Mork Learns to See

"Mork Learns to See"
Season 2, Episode #19 (#44) in series (95 episodes)
When Mr. Bickley's blind son Tom comes to visit, Mork strikes up a friendship with him, and in the process, learns to see the world a little bit differently in "Mork Learns to See" in Season 2 (ep.#19).
"Mork & Mindy" episode
Guest Star(s):	Tom Sullivan Terence McGovern
Network:	ABC-TV
Production code:	219 (2x19)
Writer(s)	Ed Scharlach & Tom Tenowich
Director	Howard Storm
Original airdate	January 17, 1980
IMDB	Mork Learns to See
Episode chronology
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"The Night They Raided Mind-ski's"	"Mork's Vacation"
List of Mork & Mindy seasons/episodes

Mork Learns To See was the 19th episode from Season 2 of Mork and Mindy, and also, the 44th overall episode in the series. Co-written by Ed Scharlach and Tom Tenowich, the episode, which was directed by Howard Storm, originally aired on ABC-TV on January 17, 1980.

Synopsis

As Mork grows increasingly homesick for Ork, but isn't allowed to return for a visit by Orson, Mindy tries to encourage him to look beyond himself to others At the same time, Mr. Bickley invites Mork & Mindy to his place to meet his son, who's coming to visit him in Boulder, who is not what they expect.

Plot

Screening Room Pick - TV Guides Screening Room section picked outstanding episodes of TV for the upcoming week. Mork Learns To See being the one for January 17th, 1980

Mindy is all set to go on the hike Mork promised he'd take her on, but all she can hear of him is the sound of his bluesy harmonica coming from somewhere in the apartment. Sourcing it to her wicker chest, she is amused if confused to find him inside. Mork tells her he curled up inside because it reminded him of his condominium on Ork, (though the chest is a lot bigger). She reminds him they were going to go hiking, but he's just not in the mood, and tearfully tells her he's thinking of Ork so far away. Orson promised him a vacation but said he couldn't go, due to a story about the Eggs being grounded because of cracks. Getting more upset Mork clings to her and buries his head in her shoulder whimpering. Trying to console him, she says she's sure Orson will give him a vacation real soon, only to be violently pushed away with Mork declaring 'A lot you know!' Mindy sees he really is depressed, and tries to cheer him up by tickling him, but he is unimpressed. She tries to get him to see that life can be beautiful anywhere if you just give it the chance, but he cuts her off by singing a rendition of 'Orkan Blues'.

Episode - TV Guide Ad - 1980

This in turn is cut off by a the knock on the door, and an already weary Mindy is further wearied by the appearance of Mr. Bickley who she's' sure is there to complain about the noise. But she's taken by surprise when instead of complaining he jovially compliments Mork's musicality saying he 'danced all the way upstairs', and plays 'got your nose' with her 'tweakable' proboscis, slightly unnerving her. Bickley goes to withdraw but then comes back in having 'forgotten' to tell them something, and invites them downstairs to his place that evening at 7.30...to meet his son, stunning both of them who had no idea he had a child. Bickley, admits he's done it all 'at least once', and his son Tom is a wonderful guy, and about their age, and he's sure they'll have a lot in common with him. Mindy happily agrees, saying they'd love to meet him, and he goes off cheerily. Mindy in similar mood, says to Mork that she knew if they waited long enough Bickley's nice side would have to surface, and asks him won't it be interesting to meet his son? But Mork is still in a funk, and tells her he can't go, he has a date with 'self pity'. Trying to encourage him out of it, she responds that a good way to get your mind off your troubles is to do something for someone else, like going to meet Mr. Bickley's son...and...taking her hiking like her promised. The latter of which he does, but only in the confines of her apartment, recreating the experience for her, right down to roadkill.

That even they knock on the door to Bickleys apartment, where the lights are out, and a man's voice answers tells them to come on in. Entering Mindy gives a curious Hello and is greeted by a cheery Hi, to Mork wants to know why he's sitting in the dark? Apologizing, Tom tells Mork the lights witch is on the wall by the door, and as Mindy turns to close the door, Mork turns the light switch on, revealing Tom to Mork, sitting in a chair his guide dog by his side, his fingers moving over a braille book, telling them he was just reading. Smiling, Mindy turns around to tell him he shouldn't read in the dark, he could go blind, only to choke on her words she actually sees him, Tom finding it funny. Mindy introduces herself and Mork and Tom introduces himself and his friend Dinah, his guide dog. Happy to meet him, Mindy ties herself up in knots again trying to indicate that Bickley hadn't told them Tom was blind, Tom unsurprised tells her 'Dad isn't the kind of fellow who likes to brag'. When Mork figures out that Tom can't see him he starts to pull faces at him, Mindy smacking him hard to get him to stop, Mork protesting he was just testing! Mindy apologizes saying Mork's never seen a blind person before, and Tom grins and says neither has he. When Mork asks him what the dog is for, Tom answers that she's special, she leads him around, helps him find stuff, but mostly just keeps him from making a fool of himself, and Mork tells him that's what he has Mindy for. Tom tells them his Dad is running late and said they'd keep him company and he'd see him later at the Purple Grotto club where he's performing as a singer. He speaks of how he uses singing to tell of the things he can see with his other senses. When he mentions his friends back home as one of them, Mork starts to spiral again into his homesick funk, Mindy having to remind him of what they talked about and Mork complies, offering to do something nice for Tom, like reading the newspaper, telling him he's dressed funny, or some Mime? Which makes Tom laugh. She tells Tom that Mork has been homesick lately, and he replies he gets that way on the road, Noting by his special watch that it's after 8 and he has to get to work, Tom invites them along to the club, and Mindy thanks him working on Mork getting him to agree that that sounds fun, and telling him to 'be nice' when he responds to her praise of Dinah by saying he can do all the dog can do and he doesn't shed. Trying to be nice he asks Tom if he could help him put the leash on that Dinah has brought, and cracks Tom up, when he tries to put it on Tom's head.

Later at The Purple Grotto, Tom is introduced, and gets through his first show, impressing both Mindy and Mork (even though he's into Heavy Mope) with his singing and song writing ability, but by the time Tom joins them at their table there's still no sign of his father. Tom makes an excuse saying his father has a lot to do, and he's sure he'll be there by the second show. They have so much to talk about and tomorrow he's hoping to have a round of golf with him, which surprises Mindy, who then cringes feeling she's embarrassed herself again. Tom chuckles and says yes he can golf, he water skis and he tries to jog a few miles every day. A message arrives for Tom that came in when he was on stage, and after a false start with Mork, Mindy reads the message to say its from Bickley to say he can't make it, he's been called out of town. This takes the wind right out of Tom's sails, and Mork asks him when was the last time he met up with his dad, and Mindy is appalled when Tom replies that it's been twelve years. Tom shrugs it off, saying what's a few lows with all the highs in life, and Mork genuinely wishes he could treat life the way Tom does, that he's having a hard time getting out of the funk he's in, and would love to spend the day with Tom to learn to see things the way he does.

The next day Mork heads out Tom and Dinah, and as they walk through the Park, Tom wants to know if Mork is really sure he wants to do this, but Mork is adamant he wants to see life the way Tom does, and puts on a sleep mask...and immediately walks away in the wrong direction from Tom and Dinah. They spend the day together, smelling the flowers with Mork picking the flowers off an old lady's hat, and left running in circles when he and Tom jog past a couple of girls going the opposite direction and Tom shifts to follow them off their sound and scent. They golf, with Mork cheating by throwing the ball down the fairway after Tom drives perfectly off the tee, and then they cycle on a tandem across the course, with Tom steering. Getting back to the house and into Bickley's apartment, Mork is crowing about how well he did horseback riding, Tom agreeing, commiserating that it was too bad they ran out out of quarters at the supermarket. But Mork has his mojo back, his gloom 'split the room'. Mork enthuses about what a great day it was, and asks can they do it again tomorrow, bringing Mindy with them this time? But Tom tells him he's planning to leave Boulder that night after the show. Mork suggests that after Mindy's done with her class and Tom's done with the show, they could drive him to the airport, but the smile is gone from Tom's face. Unsurprisingly he's depressed over his father, twelve years and he didn't even have time to say hello, and confesses to Mork, no matter what he said before, that he can't take it anymore he's damn tired of being brushed off. Mork is taken aback, thinking Tom was the happiest guy in the world, but Tom feels he'd be a lot happier with a father in his life, but he guesses having a son with a handicap is more than Bickley can face. Mork however feels it's his father who is the one with the handicap.

That night in the apartment, over a glass of wine with Mork, Mindy can't get over how Bickley can ignore his own son. Mork yells 'She'll get it!' to Mindy's amusement as there's a knock on the door, but her smile fades when she opens it and a sheepish Mr. Bickley enters after her. Mindy questions being told he was out of town, and he confesses that he and Bicky were actually over at the Holiday Inn. He avoids Mork's question about why he was there, and tries to lightly ask if they'd seen Tom. Angry at him, Mindy says of course they have, and off of his question whether he's changed much since he was 14(!), demands to know why he keeps letting down his own son? He insists he hasn't, he made sure he got the best doctors, sent him to the best schools, made sure he always had enough money, and wrote to him every Christmas. But Mork is deeply disappointed in him and tells him so, and Mindy informs he better go back to the Holiday Inn and the others avoiding their responsibilities there.

Bickley asks her not to send him away, and as the words leaves his lips, he recalls Tom saying the same thing to him when he was 6, when he was sending him to a special school. He tells them it broke his heart to do it, but to afford the school for him, he had to take a second job. That kept him away from home and left his wife lonely, and soon she wasn't at home either. Love he tells them doesn't keep you together. He felt Tom was better off if he left him alone, he had to become independent, telling them they don't know what it's like to have a child born blind, that your inclination is to keep them indoors, keep them safe, that Tommy had to be able to fend for himself to have any kind of a real and independent life. But he realizes in doing that Tommy probably hates him. Mindy and Mork tells him that's not true, that he wants to be with him very much, but he chickens out of going with them, even when he finds out Tom is leaving that night. Reverse psychology however does the trick, with both of them thinking maybe Bickley's right, that he's better off without him, what does someone like him have to offer Tom? Agreeing to go, he makes one stipulation, that neither of them can tell Tom he's there. If they try he'll walk. With little option, they agree.

The show over, they arrive to take Tom to the airport, Mork almost giving the game away that Bickley's there, but also stopping Bickley from leaving by sitting on him, as they sit for a minute at one of the tables in the club. With him trapped, Mindy asks Tom to tell her what Bickley was like as a father...stubborn, grouchy, and cranky and grumpy, 'Sounds like a law firm for Dwarves' Mork notes. But, Tom recalls he always had time to play with him, and he couldn't wait for him to get home at night. Sounds like he was a good father, Mindy murmurs, looking at Bickley. Tom's recollections of his time with his father all his encouragement and kindness, reduced Bickley to silent tears, Mork observing he would've loved to have a father like that, and Mindy that she wasn't even aware that Bickley had those kinds of feelings. As Mork wonders why people hide the feelings that give them the most pleasure, Tom stands up and goes back to the club's piano and sings once more, Bickley's tears flowing freely, hearing him...but as he gets up to go, Tom tells him that song was for him. Still able to find his father due to his awful smelling cologne, he rises to him and the two men embrace as Mork & Mindy watch on together.

Mork makes his report to Orson telling him this week he learned to see with his eyes closed, and Orson immediately asks if he's been smoking his socks again. But Mork tells him no, he met a man with no eyes who saw beauty everywhere. Orson asks if there are many people on Earth without sight? Quite a few, Mork tells him. But while some on Earth are born with handicaps, others create their own, by giving up on themselves. Orson is impressed, feeling Mork really has learned to see, better than ever Mork agrees, thinking there's so much on Earth for people to sense and enjoy if they wouldn't be so blind to it.

Continuity Goofs

• Mork seems to have no indication what Blind is, asking Mindy directly for its meaning. Yet in Season Ones, It's a Wonderful Mork, Clint (who Mindy married in the alternate timeline where Mork never met her) was her 'blind date', and the reason he was chased off originally, was because Mork thought he was actually blind, and kept trying to help him around the apartment. So evidently knew what Blind meant then.

Trivia

General

• Mork tells Mindy that Ork has 18 moons (which is why their coyotes all have laryngitis) but this is one of Mork's jokes, and it's revealed in fact that it only has three (Putting the Ork back in Mork) which Mindy ultimately sees for herself (The Honeymoon).

Pop Culture

• Mork says he can't go home because Orson says all the Eggs have been grounded due to cracks. This is a joke based on the grounding of all DC-10 aircraft around the world following the discover of structural problems in June 1979.
• Tom Bickley says he can't wait until they come out with a Braille Edition of PLAYBOY. In fact, The National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS) has published a Braille edition of Playboy since 1970. The Braille version includes all the written words in the non-Braille magazine, but no pictorial representations (thus one could truly claim that one reads it for the articles). Congress cut off funding for the Braille magazine translation in 1985, but U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Hogan reversed the decision on First Amendment grounds.
• Mork wants to know what Bickley was doing with the Nations Inn-Keeper was the 1960s coined slogan for The Holiday Inn Chain. Though by June 1972, with over 1,400 Holiday Inns worldwide, and a cover of Time magazine the franchise's motto became "The World's Innkeeper".
• Bickley tells Mork & Mindy, love doesn't keep you together and he'd like to wring Neil Sedaka's neck. Neil Sedaka penned and sang Love Will Keep us Together in 1973, two years before The Captain & Tennille re-released it as a bigger hit in 1975.

Quotes/Excerpts

• Mindy: Oh c'mon Mork! Life can be beautiful anywhere if you just give it the chance!
• Mork: Oh Mindy stop looking at the world through WASP colored glasses!! Don't you understand I gotta right to sing the blues! 5, 6, 7...*plays the harmonica*
• Mindy: *tries to talk* You know you were.....
• Mork: *cuts across her, singing* Oh I wandered through the Universe it just seems to make it worse. I can't get it off my mind, I ain't had a a close encounter of any kind!! Oh Na-Nus is good news that's why I'm singing these Orkan Blues!

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• Mindy: Look, a lot of times a good way to get your mind off of your troubles is to do something nice for someone else.
• Mork: *moping* Like what?
• Mindy: Like, tonight we'll go down to Bickley's and we'll be nice to his son. And in the meantime you can take me hiking like you promised!
• Mork: Alright...I don't wanna ruin your day. I'll take you hiking, but I don't wanna leave the apartment. *takes hold of her* So you just walk in place...walk in place..*she starts to walk in place* There you go, walk in place! *he grabs hold of one of her plants and rushes it by her* Here comes a quaking aspen! Oh no!!"
• Mindy: *laughing* Mork!
• Mork: Keep walking! Keep walking! *rushes back to starting point and dances back to her again with the plant* A tap dancing Sequoia!! *puts down the plant* Here comes a little bunny!! *hops past her* Oh no a truck!! *impersonates rabbit getting splattered by truck*

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• Mindy: *to Tom* So, is your father here?!
• Mork: Mindy, show some sensitivity! How would he know?!
• Tom: No no Dad called and said he'd be a little late but that his best friends Mork and Mindy would keep me company.
• Mork: *to Mindy* Does best mean 'only'? Ahrr Ahrr
• *Mindy pinches him, Mork pinches her back, they glare at one another*

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• Tom: I love to sky dive.
• Mindy: *seriously impressed* You jump out of planes?!!
• Mork: I bet the hard part is to keep your dog from screaming on the way down, huh?

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• Marty, Club Manager: Excuse me folks, Tom the operator took this message for you when you were on stage.
• Tom: Oh thank you Marty. Mork would you read this for me? *hands him the message*
• Mork: Sure! *reads it to himself* All done.
• Mindy: *grabs it* I'll read it! *shoots Mork a look he makes a face back at her*

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• Mork: *to Tom* It was wonderful! Can we do that again tomorrow? And tomorrow we'll bring Mindy! By the way she wasn't there today, hah...ahrr ahrr ahrrr!

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• Mork: *to Mindy* Maybe Bickley's right, it's only been twelve years, what's there to talk about?
• Mindy: *to Bickley as she walks after Mork* Yeah, actually he probably is better off with you. Look at you, you're mean, you're ornery, you're self involved. What could you possibly have to offer him?
• Bickley: I'm his father!
• Mork: You think he still remembers?
• Bickley: Okay, I'll go with you.
• Mork: Hallelujah you old skunk! *runs to him and hugs him* May pigeons fly upside down next time you wash your car!

Promo

Mork & Mindy - Mork Learns To See - Episode Promo

ABC Promo for 'Mork Learns to See' - Jan 19, 1980

ABC Promo for Mork Learns to See (first up on video) [followed by " "Best of the West," and "Taxi,"]

Image Gallery

Cast

Starring

• Robin Williams as Mork
• Pam Dawber as Mindy McConnell
• Jay Thomas as Remo DaVinci (credited only)
• Gina Hecht as Jean DaVincii (credited only)
• Jim Staahl as Nelson Flavor (credited only)
• Tom Poston as Mr. Bickley

Guest starring

• Tom Sullivan as Tom Bickley, Mr. Bickley's son
• Terence McGovern as Marty the Club Manager (as Terry McGovern)