Mork & Mindy

This sitcom was out-of this world, Robin Williams was incredibly funny as Mork, an alien was sent to earth to examine earth's culture. When he finally gets to earth, he meets Mindy. She takes Mork in, and tries to help him adapt to human custom, but Mork keeps making alien mistakes in funny ways. This sitcom was fall-out-of your seat laughter. Robin Williams and Pam Dawber had a funny chemistry together. This show was right up there with Bewitch and I dream of Jeannie. Next to E.T Mork was my favorite alien. It is a an outer-space classic. It was nice to see that funny man Robin Williams got his start here. If this is interesting to you I would go out and buy it.

Anyone who was ever a fan of the late Robin Williams has fond memories of Mork&Mindy. Another spinoff from Happy Days where a confrontation between spaceman Willlams, Mork from the planet Ork and Fonzie proved so popular Williams got his own show.

As Mork,Williams was on a mission from his planet to report on Earth and its inhabitants. He chose Milwaukee as his base and every night he reported to his leader Orson. He lived with Pam Dawber, all American girl who was at great pains to explain what this weird person was doing.

In this show we saw Robin Williams open that amazing book of comic tricks for the world. Williams was a genius no doubt, right up there with Chaplin and Keaton. Sad he was such a depressed and tortured soul in real life.

Those reruns are still popular and timeless. Check the show out and sample the first taste the world got of Robin Williams.

This show is my earliest TV memory---my father loved this show and we watched it a lot together when I was very small. I recently discovered Seasons 1 and 2 by chance at my local Fred Meyer, picked them up and enjoyed them immensely. I was reminded again of how funny Williams really is.

Robin is at his manic best, and it's obvious that he often forsakes the script and happily heads off into improv la-la-land. Some of it is of course dated now, but it is still very funny. People sometimes disparage Pam Dawber, but she did exactly what she was supposed to do---be the straight man (or woman). Williams is SO manic that he needed an EXTREMELY normal, average straight man to contrast with, and that's exactly what she is. She's cute and perky, the quintessential girl next door. When she explains basic human nature to a confused Mork (which she does constantly) she seems totally believable, like having an older sister explain something about people you didn't understand before.

Watching it as an adult, I did notice a few things I didn't realize as a child: Pam Dawber spends many scenes trying desperately to not laugh and break character at William's improvisations. You can see it in her face; to me, it makes it even more entertaining. Also, the live audience contributed a lot to the general air of cheerful hilarity on the show. When Mork or Exidor show up for the first time in each episode, the audience literally screams in delight.

All in all, watching the first two seasons again I was greatly entertained, laughing throughout, and it brought back great childhood memories. If you're into checking out past decades of pop culture, you need to see this show.

In one of the weirdest spin off from Happy Days, Mork (Robin Williams) is from the planet Ork. He is sent to Earth by Orson who is frustrated with his irreverent humor. At the end of each episode, Mork reports to Orson about the lesson he learned. Orkans drink with their fingers, sit on their heads, and age backwards. Mork lands outside of Boulder, Colorado and finds Mindy McConnell (Pam Dawber) abandoned by her date. He tells her about his extraterrestrial origins and becomes her flatmate. Her father Fred owns a music store in the first season which he ran with his sharp-tongued mother-in-law. Mr. Bickley (Tom Poston) is Mindy's grumpy downstairs neighbor. The second season has New York siblings Remo (Jay Thomas) and Jean DaVinci (Gina Hecht) as their restaurateur friends. Nelson Flavor (Jim Staahl) is Mindy's pompous cousin. Exidor is Mork's crazy friend with imaginary followers. The most insane and inspired choice is Mearth (Jonathan Winters), Mork's newborn in season 4, after his wacky performance in season 3 as uncle Dave.

This is simply a Robin Williams original. He makes this show. The show really only works with him on the screen. Pam Dawber is cute but she is overmatched. Of course, almost anybody would be overmatched. She has a tendency to laugh at Robin's jokes and do a lot of aww-schucks. The constant changes to the cast are not helpful. The DaVinci siblings didn't do the work that the show had hoped. Nelson Flavor and Exidor are my favorite characters. There is nobody like Jonathan Winters but by the fourth season, the show had no viewers and Robin Williams had better opportunities on the big screen.

The first season of this show made it the breakout hit of 1978. However, the producers came up with the bright idea of firing much of the original supporting cast (Corad Janis who played Mindy's father Fred and Elizabeth Kerr who played Mindy's grandma Cora) and replacing them with Jean and Remo DaVinci (played by Gina Hecht and Jay Thomas repectively). Another mistake that was made was by removing the broad slapstick that made the show a success and replacing it with more socially relevant stories. Things got so bad that they decided to put a twist on the old bring the cute kid trick and have Mork marry Mindy and have Mork "give birth" to a middle age baby. At least Jonathan Winters was funny in that role. Too bad it couldn't save what could have been one of the all time great sitcoms.