Do You Blame Jonathan Winters For The Implosion Of 'Mork & Mindy?'

[Yong Fang]

Jonathan Winter's could have been kick ass as something else. Why not just have Winter's character be another adult astronaut as Mork who was sort of there to spy on him, or be somewhat of a troublemaker in the town (discovering alcohol and scamming free drinks off of people in the bar with the "sipping finger" routine). Just anything but what the show did. I was a child then and we loved the show, but I gave up on it by then.

From Wikipedia, Jonathan Winters spent some time in a psychiatric institution twice in the late 50's, early 60's. I can see him being "bi-polar". I have never heard of "bi-polar" until I was sent to the "zoo" for drug addiction and met some of these people. Mostly good people who were not mentally ill, but their brain chemistry is fouled.

I had a younger friend I have known come to the house one afternoon, and he acted like he just murdered somebody, or he was on a real bad drug trip, or did too much cocaine. He was jumpy, jittery, sweaty, chain smoking. His bi-polar was just getting the best of him. There is medication for that that helps to some degree.

Winters drank a lot of alcohol, since he was in the profession and the generation where people drank a lot of alcohol. Dunno if Winters quit, or went to AA, or wherever, but this might be another connection Winters had with Robin Williams. Winters lived to be 87, which is fairly remarkable for a guy who was overweight all of his life, and went through the stresses of mental illness and fame and probably drank alcohol excessively for many years.

[johnlucas]

Originally Posted by Brian Damage

Was it a big mistake casting Jonathan Winters in that role? Should it have been a child actor?

Haven't posted in this place in YEARS!
But I had to pipe up for the question of this 6 year old thread.

In my opinion, Jonathan Winters was PERFECT CASTING for this role.
Who else could it be?
One of Robin Williams' comedy 'fathers' in real life now playing his comedy 'son' on TV.

And I like what they did in that 4th season, further exploring Mork & Mindy's relationship to the utmost.
From the very beginning of the show you could tell that they would end up married.
That was the ONE part of the show that endured throughout each of the drastic changes each season.
So naturally you have to figure out how a loving couple like Mork & Mindy would be like if they had a child.

The way I see the show is that it's SUPPOSED to be zany & off the wall.
That's the POINT!
It's not SUPPOSED to be normal. AT ALL.
That's what will make the show endure throughout the generations.
I LIKE the abnormal sci-fi storylines within the show.
Reverse aging fits right in with this insane TV show, the way I see it.

Looking back on it, none of the extreme changes damaged the core of the show.
It was crazy & madcap, full of sci-fi/fantasy/action sequences, yet still had heart & warmth.
The performances of the title characters was the core & anchor of the series.

MORK and MINDY.

Robin Williams balanced by Pam Dawber.

Throughout Robin Williams' comic craziness or deep drama you have Pam Dawber's earthy groundedness or surprising goofiness.
Their chemistry on screen & the way they effortlessly played off each other is what made the show for me.

So bringing Jonathan Winters into the show as their son Mearth opened up new paths to take the characters.
It gives Robin a chance to have ricochet riffs off of Jonathan & it shows Pam's quiet control of the riffing madmen as she plays straightwoman to their antics.

Pam's performance in that show is very underrated, by the way.
Her subtle control & boundaries that make the comic skits have maximum impact.
I like how she quietly hams up a performance herself with subtle funny comments within the dialogue & her silly reactions/expressions to Robin and later Jonathan.
She really was a great actress.

The show was rocked by its time slot changes & drastic casting overhauls but I don't think any of it INCLUDING the addition of Jonathan Winters as Mearth ruined the show at all.
The core was constant through each season.

If this show came out today in the current state TV's in, it would be on the air past 10 years AT LEAST.
They took chances with this show & did original stuff.
'Mearth being an old man as a child' took guts.
It was a gutsy decision that fit the insane nature of this entire show to begin with.

If you wanna pick on a character that dragged the show, try Nelson Flavor.
That should have been a guest star role at most.
He was a good choice for the 1980 election year cultural transition between Jimmy Carter & Ronald Reagan but other than that, BLAH!

John Lucas

[Avilos]

I am working my way through the complete series on DVD and watching the early episodes of season 4 right now. I was born in 1978 right before the show started. My earliest memories are from reruns in the early 80s after the show was done. I have watched on and off since than.

I am glad the most recent post agrees with me. Jonathan Winters was a great addition. It’s ridiculous to think hey should have cast a little kid. The only reason they created Mearth was for Winters to play the role.

I do not think the show ever would have lasted more than 5 or 6 years at most. Maybe if the network had not changed the time slot or cast. But even than it was mostly a gimmick. It was on longer than My Favorite Martian.

Having Mork and Mindy marry meant actual development. It’s a sitcom about an alien of course they needed to play up than for humor in making the child a man! Plus it had been established Orkans age in reverse. That might be my earliest memory of the show as a kid.

I wish they had mentioned that Mearth looks liked Mindy’s Uncle. It is proof that Mearth has some of Mindy’s DNA. I like to think it was discussed in a off camera moment we did not see but she was in so much shock it was the last thing on her mind.

Considering when Mindy’s Dad did return he interacted with characters who techinically replaced him. They never needed to close the Music Shop. Mork and Mindy could have alternated visiting it and the Da Vinci’s restaurant. Like people do in real life. But tv, in particular at that time, is about actor’s contracts and repeating the same patterns week to week.

[TMC]

Originally Posted by spunkygirl

No I blame the network for their interference that's what killed the show. The network interference always does

What were the specific changes ABC made to "Mork and Mindy" that led to a decline in viewer ratings, and why did they think these changes would work?

To beat Archie Bunker in the ratings, ABC took America's hottest new sitcom, fired half its cast, and practically destroyed Mork & Mindy in a single summer.

Following a debut season in 1978 that skyrocketed Robin Williams to unprecedented fame, the network's drastic alterations for Season 2 quickly alienated the fanbase.

The changes were driven by a mix of corporate hubris and a fundamental misunderstanding of why the show worked in the first place. ABC implemented three major shifts:

• The Time Slot Weaponization: In Season 1, the show dominated Thursday nights. For Season 2, ABC executives decided to use their biggest hit as a battering ram against a rival network. They moved Mork & Mindy to Sunday nights at 8:00 PM specifically to challenge CBS’s Archie Bunker’s Place (the continuation of All in the Family). They assumed audiences would follow Robin Williams anywhere.
  
• The Cast Purge: Executives felt the show needed a younger, more "hip" vibe to appeal to trendy demographics. They abruptly wrote out Conrad Janis and Elizabeth Kerr, who played Mindy’s father and grandmother. To replace them, ABC introduced Remo and Jean DaVinci (played by Jay Thomas and Gina Hecht), a brother-sister duo who ran a local deli.
  
• The Tonal Shift: Season 1 balanced Mork’s manic alien antics with grounded, heartwarming interactions as he tried to understand human nature. In Season 2, the network pushed the writers to lean into surreal slapstick, disco-era trends, and heavy-handed moralizing. Mork was thrust into increasingly bizarre, cartoonish scenarios.

ABC executives believed these changes would work because they thought Robin Williams's improvisational energy was the only reason people tuned in. They severely underestimated the importance of the show's emotional core. Mindy’s family had provided a necessary, grounded contrast to Mork’s hyperactive comedy. Without the traditional family dynamic, Mork was no longer an alien learning about ordinary human life; he was just a chaotic character bouncing off trendy caricatures.

The strategy was a spectacular failure. The new time slot against an established sitcom hurt viewership, and audiences actively rejected the new characters and the loss of the show's heart. Ratings plummeted instantly. By the time ABC realized their mistake—bringing back Mindy's father and grandmother and moving the show back to Thursdays for Season 3—the magic was gone, and the mainstream audience had already moved on.