Ellen: Adam's Birthday

Ellen: Adam's Birthday
ABC
November 16, 1994
Sitcom
DVD
B

Maria Semple's story is the first where it feels like the series is finding itself.  There were funny and otherwise entertaining episodes before, but this one goes a little deeper.  Ellen throws a 32nd birthday party for Adam, but it makes him feel like his life hasn't progressed since college.  He decides that he needs to move out, after living with Ellen for over a decade. The separation is hard on them, her especially, and Adam, after a stint in a retirement home, moves across the hall from Ellen.  The episode teases the viewers with the possibility that the longtime roommates might become less platonic, but the still below appears to be either from a deleted scene or something that appeared during publicity for the episode.  (On the episode on the DVD, and I believe this is the version that aired, they come close to kissing, vertically, a couple times.)


Noelle Hamilton is an uncredited Customer again.  Billye Ree Wallace, who was a nameless Woman on Who's the Boss? four years earlier, is Polly here, while Bill Calvert was Patrick on WtB in '88 and is a presumably entirely different Patrick here.  (He was also a Patrick on China Beach, and that's out of 35 acting credits.)  Seventy-five-year-old Patrick Cranshaw, who'd been playing an old man at least since Green Acres, is Irving here.

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: Limited Engagement

Mork & Mindy: Limited Engagement
ABC
October 8, 1981
Sitcom
DVD
B-

Brian Levant's second of two Mork stories changes the course of the show, but watching it again I felt a melancholy undertone tone that I hadn't noticed before.  And I say that as someone who did and does ship M & M hard, and who in fact was in the studio audience when this was taped.  (I remember the pony and I remember asking the warm-up guy about Bebo; he joked that Bebo had become Mork's chaps.  Williams looked sheepish.)  The best scene here is when Mindy's father and grandmother, who are both fond of Mork, warn her against marrying him.  And they're not being prejudiced; they have real, genuine concerns.  These are not addressed in this episode, but they are that Orkans age backwards and Orkans may not be able to reproduce with Earthlings.  Mindy tries to talk to Mork, but he's too busy wooing her, including a production number towards the end, which is fun to watch but feels out of place in the bigger picture.  In the end, she gives in because she doesn't want him to leave.  This is not Ann Marie's trippy ecstasy at Donald's proposal but a young woman recognizing that her love for an alien is making her give up any hope for a normal life.  And in the end, Mork defies Orson, who forbids the marriage.  It's "to be continued," but it does not bode well.

Bob Claver, who'd done The Bob Newhart Show and Welcome Back, Kotter, takes over as director from (usually) Howard Storm.

Mork & Mindy: I Heard It Through the Morkvine

Mork & Mindy: I Heard It Through the Morkvine
ABC
April 30, 1981
Sitcom
DVD
B-

Staahl co-wrote this story about Mork learning about gossip.  (As with some of his other lessons in Season Three, it seems a bit late for something so basic, especially considering Mork lives with an attractive young woman and should've encountered rumors about them at some point.  But this is not Three's Company.)  The episode also makes a point about the nature of privacy and it's more intelligent than I expected.  (I laughed out loud at the references to the then fairly current autobiographies of Lauren Bacall and Shelley Winters, but maybe that's because I've read those books.)  And, yes, it's another one of those with added poignancy, because Williams's own death would be surrounded by gossip.

This episode has more of the supporting cast than usual, although Exidor does not become a subject of gossip.  Foster Brooks makes his last appearance as Mindy's boss, Mr. Sternhagen.

Mork & Mindy: Mindy Gets Her Job

Mork & Mindy: Mindy Gets Her Job
ABC
January 22, 1981
Sitcom
DVD
C+

In this Tenowich & Sharlach story, Mindy gets a job at the local TV station.  Foster Brooks makes his first of three appearances as Lola's uncle, station manager Miles Sternhagen, and it's weird to see him sober in his first scene, before showing up near the end to do his patented drunk act.  At first, given the title and plot, it seems like the focus will be on Mindy for a change, and there's a cute bit where she finds out that all the other "girls" applying are like her, including Mandy McDonald.  But there's a sequence with Glenda Faye and Jeanie that almost sucks the life out of the episode, and later Mork takes over the newscast, which would be OK if he were funnier.

Williams's best line is actually when he comes in and makes a Popeye reference, including about the arms.  (His performance in the title role had been released December 12th, and I remember how cool I found this reference at the time.)  He also imagines Reagan saying, "Line?" at the inauguration.  (I don't know if they knew this episode would air the same week, since production order is not necessarily airdate order.)  It feels a little weird that Mork's report to Orson is about jobs, considering Mork himself has had a few jobs by this point, but I guess it had to be about something.

Amy Tenowich and Stephanie Kayano return as Lola and Stephanie.  Pat Cranshaw has his third and longest-lasting Mork role, as cameraman Jake Loomis.

Mork & Mindy: Mork's First Christmas

Mork & Mindy: Mork's First Christmas
ABC
December 14, 1978
Sitcom
DVD
B

This is producer Bruce Johnson's first of twelve Mork scripts, here collaborating with creator Dale McRaven, who did the pilot.  It's also the first of five directed by Jeff Chambers.  It manages to balance sentiment and humor, with Mork giving Mindy and her family happy memories, then and now.

Salesman David Ketchum was on That Girl three times.  Pat Cranshaw makes his second Mork appearance, as the Old Man at the department store.  Interestingly, there's no report to Orson, although Mork obviously learns a lot, including from Eugene (Jacquet) and Susan (Fairchild).

Mork & Mindy: Mork the Gullible

Mork & Mindy: Mork the Gullible
ABC
November 9, 1978
Sitcom
DVD
B-

This Neil Lebowitz story offers one of the more dubious lessons on the show, that Earthlings aren't trusting enough.  I would've liked it better if Mork had learned that you can trust some people but not all.  Still, it is fun to see him and Exidor play off each other again, especially with Exidor's new worship of OJ Simpson.  Note that it's now snowing in Boulder, while over in Korea the seasons fluctuate wildly.  Also, Williams gets a line something like "We don't have sex on Ork, we have to do something with our time" past the censors, as well as an Anita Bryant reference.

Dittman (Dan Barrows, who was Mr. Keeney on The Bob Newhart Show, has his first of two roles on this show, as Dittman, the criminal Mork sets free.  Pat Cranshaw, at that point still only 59 but continuing to look old for his age, makes his first of six Mork appearances, this time as The Man in the Store.  Ed Bernard, who plays Officer Boyd, had recently been "Shirley's Boyfriend" on the episode of that name on What's Happening!!

The Bob Newhart Show: Carlin's New Suit

Anderson and Marcus reunited,
but this time he's Mr. Carlson's son.

The Bob Newhart Show: Carlin's New Suit
CBS
October 22, 1977
Sitcom
DVD
B

This, the first of three BNS scripts by Andrew Smith, is better than any lately.  The main plot is that Leslie Greely (32-year-old Loni Anderson, still almost a year away from hitting it big on WKRP) brings a paternity suit against Mr. Carlin.  Although he's of course attracted to her, the real appeal for him is playing dad to her son (but not his) Billy (9-year-old Sparky Marcus, playing younger than his age, as he did as Ape Face in Freaky Friday the previous year).  Not only does he teach the boy about real estate, but he takes him to see Star Wars, and they wear matching outfits.  Meanwhile, Howard brings Bob a beeper back from Japan.  A funny, kind of sweet episode, not a classic for the series, but I suspect one of the best entries of this last season.

Pat Cranshaw, who previously played the Old Gentleman on Carol's wedding day, here is the Bum with a beeper.

The Bob Newhart Show: Carol's Wedding

The Bob Newhart Show: Carol's Wedding
CBS
October 18, 1975
Sitcom
DVD
B-

Emily fixes up Carol again, this time with Larry Bondurant, brother of Emily's friend Judy (whom we don't see but learn details about).  Carol becomes immediately engaged and, as the title suggests, gets married by the end of the episode.  I agree with Bob that this is too rushed, especially since we don't even see the guy till the last few minutes.  No offense to Will Mackenzie (who did a guest shot on That Girl), but after the big build-up, including that Emily thought from his phone voice that he was gorgeous, it's a bit of a disappointment when he finally shows up.  There might've been ways for Gordon & Lynne Farr to do this, even as a whirlwind romance, but it doesn't quite work here.  The episode still has its moments, such as Bob's desk difficulties, and I like that Howard cries at the wedding.  Note that Carol has been engaged twice before, so presumably to someone other than "the guy with the feet."

Ric Mancini makes his first of three BNS appearances, this time as one of the Moving Men.  Robert Casper, who plays Judge Tanner, would have a quirkier role on Bosom Buddies.  Pat Cranshaw, who's the Old Gentleman, would later play a Bum on this show.  He was only 55 at the time of this episode but looked older and showed up in a lot of things, including the movies Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and The Hudsucker Proxy, as well as six cameos on Mork & Mindy.  Michael Zinberg would go on to direct fourteen more BNS episodes.