Mork & Mindy: Invasion of the Mork Snatchers

Mork & Mindy: Invasion of the Mork Snatchers
ABC
March 20, 1980
Sitcom
DVD
C+

This Tenowich & Sharlach episode hasn't aged well, not just because the references to specific ads are very dated.  I mean, yes, I vaguely remember "Chow Chow Chow" for cat food, and the hand lotion thing about which one is the mother, but these aren't inherently funny in the way that, for instance, two of the Calgon commercials were ("Calgon, take me away!" and "Ancient Chinese secret, huh?").  It's also that the message that child-like (except when he's making sex jokes) Mork needs to just use careful judgment when shopping feels even more contrived than it did back then.  Yes, I get it, this is a network show and you can't have a totally anti-advertising message, but it does weaken the episode to pull back into wishy-washiness.  Note the Ray Walston reference, which almost qualifies as a double in-joke, since not only was My Favorite Martian a sort of predecessor to this show, but Williams would at the time of this episode's shooting probably not yet have filmed his Popeye scenes with Walston as Poopdeck Pappy.

Gina Hecht's absence is referenced, as if M & M couldn't have had just Remo over for dinner.  Samantha Harper, who plays Mrs. L.W., was Nurse Burke on The Bob Newhart Show.  Laxative Salesman Terrence McNally would be Brad on Who's the Boss?  And, yes, that's That Girl's Ruth Bauman, AKA Alice Borden, as the Floor Wax Saleswoman.