Mork & Mindy (season 1)
| Mork & Mindy (season 1) | |
|---|---|
| Country of origin | United States |
| No. of episodes | 25 |
| Release | |
| Original network | ABC |
| Original release | September 14, 1978 – May 10, 1979 |
This is a list of episodes from the first season of Mork & Mindy.
Broadcast history
The season originally aired Thursday at 8:00-8:30 pm (EST).
Nielsen ratings
The season ranked third among the Top 30 programs with a 28.6 rating, tying it with the sixth season of Happy Days.
DVD release
The season was released on DVD by Paramount Home Video.
Episodes
| No. in series |
No. in season |
Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1/2 | 1/2 | "Pilot" | Howard Storm | Dale McRaven | September 14, 1978 |
|
Mork's boss, Orson, assigns the misfit Mork to study the planet Earth. After landing in the woods near Boulder, Colorado, he meets Mindy McConnell who was stranded there by her lecherous boyfriend. Back at Mindy's apartment, she discovers that Mork is an alien, and offers to help him study Earth. In a flashback sequence, Mork tells Mindy about a previous visit to Earth when Arthur Fonzarelli arranged a date for him with Laverne De Fazio. When Mindy's father, Fred, discovers that Mork has moved in with Mindy, Deputy Tilwick offers to scare Mork off. Tilwick believes Mork is insane and tries to have him committed. NOTE: one-hour episode | |||||
| 3 | 3 | "Mork Moves In" | Howard Storm | Lloyd Turner & Gordon Mitchell | September 21, 1978 |
|
Orson contacts Mork stating that the elders have lost Mork's last report causing Mork to replay his report to Orson. After constant hounding from Fred, Mork agrees to move out of Mindy's apartment. But Mork's plans are complicated when he becomes drunk ("bezurb") on ginger ale. NOTE: Mork reveals that he is an alien to Mindy's father but he doesn't believe him at first. | |||||
| 4 | 4 | "Mork Runs Away" | Joel Zwick | April Kelly | September 28, 1978 |
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After unintentionally losing Mindy a date, Mork realizes the havoc he is wreaking with her romance life and decides to move out. While looking for a flop house, he stumbles upon Exidor, the delusional leader (and only tangible member) of "The Friends of Venus". Special Guest Star: Robert Donner as Exidor | |||||
| 5 | 5 | "Mork in Love" | Harvey Medlinsky | Lloyd Turner & Gordon Mitchell | October 5, 1978 |
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When Mindy tells Mork that he has to experience love in order to understand the human experience, he takes her advice and falls head over heel for the lovely Dolly, oblivious to the fact that she's a mannequin. NOTE: Mork and Mindy kiss for the first time. | |||||
| 6 | 6 | "Mork's Seduction" | Harvey Medlinsky | Neil Lebowitz | October 12, 1978 |
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A new customer at the music store turns out to be Mindy's old rival Susan Taylor (played by Morgan Fairchild). Susan sets her sights on Mork, as revenge for Mindy "stealing" her boyfriend back in high school. NOTE: Mork and Mindy kiss again in this episode. | |||||
| 7 | 7 | "Mork Goes Public" | Joel Zwick | David Misch & April Kelly | October 19, 1978 |
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At the music store, Mork has a run-in with Clint Mullet, a reporter for a tabloid that is offering $25,000 for proof of alien life. After Fred saves Mork's life, Mork decides to turn himself in to pay for Fred's plumbing bills, and Mindy's college tuition. Guest Star: Jeff Altman as Clint Mullet | |||||
| 8 | 8 | "To Tell the Truth" | Joel Zwick | April Kelly | November 2, 1978 |
| When Mork tricks Mindy into believing that he can predict the weather, Mindy tells him that he should never lie ("splinking"). The music store's despicable landlord Arnold Wanker dies while trying to evict Fred from the music store. Mork, hearing the family try to comfort his widow, assumes that Wanker is their friend, and brings him back from the dead. | |||||
| 9 | 9 | "Mork the Gullible" | Howard Storm | Neil Lebowitz | November 9, 1978 |
| Mork learns something about gullibility when he ends up arrested for falling for a criminal's sob story enough to set him free. Mork soon ends up getting Exidor as a cellmate where Exidor is now worshiping O.J. Simpson. | |||||
| 10 | 10 | "A Mommy for Mork" | Howard Storm | Tom Tenowich | November 16, 1978 |
| When Mindy is reunited with her ex-fiance, Dan (Barry Van Dyke), she wonders what it would be like to raise a family, while Mork wonders what it would have been like to have had a mother. Mork kills two birds with one stone by using his Orkan Age Machine to regress himself to 3 years old, which results in hilarious complications. | |||||
| 11 | 11 | "Mork's Greatest Hit" | Howard Storm | David Misch | November 23, 1978 |
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After Mork rescues Mindy from the unwanted advances of a man named George (Brion James), the masher starts looking for the alien who he feels humiliated him. Although Mork has an aversion to violence, he must find a way to deal with George. Orkan Fact: On Ork, which has long been a pacifist planet, violence is not only outlawed but considered disgraceful; acts of violence are considered humiliating to those who practice them. In Orkan culture, the highest form of courage is to avoid a fight cleverly. | |||||
| 12 | 12 | "Old Fears" | Howard Storm | April Kelly | November 30, 1978 |
|
When a friend of Cora's passes away, she goes into a funk. When Mork hears she needs more friends her age, he decides to become one by using his Orkan Age Machine. NOTE: Mork reveals his alien nature to Cora in this episode. | |||||
| 13 | 13 | "Mork's First Christmas" | Jeff Chambers | Dale McRaven & Bruce Johnson | December 14, 1978 |
|
Mork learns about the meaning of Christmas, and helps remind everyone else about it when he invites the obnoxious Susan Taylor to spend Christmas with the McConnell's because she's got no one to celebrate with. NOTE: No report to Orson is made this episode; different end sequence is played. | |||||
| 14 | 14 | "Mork and the Immigrant" | Howard Storm | David O'Malley & April Kelly | January 11, 1979 |
| Mork thinks Russian immigrant Sergei Krushnev is an alien like him, and tries to help welcome him. Trouble ensues when Sergei tells Mork that 'aliens' need to be registered. | |||||
| 15 | 15 | "Mork the Tolerant" | Howard Storm | Lloyd Turner & Gordon Mitchell | January 18, 1979 |
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Mindy is irritated by her grouchy new neighbor Franklin Bickley, but Mork is determined to be friends with him. Guest Star: Tom Poston as Franklin Bickley | |||||
| 16 | 16 | "Young Love" | Howard Storm | Tom Tenowich | January 25, 1979 |
| Mork performs a wedding ceremony to marry his friend Eugene and his girlfriend, Holly, thinking that this will enable them to escape 'parental oppression'. | |||||
| 17 | 17 | "Skyflakes Keep Falling on My Head" | Howard Storm | Dale McRaven & Bruce Johnson | February 1, 1979 |
| Exidor returns with a plan to become Emperor of Earth. In return for Mork's help, Exidor lets him use his summer home so Mindy can get some R&R, but the vacation does not go as planned. | |||||
| 18 | 18 | "Mork Goes Erk" | Howard Storm | Lloyd Turner & Gordon Mitchell | February 8, 1979 |
|
After Mork receives the depressing news that he may be transferred, Susan Taylor gets him, Mindy, and Mr. Bickley to attend a seminar of ERK (short for Ellsworth Revitalization Konditioning), and the tyrannical Ellsworth meets his match in his alien patient. Guest Stars: David Letterman as Ellsworth, Tom Poston as Franklin Bickley | |||||
| 19 | 19 | "Yes Sir, That's My Baby" | Jeff Chambers | April Kelly | February 15, 1979 |
| Sally returns with her newborn son, and Mork loves him so much he wants a baby of his own. He ends up buying a baby from a shady character named Chuck Wilson for $10,000, unaware that Chuck Wilson is wanted by the FBI for various baby abductions. | |||||
| 20 | 20 | "Mork's Mixed Emotions" | Jeff Chambers | Tom Tenowich & Ed Scharlach | February 22, 1979 |
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Mork, becoming disturbed after having a nightmare, shuts his emotions off. When Mindy kisses him, his emotions are released, but now the Orkan cannot control them, resulting in embarrassing shifts from moment to moment. NOTE: In 1997, this episode was ranked #94 on TV Guide's list of the 100 Greatest Episodes of All Time.[1] | |||||
| 21 | 21 | "Mork's Night Out" | Howard Storm | Dale McRaven & Bruce Johnson | March 8, 1979 |
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When Mindy goes away for the weekend, Mork and Mr. Bickley goes to a singles bar for a night out. The women they pick up and bring back to Mr. Bickley's place are thieves and steal his things. Guest Stars: Tom Poston as Franklin Bickley, Ruta Lee as Lisa, Robin Eisenman as Penny | |||||
| 22 | 22 | "In Mork We Trust" | Howard Storm | Michael Endler | March 15, 1979 |
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When Franklin Bickley steals Mork's age machine, he unknowingly causes Mork's age to change from that of a baby to middle age. Guest Star: Tom Poston as Franklin Bickley | |||||
| 23 | 23 | "Mork Runs Down" | Howard Storm | Ben Starr | April 12, 1979 |
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Mork's attempt to find a new job is complicated by his "birthday", a potentially fatal condition that causes him to behave stranger than usual unless he recharges himself with his egg-like "gleek". Guest Star: Susan Elliot as Rainbow | |||||
| 24 | 24 | "It's a Wonderful Mork" | Howard Storm | Ed Scharlach & Tom Tenowich | May 3, 1979 |
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When Mork inadvertently costs Mindy a potential job, he wishes he had never come to Earth when he informs Orson of this. Orson then shows him what would have happened to Mindy over the last year had he not been there. Mork sees that Mindy is married to Cliff who has a gambling problem, Fred has traveled the world and had a short relationship with a woman, Cora lives with Mindy, and the McConnell's music store has been sold. Guest Stars: Linda Henning as Margaret, Sam Freed as Cliff | |||||
| 25 | 25 | "Mork's Best Friend" | Howard Storm | Simon Muntner | May 10, 1979 |
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Mork brings up a pet caterpillar which he names Bob. Exidor shows up and has found the true Religion which is reincarnation as he claims that he is the reincarnation of Julius Caesar. Mork soon becomes depressed when Bob becomes still and apparently lifeless. Guest Star: Robert Donner as Exidor | |||||