Alice in Wonderland, Part 2

Alice in Wonderland, Part 2
CBS
December 10, 1985
TV-Movie, Children's, Musical, Fantasy
VHS
C+

The cast this time, other than Natalie Gregory of course, with * if they were in Part 1:

• Sheila Allen as Alice's Mother
• Steve Allen as the Gentleman in Paper Suit
• Ernest Borgnine as the Lion
• Beau Bridges as the Unicorn
• Lloyd Bridges as the White Knight
• Red Buttons as the White Rabbit*
• Carol Channing as the White Queen
• Patrick Duffy as the Goat
• George Gobel as the Gnat
• Eydie Gorme as Tweedledee
• Merv Griffin as the Conducter
• Ann Jillian as the Red Queen
• Arte Johnson as the Dormouse*
• Harvey Korman as the White King
• Steve Lawrence as Tweedledum
• Karl Malden as the Walrus
• Roddy McDowall as the March Hare*
• Jayne Meadows as the Queen of Hearts*
• Donna Mills as the Rose
• Pat Morita as the Horse
• Robert Morley as the King of Hearts*
• Anthony Newley as the Mad Hatter*
• Louis Nye (one of whose credits is the voice of Lee Fong in Yes, Virginia, There Is a Santa Claus) as the Carpenter
• John Stamos as the Messenger
• Sally Struthers as the Tiger Lily
• Jack Warden as the Owl
• Jonathan Winters as Humpty Dumpty

This is a definite improvement over Part 1 although still not great.  This time the songs are much more enjoyable, particularly the ones with Jillian, Channing, and Steve & Eydie.  Gregory seems to be more settled into the role, or maybe she just enjoyed interacting with this cast more.  

Looking-Glass (reviewed here http://rereadingeverybookiown.blogspot.com/2012/02/through-looking-glass.html) is a less hostile, more reflective (pun semi-intended) story and there are moments of sweetness in this part, as with the White Knight.  Unfortunately, a "learn to face your fears" moral is shoehorned into this part with a not very satisfactory resolution.  (Alice screams at the cheesy but sort of scary Jabberwocky that she doesn't believe in it.)  I guess if we look at the TV-movie as one piece, I can be generous and say it averages out to a C, but you could just watch this part and be better off.

Laura Carlson, who plays the Daisy, was a Messenger on Mork & Mindy.

Mork & Mindy: The Mork Report

Mork & Mindy: The Mork Report
ABC
May 27, 1982
Sitcom
DVD
B-

Winifred Hervey wrote this episode that was meant to air before the "Gotta Run" three-parter.  It feels like it's going to be a clip show, but Mork's memories in his report to Orson on marriage are all newly shot (and directed by Williams).  We get to Fred and Cora, and hear Orson, this one last time, and end on a more upbeat note, even if it was probably cognitive dissonance at the time.  (Like I said, I remember hardly anything about this season in its first airing.)  The sequences with just Mork and Mindy are best here, especially their "romantic" dance.  (Shown in black & white, unlike the still above.)  I guess we can be glad that M & M got together, even if how this was handled, and other events along the way, didn't always live up to potential.

Mork & Mindy in its final season ranges from 2 Cs to 2 Bs, averaging out to a low B-.  I don't think the series ever fully jumped the shark, and it probably wasn't sustainable for long term (say six plus years) anyway, given the premise and Williams's persona.  It remains a cute, sweet show, sometimes very moving, other times baffling and/or disappointing.  I'm glad I got to follow it then and now on this crazy journey, but I don't know what I would've made of it with a time-traveling Season Five.  If M & M's bond were reemphasized, I probably would've stayed with it, but part of that bond was always their culture clash, and that might've been lost with them clashing with a variety of cultures.

This is not quite it for Williams & Dawber, since a friend sent me a download of their reunion on The Crazy Ones.  If I can still access it when we get up to 2014, I'll share my thoughts then.  For now, we bid a farewell to my junior-high years and prepare for life as a high school freshman...

Mork & Mindy: Gotta Run, Part 3

Mork & Mindy: Gotta Run, Part 3
ABC
May 20, 1982
Sitcom
DVD
C+

And so it ends, except it doesn't, because another episode aired the following week.  Eisenstock & Mintz wrote this final part which ends on a cliffhanger, as M & M are lost in time, after having been interviewed by a Tom Snyder knock-off, overwhelmed by hangers-on, menaced by Kal, and befriended by cavepeople.  (Mearth has been left behind with Fred.)  I'll reserve my observations on the season and the series for next time, but I will say that although this episode doesn't work too well, it's at least interesting.  Note, they do actually go back to their home at one point, but it's still in shambles.

Dan Barrows, who was Mr. Keeney on The Bob Newhart Show, Dr. Yalowich on Soap, and Dittman on this show, plays Maury here.

Mork & Mindy: Gotta Run, Part 2

Mork & Mindy: Gotta Run, Part 2
ABC
May 13, 1982
Sitcom
DVD
C+

I didn't mention it earlier, but there was an episode where Mork wanted to practice for the written part of his driving test, and then there was an episode where he got his license offscreen.  Here we see him driving to and from Arizona, as the McConnells try to escape Kalnik.  They end up on a fat farm, but Kal impersonates Fred and then battles them.  They escape and Mork decides to go public as an alien.  I might've gone with another B-, but it feels out of character for Mindy to call Mork a dumbbell, and the thing about him disliking her perm goes on too long without being funny.

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: Cheerleader in Chains

Mork & Mindy: Cheerleader in Chains
ABC
April 22, 1982
Sitcom
DVD
B-

Three of the show's female writers did this episode: Winifred Hervey, Cindy Begel, and Lisa Kite.  And, as the title suggests, the plot is about Mindy in jail, for refusing to reveal her source.  It's a funnier episode than most this season, even if some of the humor is a little simple, like Mork's line about the Ronald Reagan pen having no point.  (For one thing, it would make more sense if it were a pencil.)  Note that although one of Mindy's cellmates is a big black woman, this is not used in the same way that the big black men were on the "jail" episodes of Bosom Buddies and Three's Company; Mindy yells at the woman and then worries about being beat up, but nothing happens.  And the "butch" matron is presented relatively sympathetically.

Paul Willson's second Mork role is as their neighbor Bob Miller.  Instead of playing a psychologist as he did on The Bob Newhart Show and Bosom Buddies, Phillip R. Allen this time is a politician named George Logan (and he keeps breaking character to laugh at Williams).  Sixty-six-year-old Barbara Billingsley guest stars as mild-mannered murderess Mrs. Louise Bailey, with Mork remarking that she looks like Mrs. Cleaver.  (This was a couple years after her memorable appearance in the movie Airplane but before the Still the Beaver TV-movie.)

Mork & Mindy: Midas Mork

Mork & Mindy: Midas Mork
ABC
April 15, 1982
Sitcom
DVD
C+

This Kout & Zateslo story has both Mork and Fred acting so out of character, and a premise that's a bit much even for this series, that it's clear early on that it has to be someone's dream sequence, most logically Mindy's, and sure enough it is.  She dreams that Mork can turn polyester into gold, and he spends the money lavishly, including on NBC for her.  (Williams makes a jab at the then third-place network, again demonstrating that M & M was more conscious of ratings than most sitcoms of the time.)  Except for the appearance of tennis champ Tracy Austin, the episode manages to feel both off and predictable.  Note that I have a hunch that Mindy's red & gold dress (shown above) would be worn on the next Three's Company episode, "Up in the Air," and if it's not the same I think it has the same designer.  (I'll confirm this when we get there.)

George Pentecost's third and last Mork role is as Quentin the butler.

Mork & Mindy: Mork, Mindy, and Mearth Meet MILT

Mork & Mindy: Mork, Mindy, and Mearth Meet MILT
ABC
February 18, 1982
Sitcom
DVD
B-

This Kout & Zateslo story starts with a cameo by William Shatner and then has a computer voiced by John Houseman take over the household.  For some reason, the only thing I remembered from this episode was the Psycho reference.  (There's also a visual gag with Bedtime for Bonzo.)  Perhaps because he's been going to school for awhile, or perhaps because Mork has trained him, Mearth can now team up with Mork for finger-blasting.  The report to Orson is about technology of course, and somewhat poignant and/or dated almost 35 years later.  (MILT is much larger than any home computer of '82.)

Mork & Mindy: I Don't Remember Mama

Mork & Mindy: I Don't Remember Mama
ABC
February 11, 1982
Sitcom
DVD
B-

In this Collins & Raznick story, Orson resents that Mork hasn't been making regular reports lately because of family responsibilities, so he erases Mork's memories of his family, and indeed of most of his time on Earth.  (Orson is a very controlling boss.)  A session of This Was Your Life [sic] helps a little, with Exidor making his last appearance on the show, and we get to see Mindy in her wedding dress again.  But only Mindy's kisses can bring Mork's memory fully back.  It's a sweet scene between them, but the rest of the episode, including Fred and Cora bickering, doesn't live up to its potential.  Note that Mindy says Mork wouldn't want to meet their leader, a swipe against Ronald Reagan to follow last week's Nancy-bashing.

Martin Ferrero, who was a Waiter on Soap and a Wounded Man in Jeep on M*A*S*H, is the Salesman here.   This is the 1000th sitcom I've reviewed!

Mork & Mindy: Drive, She Said

Mork & Mindy: Drive, She Said
ABC
February 4, 1982
Sitcom
DVD
C+

This Kite & Begel episode is odd in the following ways:

• Mork, who seems to have functioned just fine for three and a half years, now that he has a young child is very dependent on Mindy to take him grocery-shopping and on other errands;
• Mindy therefore wants him to get a driver's license and he's reluctant;
• We actually see the garage for the first time (it's unclear if Mr. Bickley uses it, too, or even still lives in the house);
• You might expect Exidor to be the driving instructor, but, no, it's TNT, who does it to meet underage girls;
• There's a shark-jumping moment when Mork is taking his driver's test with a devilish man (who has eyes like Nancy Reagan according to Mork), with his instructor in the backseat, until TNT tries to flee from the car, which is on two wheels and almost perpendicular to the road, so then we see a stunt double who looks very little like Kirchenbauer standing on the side of the car;
• There is no happy ending, beyond that Mindy helps Mork accept that he's failed at something but he can try again;
• There's a Pac-Man reference, and I'm reminded again that this is a different era than where we started from;
• Mindy celebrated getting her driver's license by buying the new Herman's Hermits album, so I guess they're sticking with that born in '53 thing from the reunion episode, although Mindy should've turned 16 in '73.

Mork & Mindy: Metamorphosis, the TV Show

Mork & Mindy: Metamorphosis, the TV Show
ABC
January 21, 1982
Sitcom
DVD
B-

This is the only Mork story written by Gene Braunstein and Bob Perlow, who would go on to respectively seventeen and eight episodes of Who's the Boss?  I don't know if it's due to them or Williams that there are more media references than usual, although it may just be because so much of the episode is about Mindy's job at the television station.  Mr. Sternhagen has been fired and replaced by young (22ish) Daniel Pierson (Charles Bloom, who was the 2nd Student in The ABC After School Special, "Dear Lovey Hart, I'm Desperate").  Meanwhile, Mork and Mearth have a Freaky-Friday-like accident while playing with a train set.

Mork and/or Mearth in Mork's body makes no less than three remarks about television (the Nielsens, The Ropers, and Alan Hamel's impact on wife Suzanne Somers's career).  Also, he says, "I've seen Popeye fourteen times.  And if you run it backwards, it has an ending," a nice zing against Altman and/or Paramount for the troubled production.  I don't feel like the imitations of each other (including Fred at the end) are as sharp as they could be, but generally it's one of the better latter-day episodes, and it's nice to see Mindy's career getting some attention again.

Another writer's child appears, this time Cary Zateslo as the Rubik's Cube champion.  Pat Cranshaw makes his last appearance as Jake the Cameraman.  This is the 82nd episode and it aired in '82.

Mork & Mindy: Pajama Game II

Mork & Mindy: Pajama Game II
ABC
January 7, 1982
Sitcom
DVD
C

In this Begel & Kite story, Harvey Lembeck and Maureen Arthur return as Mearth's classmates Ovits and Zelka.  I'm not sure if this is the episode where Lembeck collapsed during filming, or if he was making a return appearance in an unaired episode, but he did die two days before this aired.  In any case, his character isn't given much to do, but Zelka ends up staying longer and having a sleepover with Mearth.  Mindy is worried because her son and Zelka look like adults in late middle age even if they have the mentality of small children.  Also Mearth has possession of a Bronco girlie magazine (later revealed to belong to Mr. Bickley).  I suppose there was a way this episode could've worked, but it's a little creepy, and I don't find the extended "safari" scene with Williams and Winters as funny as Dawber or the studio audience seem to.  Note that Williams makes another Popeye reference, much less proud than the one the year before, the movie having bombed in the meantime.

This is the 1500th program I've reviewed.

Mork & Mindy: P.S. 2001

Mork & Mindy: P.S. 2001
ABC
December 17, 1981
Sitcom
DVD
B-

Cindy Begel and Lisa Kite's first of five Mork stories has Mearth demanding to go to school.  Mindy finds out, by Orson paging her while Mork is asleep, that he sent Mork an application for a prep school on Ork.  Mork turns out to not want his baby to go to school already, even though it's only one day a month.  But Mindy talks him into it.  Mearth has trouble adjusting to the other kids, and a strict teacher who looks like an 11-year-old Earth girl.  (Mork is surprised to hear she's still alive.)  Mork and Mindy accompany their son to Ork and things go better.  This would've been a C+, but I liked seeing the decor of the classroom, and I was pleasantly surprised by the guest stars, see below.

None other than Eric Von Zipper, 58-year-old Harvey Lembeck, who had taught Williams (and John Ritter among others) in an acting workshop, cameos as Mearth's classmate Ovits.  Forty-seven-year-old Maureen Arthur, who had "funny bimbo" roles in '60s sex comedies like The Love God? and How to Commit Marriage (more so in the former), here plays Zelka, who has a crush on Mearth.  Both would return in the following episode.

Mork & Mindy: Rich Mork, Poor Mork

Mork & Mindy: Rich Mork, Poor Mork
ABC
November 26, 1981
Sitcom
DVD
C

This Rosenstock & Teicher story has some nice moments, but it's hard to get past Mork's irresponsible behavior.  Not only does he spend a lot of money on gifts for Mearth, at a time when, as Mindy points out, she's the only one earning a salary and their food bill has gone up, but then he invests $900 in Exidor's boutique.  If not for Grandma ex Machina (Cora buys the shop once teens decide to defy their parents by shopping there), the McConnells would be in debt.

Mork & Mindy: Long Before We Met

Mork & Mindy: Long Before We Met
ABC
November 19, 1981
Sitcom
DVD
C+

This Raznick & Collins story doesn't live up to its potential.  Mork and Mindy attend her tenth high school reunion*, while Grandma (really Great-Grandma) babysits Mearth.  There's no reaction moment in this or any other episode of Cora finding out the existence and maturity of her great-grandson (who now is learning fractions).  They interact a little but not much is done with it, beyond that she's his favorite and only babysitter.  (Understandable, considering how his parents are keeping his identity a secret.)

As for the reunion, Glenda Faye (Wilzak in her last appearance) is there, and she knows about Mork and Mindy being married, and yet there's no line here or elsewhere indicating that she minds not having been invited to their wedding.  (It's not like they eloped.)  Two others in attendance are Paul Rubens as geeky Dickie Nimitz (of course the best part of the episode) and Mindy's boyfriend for her last two years of high school, Steve Sanders (Robin Strand, who'd be Steve Stepanowicz on Square Pegs).  Mork becomes jealous of Steve, so after they return home, Mork (using ruby slippers) time travels back to Mindy's senior prom.


Fred is there, with more hair, but he's not given much to do.  Mork, anticipating Moscow on the Hudson, pretends to be a Russian exchange student.  He hits it off with Mindy, including supporting her dreams of becoming a journalist, while Steve comes across as a jerk.

The episode isn't bad, but like I said, it seems like all these elements ought to add up to more.


*Sic!  Mindy was 21 when the series began three years ago.  I can understand that they might not want to do a sixth-year reunion a la Bosom Buddies, but a fifth-year reunion would've been more plausible than tenth.  And, yes, I spotted this error at the time.

Mork & Mindy: My Dad Can't Beat Up Anybody

Mork & Mindy: My Dad Can't Beat Up Anybody
ABC
November 12, 1981
Sitcom
DVD
C+

Mearth hero-worships Christopher Reeve as Superman.  (The second movie was released the previous December, around the same time as Popeye.  Reeve and Williams were close friends since Juilliard.)  Mork feels inadequate as a househusband and tries to find a job.  Writers McRaven & Johnson seem to have forgotten Mork's previous jobs, including as a night watchman (a job he's rejected for here).  When Mearth finds Mork's spacesuit, Mork pretends to be a superhero.  Governor Lamm (1975-1987) is mentioned by name, which is funny considering that two episodes this season have implied that Colorado is in the Midwest.

Lee Weaver, who played a Sergeant on Soap, is Gus the cop here.  Stanley Kamel, who's Charlie, would be Clean-cut Man on Three's Company.  Hugh Gillin, who was Gen. Tomlin on M*A*S*H and recently Terri's father on Three's Company, is Dave the Bartender here.  Orson is absent so instead Mork makes the report to Orson's Hispanic maid!  (Sounding suspiciously like Williams doing a Señor Wences voice.)

Mork & Mindy: Mama Mork, Papa Mindy

Mork & Mindy: Mama Mork, Papa Mindy
ABC
November 5, 1981
Sitcom
DVD
B-

This Kout & Zateslo story continues to move things along quickly.  By the end of it, Mearth seems to have moved from infancy to toddlerhood or maybe beyond, speaking in full sentences.  Mork is excited about motherhood but Mindy is dubious about fatherhood.  Her own father, after his initial fear, offers good advice.  For the first time in awhile, Mork makes a report to Orson, who he asks to be godfather.  And there is no "To Be Continued."

Frank Buxton, who wrote an early episode of The Bob Newhart Show, here directs his first of four Mork episodes.

Mork & Mindy: Three the Hard Way

Mork & Mindy: Three the Hard Way
ABC
October 29, 1981
Sitcom
DVD
B-

Richard Rosenstock and Roy Teicher's first of two Mork stories is set one month after the wedding and Mork is diagnosed by Exidor (who was also his best man) as pregnant, although even Exidor has a hard time believing it.  Mork develops a navel and apparently gives birth to an egg through it.  The egg grows to a great size and eventually hatches a grown man played by Jonathan Winters.  Mindy is understandably surprised and upset.  She wanted to spend more time as a couple before having kids, and she expected herself to be the one who'd become pregnant.  Her feeling that things are being rushed is one that the viewer can't help sharing.  Although the individual episodes of this season aren't bad, it does feel like there could've been a few episodes spent on the engagement and that M & M becoming parents only four episodes in is unnecessary.  This all could've been stretched out to a full season.  I don't really remember much of my reaction at the time, beyond I was definitely curious to see what would happen next.  And again they tease us with "To Be Continued," although really, what could they do for an encore at this point?

This episode also marks the last appearance of Mr. Bickley, who's upset because his girlfriend has run off with his father.  It would've been interesting to see his reaction to Mearth, but M & M are more isolated this season than in the last two.