My Top 5 Episodes Season 4
Season 4 gets a real bad rap. But I actually think I enjoy it more than Season 2 in some ways. There is no doubting the writing is erratic to say the least, but then when you've dumped your entire supporting cast bar Elizabeth Kerr & Conrad Janis, for the king of unrestrained comedy, Jonathan Winters, erratic is probably going to come with the territory. I loved 'Jonathan Winters', he was a genius, and some of his bits are ROFL funny, (his Pequod section in Gotta Run, Part 1!) but all in all I would rather they had found a way to use him as Uncle Dave (perhaps suffering long term affects from the Fleck he ate), but that's for another blog.
His presence definitely unbalances the show, which is probably why most of my favorites are 'Mearth …
My Top 5 Episodes Season 3
Putting the Ork back in Mork - Just a really clever way to reboot the show in an effort to undo some of the damage the Network Suits (chiefly) had done to it in Season 2, and to deal with Robin Williams slightly different look on coming back from the long Popeye shoot in Malta. Mork as 'Mory' in his blue leisure suit, Ivy League haircut, and white loafers, the archetype of dull middle class suburban living, is wonderful (and pretty cute in those blue PJs), and you really feel for him as he desperately tries to find his old self with his friends and the kids. Mindy's realization of what she's lost in trying to get him to conform to humanities standards of 'normal' behaviour is also really well handled, and allows the pair to end up back whe…
My Top 5 Episodes Season 2
Honorable Mentions (Total expansionary cheat, I know)
- A Mommy for Mindy - which introduced (the criminally underused) Shelley Fabares, chiefly for two scenes. The first with Mindy in her bedroom after her nightmare, which starts out with Mork soothing Mindy over her loss and ends with Mork's loss of innocence, and the absolutely wonderful scene between Fred & Mindy where Fred recalls his late wife, her mother, possibly Conrad Janis's finest moment in the show... plus the first time we got to see Mindy's bedroom!
- Mork Learns to See - A throwback to the S1 message eps, but in a multilayered fashion with both the Bickley's issues addressed, and Mindy's message to Mork that when you're down, looking outside of yourself to helping others can help …
Your Top 5 Episodes Season 1
Tricky one this, so many cracking episodes including Mork Moves In, Mork Runs Away, Mork goes ERK, It's A Wonderful Mork, and Mork Runs down...but...in Reverse Order:
5. Mork's Best Friend - To be honest I could probably swap this with any of the ones above, but the entire 'Funeral for Bob' with Mork in full Yiddish mode, Mindy's awkward speech and especially Tom Poston's/Bickley's brilliantly delivered 'fuzzy escargot' eulogy just never fails to crack me up. Throw in Exidor in 'reincarnation' mode, the 'Owa Tajerk Iam' chant, the start of his love/hate relationship with Mindy and Mindy's exasperation surrounding him in earnest, and just love this episode.
4. Mork's Seduction - Morgan Fairchild was always destined for more prominent roles …