“We’re up until four in the morning, writing Robin’s ad-libs.”
December 2, 2015 11:22 AM Subscribe
Mork and Mindy was a tour de force, averaging 60 million viewers a week (a number that would beat the top three shows of the 2014-2015 season combined) and introducing the world to Robin Williams. And then it crashed, due to constant network retooling, as well as Williams' fame and feeling that his character had gone from childlike to childish. Charlie Jane Anders and io9 take us through the short but turbulent history of every '80s kid's favorite show.
Possibly most insane fact: The original choice to play Mork on his initial appearance on Happy Days (which famously was the idea of an eight-year-old) was Roger Rees, a.k.a. the Sheriff of Rottingham in Robin Hood: Men in Tights.
Possibly most insane fact: The original choice to play Mork on his initial appearance on Happy Days (which famously was the idea of an eight-year-old) was Roger Rees, a.k.a. the Sheriff of Rottingham in Robin Hood: Men in Tights.
This was at a time when producers would try to "retool" for years after the show had jumped the shark, literally. Does this still happen? Do I care?
Love Robin Williams, thanks for the post.
posted by Melismata at 11:38 AM on December 2, 2015
Love Robin Williams, thanks for the post.
posted by Melismata at 11:38 AM on December 2, 2015
Roger Rees, a.k.a. the Sheriff of Rottingham in Robin Hood: Men in Tights.
Uh, I *think* you mean, "a.k.a. Robin Colcord."
posted by Chrysostom at 11:40 AM on December 2, 2015 [16 favorites]
Uh, I *think* you mean, "a.k.a. Robin Colcord."
posted by Chrysostom at 11:40 AM on December 2, 2015 [16 favorites]
I meant "a.k.a. Lord John Marbury", but I know the audience.
posted by Etrigan at 11:42 AM on December 2, 2015 [19 favorites]
posted by Etrigan at 11:42 AM on December 2, 2015 [19 favorites]
I loved this show, watched it all the way to the last season, because even with all its problems, it was still better than 99% of the crap on TV in the 80s. Also since you waited a week between episodes, you forgot some of the stinkiness between each one. And there were always moments of brilliance from Williams, even in the bad episodes.
My last lunchbox (before I put away childish things) was a yellow plastic Mork n' Mindy number.
posted by emjaybee at 11:45 AM on December 2, 2015 [2 favorites]
My last lunchbox (before I put away childish things) was a yellow plastic Mork n' Mindy number.
posted by emjaybee at 11:45 AM on December 2, 2015 [2 favorites]
70s show. Not 80s. (Though, yes, it ran into the 80s.)
posted by You Should See the Other Guy at 11:47 AM on December 2, 2015 [6 favorites]
posted by You Should See the Other Guy at 11:47 AM on December 2, 2015 [6 favorites]
70s show. Not 80s. (Though, yes, it ran into the 80s.)
Dammit, I meant '70s kids. Apologies to my cohort for youngifying them.
posted by Etrigan at 11:48 AM on December 2, 2015 [4 favorites]
Dammit, I meant '70s kids. Apologies to my cohort for youngifying them.
posted by Etrigan at 11:48 AM on December 2, 2015 [4 favorites]
I think it's hilarious that io9 is running a story about how meddling bosses ruined something that was superbly entertaining.
posted by infinitewindow at 11:52 AM on December 2, 2015 [38 favorites]
posted by infinitewindow at 11:52 AM on December 2, 2015 [38 favorites]
I watched the show religiously as a child, but the only joke I clearly remember was Mork talking about seeing the movie Popeye (the Altman film starring Williams that had recently flopped at the box office) and saying something along the lines of "If you run the movie backwards, it actually has an ending!" (I think this was probably a line borrowed from Williams's standup act.)
What stuck with me was not the line itself, which was funny enough, but the slight tingle in the brain I felt, which I now realize occurred because it was the first ever time that I recognized and actually "got" a Meta type joke.
And suddenly a whole new vein of comedy opened up to me.
posted by Atom Eyes at 11:56 AM on December 2, 2015 [16 favorites]
What stuck with me was not the line itself, which was funny enough, but the slight tingle in the brain I felt, which I now realize occurred because it was the first ever time that I recognized and actually "got" a Meta type joke.
And suddenly a whole new vein of comedy opened up to me.
posted by Atom Eyes at 11:56 AM on December 2, 2015 [16 favorites]
hal_c_on: "Mork and Mindy was a tour de force, averaging 60 million viewers a week
Whoa. Thats like more than 1 in 4 people in the US sitting down at their tv to watch this one show...in 1978.
Is that real?"
It was as I remember it (I was one of those viewers, although at least half of that was having a huge crush on Pam Dawber).
posted by Samizdata at 12:01 PM on December 2, 2015 [1 favorite]
Whoa. Thats like more than 1 in 4 people in the US sitting down at their tv to watch this one show...in 1978.
Is that real?"
It was as I remember it (I was one of those viewers, although at least half of that was having a huge crush on Pam Dawber).
posted by Samizdata at 12:01 PM on December 2, 2015 [1 favorite]
No love for Eugene? Poor Eugene, always left out of any Mork and Mindy retrospective.
God I loved that show. I turned 10 at the end of 1979 so it was in my prime "laugh at anything, even if you don't understand it" TV years. I remember seeing Mork on Happy Days and then hearing he was going to have his own show... boy, I couldn't wait. I didn't look forward to any show that much until I heard those crappy cartoons from Tracy Ullman were going to have a Christmas special.
Even at that age I remember being confused with how much it changed from season to season. Huh? Who are these new people with the deli? What's up with that? I was probably too young to notice that Jonathon Winters was phoning it in but I do remember being disappointed in everything after the first season, even if I did watch it religiously until the end.
I vaguely remember that cave painting.
Rainbow suspenders were everywhere back then. Yes, that show was so good it popularized rainbow suspenders.
Such a great show that they totally ruined.
Also, can we imprison whoever it was who thought putting distracting animated gifs every few paragraphs was a good idea?
posted by bondcliff at 12:03 PM on December 2, 2015 [8 favorites]
God I loved that show. I turned 10 at the end of 1979 so it was in my prime "laugh at anything, even if you don't understand it" TV years. I remember seeing Mork on Happy Days and then hearing he was going to have his own show... boy, I couldn't wait. I didn't look forward to any show that much until I heard those crappy cartoons from Tracy Ullman were going to have a Christmas special.
Even at that age I remember being confused with how much it changed from season to season. Huh? Who are these new people with the deli? What's up with that? I was probably too young to notice that Jonathon Winters was phoning it in but I do remember being disappointed in everything after the first season, even if I did watch it religiously until the end.
I vaguely remember that cave painting.
Rainbow suspenders were everywhere back then. Yes, that show was so good it popularized rainbow suspenders.
Such a great show that they totally ruined.
Also, can we imprison whoever it was who thought putting distracting animated gifs every few paragraphs was a good idea?
posted by bondcliff at 12:03 PM on December 2, 2015 [8 favorites]
Mork and Mindy was a tour de force, averaging 60 million viewers a week
Whoa. Thats like more than 1 in 4 people in the US sitting down at their tv to watch this one show...in 1978.
21 million households. Three people average per household sounds about right.
posted by Etrigan at 12:04 PM on December 2, 2015 [1 favorite]
Whoa. Thats like more than 1 in 4 people in the US sitting down at their tv to watch this one show...in 1978.
21 million households. Three people average per household sounds about right.
posted by Etrigan at 12:04 PM on December 2, 2015 [1 favorite]
Is that real?
Given that most people didn't have cable and VCRs wouldn't take off until the early 80s it's certainly believable. Most viewers had at best a handful of channels available (the big 3 networks, PBS and maybe something local). When you divide viewership by 3, big numbers are easy.
posted by tommasz at 12:05 PM on December 2, 2015 [3 favorites]
Given that most people didn't have cable and VCRs wouldn't take off until the early 80s it's certainly believable. Most viewers had at best a handful of channels available (the big 3 networks, PBS and maybe something local). When you divide viewership by 3, big numbers are easy.
posted by tommasz at 12:05 PM on December 2, 2015 [3 favorites]
bondcliff: I was probably too young to notice that Jonathon Winters was phoning it in...
"Jonathan Winters" and "phoning it in" should never ever appear in the same sentence (unless it's "Jonathan Winters castigated the other actor for phoning it in"). Mearth may have been a pretty terrible character concept, but Winters gave his all to it.
posted by hanov3r at 12:22 PM on December 2, 2015 [3 favorites]
"Jonathan Winters" and "phoning it in" should never ever appear in the same sentence (unless it's "Jonathan Winters castigated the other actor for phoning it in"). Mearth may have been a pretty terrible character concept, but Winters gave his all to it.
posted by hanov3r at 12:22 PM on December 2, 2015 [3 favorites]
Winters gave his all to it.
Then his all just wasn't very good. FTA: But unfortunately Winters was incapable of learning his lines, had a hard time staying in character, and struggled with depression. Storm, who directed Winters in a third-season episode, said they had to give Winters cue cards so he could recall his lines.
So maybe not purposely phoning it in, but also not in top form.
And I am a total Jonathon Winters fan. His scenes in It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World are some of my most favorite scenes anywhere. "This is a girl's bike. It's for a little girl!"
posted by bondcliff at 12:27 PM on December 2, 2015 [2 favorites]
Then his all just wasn't very good. FTA: But unfortunately Winters was incapable of learning his lines, had a hard time staying in character, and struggled with depression. Storm, who directed Winters in a third-season episode, said they had to give Winters cue cards so he could recall his lines.
So maybe not purposely phoning it in, but also not in top form.
And I am a total Jonathon Winters fan. His scenes in It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World are some of my most favorite scenes anywhere. "This is a girl's bike. It's for a little girl!"
posted by bondcliff at 12:27 PM on December 2, 2015 [2 favorites]
tommasz: "When you divide viewership by 3, big numbers are easy"
The final episode of M*A*S*H had 106 million viewers.
posted by Chrysostom at 12:33 PM on December 2, 2015 [3 favorites]
The final episode of M*A*S*H had 106 million viewers.
posted by Chrysostom at 12:33 PM on December 2, 2015 [3 favorites]
I still have an egg with a Mork action figure in it. He used to fight epic battles with the GI Joes and Star Wars figures.
posted by Kevin Street at 12:36 PM on December 2, 2015 [5 favorites]
posted by Kevin Street at 12:36 PM on December 2, 2015 [5 favorites]
Emjaybee, I had that lunchbox, too. Later on, in 11th grade, I used the thermos to smuggle whiskey into school.
posted by jonmc at 12:52 PM on December 2, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by jonmc at 12:52 PM on December 2, 2015 [1 favorite]
Still have my rainbow suspenders. Now my kids think I'm Uncle Grandpa.
posted by Wetterschneider at 12:58 PM on December 2, 2015 [9 favorites]
posted by Wetterschneider at 12:58 PM on December 2, 2015 [9 favorites]
I still have an egg with a Mork action figure in it. He used to fight epic battles with the GI Joes and Star Wars figures.
I had that toy, as well as the pull-string talking Mork doll. It says all of the expected "Shazbat" and "Nanoo Nanoo" catchphrases, but it also says my all-time favorite Mork line: "Oh, never go to Pluto, it's a mickey-mouse planet."
posted by Strange Interlude at 1:01 PM on December 2, 2015 [5 favorites]
I had that toy, as well as the pull-string talking Mork doll. It says all of the expected "Shazbat" and "Nanoo Nanoo" catchphrases, but it also says my all-time favorite Mork line: "Oh, never go to Pluto, it's a mickey-mouse planet."
posted by Strange Interlude at 1:01 PM on December 2, 2015 [5 favorites]
Whoa. Thats like more than 1 in 4 people in the US sitting down at their tv to watch this one show...in 1978.
In today's balkanized media culture where there are hundreds of cable channels, the internet, and streaming services, it's hard to picture the sad old days when we TV viewers basically had the three networks channels, plus PBS and a smattering of independent channels showing syndicated shows for some urban/suburban viewers, to choose from. It led to large audiences for particular popular shows. (And for my family in the summer, ionic interference with our rooftop antenna wiped out one or two of those channels, further reducing choice. No wonder I became a reader at a young age.)
posted by aught at 1:02 PM on December 2, 2015 [4 favorites]
In today's balkanized media culture where there are hundreds of cable channels, the internet, and streaming services, it's hard to picture the sad old days when we TV viewers basically had the three networks channels, plus PBS and a smattering of independent channels showing syndicated shows for some urban/suburban viewers, to choose from. It led to large audiences for particular popular shows. (And for my family in the summer, ionic interference with our rooftop antenna wiped out one or two of those channels, further reducing choice. No wonder I became a reader at a young age.)
posted by aught at 1:02 PM on December 2, 2015 [4 favorites]
And I am a total Jonathon Winters fan.
I like Winters, but am not an especially big fan. But I feel strongly that between Winters, Carl Reiner, Alan Arkin and Norman Jewison directing, it is mystifying that The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming is not widely recognized as one of the most perfect comedies of the 1960s. To this day, when either I or my father slips, trips, or drops something and someone asks if we are okay, we will respond, "Am wounded in dignity only."
posted by ricochet biscuit at 1:08 PM on December 2, 2015 [6 favorites]
I like Winters, but am not an especially big fan. But I feel strongly that between Winters, Carl Reiner, Alan Arkin and Norman Jewison directing, it is mystifying that The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming is not widely recognized as one of the most perfect comedies of the 1960s. To this day, when either I or my father slips, trips, or drops something and someone asks if we are okay, we will respond, "Am wounded in dignity only."
posted by ricochet biscuit at 1:08 PM on December 2, 2015 [6 favorites]
I think the ideas for retooling were really quite awful, but even if the network had been hands-off I don't know if that show could have (or should have) lasted more than four seasons. As they point out, fish-out-of-water premises have a hard time staying fresh over time; characters generally need to grow over time or else the jokes will get stale, but you can't have the character grow too much or else he loses what makes the show special.
Think of Scrubs, which had sincere things to say about the experience of working at a hospital, until they used up those ideas in the first few seasons and devolved into a bunch of in-jokes and fluff. Or Moonlighting, where they got a lot of mileage out of doing fancy concept episodes but eventually had to cash in on the will-they-won't-they tension, after which the show lost a lot of luster. Some shows should really be more like miniseries, or at least British-style seasons of six episodes instead of 23.
posted by savetheclocktower at 1:10 PM on December 2, 2015 [4 favorites]
Think of Scrubs, which had sincere things to say about the experience of working at a hospital, until they used up those ideas in the first few seasons and devolved into a bunch of in-jokes and fluff. Or Moonlighting, where they got a lot of mileage out of doing fancy concept episodes but eventually had to cash in on the will-they-won't-they tension, after which the show lost a lot of luster. Some shows should really be more like miniseries, or at least British-style seasons of six episodes instead of 23.
posted by savetheclocktower at 1:10 PM on December 2, 2015 [4 favorites]
I don't think I ever laughed harder in my entire childhood than when that Happy Days episode aired. My entire comic sensibility was (is) made up of Robin Williams, Monty Python and Steve Martin, all of whom were tops in that era.
posted by briank at 1:13 PM on December 2, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by briank at 1:13 PM on December 2, 2015 [3 favorites]
I vaguely remember a scene in Mork & Mindy where Mork was speaking on the phone to someone named Lipschitz. That was the funniest thing in the world to 9-year-old me.
posted by slogger at 1:15 PM on December 2, 2015
posted by slogger at 1:15 PM on December 2, 2015
ricochet biscuit, when I am with my parents and we're stuck behind something slow moving and annoying in traffic, one of us will sometimes say "Emergency, everybody to get from street."
posted by mwhybark at 1:16 PM on December 2, 2015 [4 favorites]
posted by mwhybark at 1:16 PM on December 2, 2015 [4 favorites]
70s show. Not 80s. (Though, yes, it ran into the 80s.)
Late 70s/early 80s TV shows were pretty much all terrible in the same way, though the variety show format did die out somewhere in the 80s thank god. But this show was different (which, as the article points out, eventually upset the suits too much).
Thanks to Williams, it felt a lot fresher/faster than most of the stuff you saw in the 70s. I think of it as a precursor to the better things that came along later; I can't really lump it with the rest of the 70s, style-wise.
posted by emjaybee at 1:17 PM on December 2, 2015
Late 70s/early 80s TV shows were pretty much all terrible in the same way, though the variety show format did die out somewhere in the 80s thank god. But this show was different (which, as the article points out, eventually upset the suits too much).
Thanks to Williams, it felt a lot fresher/faster than most of the stuff you saw in the 70s. I think of it as a precursor to the better things that came along later; I can't really lump it with the rest of the 70s, style-wise.
posted by emjaybee at 1:17 PM on December 2, 2015
Also… I mean, I guess it worked out for all involved, but what kind of shithead is Garry Marshall for walking into the Happy Days writers' room and saying “Hey, you guys have to write an episode around this dumb idea that my eight-year-old son had!” It's making me wonder which other of Marshall's projects were dreamed up by children.
posted by savetheclocktower at 1:25 PM on December 2, 2015 [5 favorites]
posted by savetheclocktower at 1:25 PM on December 2, 2015 [5 favorites]
Oh, hey, another Cheers connection in that Jay Thomas was also Eddie LeBec.
posted by Chrysostom at 1:29 PM on December 2, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Chrysostom at 1:29 PM on December 2, 2015 [1 favorite]
Late 70s/early 80s TV shows were pretty much all terrible in the same way, though the variety show format did die out somewhere in the 80s thank god.
I think that the impulse to air something like Dancing with the Stars is somehow a one-and-twenty manifestation of the same impulse that produced Battle of the Network Stars thirty-five years ago. I suppose watching Bristol Palin tango is mildly less exploitative than watching the casts of NCIS and Empire having a tug-of-war over the mud pit would be, but that is arguable.
mwhybark, I will often preface something I am saying to my dad with, "Remark to this, Whittaker Walt."
posted by ricochet biscuit at 1:31 PM on December 2, 2015 [4 favorites]
I think that the impulse to air something like Dancing with the Stars is somehow a one-and-twenty manifestation of the same impulse that produced Battle of the Network Stars thirty-five years ago. I suppose watching Bristol Palin tango is mildly less exploitative than watching the casts of NCIS and Empire having a tug-of-war over the mud pit would be, but that is arguable.
mwhybark, I will often preface something I am saying to my dad with, "Remark to this, Whittaker Walt."
posted by ricochet biscuit at 1:31 PM on December 2, 2015 [4 favorites]
My fuzzy memories of Mork and Mindy:
1. The transcendent joy of watching Robin Williams go off on just about anything. It seemed like the characters would always stop what they were doing and wait for him to say something, and so did the audience. And it was always worth it.
2. Adoring Mindy. Pam Dawber was just as integral to that show as Williams, even if the Mindy character was only meant to be a "straight man." Can't imagine the show without her.
3. The sheer absurdity of some of the plots. The show varied from insipid relationship stories to wonderful absurdity like Mork taking cold decongestant and shrinking into a micro-universe. Those absurd plots were what made it really work.
posted by Kevin Street at 1:47 PM on December 2, 2015 [4 favorites]
1. The transcendent joy of watching Robin Williams go off on just about anything. It seemed like the characters would always stop what they were doing and wait for him to say something, and so did the audience. And it was always worth it.
2. Adoring Mindy. Pam Dawber was just as integral to that show as Williams, even if the Mindy character was only meant to be a "straight man." Can't imagine the show without her.
3. The sheer absurdity of some of the plots. The show varied from insipid relationship stories to wonderful absurdity like Mork taking cold decongestant and shrinking into a micro-universe. Those absurd plots were what made it really work.
posted by Kevin Street at 1:47 PM on December 2, 2015 [4 favorites]
It's making me wonder which other of Marshall's projects were dreamed up by children.*
"PLEASE, CALL ME GARRY!"
posted by Strange Interlude at 2:04 PM on December 2, 2015 [1 favorite]
"PLEASE, CALL ME GARRY!"
posted by Strange Interlude at 2:04 PM on December 2, 2015 [1 favorite]
The transcendent joy of watching Robin Williams go off on just about anything.
It is hard to recollect now, but circa 1978 Robin Williams (and for that matter Steve Martin) were both white-hot talents, blazing like supernovas in a tired sky of comedy where Marty "Hello Dere" Allen and Don "You Hockey Puck" Rickles were legendary comics, and Dean Martin roasts were fixtures of the prime time television schedules. I envy people born after about 1980 that they never had to have their favourite TV show bumped so Nipsey Russel, Gabe Kaplan, and Ruth Buzzi could mock Redd Foxx for two hours.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 2:21 PM on December 2, 2015 [9 favorites]
It is hard to recollect now, but circa 1978 Robin Williams (and for that matter Steve Martin) were both white-hot talents, blazing like supernovas in a tired sky of comedy where Marty "Hello Dere" Allen and Don "You Hockey Puck" Rickles were legendary comics, and Dean Martin roasts were fixtures of the prime time television schedules. I envy people born after about 1980 that they never had to have their favourite TV show bumped so Nipsey Russel, Gabe Kaplan, and Ruth Buzzi could mock Redd Foxx for two hours.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 2:21 PM on December 2, 2015 [9 favorites]
Right after Robin Williams died last year I went on a "Mork and Mindy" rewatch kick. Admittedly, I may be retroactively devaluing the show having been spoiled over the past decade with truly great sitcoms like Arrested Development, 30 Rock, Parks and Rec, and some others, but it is interesting to me to see M&M's first season lauded as the highlight of its run because I honestly couldn't even get through the full season before I just threw in the towel (the episode mentioned in the article where Mork turns into an old man to provide companionship to Mindy's grandma was a particular low point in terms of schmaltz and sap).
In defense of the show, I don't know that it was any worse than the other shows I really enjoyed growing up such as "Diff'rent Strokes", "Facts of Life", "Silver Spoons", "Happy Days", or "Family Ties". I just don't think that these types of sitcoms that were somewhat typical in the late 70s and early 80s, with the overly broad jokes, predictable storylines, obvious "hug" and "Awww" moments have really aged well. I've learned not to rewatch any of these shows that I have such warm memories of, lest my entire childhood be ruined by hindsight.
posted by The Gooch at 2:22 PM on December 2, 2015 [4 favorites]
In defense of the show, I don't know that it was any worse than the other shows I really enjoyed growing up such as "Diff'rent Strokes", "Facts of Life", "Silver Spoons", "Happy Days", or "Family Ties". I just don't think that these types of sitcoms that were somewhat typical in the late 70s and early 80s, with the overly broad jokes, predictable storylines, obvious "hug" and "Awww" moments have really aged well. I've learned not to rewatch any of these shows that I have such warm memories of, lest my entire childhood be ruined by hindsight.
posted by The Gooch at 2:22 PM on December 2, 2015 [4 favorites]
They're predictable now, but weren't so back when we was bairns. But then again, there was a reason adults called TV the idiot box.
posted by Kevin Street at 2:27 PM on December 2, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Kevin Street at 2:27 PM on December 2, 2015 [1 favorite]
The Gooch: "it is interesting to me to see M&M's first season lauded as the highlight of its run because I honestly couldn't even get through the full season before I just threw in the towel"
As a kid Mork and Mindy wasn't shown on the channel we got so I've also been working through the series because of Robin Williams death. And while it has it's moments it is also horribly "-ist" in many ways. I'm sure a reflection of the times but holy moly what horrible times if it is actually reflective. It makes it difficult to watch which is partially why I'm not through the first season yet.
posted by Mitheral at 2:32 PM on December 2, 2015
As a kid Mork and Mindy wasn't shown on the channel we got so I've also been working through the series because of Robin Williams death. And while it has it's moments it is also horribly "-ist" in many ways. I'm sure a reflection of the times but holy moly what horrible times if it is actually reflective. It makes it difficult to watch which is partially why I'm not through the first season yet.
posted by Mitheral at 2:32 PM on December 2, 2015
And while it has it's moments it is also horribly "-ist" in many ways. I'm sure a reflection of the times but holy moly what horrible times if it is actually reflective.
It was definitely cool to be -ist during that time. See: Eddie Murphy. I saw "Good Morning, Vietnam" on TV recently and God, what sexist, racist crap is in Robin Williams' character and the whole movie.
posted by Melismata at 2:41 PM on December 2, 2015
It was definitely cool to be -ist during that time. See: Eddie Murphy. I saw "Good Morning, Vietnam" on TV recently and God, what sexist, racist crap is in Robin Williams' character and the whole movie.
posted by Melismata at 2:41 PM on December 2, 2015
...backs slowly out of thread.
posted by Kevin Street at 2:52 PM on December 2, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Kevin Street at 2:52 PM on December 2, 2015 [1 favorite]
Apologies to my cohort for youngifying them.
No need to apologize... carry on, nanoo nanoo
posted by infini at 3:46 PM on December 2, 2015
No need to apologize... carry on, nanoo nanoo
posted by infini at 3:46 PM on December 2, 2015
Whoa. Thats like more than 1 in 4 people in the US sitting down at their tv to watch this one show...in 1978.
What, you think I had a CHOICE? The strapped me down, wired my eyes open, and made me watch it. And do you know what's worse? Robin Williams trailing a cloud of cocaine behind him was BETTER than the other stuff that was on at the same time.
There's Reasons that I went through the 80s as a goth. Mork and Mindy is part of it.
posted by happyroach at 3:47 PM on December 2, 2015 [6 favorites]
What, you think I had a CHOICE? The strapped me down, wired my eyes open, and made me watch it. And do you know what's worse? Robin Williams trailing a cloud of cocaine behind him was BETTER than the other stuff that was on at the same time.
There's Reasons that I went through the 80s as a goth. Mork and Mindy is part of it.
posted by happyroach at 3:47 PM on December 2, 2015 [6 favorites]
"PLEASE, CALL ME GARRY!"
Paul F Tompkins as Garry Marshall is a lot of fun.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 5:02 PM on December 2, 2015
Paul F Tompkins as Garry Marshall is a lot of fun.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 5:02 PM on December 2, 2015
Kids liked saying "Shazbot!"
"PLEASE, CALL ME GARRY!"
I have this shirt. Here's what happens when I wear it:
Person: Who's Garry?
Me: Do you know who Garry Marshall is?
Person: No.
Me: Do you know who Paul F. Tompkins is?
Person: Paula Tompkins?
Me: It's from a comedy thing.
Person: OK, cool.
posted by Room 641-A at 6:33 PM on December 2, 2015 [4 favorites]
"PLEASE, CALL ME GARRY!"
I have this shirt. Here's what happens when I wear it:
Person: Who's Garry?
Me: Do you know who Garry Marshall is?
Person: No.
Me: Do you know who Paul F. Tompkins is?
Person: Paula Tompkins?
Me: It's from a comedy thing.
Person: OK, cool.
posted by Room 641-A at 6:33 PM on December 2, 2015 [4 favorites]
“Hey, you guys have to write an episode around this dumb idea that my eight-year-old son had!”
I have to believe this one incident is the entire basis for Paul F Tomkins's Garry Marshall character on Comedy Bang Bang.
posted by zippy at 7:20 PM on December 2, 2015 [1 favorite]
I have to believe this one incident is the entire basis for Paul F Tomkins's Garry Marshall character on Comedy Bang Bang.
posted by zippy at 7:20 PM on December 2, 2015 [1 favorite]
I also had the Mork action figure. The egg spaceship made a very credible GI Joe accessory (cobras lay eggs, right?). I'm also now remembering that at one point as a child I had a Mork & Mindy novelization on my bookshelf. Entertainment in the days before cable TV and the Internet was very strange.
posted by sevenyearlurk at 8:45 PM on December 2, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by sevenyearlurk at 8:45 PM on December 2, 2015 [2 favorites]
I realize that the episode with Raquel Welch & the Necrotons is probably pretty objectively bad, but I remember loving it as a young boy, probably because it gave me early onset puberty.
posted by jonp72 at 9:30 PM on December 2, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by jonp72 at 9:30 PM on December 2, 2015 [1 favorite]
The original choice to play Mork on his initial appearance on Happy Days (which famously was the idea of an eight-year-old) was Roger Rees, a.k.a. the Sheriff of Rottingham in Robin Hood: Men in Tights.
In the oral history article Brian Levant says, "[The original Mork actor] was the Sheriff of Nottingham from Mel Brooks’ Robin Hood TV show." That's Henry Polic II from When Things were Rotten.
I think the author Googled the wrong Mel Brooks Robin Hood thing.
posted by reegmo at 8:16 AM on December 3, 2015 [1 favorite]
In the oral history article Brian Levant says, "[The original Mork actor] was the Sheriff of Nottingham from Mel Brooks’ Robin Hood TV show." That's Henry Polic II from When Things were Rotten.
I think the author Googled the wrong Mel Brooks Robin Hood thing.
posted by reegmo at 8:16 AM on December 3, 2015 [1 favorite]
Person: Who's Garry?
The only correct answer to that is "I am, duh."
posted by Etrigan at 8:26 AM on December 3, 2015
The only correct answer to that is "I am, duh."
posted by Etrigan at 8:26 AM on December 3, 2015
In the oral history article...
I swear that was not there when I made this post, and I apologize to the ghost of Roger Rees for passing along the false information that he turned down being Mork.
posted by Etrigan at 8:30 AM on December 3, 2015
I swear that was not there when I made this post, and I apologize to the ghost of Roger Rees for passing along the false information that he turned down being Mork.
posted by Etrigan at 8:30 AM on December 3, 2015
reegmo: "That's Henry Polic II from When Things were Rotten."
Uh, I *think* you mean, "Henry Polic II from Webster."
posted by Chrysostom at 8:33 AM on December 3, 2015
Uh, I *think* you mean, "Henry Polic II from Webster."
posted by Chrysostom at 8:33 AM on December 3, 2015
Person: Who's Garry?
The only correct answer to that is "I am, duh."
"That guy, over there. Could you call him for me? I have laryngitis and can't yell."
posted by phearlez at 2:14 PM on December 3, 2015
The only correct answer to that is "I am, duh."
"That guy, over there. Could you call him for me? I have laryngitis and can't yell."
posted by phearlez at 2:14 PM on December 3, 2015
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Yes, Mork went from childlike to childish. Just like Balki did later on Perfect Strangers and Dharma did later on Dharma And Greg.
If there's one thing that the media establishment hated for years, it's the idea of the Naive Outsider Offering Commentary On Cultural Issues. So the same thing happened to all these series -- the insightful outsider was turned into a child who needs to be taught how to get along in the dominant culture.
The outsider observations are what drew me to any of these series, but they soon all became sort of after-school specials, showing the oddball how to fit in.
posted by hippybear at 11:30 AM on December 2, 2015 [45 favorites]