happy Days is an American television sitcom that originally aired from January 15, 1974, to September 24, 1984, on ABC. Created by Garry Marshall, the series presents an idealized vision of life in mid-1950s to mid-1960s America....
, he introduced Mork in a similarly atypical season-five episode entitled My Favorite Orkan.
In it, Richie tells everyone he has seen a flying saucer
Flying saucer
A flying saucer is a type of unidentified flying object sometimes believed to be of alien origin with a disc or saucer-shaped body, usually described as silver or metallic, occasionally reported as covered with running lights or surrounded with a glowing light, hovering or moving rapidly either...
, but no one else believes him. Fonzie
Fonzie
Arthur Herbert Fonzarelli is a fictional character played by Henry Winkler in the American sitcom Happy Days . He was originally a secondary character, but eventually became the lead...
tells him that people make up stories about UFO
Unidentified flying object
A term originally coined by the military, an unidentified flying object is an unusual apparent anomaly in the sky that is not readily identifiable to the observer as any known object...
s because their lives are "humdrum". Then while Richie's at home, Mork walks in. He freezes everyone with his finger except Richie and says he was sent to Earth to find a "humdrum" human to take back to Ork. Richie runs to Fonzie for help. When Mork catches up to him, he freezes everyone, but finds himself unable to freeze Fonzie due to The Fonz's famous and powerful thumbs. Mork challenges Fonzie to a duel
Duel
A duel is an arranged engagement in combat between two individuals, with matched weapons in accordance with agreed-upon rules.Duels in this form were chiefly practised in Early Modern Europe, with precedents in the medieval code of chivalry, and continued into the modern period especially among...
: finger vs. thumb. After their duel, The Fonz admits defeat, and Mork decides to take Fonzie back to Ork instead of Richie. Then, Richie wakes up and realizes he was dreaming. There is a knock on the door and much to Richie's dismay, it is a man who looks exactly like Mork except in regular clothes asking for directions. When production on Mork & Mindy began, an extra scene was filmed and added to this episode for subsequent rerun
Rerun
A rerun or repeat is a re-airing of an episode of a radio or television broadcast. The invention of the rerun is generally credited to Desi Arnaz. There are two types of reruns—those that occur during a hiatus, and those that occur when a program is syndicated. Reruns can also be, as the...
s. In the scene, Mork contacts Orson and explains that he decided to let Fonzie go, and was going to travel to the year 1978 to continue his mission. In the pilot episode of Mork and Mindy, Orson tells Mork that he is assigning him to study the planet Earth. Mork remembers that he's been to Earth before to collect a specimen (Fonzie) but he "had to throw it back, though. Too small."
Fonzie and Laverne of Laverne & Shirley
Laverne & Shirley
Laverne & Shirley is an American television situation comedy that ran on ABC from January 26, 1976, to May 10, 1983...
appeared in the first episode of the show. In this segment, Mork relays to Mindy his trip to 1950s Milwaukee where Fonzie sets Mork up on a date with Laverne.
Mork returned to Happy Days
Happy Days
Happy Days is an American television sitcom that originally aired from January 15, 1974, to September 24, 1984, on ABC. Created by Garry Marshall, the series presents an idealized vision of life in mid-1950s to mid-1960s America....
in a 1979 episode in which Mork tells Richie that he enjoys coming to the 1950s because life is simpler and more "humdrum" than in the 1970s. Fonzie sees Mork and immediately tries to run away, but Mork freezes him and makes him stay. He eventually lets him go, but not before Fonzie asks Mork to reveal two things about the future: "cars and girls". Mork's response is "In 1979... both are faster." to which the Fonz replies "Whoa!" The episode is mostly a retrospective
Retrospective
Retrospective generally means to take a look back at events that already have taken place. For example, the term is used in medicine, describing a look back at a patient's medical history or lifestyle.-Music:...
in which clips are shown as Richie and Fonzie try to explain the concepts of love and friendship
Friendship
Friendship is a form of interpersonal relationship generally considered to be closer than association, although there is a range of degrees of intimacy in both friendships and associations. Friendship and association are often thought of as spanning across the same continuum...
to Mork.
DVD releases
Paramount Home EntertainmentParamount Home Entertainment
Paramount Home Entertainment is the division of Paramount Pictures dealing with home video founded in late 1975.-History:...
and CBS DVD have released the first three seasons of Mork & Mindy on DVD in Regions 1, 2 and 4
DVD region code
DVD region codes are a digital-rights management technique designed to allow film distributors to control aspects of a release, including content, release date, and price, according to the region...
.
| DVD name | |Release dates | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Region 1 | Region 2 | Region 4 | ||
| The Complete First Season | 25 | September 7, 2004 | October 29, 2007 | September 19, 2007 |
| The Second Season | 26 | April 17, 2007 | April 7, 2008 | March 6, 2008 |
| The Third Season | 22 | November 27, 2007 | September 1, 2008 | September 4, 2008 |
| The Fourth Season | 22 | TBA | TBA | TBA |
Syndication
Mork & Mindy was syndicated off network by Paramount beginning in the Fall of 1982. Many stations (nearly all independent stations) bought the program to use as a transition from cartoons to sitcoms in the 5 p.m. hour. Still, the show's ratings in syndication were disastrous. By 1983 most stations that owned the show rested it much of the time running it in the summer, during which time weaker programming tended to air back then. Very few stations renewed the show a few years later. By 1987, the show only aired in a handful of TV markets. With the expansion of cable channels available, the show began airing on cable. Nick at NiteNick at Nite
Nick at Nite is the nighttime Cable network that broadcasts over the channel space of Nickelodeon on Sundays from 8.p.m.-7.am., Monday through Fridays from 9 p.m.-7 a.m. and Saturdays from 10 p.m.-6 a.m. . Though it shares channel space with Nickelodeon, A.C. Nielsen Co...
reran the show from March 4, 1991 to November 27, 1995. The show has also aired on FOX Family Channel in the late 1990s. It has aired in recent years on Me TV
Me TV
Me TV is a branding used for the following television entities:* Me-TV , a brand of classic television programming, owned by Weigel Broadcasting* ME:TV, a former weekday programming block on Nickelodeon...
.
Cast
- Mork: Robin WilliamsRobin WilliamsRobin McLaurin Williams is an American actor and comedian. Rising to fame with his role as the alien Mork in the TV series Mork and Mindy, and later stand-up comedy work, Williams has performed in many feature films since 1980. He won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance...
- Mindy McConnell: Pam DawberPam DawberPam Dawber is an American actress best known for her lead television sitcom roles as Mindy McConnell in Mork & Mindy and Samantha Russell in My Sister Sam .-Life and career:...
- Fred McConnell: Conrad JanisConrad JanisConrad Janis is an American jazz musician and also a theatre, film, and television actor. In the fall of 1953, he played eldest son Edward in the Ezio Pinza situation comedy Bonino on NBC...
- Grandmother Cora: Elizabeth Kerr
- Mr. Bickley: Tom PostonTom PostonThomas Gordon "Tom" Poston was an American television and film actor. He starred on television in a career that began in 1950...
- Mearth: Jonathan WintersJonathan Winters-Early life:Winters was born in Bellbrook, Ohio, the son of Alice Kilgore , a radio personality, and Jonathan Harshman Winters II, an investment broker. He is a descendant of Valentine Winters, founder of the Winters National Bank in Dayton, Ohio...
- Remo Davinci: Jay ThomasJay ThomasJay Thomas is an American actor, comedian and radio talk show host.-Personal life:Thomas was born in Kermit, Texas. He was raised in his Italian American mother's Roman Catholic faith, although his father was Protestant....
- Jean Davinci: Gina HechtGina Hecht-Television:* 1979–1981: Mork & Mindy .... Jean DaVinci* 1979: Hizzonner .... Melanie* 1987: Everything's Relative .... Emily Cabot* 1988: HeartBeat .... Patty* 1989: Baywatch: "Panic at Malibu Pier" .... Gina Pomeroy...
- Nelson Flavor: Jim Staahl
Recurring characters
- Susan Taylor (Morgan FairchildMorgan FairchildMorgan Fairchild is an American actress. She achieved prominence during the late 1970s and early 1980s with continuing roles in several television series, in which she usually conveyed a glamorous image. Fairchild has also performed in live theater and played guest roles in television comedies...
), Mindy's snooty ex-friend from high school. In the episode, Mork's First Christmas, a glimpse into why Susan is such a shallow person was shown. As she and Mindy are turning out the lights to the apartment, Susan comments that it seems like Mork's first Christmas, wherein Mindy says that his family never celebrated Christmas. As Mindy enters her bedroom, Susan turns out the light saying (out of Mindy's earshot), "Mork and I have a lot in common." (This part of the scene is usually cut during reruns.) - Exidor (Robert DonnerRobert DonnerRobert Donner was an American actor who made many appearances in television series and films in a career spanning more than 40 years.-Early life and career:...
), an eccentric man (with possible mental illnessMental illnessA mental disorder or mental illness is a psychological or behavioral pattern generally associated with subjective distress or disability that occurs in an individual, and which is not a part of normal development or culture. Such a disorder may consist of a combination of affective, behavioural,...
) who regards himself as a prophetProphetIn religion, a prophet, from the Greek word προφήτης profitis meaning "foreteller", is an individual who is claimed to have been contacted by the supernatural or the divine, and serves as an intermediary with humanity, delivering this newfound knowledge from the supernatural entity to other people...
. He is often seen wearing a flowing white robe with a blue sash. He knows that Mork is an alien but nobody believes him. He was the leader of a cultCultThe word cult in current popular usage usually refers to a group whose beliefs or practices are considered abnormal or bizarre. The word originally denoted a system of ritual practices...
called The Friends of VenusVenusVenus is the second planet from the Sun, orbiting it every 224.7 Earth days. The planet is named after Venus, the Roman goddess of love and beauty. After the Moon, it is the brightest natural object in the night sky, reaching an apparent magnitude of −4.6, bright enough to cast shadows...
, of which he was the only member; he regularly engaged in conversations with imaginary members of his cult (such as "Pepe" and "Rocco"), but he was the only person who could see them. Most times he is found yelling at his imaginary cult. He makes the comment "Entourages can be the pits!". Later, since the Venusians had abandoned him, he began to worship O.J. Simpson. He also had a plan to become "Emperor of the Universe" by becoming a rock star—but his musical instrument of choice was the accordion. Exidor appears to be something of a squatter, as on at least two separate occasions he turned up in homes not his own. Once, Mork visited Exidor at a very nice apartment where he supposedly lived with his imaginary girlfriend and her twin sister. Another time, he turned up "on vacation" in Mindy's family home, where he apparently believed there was a beach in the living room closet. ("Everybody out of the water! Can't you see that fin?") He eventually got married, in a "forest" which was Mindy's attic. Mindy thought his wife would be imaginary, but turned out to be a real woman named "Ambrosia". The insane Exidor became highly popular with audiences and prompted wild applause from the studio audience when entering a scene. - Mr. Sternhagen (Foster BrooksFoster BrooksFoster Brooks was an American actor and comedian most famous for his portrayal of a lovable drunken man in nightclub performances and television programs.-Biography:...
), Mindy's boss when she got a job at a local TV station. He is overbearing and demanding of Mindy when sober, but occasionally turns up drunk and cheerful. (Brooks was a comedian noted for his "drunk" act.) - Glenda Faye Comstock, Mindy's friend played by show producerTelevision producerThe primary role of a television Producer is to allow all aspects of video production, ranging from show idea development and cast hiring to shoot supervision and fact-checking...
Crissy Wilzak. - Todd Norman Taylor a.k.a. TNT (Bill KirchenbauerBill KirchenbauerBill Kirchenbauer is an American actor and stand-up comic who has appeared in television shows and films since the 1970s...
), an obnoxious and arrogant womanizerPromiscuityIn humans, promiscuity refers to less discriminating casual sex with many sexual partners. The term carries a moral or religious judgement and is viewed in the context of the mainstream social ideal for sexual activity to take place within exclusive committed relationships...
. He later teaches Mork to drive at the "FastLane Driving School." - Cathy McConnell (Shelley FabaresShelley FabaresMichele Ann Marie "Shelley" Fabares is an American actress and singer. Fabares is known for her roles as Donna Reed's oldest child, Mary Stone, on The Donna Reed Show , and as Craig T. Nelson's love interest and eventual wife, Christine Armstrong Fox, on the sitcom Coach. She also was Elvis...
), Fred's new younger wife and Mindy's stepmother. - Lola (Amy Tenowich), the young philosopher, and Stephanie (Stephanie Kayano), the chubby girl who loves to eat. Two children from the daycare center Mork works at later in the series.
- Billy (Corey FeldmanCorey FeldmanCorey Scott Feldman is an American film and television actor. He became known during the 1980s, with roles in the Hollywood films Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter, The Goonies, Stand by Me, The Lost Boys, License to Drive, Dream a Little Dream, Gremlins and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles...
), also a daycare center child, wants to be like his namesake Billy the KidBilly the KidWilliam H. Bonney William H. Bonney William H. Bonney (born William Henry McCarty, Jr. est. November 23, 1859 – c. July 14, 1881, better known as Billy the Kid but also known as Henry Antrim, was a 19th-century American gunman who participated in the Lincoln County War and became a frontier...
. Mork introduces him to the Orkan hero Squellman the Yellow. - Arnold Wanker (Logan RamseyLogan RamseyLogan Carlisle Ramsey, Jr. was an American character actor of television and film for nearly 50 years. Largely a TV actor, he appeared on, among others: The Edge of Night, Star Trek, Mission: Impossible, Hawaii Five-O, M*A*S*H, Charlie's Angels, Mork and Mindy, Knight Rider and Night...
), The landlord of Mindy's music store.
Filming locations
Garry Marshall
Garry Kent Marshall is an American actor, director, writer and producer. His notable credits include creating Happy Days and The Odd Couple and directing Nothing In Common, Pretty Woman, Runaway Bride, Valentine's Day, and The Princess Diaries.-Early life:Marshall was born in the New York City...
on June 30, 2006, Pat O'Brien
Pat O'Brien (television)
Pat O'Brien is currently a radio host with Fox Sports Radio as well as an author. He is best known for his time as a sportscaster with CBS Sports and as anchor/host of Access Hollywood and The Insider .O'Brien covered five Olympic Games, two for CBS...
mentioned that Mork & Mindy was filmed on Paramount
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...
stage 27, the former studio for his infotainment
Infotainment
Infotainment is "information-based media content or programming that also includes entertainment content in an effort to enhance popularity with audiences and consumers." It is a neologistic portmanteau of information and entertainment, referring to a type of media which provides a combination of...
program The Insider
The Insider (TV series)
The Insider is an American tabloid television news program covering events and celebrities. It debuted on September 13, 2004 as a spinoff of Entertainment Tonight and started as a popular segment that took viewers "behind closed doors" and gave them "inside" information...
.
The house from the show is located at 1619 Pine Street, just a few blocks away from the Pearl Street Mall
Pearl Street Mall
The Pearl Street Mall is a four block pedestrian mall in Boulder, Colorado...
in Boulder. This was also used in the show as Mindy's actual address in Boulder, as shown in the episode, Mork Goes Public.
The same house was later used for exterior shots on the series Perfect Strangers
Perfect Strangers (TV series)
Perfect Strangers is an American sitcom that ran for eight seasons from March 25, 1986, to August 6, 1993, on the ABC television network. Created by Dale McRaven, the series chronicles the rocky coexistence of midwestern American Larry Appleton and his distant cousin from eastern Mediterranean...
in Episode 21 of Season 5, This Old House, where the cousins, Larry and Balki, remodel a home for a fix and flip in hopes of huge profits. Often mistaken, it was not the house the cousins moved into with their wives during the final two seasons. In addition, it was used in three episodes of Family Matters as Myra's house.
Spin-offs and adaptations
- In the United Kingdom, a long-running comic stripComic stripA comic strip is a sequence of drawings arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions....
version was written by Angus P. Allan, illustrated by Bill Titcombe, and printed in children's television magazine, Look-InLook-inLook-in was a long running children's magazine centred around ITV's television programmes in the United Kingdom, and subtitled "The Junior TVTimes". It ran from 9 January 1971 to 12 March 1994...
. Several British-produced annualsYearbookA yearbook, also known as an annual, is a book to record, highlight, and commemorate the past year of a school or a book published annually. Virtually all American, Australian and Canadian high schools, most colleges and many elementary and middle schools publish yearbooks...
were also released that tied in with the series. - A subsequent Saturday morning cartoonSaturday morning cartoonA Saturday morning cartoon is the colloquial term for the animated television programming that has typically been scheduled on Saturday mornings on the major American television networks from the 1960s to the present; the genre's peak in popularity mostly ended in the 1990s while the popularity of...
entitled The Mork & Mindy / Laverne & Shirley / Fonz HourThe Mork & Mindy / Laverne & Shirley / Fonz HourMork & Mindy/Laverne & Shirley/Fonz Hour is a 1982 cartoon series produced by Hanna-Barbera and Ruby-Spears Productions, featuring animated versions of characters from Mork & Mindy, Laverne & Shirley, and Happy Days...
ran on ABCAmerican Broadcasting CompanyThe American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
from 1982 to 1983. The Mork & Mindy segments were a prequel with Mindy as a student in high school. The character of Eugene returned in this spin-off voiced by Shavar RossShavar RossShavar Malik Ross is an American actor, film director, screenwriter, film producer, editor, photographer, author, and entrepreneur. He is known for his recurring television roles as Dudley Ramsey on the NBC sitcom Diff'rent Strokes, and as Weasel on the ABC sitcom Family Matters.-Biography:Ross...
. - In 2005, a made-for-television movieTelevision movieA television film is a feature film that is a television program produced for and originally distributed by a television network, in contrast to...
entitled Behind the Camera: The Unauthorized Story of Mork & Mindy aired on NBCNBCThe National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
. - In 1979, a short-lived Brazilian version of the series appeared as Superbronco. It was produced by Rede GloboRede GloboRede Globo , or simply Globo, is a Brazilian television network, launched by media mogul Roberto Marinho on April 26, 1965. It is owned by media conglomerate Organizações Globo, being by far the largest of its holdings...
and starred comedian Ronald GoliasRonald GoliasRonald Golias , was a Brazilian comedian and actor. From the city of São Carlos, in the state of São Paulo, Brazil, he started as a tailor assistant and insurance agent, amongst other professions...
and actress Liza Vieira.