Mork & Mindy is an American sitcom that aired on ABC. It starred Robin Williams and Pam Dawber as the two title characters and was on the air for four television seasons, from 1978 to 1982.
The premise of the show is that Mork is an alien from the planet Ork who has been sent to observe humanity. Mindy is the first human being he meets, and she agrees to keep his alien identity a secret and let him live in her attic. Over the course of the series, they fall in love, marry and have a child. Episodes generally revolved around Mork's attempts to understand human behavior and culture. They usually ended with Mork making a report to his superior Orson back on Ork, which allowed the show (via Mork) to provide humorous commentary on '70s and '80s culture.
Mork & Mindy was written to take advantage of Robin Williams' skills in improvisational comedy and was very successful in its first season. Ratings declined after that, largely due to changes in the timeslot and supporting characters, and the show was cancelled after its fourth season. However, catchphrases from the show, such as the Orkan greeting "Nanu-nanu" and Orkan expletive "Shazbot!" quickly became integrated into popular culture and far outlasted the show's run. The show started out as a spin-off from Happy Days, in the episode "My Favorite Orkan". Mork & Mindy in turn was made into an animated version, which was part of the Mork & Mindy/Laverne & Shirley/Fonz Hour. The program consisted of two separate series of segments, one series with Mork & Mindy characters and the other with characters from Happy Days and Laverne & Shirley.
Mork & Mindy has been referred to several times in The Simpsons media.
References
Television episodes
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Season
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Episode number
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Episode name
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Reference
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7
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134
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"Treehouse of Horror VI"
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When the advertising mascot of Lard Lad collapses and dies, his giant metal donut rolls away. Meanwhile, somewhere in the desert, Kang and Kodos are standing by the side of the road, posing as newlyweds and trying to hitch a ride to "Earth Capital". Lard Lad's donut appears on the scene and rolls right by them without stopping, prompting Kodos to say "Oh, shazbot" in disappointment.
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8
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168
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"Homer's Phobia"
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One of the items that John has for sale in his shop is a copy of TV Guide that was owned by Jackie O. When John sees Marge looking at it, he says, "You should see the crossword puzzle. She thought that Mindy lived with Mark."
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12
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267
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"I'm Goin' to Praiseland"
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In his hallucination, Comic Book Guy is cast as Spock and serving on board the Enterprise. Captain Kirk's command chair starts raising, lowering, and spinning on its own, shaking Kirk up rather badly. Comic Book Guy assesses the situation and says, "Shazbot! My captain is in peril." He then comes to the rescue by shooting green rays from his eyes and settling the chair down.
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13
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270
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"Treehouse of Horror XII"
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Bart says "Shazbot!" when the dragon that Lisa was attempting to control is revealed to be Lord Montymort in disguise.
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28
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647
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"The Caper Chase"
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Lisa gives Homer a DVD box set of movies with inspirational teachers, among them Dead Poets Society. Homer says that John Keating, played by Robin Williams, is like Patch Adams (whom Williams also played, in the film of the same title) minus Mork.
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Comic stories
Video games
Common cast and crew
Cast
Crew
External links
Mork & Mindy at Wikipedia
