Mork & Mindy

Mork & Mindy
Title card (first season)
Format	Sitcom/Sci-Fi
Created by	Garry Marshall
Starring	Robin Williams Pam Dawber Elizabeth Kerr Conrad Janis Jeffrey Jacquet Jay Thomas Gina Hecht Tom Poston Jim Staahl Jonathan Winters
Country of origin	United States
No. of seasons	4
No. of episodes	95 (List of episodes)
Production
Running time	24-25 Minutes
Broadcast
Original channel	ABC
Original run	September 14, 1978 – May 27, 1982
Chronology
Preceded by	Love, American Style Happy Days
Related shows	Laverne & Shirley Blansky's Beauties Out of the Blue Joanie Loves Chachi The New Love, American Style

Mork & Mindy is an American 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 large egg-shaped space ship, and Pam Dawber as Mindy McConnell, his human friend, roommate, and later, wife after they married in the final season.

Premise and initial success

The series was a spinoff from the sitcom Happy Days. The character of Mork (Robin Williams) first appeared in the season 5 episode, "My Favorite Orkan", where he attempts to take Richie Cunningham back to Ork as a human specimen, but his plan is foiled by Fonzie. The character proved to be popular enough with the audience to rate a series of his own, though in "Mork & Mindy", Mork resides in Boulder, Colorado and in the (then) current day of 1978 as opposed to Happy Days' late 1950s/early '60s Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

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. 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's a priest, mistaking his wardrobe gaffe for a priest's collar. Mindy is taken in by Mork's willingness to listen (unknown to her, he's 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 black child named Eugene (Jeffrey Jacquet), who becomes Mork's friend. Also seen occasionally was Mindy's snooty old friend from high school, Susan (played by Morgan Fairchild).

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.

Mork's greeting was "Na-Nu Na-Nu" (pronounced "nah-noo nah-noo", sometimes spelled Nanoo Nanoo or Nanu Nanu) 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 curse word 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 the scripts eventually 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).^[1][2] 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 The Sunday Big Event and CBS' Archie Bunker's Place, the revamped continuation of All in the Family.^[1]

Second season

Robin Williams and Pam Dawber as Mork and Mindy

The second season saw an attempt to seek younger viewers. The characters of Fred, Cora and Eugene were effectively dropped, though both appear briefly in later episodes (where Fred would arrive with a new bride). It was explained on the show that Fred was sent off to tour as a conductor with an orchestra, and he took Cora with him on the road. However, neither Eugene or Susan were seen or mentioned again.

New cast members and a disco-like version of the first season's gentle theme tune were added. Among the new supporting characters 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 the new timeslot, ratings fell dramatically. It was quickly moved back to its previous timeslot and efforts were made to return to the core of the series, but ratings never recovered.

Decline

Third season

For the third season, Mindy's father and grandmother were brought back and added along with Jean and Remo. (The show itself acknowledged this desperate attempt to fix its previous meddling, with the third season's hour-long opener aptly titled "Putting The Ork Back in Mork"). Other supporting cast additions included two kids from the day-care center Mork worked at: the intellectual Lola and the gluttonous Stephanie. A new supporting cast member was added in Mindy's close friend Glenda Faye "Crissy" Comstock (Crissy Wilzak), but she only lasted one season.

When these ideas failed to improve ratings, many wilder ideas were tried to attempt to capitalize on Williams' comedic talents.

Fourth season

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). Other attempts included the use of special guest stars. However, due to the continuing ratings slide, Mork and Mindy was canceled after its fourth season, on May 27, 1982.

The Happy Days connection

The character of Mork was introduced in a season five episode of Happy Days titled "My Favorite Orkan". Richie tells everyone he has seen a flying saucer, but no one else believes him. Fonzie tells him that people make up stories about UFOs 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 reruns. 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.

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 an episode in 1979. 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." 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.

Episodes

DVD releases

Paramount Home Entertainment and CBS DVD have released the first three seasons of Mork & Mindy on DVD in Regions 1, 2 and 4.

Ratings

• 1978-1979: #3
• 1979-1980: #27
• 1980-1981: not in top 30
• 1981-1982: not in top 30

Recurring characters

• Susan Taylor (Morgan Fairchild), Mindy's snooty ex-friend from high school.
• Exidor (Robert Donner), an eccentric man (with possible mental illness) who regards himself as a prophet. 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 cult called The Friends of Venus, of which he was the only member. Later, since the Venusians had abandoned him, he began to worship O.J. Simpson. Exidor appears to be something of a squatter as on at least two separate occasions he turned up in homes not his own. Once at a very nice apartment with his imaginary girlfriend and her sister and again when he 'vacationed' in Mindy's family home as he apparently believed there was a beach in the closet. This character became highly popular with audiences and prompted wild applause from the studio audience when entering a scene.
• Mr. Sternhagen (Foster Brooks), Mindy's boss when she got a job at a local TV station.
• Glenda Faye "Crissy" Comstock, Mindy's friend played by show producer Crissy Wilzak Comstock.
• Todd Norman Taylor a.k.a. TNT (Bill Kirchenbauer), an obnoxious and unattractive womanizer.
• Cathy (Shelley Fabares), Fred's new younger wife.
• Lola (Amy Tenowich), the young philosopher, and Stephanie (Stephanie Kayano), the chubby girl who loves to eat. They are two children from the daycare center Mork later works at.

Filming locations

1619 Pine Street, Boulder, Colorado was used for the external shots of Mindy's house on Mork & Mindy

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.

The same house was later used for exterior shots on the series Perfect Strangers, where the cousins Larry and Balki lived with their wives.

Spin-offs and adaptations

• In the United Kingdom, a long-running comic strip version was written by Angus P. Allan, illustrated by Bill Titcombe and printed in children's television magazine Look-In.
• There were also several British-produced annuals to tie in with the series.
• British television has featured two very similar situation comedies. The first was children's comedy series Mike and Angelo, running from 1989 to 2000. Angelo was an alien who came down to Earth and befriended young boy Mike. He shared many of Mork's misunderstandings and curiosities about human life, and like Mork, lived in a wardrobe.
• The second similar British series is My Hero (more closely based on Superman series of the 1950s), which began in 2000.^[3]
• After the show finished, a Saturday morning cartoon titled The Mork & Mindy/Laverne & Shirley/Fonz Hour ran on ABC from 1982–1983. 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 Ross.
• In 2005, a TV-movie titled Behind the Camera: The Unauthorized Story of Mork & Mindy aired on NBC.
• In 1979, there was a short-lived Brazilian version titled Superbronco. It was produced by Rede Globo, starring comedian Ronald Golias and actress Liza Vieira.
• Nike SB released a Mork & Mindy colorway Dunk^[4], following the colors of Mork's spacesuit.
• Two of Mork's phrases became the final words spoken by AC/DC frontman Bon Scott on his last album, the 1979 Highway to Hell before his death in February 1980. At the end of the last song on the LP, Night Prowler, Scott says, "Shazbot, na-nu na-nu".
• The episode featuring the character Arnold Wanker was extensively edited when transmitted on the British network ITV as the word wanker, although a reasonably recognizable surname in the United States and of German origin, is in British English a vulgar term for a person who masturbates. When the episode was repeated on the more liberal British network Channel Four some years later, no alterations were made.
• In the science fiction Warhammer 40,000 universe by Games Workshop, there is a race of spacefaring Orks who are constantly battling the humans and other species. One of their two deities is known as "Mork" - the other being "Gork".
• In the PC Game, Tribes and Tribes 2, players often used the phrase, "Shaz-bot" when disgusted.
• in the 3rd Futurama direct to DVD Movie Bender's Game monsters called Morks appear, they have the appearance of a hunchbacked Robin Williams and sound like him only ever saying "What a Concept!" "Mindy, Mindy, Mindy!" and "Shazbot!". The reference being made for a similar reason to the one in Warhammer 40,000, Mork sounding similar to Orc.

References

External links

• Mork and Mindy at the Internet Movie Database