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.
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