Mork & Mindy: Fun Facts and Hidden Details You Might Have Missed
Mork & Mindy: Goofs, secrets, and hidden details you missed
As the classic character Mork in Mork & Mindy, Robin Williams was a comic genius. Although I became engrossed in the program, Mork & Mindy was obviously more than just Robin Williams.
The show has its own mysteries and details that you might have missed on the initial viewing, and there are a lot of things to notice when you watch repeats today that I was unaware of at the time.
Let’s examine the little intricacies and untold tales that add to Mork & Mindy’s interest beyond what we may have initially believed.
Mork & Mindy, MASH*, and Happy Days would surely be included on any real list of television icons. These programs became cultural icons rather than just hits.
For those who don’t know or are too young to recall, Mork & Mindy was a late 1980s and early 1980s American sitcom. Robin Williams played Mork, a quirky extraterrestrial from the planet Ork who was brought to Earth to study how people behave.
A good-hearted woman named Mindy (Pam Dawber) takes him in and serves as his mentor in all things human. Thanks to Williams’ humorous, improvised manner, the iconic TV sitcom, which combined comedy and science fiction, became an immediate hit.
Through the eyes of an alien attempting to blend in, it offers a blend of uplifting moments, slapstick humor, and an insight into what makes us human.
The only alien to try out for Mork & Mindy was a spin-off of “My Favorite Orkan,” a hugely successful Happy Days episode that gave then-unknown Robin Williams his big break. Additionally, the backstory of Robin’s casting as Mork is entertaining.
Producer Garry Marshall heard about Robin Williams from his sister, who had seen him perform at a comedy club. She exclaimed, “You have to see this guy – his alien bit is amazing!” after being so amazed with his extraterrestrial routine.
Pam Dawber claims that’s when they made the decision to bring him in.
Williams flopped onto the chair—inverted—when instructed to sit during the audition. He was chosen by producer Garry Marshall because, in his own words, “He was the only alien to audition.”
Later, it was revealed that both Roger Rees and Dom DeLuise were offered the part but declined. Jeff Altman and Richard Lewis were also considered for the role.
Pam Dawber: No difficulty, no audition
Although Robin Williams’ Mork & Mindy audition will never be forgotten, Pam Dawber’s path to becoming Mindy was a little less conventional. In reality, she didn’t try out for the role!
Producer Garry Marshall skillfully combined video from Dawber’s earlier, unsuccessful ABC series Sister Terri (1978) with footage of Williams’ guest appearance as Mork on Happy Days in order to pitch the show to the network.
Dawber learned she had been cast from the trade publication Variety after ABC picked up the show because they loved it.
The actual location of Mork & Mindy
In contrast to Happy Days, which is set in Milwaukee in the late 1950s and early 1960s, Mork & Mindy is set in Boulder, Colorado, in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
During a phone conversation with an ABC executive, producer Garry Marshall came up with the basic idea for Mork & Mindy. When a friend’s child enrolled at Colorado University, he decided to set the scene in Boulder. In fact, Marshall’s eight-year-old son came up with the concept for the alien character after watching Star Wars (1977) and suggesting a television program on extraterrestrial life.
Mindy’s house was filmed from the outside at 1619 Pine Street, which is close to downtown Boulder. It’s interesting to note that Mindy’s father’s music store was really filmed at a bookstore on Pearl Street Mall in Boulder.
On set, Robin Williams committed the “grossest things.”
Robin Williams’ co-star on Mork & Mindy, Pam Dawber, disclosed that Williams frequently engaged in “the grossest things” on set, such as groping and passing gas.
She said, “I had the grossest things done to me – by him,” without taking offense. I was bumped, humped, grabbed, and flashed. It was a lot of fun, but I believe he probably did it to a lot of people.
Williams, according to Dawber, possessed a certain “magic” that made his actions appear lighthearted rather than malevolent. “It was just Robin being Robin, and he thought it would be funny,” director Howard Storm stated. He might get away with killing someone.
On-set, completely nude
One further indication of Robin Williams’ enchantment? The authors of Mork & Mindy would intentionally leave holes in the scripts because of his frequent improvisation. Williams was able to incorporate his own imaginative twists as a result, which increased the unpredictability and humor of each scenario.
However, Robin Williams’ spontaneous lines were frequently too controversial for a mainstream television audience, so many of his improvisations had to be swapped out for pre-written “ad libs” from a big crew.
In order to get the cast excited, Robin Williams would frequently flash them, according to Garry Marshall.
She would try to act like he was acting when he would strip off and stand there completely nude. He claimed that his life’s purpose was to make Pam Dawber blush.
Robin Williams’ battle with cocaine
Unfortunately, despite Mork & Mindy’s fame, Robin Williams’ life wasn’t always easy.
Gina Hecht, who costarred with Robin in Mork and Mindy, stated in the documentary The Dark Side of Comedy that “Robin’s highs were so high and his lows were often low.”
Robin acknowledged that he began using cocaine on set because he was at a loss for words while addressing the celebs and staff members who were watching the show in between takes.
He developed a cocaine addiction that would impact him for a significant portion of his life as a result of this initially minor habit.
The hand gesture’s veracity
The well-known “Live long and prosper” hand motion from Star Trek, a series that Robin Williams loved, served as the inspiration for Mork’s famed “Nanu Nanu” welcome. It’s interesting to note that Mork’s Orkan space suit had a somewhat recycled past because it was first utilized in the 1969 episode “The Savage Curtain” of Star Trek.
A few more notable catchphrases were made popular by the series, such as “Shazbat” (/ˈʃaezbÉ’t/), a peculiar Orkan exclamation that Mork frequently used. Mork’s use of “KO” rather than the more common “OK” was another unusual twist.
From popularity to time slot issues, Mork & Mindy swiftly rose to prominence in the ratings, becoming among the top three series in its debut season.
However, ABC chose to move the show to Sundays for the second season in order to compete with CBS’ Sunday comedy lineup, which included Archie Bunker’s Place (1979). Regretfully, the change resulted in a precipitous decline in ratings.
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The program never quite regained the momentum it had in its launch, even when it moved back to its old Thursday night schedule in the middle of the season.
Drama behind the scenes
Did you know that Cora (Elizabeth Kerr) and Fred (Conrad Janis) were cut off Mork & Mindy at the beginning of season two because the characters didn’t exactly appeal to the show’s younger viewership?
An orchestra excursion that was fictitious was used to explain their absence. Viewers weren’t pleased, though, and by season three, both characters were back, albeit with Cora making sporadic appearances.
Problems with time travel
Although the series was set in the present, Mork’s first appearance in My Favorite Orkan (1978) was set in the 1950s. It was discovered throughout the presentation that Orkans do, in fact, get younger as they mature. But it was never made clear why Mork stayed the same age as when he appeared in Happy Days.
Raquel Welch in Mindy and Mork
At first, it was difficult for me to identify Raquel Welch because I was also unaware that she had been in Mork & Mindy.
In fact, she plays Captain Nirvana in two of the season 2 episodes. In these episodes, Mork gets kidnapped by three lustful Necroton aliens to discover more about Earth.
The intended purpose of “Mork vs. the Necrotons,” a one-hour special, was to increase November ratings and possibly add some spice. Sadly, it turned out to be a low point for Mork & Mindy since audiences found the show less appealing as it shifted toward a more sophisticated tone.
During a political rally for Nelson Flavor (Jim Staahl), Orson calls Mork in an emergency to inform him that Ork’s arch-enemies, the Necrotons, have come to Earth to find out what Mork knows about the planet they intend to conquer.
Mork hides inside Mindy’s couch, the Orkan technique of avoiding trouble. With the help of guards Kama (Debra Jo Fondren, Playboy’s 1978 Playmate of the Year) and Sutra (Vicki Frederick), Raquel Welch portrays Captain Nirvana, the head of the Necrotons, who employs odd techniques of torture like feather tickling and hot tub hickeys.
One thing that comes to mind when viewing old footage and closely examining Raquel Welch’s performance is how frequently people overlook the fact that Raquel truly enjoyed performing comedy and was quite skilled at it.
Raquel was so annoying.
While filming Mork & Mindy, casting director Joel Thurm remembered that Raquel Welch was a bit of a handful. Jane Fonda was originally supposed to play the evil Captain Nirvana, but she had to withdraw out due to schedule difficulties, so Welch took her place.
Thurm added that Welch was going through a “unsettling time” at the time as she was switching from movie stars to TV assignments.
She “acted out a bit during shooting,” spending more time in her trailer than was necessary, taking longer to get ready and apply makeup, and even declining to wear a certain costume. Thurm acknowledged, however, that she “look[ed] spectacular” in her skintight silver cast suit.
The cast and crew threw her a modest farewell party when she wrapped up her second and last episode. Welch approached Thurm and the producers and said, “Look, I know I was a bit of a pain in the a–, but wasn’t I worth it?” in a moment he described as “very funny and very true.”
It’s difficult to realize that she was a “handful” behind the scenes while looking at vintage pictures from her time on Mork & Mindy. As always, she looks gorgeous, self-assured, and totally in her element!
