Mork & Mindy was a spin-off from an episode of Happy Days
seen in February 1978, in which an alien from the planet
Ork landed on Earth and attempted to kidnap Richie.
So popular was the nutty character that Robin Williams
was given his own series the following fall.
Mork was a misfit on his own planet because of his
sense of humor. So the humorless Orkans sent him off
to study Earthlings, whose "crazy" customs they had
never been able to understand. Mork landed, in a giant
eggshell, near Boulder, Colorado. There he was
befriended by pretty Mindy McConnell, a clerk at a
music store run by her father, Frederick. Mork looked
human, but his strange mixture of Orkan and Earthling
customs such as wearing a suit, but putting it on
backwards, or sitting in a chair, but upside down,
led most people to think of him as just some kind
of a nut. Mindy knew where he came from, and helped
him adjust to Earth's strange ways. She also let him
stay in the attic of her apartment house, which
scandalized her conservative father, but
not her swinging grandmother, Cora.
After a season of simple slapstick and big ratings,
both the producers and the network violated one of
television's cardinal rules: "Don't tamper with a hit."
In the process of doing so, they almost destroyed the
program. To start off the second season the producers
decided to shift to more "meaningful" stories, the
whole supporting cast was changed, and ABC moved
the show from Thursday to Sunday nights. Confused
viewers deserted the show in droves.
By December 1979 they scrambled to undo their mistakes.
Mork went back to Thursday, stories got less
complicated, and the dumped father and grandmother
returned for the third season. Other changes included
the addition of brother and sister Remo and Jean
DaVinci who ran the New York Deli. Nelson was Mindy's
uptight cousin with grandiose political ambitions;
Mr. Bickley was the grouchy downstairs neighbor;
Exidor was a crazed prophet and leader of an invisible
cult. Mindy a journalism student, got a job at local
TV station KTNS, where her boss was Mr. Sternhagen.
In the fall of 1981 Mork and Mindy were married, and
honeymooned on Ork. Shortly thereafter Mork gave birth,
by ejecting a small egg from his navel. The egg grew
and grew and finally cracked open to reveal their 225
pound son, Mearth (played by Jonathan Winters). At the end of each episode Mork reported back to his
leader Orson, on Ork, twisting his ears and signing
off, "Na nu, na nu"--good-bye in Orkan.
(Tim's TV Showcase)