Mork & Mindy

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.

MORK AND MINDY was hilarious during its first season, but the producers and the network got so full of themselves over it, they decided "let's improve on perfection!", and naturally, they destroyed the show doing so.

Season 2 was no longer the least bit funny, and season 3 with Jonathan Winters was so absurd (and actually tasteless if you think about it) that the series sank like a stone. None of the "new" supporting characters had any charisma, and the producers' "feel good" decision to start sermonizing to the viewers was as poor a decision as has ever been made in television.

Bottom line: Buy the first season on DVD and enjoy it. Pretend the rest of it didn't happen.

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.

I remember the late summer of 1978, working to save enough money to go back to school. Many days were long and difficult. My friends and I left behind by those that had their finances lined up for classes, were always looking for something to do to take our minds off of what we thought were big issues at the time.

Along came this wacky television show with a guy on it that was absolutely nuts. A bunch of us would get together every Thursday night to see what he would do next. We would laugh our heads off at this crazy show and we wouldn't think of missing one. Mork and Mindy was a bright spot in our day in day out lives.

The comic phenomenon that is Robin Williams was first fully unleashed on the world with this hilarious syndicated TV series.

Created as a spin off from an, admittedly, quite silly episode of Happy Days, this series charts the course of an alien, Ork, (Williams) as he investigates the planet Earth for his superiors back home.

What could have been an absolutely laughable disaster is transformed by Williams into an absolutely laughable success, from drinking with his finger and talking to plants, to his wild dances with Mindy, the woman who unwittingly welcomes him into her home, and reporting back upside down with his fingers in his ears, Williams keeps us laughing from start to finish off every episode.

This series blows away most of the comedic films Williams has done in his career, with the exception of Good Morning Vietnam, and should always be remembered as the ultimate comic performance from Williams.