Mork & Mindy: Gotta Run, Part 1

Mork & Mindy: Gotta Run, Part 1
ABC
May 6, 1982
Sitcom
DVD
B-

In this Begel & Kite story, Regalbuto and Graff (who'd previously played a Receptionist) are a couple who seem to be a Neptunian named Kalnik and an Earth woman named Tracy.  Mork meets "Kal" while trying to call Orson and the two men soon hit it off.  But Kal is just using Mork, while Tracy is actually a robot, and a literal blonde bombshell.  After she explodes, the McConnells have to go on the run.  Mindy is correct that they will never see their home again, although no one then knew that the series was going to be cancelled in a few weeks.  This is not just a two-parter but a three-parter, fairly unusual for a sitcom of that time.

Mork & Mindy: Alienation

Mork & Mindy: Alienation
ABC
December 3, 1981
Sitcom
DVD
C+

This Kout & Zateslo story is a good example of an episode that is more interesting than entertaining:

• Mork and Mindy tell Mearth about his heritage and he's so unhappy that he runs away;
• He's taken in by a cult that's more satanic-looking and less-hippie-ish than the cults shown on sitcoms of the mid to late '70s;
• John Larroquette and Richard Moll, less than three years before Night Court, are the two cultists with speaking roles, the former the leader, the latter menacing but a little child-like;
• Mearth in the end embraces his heritage and experiments a little with his powers, making me wonder how this compares to Tabitha on Bewitched, although of course she stayed a baby for a couple seasons, while Mearth is practically a kindergartener at this point;
• We see that Mork's attic bedroom has been converted into Mearth's room;
• Mearth meets Orson during Mork's report;
• Williams refers to James Watt and Hill Street Blues, pulling us further into the '80s.

Mork & Mindy: Old Muggable Mork

This scene is not on the DVD and I don't remember it at the time.

Mork & Mindy: Old Muggable Mork
ABC
April 16, 1981
Sitcom
DVD
C+

While it's nice to see Elizabeth Kerr back, I wish writers Collins & Raznick had given her better material.  Grandma Cora is visiting for three days, although she lives in Boston and travels a lot with her Swinging Seniors group.  Her spirit is broken when she's mugged.  Then Mork goes proto-Doubtfire by dressing as an old woman, to teach the muggers a lesson.  I would rather have watched something where Cora had a new boyfriend or a new career; I don't want to see her afraid to go outside.  And again, Mindy's friends, especially Glenda Faye, suck energy out of the scene.  (What's odd is, Wilzak is sometimes fine with Williams and/or Dawber but she's generally over the top with Hecht, who in turn becomes muted around her.)

Garry Marshall's son Scott, who'd previously played a character named Scott, is the Boy Scout here.  Mugger #1, Charles Thomas Murphy, had two roles on The Bob Newhart Show, while Mugger #2, Anthony Peck, would be Jack Smith on Who's the Boss?  This is the first of three Mork episodes directed by Don Barnhart.