Mork & Mindy (1978–1982)

A wacky alien comes to Earth to study its residents, and the life of the human woman he boards with is never the same.

Creators:

Joe Glauberg, Garry Marshall, Dale McRaven

Stars:

Robin Williams, Pam Dawber, Conrad Janis

Won 1 Golden Globe. Another 4 wins & 12 nominations.

Cast

Complete series cast summary:
Robin Williams	...	Mork (94 episodes, 1978-1982)
Pam Dawber	...	Mindy McConnell (94 episodes, 1978-1982)
Conrad Janis	...	Frederick McConnell (69 episodes, 1978-1982)
Ralph James	...	Orson (52 episodes, 1978-1982)

Storyline

Bizarre television comedy with Robin Williams as Mork from Ork, who is an alien sent to Earth in an egg, to investigate Earth and report back to his superiors. As an outsider, Mork is unfamiliar with human customs and often questions some of the strange traditions that we take for granted. Much of the humor relies on Williams' unique comic voices and mannerisms. The show was perhaps most famous for Mork's greeting, 'Nano Nano.'

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Plot Keywords:

alien | alien contact | miniaturization | improvisation | farce | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Family | Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

TV-G

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

14 September 1978 (USA)

Also Known As:

Mork y Mindy

Filming Locations:

1619 Pine St, Boulder, Colorado, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Henderson Productions, Miller-Milkis Productions, Paramount Television

Technical Specs

Runtime:

30 min 30 min (95 episodes)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

4:3

Did You Know?

Trivia

Jonathan Winters' first appearance on the show was as Dave McConnell (one of Mindy's relatives) in "Mork and the Family Reunion". Winters went on to join the cast full-time as Mearth in the following season.

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Quotes

Louise Bailey: [in a jail cell with Mindy] Funny the way things happen. I'm in here because of a silly old parking meter.
Mindy McConnell: You're kidding!
Louise Bailey: No, I went into a hardware store and when I came out, *there* was a policeman writing me a ticket.
Mindy McConnell: I don't believe it, they threw you in jail for a parking ticket.
Louise Bailey: Well, in a roundabout way. You see when I put the shovel in the trunk, Walter's arm fell out.
Mindy McConnell: Who's Walter?
Louise Bailey: My husband.
Mindy McConnell: What was he doing in the trunk?
Louise Bailey: Not much... he was dead. I warned him about his snoring for ...
[...]

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Crazy Credits

In the opening credits of season 2, 3 and 4, the "o" in the word "Mork" is the shape of an egg, a reference to the eggs in which Orkans travel through space.

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Connections

Referenced in Happy Days: Mork Returns (1979)

User Reviews

Great show up to the point Mork and Mindy got married.

The television show "The Happy Days" had an episode which is used in many shows. It is called "jumped the shark", basically an episode that is the beginning of the end for a show as this is the point in the show that the ratings start to go down and the episodes become really weak. Sometimes there is room for debate as to when this happens in a show, and sometimes it is hard for me to say when it occurred for a particular show. However, it is easy for this one, it is when Mork and Mindy got married. After that the show just got to bizarre with the birth of their child and the strange way the show ended. I would think there was some rule that all shows involving aliens ended with an ending that really did not conclude the show in a satisfying way. "Alf" had the same kind of end, however I do believe "Third Rock from the Sun" ended in a more conclusive way. This show was great though up until that point as this is one of the few Robin Williams vehicles that I enjoyed watching. His energy and craziness does not detract from this show as it often does in his movies, but rather enhances it. Pam Dawber plays the perfect straight woman to his madness as she must withstand an onslaught of questions and trying to get him used to things on our planet. Sometimes the show got a bit to sappy, and at others downright strange, but for the most part the show worked. There was even one that was a bit scary when I saw it as a child where a house was haunted and Mork got possessed or something. Then there was the strange one where he shrunk that was oddly unfunny when he was in the strange universe. However, my favorite episodes were the simpler ones. One of my favorite gags was when he learned about arguments from some guy who owned a deli with his sister and how great it was when they made up so Mork proceeds to start a fight with Mindy by taking the spaghetti she made for dinner and slamming it against the wall yelling "You expect me to eat this slop!". When Mirth was born the show was just becoming to strange as I did not care for the fact Mork got pregnant as he may have been an alien and they may have been able to give birth, but what exactly could Mindy have done to get him that way? Basically, a great show for three seasons that got to weird its fourth.