View Full Version : When Did Mork and Mindy Jump the Shark?


TMC
10-06-2023, 05:51 AM
https://popculturereferences.com/when-did-mork-and-mindy-jump-the-shark/

In a feature looking at if or when a TV series "jumped the shark," Brian asks you all to determine when (or if) Mork and Mindy jumped the shark.

https://popculturereferences.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/mork-and-mindy-header-1024x585.jpg

Today, we look at when (or if) you folks believe that Mork and Mindy “jumped the shark.” (https://web.archive.org/web/20061031125239/http://www.jumptheshark.com/m/morkandmindy.htm)

This is “Just Can’t Jump It,” (https://popculturereferences.com/category/just-cant-jump-it/) a feature where we examine shows and whether they “jumped the shark.” Jumped the shark (coined by Jon Hein (http://www.jonhein.com/)) means that the show had a specific point in time where, in retrospect, you realize that show was going downhill from there (even if, in some rare occasions, the show later course-corrected). Not every show DOES jump the shark. Some shows just remain good all the way through. And some shows are terrible all the way through. What we’re looking for are moments where a show that you otherwise enjoyed hit a point where it took a noticeable nose dive after that time and if so, what moment was that?

Mork and Mindy was a show about an alien named Mork (Robin Williams) who comes to live on Earth, and becomes roommates with an Earth woman, Mindy (Pam Dawber). Mindy helps Mork adjust to life on Earth, and they eventually fall in love.

So first…DID IT JUMP THE SHARK? I think so, yes.

WHEN DID IT JUMP THE SHARK An interesting aspect of Mork and Mindy is that it was never really ever as good as people remember it. Robin Williams was brilliant as Mork, no doubt about it, but the show never really seemed to formalize a plot AROUND him, which is a shame, as Pam Dawber was also excellent. Your two leads are that good and you fail to put a show around them? They should be put in TV jail for that! That said, when they got married, the show got a whole lot worse, so I’ll say the Season 4 premiere, when they got married.

rusty spike
10-06-2023, 11:18 AM
I lost interest in the show at the beginning of the 2nd season. I didn't like them changing the show's format. The older characters were funny!

Chocolate Moose
10-09-2023, 10:46 AM
When the story moved from the music store to the pizza place.

Dude111
10-11-2023, 03:39 PM
I lost interest in the show at the beginning of the 2nd season. I didn't like them changing the show's format. The older characters were funny!I agree,the original is the best!!

DJM77
10-11-2023, 06:11 PM
When the story moved from the music store to the pizza place.

It was a delicatessen.

Chocolate Moose
10-12-2023, 02:25 PM
Was it?

BestTVever
02-11-2024, 07:01 AM
I watched in real time and was 9 years old when the show debuted. I think the show was geared at kids around that age. Looking back I cant believe how stupid the show got. The first season was interesting and good. The changes in the second season did not work especially removing Mindy's parents and introducing new people. Season 3 is really bad and was watching an episode yesterday from December 1980 with the kid having a water balloon battle with Mork in the abandoned western town. The entire episode was a water balloon battle teaching the morale at the end that violence is never good in any form. I cant remember if I saw that episode as a kid but OMG I was in shock how stupid it was. BTW, a very young Corey Feldman plays the punky kid.
I agree with Rusty_Spike I think the second season it already started jumping the shark. It seemed like the more they changed it the worse it got. New characters, then the Mork Mindy romance, then their "kid". I will say when that fuzzy thing that appeared with Mork in his briefings home is when it jumped the shark for sure. I know season 3 it was there and I think season two towards the end had it too?

GlennL
01-20-2025, 02:55 AM
It was first called “The New York Deli” since Remo and Jeanie moved to Boulder from New York (probably NYC), then was renamed “DaVinci’s” in season 3 after their last name.