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"Mork & Mindy": Season Four | |
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 "Mork and Mindy" Season 4 DVD cover. | |
| Season Information | |
| Episodes | 22 aired |
| Network/Air Dates | ABC-TV, October 8, 1981 - May 27, 1982 |
| Season Guide | |
| Previous | Season 3 |
| Next | None - End of series |
| "Mork and Mindy"' | |
| TV season guide | |
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
| Also see: Animated Series |
Season 4 Cast
Season Four of Mork and Mindy began airing on October 8, 1981 on ABC. The fourth and final season concluded after 22 episodes on May 27, 1982.
Season Summary
Mork and Mindy get married, honeymoon on Ork, and then Mork gets pregnant and spits an egg from his new belly-button which grows and hatches their full-grown son, Mearth. Since Mork had no surname, he and Mearth both adopted Mindy's name, McConnell. Stories revolved around Mork and Mindy's struggles with marriage and parenthood. Fred, Cora, Mr. Bickley and Exidor each made regular appearances throughout the season.
Behind the Scenes
Remo, Jeannie, Nelson, Lola, Stephanie and Glenda Faye were all dropped, though Glenda Faye made one guest-appearance in "Long Before We Met." Resident director Howard Storm also left the series and was replaced by Bob Claver. "I was getting burned out," Storm recalled.[1] After a while my ideas started to run out. I felt like I was starting to imitate myself on the show."
The addition of Jonathan Winters as Mearth was meant to spark creativity, but things didn't work out as planned, in part because Williams and Winters frequently devolved into improvisations that were too X-rated for television.[1] "That was chaos!" recalled Pam Dawber.[2] "Robin could go off, do some brilliant improvisational thing, and come back. Jonathan would go off and you'd never see him again!" Despite the craziness, Dawber recognized that she was in the presence of two comedic geniuses and concocted a plan to have a documentary made about them. "Everybody agreed to do it," she said. "Paramount agreed to do it, we all wrote it off as yes. And wouldn't you know it, Robin's damn management said no. In retrospect, what a wonderful thing that would have been to have. The two of those guys were so nuts, so wonderfully nuts together and so funny."[1]
With lagging ratings, the 3-part season finale introduced villainous Kalnik (Joe Regalbuto, Murphy Brown), an alien hellbent on destroying Mork, who used a pair of time-travel slippers to transport himself and Mindy into the past, leaving Mearth in the care of Fred. The series concluded with Mork & Mindy in limbo as a setup for season 5, in which Mork and Mindy would have been traveling through time, meeting various historical figures.[3]
Realizing they were going to cancel the show after this cliffhanger was shot, ABC held back one episode with Fred and Cora which aired as the finale instead, in an attempt to give the show some closure. Unfortunately, no one bothered to inform the cast. "I found out the show was canceled by reading it in Variety," Williams commented.[4] "In Hollywood that's like reading your own obituary: 'You're dead, good luck!'"
Main characters
- Robin Williams as Mork
- Pam Dawber as Mindy McConnell
- Elizabeth Kerr as Cora Hudson
- Conrad Janis as Fred McConnell
- Jonathan Winters as Mearth
- Robert Donner as Exidor
- Ralph James as Orson
Episodes
Season 4 (1981-1982)
ass="description" colspan="6" style="border-bottom-width:3px;border-bottom-color:#006600;" | Mr. Sternhagen, the station manager where Mindy works, gets fired by KTNS's new boss who is very young and ready to fire others. He holds a party to meet all the employees' families. Meanwhile, while playing with an old train set, a short circuit switches Mork's mind with Mearth's.
| Season 4 episodes | ||||||
| No. in series | No. in season |
Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | Production code |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 74 | 1 | "Limited Engagement" | Bob Claver | Brian Levant | October 8, 1981 | 401 (4x1) |
After decorating the apartment with flowers, Mork gets down on bended knee and proposes to Mindy. Choosing between logic and her emotions, Mindy tells him that she cannot marry him. Mork asks for 24 hours to get her to change her mind.
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| 75 | 2 | "The Wedding" | 402 | Bob Claver | Alan Eisenstock & Larry Mintz | October 15, 1981 |
When Orson forbids Mork to marry Mindy because marriage is outlawed on Ork, Mork goes ahead with the wedding anyway. Orson retaliates by turning him into a sheepdog. After a chat with Orson, Mork & Mindy finally get married.
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| 76 | 3 | "The Honeymoon" | Bob Claver | Dale McRaven & Bruce Johnson | October 22, 1981 | 403 (4x3) |
Mork & Mindy take their honeymoon on Ork, but Mindy becomes a tourist attraction and is even entered in a pet show. Things keep going wrong and Mork does not understand Earth honeymoon customs. He confesses to Mindy that he is scared of being married. Orkan Fact: Several aliens, very different in appearance from the human-looking Orkans, are present when Mork & Mindy arrive on Ork. Whether the aliens are themselves visitors from other planets or are representative of other races native to Ork is unclear.
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| 77 | 4 | "Three the Hard Way" | Bob Claver | Richard Rosenstock & Roy Teicher | October 29, 1981 | 404 (4x4) |
Exidor (who is working as a doctor) determines that Mork is pregnant. Mork gives birth to an egg via his navel. Mindy has trouble accepting that in the egg is their child. The egg grows and hatches a full grown, elderly man as Mork & Mindy's baby (since Orkans age backwards).
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| 78 | 5 | "Mama Mork, Papa Mindy" | Frank Buxton | Wendy Kout & George Zateslo | November 5, 1981 | 405 (4x5) |
Mearth learns to walk and talk, but calls Mork 'Mommy' and Mindy 'shoe'. Mindy starts avoiding Mearth until Mork gives her an opportunity to bond with her son.
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| 79 | 6 | "My Dad Can't Beat Up Anybody" | Frank Buxton | Dale McRaven & Bruce Johnson | November 12, 1981 | 406 (4x6) |
| Mork becomes insecure when he thinks he doesn't have Mearth's respect. Mearth finds Mork's spacesuit and Mork wears it as a superhero costume. Mork and Mearth go to a bar, looking for some bad guys and they find more than they bargained for. | ||||||
| 80 | 7 | "Long Before We Met" | Frank Buxton | Deborah Raznick & John B. Collins | November 19, 1981 | 407 (4x7) |
Mork accompanies Mindy to her high school reunion and gets upset when Mindy associates with an old boyfriend named Steve Sanders. Mork then attempts to go back in time to the prom and do away with the boyfriend and he succeeds. When Mork comes back to reality, Mindy then assures him that he is the only one she loves.
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| 81 | 8 | "Rich Mork, Poor Mork" | Frank Buxton | Richard Rosenstock & Roy Teicher | November 26, 1981 | 408 (4x8) |
| After having to send back presents he bought for Mearth, Mork turns to Exidor for money advice and invests all the family's money in Exidor's boutique. | ||||||
| 82 | 9 | "Alienation" | Don Barnhart | Wendy Kout & George Zateslo | December 3, 1981 | 409 (4x9) |
Mork & Mindy tell Mearth he's an alien. Mearth gets upset that he is different from other children and runs away. He's captured by a cult of Utopians and Mork & Mindy pretend to be part of the cult to rescue him.
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| 83 | 10 | "P.S. 2001" | Bob Claver | Cindy Begel & Lesa Kite | December 17, 1981 | 410 (4x10) |
| Mearth wants to go to school and gets sent to school on Ork. Mearth comes home crying because the other kids made fun of him and he hates the teacher. Mork & Mindy take Mearth back to class and Mearth uses his parents as a show-and-tell item which gains the respect of his classmates. | ||||||
| 84 | 11 | "Pajama Game II" | Bob Claver | Cindy Begel & Lesa Kite | January 7, 1982 | 411 (4x11) |
| Mearth is allowed to have some of his Orkan friends over and Zelka ends up spending the night. Mork & Mindy explain the facts of life to Mearth when they assume something happened between him and Zelka. | ||||||
| 85 | 12 | "Present Tense" | Bob Claver | Winifred Hervey | January 14, 1982 | 412 (4x12) |
| Mearth goes on a trip with Fred so Mork & Mindy have a week to spend alone together. They find that without Mearth at home, they have nothing to talk about. After they have a fight, Mork takes Mindy to the place they first met to make up. | ||||||
| 86 | 13 | "Metamorphosis, the TV Show" | Bob Claver | Bob Perlow & Ron Gene Braunstein | January 21, 1982 | 413 (4x13) |
| Mr. Sternhagen, the station manager where Mindy works, gets fired by KTNS's new boss who is very young and ready to fire others. He holds a party to meet all the employees' families. Meanwhile, while playing with an old train set, a short circuit switches Mork's mind with Mearth's. | ||||||
| 87 | 14 | "Drive, She Said" | Bob Claver | Lesa Kite & Cindy Begel | February 4, 1982 | 414 (4x14) |
| Mindy is tired of coming from work and then having to go out on errands in the evening. Mork goes to a driving school where TNT is his instructor. When Mork takes his driving test, he thinks his examiner is the devil. | ||||||
| 88 | 15 | "I Don't Remember Mama" | Bob Claver | John B. Collins & Deborah Raznick | February 11, 198 | 415 (4x15) |
| Mork has been making boring reports to Orson, so Orson erases all of Mork's memories of his family. Mindy and Mearth do everything they can to get Mork to remember them. Mindy finally breaks the memory block by kissing him. | ||||||
| 89 | 16 | "Mork, Mindy, and Mearth Meet M.I.L.T." | Howard Storm | Wendy Kout & George Zateslo | February 18, 1982 | 416 (4x15) |
Mork uses Orkan components to assemble a home computer named M.I.L.T for Mearth's science project. MILT is so sophisticated and tyrannical that it decides to hold its creator, Mindy, and Mearth, as hostages.
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| 90 | 17 | "Midas Mork" | Bob Claver | Wendy Kout & Geogre Zateslo | April 15, 1982 | 417 (4x17) |
| After hearing about how Rumplestilskin spun straw into gold, Mork and Mearth try to make polyester into gold. Mindy dreams that they become millionaires and live in a mansion with servants. | ||||||
| 91 | 18 | "Cheerleaders in Chains" | Bob Claver | "Teleplay by:" Winifred Hervey "Story by:" Cindy Begel & Lisa Kite |
April 22, 1982 | 418 (4x18) |
Mindy gets jailed when she won't reveal a source for one of her stories. Mork tries to go through political channels to get her out. Then he tries to spring her out, but gets arrested himself.
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| 92 | 19 | "Gotta Run, Part 1" | Don Barnhart | Cindy Begel & Lesa Kite | May 6, 1982 | 419 (4x19) |
Mork & Mindy are overjoyed when they meet Kalnik, an alien from Neptune who has also married an Earthling named Tracy. Things go awry when they become suspicious of Kalnik's true intentions. Tracy reveals that she is a bomb, demolishing Mork & Mindy's apartment and sending them on the run.
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| 93 | 20 | "Gotta Run, Part 2" | Bob Claver | Richard Gurman | May 13, 1982 | 420 (4x20) |
After the evil Kalnik has bombed their apartment, leaving them on the run, Mork, Mindy and Mearth decide their only chance of surviving is to go public about Mork's real roots.
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| 94 | 21 | "Gotta Run, Part 3" | Howard Storm | Alan Eisenstock & Larry Mintz | May 20, 1982 | 421 (4x21) |
Kalnik discovers Mork & Mindy in their demolished apartment. Mork clicks the heels of his magic shoes in an effort to escape with Mindy to Rome, but the shoes have been damaged, and Mork & Mindy wind up with prehistoric tribesmen in an Okus cave.
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| 95 | 22 | "The Mork Report" | Robin Williams | Winifred Hervey | May 27, 1982 | 422 (4x22) |
Mork bucks hard for a promotion from leader Orson on planet Ork, and unintentionally comes up with a report on how to stay happily married on Earth.
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References
Other episodes
- ABC-TV 1981-82 Sesson Promos (Prod. code #400)
Other seasons
| "Mork and Mindy"' | |
| TV season guide | |
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
| Also see: Animated Series |