Behind the Camera: The Unauthorized Story of 'Mork & Mindy' (TV 2005)

An inside look at the ABC sitcom which turned Robin Williams into a star in 1978.

Director:

Neill Fearnley

Writers:

Andy Dougan (book), David Misch

Stars:

Chris Diamantopoulos, Erinn Hayes, Michelle Harrison

3 wins & 6 nominations.

Cast

Credited cast:
Chris Diamantopoulos	...	Robin Williams
Erinn Hayes	...	Pam Dawber
Michelle Harrison	...	Valerie Velardi
Tyler Labine	...	John Belushi
David Lewis	...	Ira Denmark
David Richmond-Peck	...	Harvey Severson
Meredith McGeachie	...	Lila Milford
Richard Kahan	...	Alan Davis
Daniel Roebuck	...	Garry Marshall
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Kwesi Ameyaw	...	Cop
Johnathan Brownlee	...	Jay Thomas
Peter Bryant	...	Detective
Lisa Calder	...	Pretty Fan
Robert Clarke	...	Conrad Janis
Brad Dryborough	...	Stagehand

Storyline

It's 1970's Hollywood and a future movie star was on the horizon and looking for his big break. His name is Robin Williams and he's an up and coming comic on the Los Angeles comedy circuit. While on the other end of town, producer Garry Marshall and partner Harvey Severson have developed a new show called Mork & Mindy, that's a spinoff to their previous hit show "Happy Days". It's in their meeting with Williams that they have found the ideal actor to play Mork. But as the show slowly turns into a hit, the story of what happened behind the camera unfolds as a young comic is suddenly handed everything he ever wanted very quickly, which affected his personal life as well as those in it. Set against the backdrop of Mork & Mindy, this is a story about a show's rise to number one, it's struggles on the production, and the rising star of Robin Williams.

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Plot Keywords:

television show | character name in title

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

4 April 2005 (USA)

Also Known As:

A História não Autorizada de Mork e Mindy

Filming Locations:

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Company Credits

Production Co:

NBC Studios, Nomadic Pictures, Once Upon a Time Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

120 min 120 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The character of Harvey Severson is based on series director Howard Storm.

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Goofs

The show takes place in the late-'70s and early-'80s, but Robin throws a series 1996 $100 bill in the hat of the panhandler doing an imitation of him.

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Quotes

Harvey Severson: Wait a second, you're not going to ask me to write for them?
Garry Marshall: No, no, no, Harvey, friends, don't ask friends to write for Laverne and Shirley.

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Connections

References The Richard Pryor Show (1977)

User Reviews

Excellent mimics

Diamontopolous and Roebuck had the voices and mannerisms of their characters dead on. It was either great casting or great performances.

The rest of the show was pretty average for behind-the-scenes-of-a-TV-show kind of stuff. But it wasn't camped up like a couple of them have been. Ironically, they made references to Gilligans' Island within the show, but this movie felt a lot like that behind the scenes movie.

Surprisingly, it was interesting most of the time. There was a decent mixture of things commonly recognized and a few things not known so readily.