Mork & Mindy: Mork Runs Away

Mork & Mindy: Mork Runs Away
ABC
September 28, 1978
Sitcom
DVD
B

This is the first of 23 episodes for both writer April Kelly and guest star Robert Donner, although not the same 23.   Donner plays Exidor, whom Mork meets when he runs away, and the two play off of each other well, especially when Williams does a televangelist spiel to show how he'd recruit for the Friends of Venus.

Mork runs away because he's crimping Mindy's style.  She feels lonely because she hasn't dated since he moved in.  There's an ironic in retrospect line where she tells her father that if he won't take Mork to a basketball game so she can have a date over, she'll have to settle down with Mork and have little green babies.  Mork doesn't really understand love, although he guesses that men think he and Mindy are "lovelings."  He savors his hug with Mindy when he makes his report to Orson.  He's starting to open up to and with her, while she feels like her apartment wasn't a home till he moved in.

This is also Joel Zwick's first directing job of three on the show, although I primarily associate him with Bosom Buddies (18 episodes).