Shark Bytes

I have not seen this show since it ran on ABC back in the early 80s. I have to agree with most of the people here. That style of comedy gets old very fast. I think the only reason it lasted for a few seasons is that it was fresh and no one had seen it yet. A few years is a good run for something like that. The fourth season seems like they wanted to try and save it or re-fuel it with new characters. That usually does not work.

As to Robin Williams...This guy is really good in dramatic stories. I am surprised he does not just stick to that. The only comedy he did that I really liked was the Bird Cage. But there he was more of a straight man to Nathan Lane's comic character.

He also did Popeye. Anyone remember that flop and flops?

Whatever happened to Pam Dawber? She was a lovely lady. Sort of like Baily on WKRP in Cinci. I take Baily over Loni any day.

Sorry, got off topic there. This is Mork and Mindy afterall.

I have always been a huge fan of Jonathan Winters. He was a comic genius and a master of expression. One of my favorite TV performers of all time, along with Ernie Kovacs and a select few others.

So, what possessed him to take on this part? Was he pressed for money? Desperate to work? Repaying a favor? There had to be some overwhelming reason for him to feel the need to embarrass himself in this way.

As much as I love JW, this was his worst moment. It was sad to see him do this.

Once season two started and we had Mork as a cheerleader, and the episode with Racquel Welch, it was over. Not to mention the pizza shop owners, that wuss "Nelson" (who I guess was Mindy's cousin??) and (get ready to play "Taps") Johnathan Winters. I guess Winters was Robin Williams' idol, and they thought it would be a great idea to get him on the show to play a 260 pound baby. Whatever. And I wish Williams had stuck to his dramatic movie roles. Watching him, well into his fifties, acting like such a coked-up loser (his Inside the Actors Studio appearance was the most annoying thing I've ever witnessed) is pathetic. Small consolation...Pam Dawber was a cutie, and ya know what? She still is!

Anyone knows when the fourth season of Mork & Mindy coming out on DVD?

Season 1 thru 4 was great, you guys just don't have a sense of humor

I have the first 3 seasons on dvd and I like them. I think by the beginning of the 4th season, it was toast. Introducing Jonathan Winters as their baby, while funny, just seemed desperate.

Milioni.

Sorry this is off topic. But, could some kind sould out there, please say a prayer for me and my family? My parents fight all the time now, and me and Mearth are constantly in the middle.

Thanks!

Mork's Daughter

I think it JTS when Mearth was born. I wasn't so fond of a middle aged man trying to portray a child. I understand that in Mork's world that's what happens, aliens age backwards, but hello, Mindy supposidly helped create Mearth too. So half and half right? Why couldn't Mearth be a little kid or w/e but have orkan traits as well? Jonathan Winters was SO not the right person to play Mearth either. Even though some might say otherwise, I would have liked to see more romantic interaction with Mork and Mindy. Yes, I agree with many that Robin Williams can be annoying as well. Pam on the other hand....veeeery nice;0)

I suprised that everyone forgot Mork's pet "Naugachomp" (season 2 or 3). What it was, was an rc car w/ carpeting and mop fringes glued on.And it would charge the feet of the cast (I think just to wake them up). That was really stu-pid! I mean John Dysktra did the FX and Garry Marshall was THE TV mogul at that time ya think they can come up w/ something better that a direct descendent of the roomba!?!

The ABC execs, in their infinite wisdom, decided that more kids would watch Mork and Mindy (already a solid top 3 hit) if they ditched the old and middle-aged characters (Mindy's dad and grandma) in favor of new, younger characters (a brother and sister who own a pizza parlor). It's a well-known fact that kids can't stand anybody over the age of 18 . Yeah, right...that's why we all hated our grandparents, right? Give me a break! Stupid, stupid, stupid.

Anyway, the show took a nosedive and even though they scrambled to fix it, Mork and Mindy never was the same again. It's first year it was in the top 3 and everyone was wearing rainbow suspenders and saying "nanoo-nanoo." By its fourth (and final) season, Mork and Mindy didn't even make it into the top 40, and nobody mourned when it was canceled.

WHATS WITH MORKS RAINBOW SUSPENDERS???
MAN,AM I GLAD THE 70'S ARE OVER.
I GUESS EVERYBODY WAS SO COKED UP BACK THEN THAT THEY FOUND THAT KIND OF CRAP FUNNY.
ROBIN WILLIAMS HAS GOT TO BE THE MOST UNTALENTED BAG OF DUNG COMEDIAN IN HISTORY.
AFTER 2 SECONDS OF WILLIAMS ROUTINE YOU'LL BE REACHING FOR A 38 TO BLOW OUT THE BACK OF YOUR SKULL!
IT DIDNT SUPRISE ME YEARS LATER WHEN I WAS DATING GINA HECHT THAT SHE TOLD ME SHE WAS GLAD WHEN THE SHOW GOT CANCELLED.
SHE CLAIMED DAWBER HAD HAD ENOUGHT TOO AND GOT SICK OF BEING UPSTAGED BY WILLIAMS ANTICS.
GINA WAS REALLY A VERY HOT LADY AND LOADS OF FUN.
I FELT BAD FOR HER THAT HER CAREER NEVER TOOK OFF.
FUNNY,SHE NEVER THOUGHT WILLIAMS WOULD TURN INTO THE STAR HE DID EITHER.

I grew up with this show and I have to admit,I never understood the popularity of Robin Williams.
His type of "comedy" wears thin after about 15 seconds.
I found him obnoxious even when I was a kid,he just acted like a retard.
He'd always do something incredible stupid and get Mindy mad,then he'd do his little boy caught playing with himself face and get all sappy and prosteletize and give us some warm and fuzzy "moral" that he learned.
It makes me sick to see all the B.S. hollywood throws out about Williams calling him a genius is a gross abuse of the term.
Funny everyone I know has told me they cant stand him!

Williams was the type of comedian whose routine is funny for about the first 10-15 minutes. Then it rapidly devolves into annoying.

Looking back, I sometimes wonder now just why I (and most of America) found him that funny for as long as we did.

When Mork And Mindy debuted in 1978, it was an instant, out-of-the-box hit, the kind of things networks fantasize and drool about. It was a top 10 hit that instantly connected with the TV audience.

It had a great, balanced cast and was funny. Now, when something like this works so well, you leave it alone and just let the producers and cast keep spinning gold in their comedy factory.

Well, one would think that, anyway...

ABC, in its infinite insanity, decided to bow to a demographics study that said that audiences wanted younger characters. So, Fred, Mindy's father and Cora, Mindy's grandmother, were unceremoniously dumped.

Newer, younger characters were added and experimental, drug-induced storylines were tried out (the one were Mork popped into an alternate universe springs to mind).

What wasn't broke was fixed and the result was that M&M was never the same. It never recovered creatively and the show took a ratings hit, never to reclaim its top-rated status.

It's a shame, because the first year was fun and could have continued being fun, but alas...

By the time Jonathan Winters came on as Mearth, the show was pretty much done. Having Mork and Mindy all of a sudden being in a romance seemed very contrived, as they'd always had a very nice, believable platonic friendship.