Post by NileQT87 on Feb 6, 2017 12:40:58 GMT
One of my favorite retro sitcoms starred none other than the late, great Robin Williams as the fish-out-of-water, zany, sweet and lovable alien Mork from Ork along with Mindy McConnell, the Earthling who loved him, played by Pam Dawber.
Much of his early standup material ended up turning into episodes, such as his Russian accent he often trotted out, as well as his old man and child impressions.
In retrospect, it has moments that stand out as surprisingly deep and even sadder that what you'd expect for a sitcom. It was already apparent that Robin was as talented, if not more so, a Julliard-trained dramatic actor as he was a standup comic and comedic actor. It often dealt with Mork learning important life lessons, dealing with subjects like loneliness, wanting to feel like you belong, love, the importance of having a friend and losing a loved one. Some of the Orson segments are quite profound. No moment is eerier than Robin Williams listing off all the celebrities who were destroyed by the price of fame and had died (Mork Meets Robin Williams was written by Robin when he was dealing with his personal problems regarding his loss of anonymity). And this was not long before he was one of the very last people to see John Belushi alive at the Chateau Marmont in 1982. And, of course, he's now on that list. R.I.P.
The love story between Mork and Mindy is absolutely adorable and they have real chemistry. There is a surprising amount of romantic material in the series! Season 4, unfortunately, went down the tubes hard (when Mearth is hatched is when it devolves after such a promising start in the first two episodes--yikes with only a few exceptions after that). I actually am fonder of seasons 2-3 than most, though season 1 was the only season when it was one of the top shows on television.
And of course, as Robin would always remark about receiving an Oscar in 1997 for Good Will Hunting, the talk of him being an Oscar winner lasted about two weeks until he was back to being asked to do Mork.
It's such a shame that his return to television decades later in The Crazy Ones was such a disappointment. It was also sad to see Sarah Michelle Gellar's comeback equally squashed--and she clearly loved getting to work with such a legend, whom she considered to be like a father she never had (not to mention getting to spend her lunch breaks catching up with David Boreanaz on the Bones set). But it couldn't have lasted anyway, as Robin had rapid-onset Lewy Body Dementia (misdiagnosed as Parkinson's a year earlier--you can see him holding his arm still, but with him also suffering a lot of the symptoms of Alzheimer's to the point where he was struggling to remember lines for his incredibly sad last performance in Night at the Museum 3 with stunningly beautiful last lines) that would have killed him in two years anyway with very little of his mind left if he had not taken his own life in 2014. For a person who was clearly intelligent, a Rolodex of trivia and material and someone who lived inside his own mind and had a lifetime of openly struggling with depression, it was about the worst disease that could have happened.
But of course, Mork & Mindy is the thing that started his whole legendary career.
Much of his early standup material ended up turning into episodes, such as his Russian accent he often trotted out, as well as his old man and child impressions.
In retrospect, it has moments that stand out as surprisingly deep and even sadder that what you'd expect for a sitcom. It was already apparent that Robin was as talented, if not more so, a Julliard-trained dramatic actor as he was a standup comic and comedic actor. It often dealt with Mork learning important life lessons, dealing with subjects like loneliness, wanting to feel like you belong, love, the importance of having a friend and losing a loved one. Some of the Orson segments are quite profound. No moment is eerier than Robin Williams listing off all the celebrities who were destroyed by the price of fame and had died (Mork Meets Robin Williams was written by Robin when he was dealing with his personal problems regarding his loss of anonymity). And this was not long before he was one of the very last people to see John Belushi alive at the Chateau Marmont in 1982. And, of course, he's now on that list. R.I.P.
The love story between Mork and Mindy is absolutely adorable and they have real chemistry. There is a surprising amount of romantic material in the series! Season 4, unfortunately, went down the tubes hard (when Mearth is hatched is when it devolves after such a promising start in the first two episodes--yikes with only a few exceptions after that). I actually am fonder of seasons 2-3 than most, though season 1 was the only season when it was one of the top shows on television.
And of course, as Robin would always remark about receiving an Oscar in 1997 for Good Will Hunting, the talk of him being an Oscar winner lasted about two weeks until he was back to being asked to do Mork.
It's such a shame that his return to television decades later in The Crazy Ones was such a disappointment. It was also sad to see Sarah Michelle Gellar's comeback equally squashed--and she clearly loved getting to work with such a legend, whom she considered to be like a father she never had (not to mention getting to spend her lunch breaks catching up with David Boreanaz on the Bones set). But it couldn't have lasted anyway, as Robin had rapid-onset Lewy Body Dementia (misdiagnosed as Parkinson's a year earlier--you can see him holding his arm still, but with him also suffering a lot of the symptoms of Alzheimer's to the point where he was struggling to remember lines for his incredibly sad last performance in Night at the Museum 3 with stunningly beautiful last lines) that would have killed him in two years anyway with very little of his mind left if he had not taken his own life in 2014. For a person who was clearly intelligent, a Rolodex of trivia and material and someone who lived inside his own mind and had a lifetime of openly struggling with depression, it was about the worst disease that could have happened.
But of course, Mork & Mindy is the thing that started his whole legendary career.