Children who love Robin Williams as the voice of Aladdin or as Mrs. Doubtfire will get a blast out of the show that blasted him into the stratosphere, and made "Nanoo, Nanoo" a national catch-phrase. Mork & Mindy, a spin-off of a season 5 Happy Days episode, was a tailor-made star vehicle for Williams, who won a Golden Globe for this inaugural 1978 season. The role of extraterrestrial Mork from Ork gave free reign to Williams's stream-of-consciousness riffing as Mork observed life on Earth and reported back to his leader, Orson, on all that he learned about friendship, love, family, and emotions. As Mindy, the down-to-Earth Boulder, Colorado, girl who takes the stranded alien under her roof, fresh-faced Pam Dawber does her best to keep up. When Williams is really in the (Twilight?) zone, it's not acting: she does seem like she's dealing with someone from another planet.


A rememberable episode is "Mork's Mixed Emotions," a tour-de-force that TV Guide ranked among the top 100 TV episodes of all time (#94, to be exact). Mork believes that emotions are bad, and tries to lock them inside himself, but they are unleashed in a lusty, happy, weepy, angry, envious torrent. Helping to launch Williams as a primetime player in the series pilot are Henry Winkler and Penny Marshall in their iconic roles as the Fonz and Laverne. Another notable guest star in season 1 is David Letterman as an abusive EST-like guru in "Mork Goes Erk." Mork & Mindy rapidly jumped the shark, and much of the '70s sitcom trappings have not aged well, but this first season is a giddy time capsule record of Williams at his most spontaneous and out of this world. Shazbot--the set contains no extras.

Cast & Characters

• Robin Williams as Mork
• Pam Dawber as Mindy Beth McConnell
• Conrad Janis as Frederick McConnell (1978-1979, 1980-1982)
• Elizabeth Kerr as Cora Hudson (1978-1979, 1981-1982)
• Jeffrey Jacquet as Eugene (1978-1979)
• Ralph James as Orson (voice only)
• Tom Poston as Franklin Delano Bickley
• Jay Thomas as Remo DaVinci (1979-1981)
• Gina Hecht as Jean DaVinci (1979-1981)
• Jim Staahl as Nelson Flavor (1979-1981)
• Robert Donner as Exidor
• Crissy Wilzak as Glenda Faye "Crissy" Comstock (1980-1981)
• Foster Brooks as Mr. Miles Sternhagen (1981)
• Jonathan Winters as Mearth (1981-1982)

Broadcast History

First Telecast: September 14, 1978
Last Telecast: May 27, 1982
Original Network:  ABC
Number of Seasons: 4
Number of Episodes: 95
Original Primetime TV Schedule:

• September 1978- August 1979, ABC, Thursday 8:00-8:30pm
• August 1979- December 1979, ABC, Sunday 8:00-8:30pm
• January 1980- February 1982, ABC, Thursday 8:00-8:30pm
• April 1982- May 1982, ABC, Thursday 8:30-9:00pm

Theme Song & Opening Credits

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