Steve Sanders (played by Robin Strand) is a former boyfriend of Mindy's from High School who appears in Season 4's Long Before We Met.
About Steve[]
Steve Sanders, tall, blond and good looking was Mindy's Boulder High School boyfriend, who she went steady with for 2 years before the end of school. On the football team, to Mindy's cheerleader, they were *the* couple in their Senior Year, and ultimately voted Prom King & Queen (Long Before We Met).
When Mork first meets Steve it is at Mindy's High School reunion where Steve is rapidly making inroads as a young politician and is already Lt. Governor of Wyoming. He also feels as if he may have met Mork before somewhere, but can't place him.
While Steve is keen to get reacquainted with Mindy, whisking her away to the dance floor and kissing her forehead a number of times, Mork is unperturbed at first by his wife's reunion with her old flame. However, Mork's jealousy is stirred by the reminiscences of the couple by both Glenda Faye and fellow class member Dickie Nimitz (Paul Reubens) who waxes lyrical about how into each other they were. This causes an argument between the couple, as his jealousy ferments, and Steve further stirs Morks insecurities, by sending a dozen red roses to Mindy from 'Stevie' the following day, hoping he gets to see her again soon.
Mindy however has long put him behind her and hasn't thought about him since they broke up, but can't seem to make her husband see that...not till Mork travels back to see for himself what they were like together. Rather than being this romantic paragon as put forth by the nostalgic haze of Mindy's friends however, Steve turns out to be a conceited, possessive, quick tempered jerk, unconcerned with Mindy's own dreams, and more how things look. And an admirer of Richard Nixon to boot,
Dickie's insight into Steve's nature when talking of Steve's beating up on him after catching him and Mindy necking is given further depth after Mork travels back in time as 'Vladimir' a Russian Exchange Student, infiltrates the Senior Prom and introduces himself to Steve, Mindy, Glenda Faye and her date. Mork's offbeat affability and humor, and his request to dance with his 'Princess All American Beauty' in Mindy, goes down like a lead balloon with Steve, especially as he sees Mindy charmed and intrigued by him.
Dragging her away from him, leads Mindy, already irked by his behavior that evening, to berate him for his treatment of 'the poor guy', reminding him he's an exchange student. But Steve just finds him sophomoric and not befitting of 'senior' behavior...before Dickie informs him that some of the boys have beer in the boys bathroom, and Steve promptly abandons Mindy (using her nickname of Snooks) in the middle of the dance floor to go drinking.
Steve shoots Mork a triumphant smirk
On his return however, he spies Mindy not only dancing with Mork but in the midst of receiving kisses to her cheeks from him. Mindy having been prevailed to dance with him by Mork after finding her alone there. And though declining at first because she was going 'steady' with Steve, reconsidering it after taking into account that he had just left her there in favor of beer. Mork charming her still further when listening to her, and encouraging her to follow her dreams. Grabbing hold of the romancing 'Russian', Steve is intent on teaching Mork a lesson for horning in on what is 'his' and drags him across the floor to try and dump Mork's head into the punch bowl, with Mindy trying to stop him. What does stop him however is a drum roll and Dickie taking to the stage to announce the winner of the Prom King & Queen vote. Which duly turns out to be Steve and Mindy. Steve shooting a smug look at Mork as the pair head up to get their crowns, patently content and happy, Mindy far less so.
On taking to the dance floor for their dance, Mindy sourly hopes he is happy, and he blithely admits he is, showing absolutely no concern or regret for what has just happened and what he just tried to do. Urging her to smile for the photos being taken, just angers Mindy further and she demands to know if that's all he cares about. On telling her it's the biggest night of her life, Mindy tells him it just might be, as it's their last date, saying she thought he was a nice guy but has changed her mind, before leaving him standing on the dance floor and going to 'Vladimir', asking him if he'll dance with her instead.
Steve's 'feeling' he may have seen Mork before, can therefore be possibly ascribed as being down to their encounter at the Prom, even though it hadn't actually happened at that point, in a typically circular paradoxical way.