Base-Breaking Character: Mearth. Some like him because they think he's funny or cute, whereas some dislike him because they think Mork laying an egg, Mearth looking like a man in his fifties, etc is too surreal — even for a show like this, and/or think Mork and Mindy should not have become a couple.
Broken Base: Should the title characters have become a couple or not? Some people think that their romance was a natural progression of their relationship, that they were a cute couple, and that them learning to be parents was good character development and funny. Others either think that them getting together was bad because there aren't enough Platonic Life-Partners on TV, or are squicked by the idea of an alien being sexually attracted to a human.
In "Mork Meets Robin Williams", Mork meets Robin Williams, his own actor. This line from Mork becomes disturbing after Robin Williams killed himself due to depression, which he described as a contrast to the cheeriness of his characters.
Mork: He looks like he does his hair with a Cuisinart! Man, he's got a road map for eyes! You could pack a family in that nose, man! I mean, look at that mouth, "Duuurrr...". They had to airbrush his entire face, are you kidding? I mean, I'm bright and cheery and this guy's got big problems!
In one of his appearances, Exidor goes on a long spiel extolling the virtues of O. J. Simpson.
In "Mork vs. the Necrotons", it's off-handily mentioned by Captain Nirvana that the Necrotons could torture information out of Mork by wrapping a rope around his neck, among other means. Robin Williams died by suicide from hanging.
At the end of "Mork in Wonderland: Part 2," Mork had only one wish upon reuniting with Mindy after her microworld counterpart, Mandy, died in his arms: for he himself to die before Mindy so he doesn't have to lose her twice. In a manner of speaking, Mork got his wish; Robin Williams passed in 2014 with Pam Dawber still in good health.
In "Mork's Mixed Emotions", Disgusted Mork overreacts to a lack of food at a restaurant by trying to cut his wrist with a blunt knife. One of Williams' failed suicide attempts involved slit wrists.
In "Old Fears", Mork ages himself so he can be a companion to Mindy's grandmother, joking that he stopped at "two years 'til senility". At the end of his life, Robin Williams suffered from the effects of Lewy body dementia, which drove him to suicide.
He Really Can Act: From the first season on, Robin Williams stunned everyone with why he made the show so much more than a retread of My Favorite Martian. For instance, in "Mork's Mixed Emotions," one of the greatest TV episodes of all time, Robin effortlessly creates a myriad of simultaneous personas with absolutely no props, visual effects or makeup. All Robin needed was his singular acting ability to sell it perfectly.
After he turns himself old to cheer up Cora, he invites her to go to a museum.
When Robin Williams "meets" Mork, the first thing he says is, "You know, you look a lot like....naw, he's a woman now." A few years later, and Robin gets a major success with Mrs. Doubtfire.
In "Mork in Never Never Land", Mork becomes friends with a man who believes he's actually Peter Pan. Robin Williams would go on to play Peter Pan in Hook.
Tom Poston went from this series to his better-known role as handyman George Utley on Newhart.
Morgan Fairchild, who later carved a successful niche playing Rich Bitch characters in '80s Prime Time Soaps such as Falcon Crest, played Susan (Mindy's ex-classmate and romantic rival) in season 1.
Many actors who played minor characters had appearances in other shows and films in the '80s. A few examples: Jay Thomas later appeared as Eddie Lebeck on Cheers. Joe Regalbuto (a bad alien) went on to Murphy Brown. A very young Corey Feldman (Stand by Me, The Lost Boys) appears as one of Mork's day-care charges in a couple episodes. Dinah Manoff (Soap, Empty Nest) plays a woman who tries to extort Mork in the second season.
David Letterman, three years away from hosting Late Night, turns up in the Season 1 epsiode '"Mork Goes Erk" as a fraudulent self-help guru.
John Larroquette and Richard Moll appear in the Season 4 episode "Alienation," as a cult leader/member respectively, several years before they began costarring in Night Court.
Seasonal Rot: Despite the show being a hit in its first season, changes were implemented in season 2 as a bid for younger viewers. Several characters – including Mindy's father and grandmother – were dropped, Mork and Mindy getting together received greater emphasis, and episodes had an altogether different tone. Coupled with a new timeslot, ratings fell, which led to attempts at getting back to basics, but the success of the first season was never recaptured.
Unintentional Period Piece: Unlike Happy Days and Laverne & Shirley, which were both set in The '50s, this show (at the time it originally aired) was set in the "present day" of 1978-1982. Among other things, when Mork ran out onto Denver's (Original) Mile-High Stadium as a member of "The Pony Express." The Denver Broncos Cheerleaders only used that name from 1977 to 1980.
