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"Mork & Mindy": Season Three

Mork & Mindy Season 3 DVD cover

"Mork and Mindy" Season 3 DVD cover.

Season Information
Episodes 22 aired
Network/Air Dates ABC-TV, November 13, 1980 - May 14, 1981
Season Guide
Previous Season 2
Next Season 4
Also see: Animated Series

Season three of Mork & Mindy began airing on November 13, 1980 on ABC-TV. The third season concluded after 22 episodes on May 14, 1981.

Season Overview[]

For Season 3, the show returned more to it's Season 1 roots, the seeds for which had begun at the end of S2 when steps were taken to rectify what the Network had mandated/messed with. With Fred having made his first steps towards returning, and Mork's search for a job dealt with by his having landed an (ideal) position into the Pine Tree Day Care facility. By the time Season 3 arrived, Fred was now back full time as the new conductor of Boulder's Symphony Orchestra, and Mork settled into the Day Care facility. With that taken care of, the focus returned to his learning about (and misunderstanding) human concepts and ways. The real life issues were shifted to Mindy, who was finally allowed to have some kind of life outside of Mork (yet still pertinent to his understanding of life on Earth), in starting a career of her own and having to deal with how that impacted on her life with Mork and his with her.

The show acknowledged this attempt to restore its original premise, with the third season's hour-long opener titled "Putting The Ork Back in Mork". Where in Mindy reveals to her returned father that she's afraid her attempts to make Mork more human over the previous year have backfired, with Mork having become a hyper middle class suburbanite. In another return to Season 1 themes, in Mindy's thinking back on how he was, and realizing what she'd lost, the restoration of Mork to his (largely) previous self, also allowed for Mork and Mindy's romantic relationship to get back on track after the far more platonic interaction of Season 2. Building gently through the Season to the season finale's declaration.

While the Music Store didn't make a come back, Fred was eventually joined by a returning Cora towards the end of the season. And while, sadly, Eugene never made a come back, the terrific interaction of Mork's character with children was restored, when several new supporting characters were added to the lineup from the Day Care Center, chiefly the double act of Lola and Stephanie.

Jeanie, Remo, and Nelson were retained as regulars with Jeanie and Remo having swapped the Deli for a fully functioning Italian restaurant, DaVinci's. Nelson, having lost the election he was running for through S2, was more relaxed, out of politics, wearing casual clothes, and through a support group he was now part of, we were introduced to a new series regular, Mindy's old High School and close friend Glenda Faye Comstock (Crissy Wilzak), a lovely young widow whom Nelson falls for.

Unfortunately lost momentum is hard to regain, and though the show itself was markedly improved, the constant shifts in tone from season to season didn't help. The season ended at number 49 in the ratings.

Main characters[]

Notable Season Guest Stars[]

Season 3 (1980-1981)[]

Season 3 episodes
No. in series No. in
season
Title Directed by Written by Original air date Production code
52
53
1
2
"Putting the Ork Back in Mork, Part 1"
"Putting the Ork Back in Mork, Part 2"
Howard Storm Ed Scharlach & Tom Tenowich November 13, 1980 301 (3x1)
302 (3x2)
Fred returns to discover that Mindy's efforts to help Mork act more human have backfired, radically changing his personality to that of a button down middle class suburbanite. Upon learning of this situation from Mork & Mindy, Orson diagnoses him with 'Observer Syndrome' and sends 'The Ancient One' the most respected Orkan elder to Earth to help Mork regain his Orkan-ness. On arrival, The Elder bans Mindy from Mork's presence, and converts the attic to a typical Orkan environment to re-train Mork in his old Orkan ways. With Mindy fretting and unable to help, the Elder tells her if Mork fails, he will be sent back to Ork, ostracized in disgrace from the other Orkans, and will never see her again.

Note: This is the first time Mindy *meets* Orson.

Note: One-hour, 2 part episode; Conrad Janis returns to the series as a cast regular.

54 3 "Mork in Never Never Land" Howard Storm Wendy Kout November 20, 1980 303 (3x3)
Mork doesn't understand that his pen-pal, Peter, is actually in residence at a sanitorium and believes that he is Peter Pan. Believing Peter falsely imprisoned and with his life affirming enthusiasm, Mork resolves to break Peter out so he can come cheer up Mindy who is depressed over her failure to progress her post-grad studies.
55 4 "Dueling Skates" Garry Marshall Dale McRaven & Bruce Johnson November 27, 1980 304 (3x4)
The Daycare Center where Mork works looks doomed to become a parking lot for the roller skating rink across the way. With the fanciful notion that 'good always triumphs', to save the Center Mork challenges the pampered and self absorbed champion roller skater responsible, to a Rocky Mountain road race.
56 5 "Mork the Prankster" Jeff Chambers Wendy Kout & George Zateslo December 4, 1980 305 (3x5)
Mindy teaches Mork about practical jokes, and after a few false starts he starts to get a hang of them. His increasing confidence and desire to impress Mindy however, leads to a disastrous and dangerous prank that wrecks the apartment. Furious, and leaving him to deal with the mess he's made, Mindy moves out to stay with Glenda Faye, pondering her future with Mork. Until Glenda's confession and her swinging neighbors start to make her reconsider what she has.

Note: Marks the first actual kiss between Mork & Mindy since early Season 2

57 6 "Mork, the Monkey's Uncle" Howard Storm "Teleplay by:" Tom Tenowich & Ed Scharlach
"Story by:" James Klein
December 11, 1980 306 (3x6)
While Mindy ponders a change of look to try and improve her chances of getting a job, Mork kidnaps a chimpanzee from the zoo and brings him home telling Mindy he was being treated badly, and sending Exidor to investigate where the chimps mother has disappeared to.
58 7 "Gunfight at the Mork-Kay Corral" Jeff Chambers Stuart Gillard December 18, 1980 307 (3x7)
Mork encourages the kids at the Day Care Center to dress up as their role models. But when one, Billy, isn't happy at having to come as a Doctor like his father, Mork encourages him to take after who he really idolizes, Billy the Kid, without realizing who that is. When Mindy enlightens him, Mork tries to teach Billy the pacifist ways of his idol, Squellman the Yellow. But Billy takes off for a local ghost town where Billy the Kid once hung out, forcing Mork & Mindy to go after him and try to teach him a lesson about the truth and dangers of idealizing violence.
59 8 "Mork's New Look" Howard Storm April Kelly January 1, 1981 308 (3x8)
Mindy's father, Fred, increasingly self-conscious of his younger wife, confides in Mork that he has decided to get plastic surgery to try to look younger. Telling Mork that everyone could do with some improvement for those they care about, Mork quizzes Mindy about who her 'Perfect 10' might be...and makes a decision to get a make over himself.

Guest starring: Shelley Fabares as Cathy

60 9 "Alas, Poor Mork, We Knew Him Well" Howard Storm Steve Kreinberg & Andy Guerdat January 8, 1981 309 (3x9)
Mindy's plans to take a trip to Yosemite with Mork are derailed when a door to door insurance salesman uses scare tactics on Mork to try and get him to buy a policy. Despite Mindy's best efforts to reassure him, Mork starts to see danger everywhere, and retreats further and further, ultimately sealing himself into a glass bubble in the living room, prompting extreme measures from Mindy and his friends.
61 10 "Mork and the Bum Rap" Howard Storm Deborah Raznick & John B. Collins January 15, 1981 310 (3x10)
Without really understanding the concept of charity, Mork is determined to help Mindy raise money for the children's hospital. He tries his Morkathon performance to no avail but meets a professional bum named Godfrey, who takes him under his wing. Mork's panhandling efforts to collect money for the hospital prove spectacularly successful but utterly mortifying for Mindy.

Guest starring: Ross Martin as Godfrey

62 11 "Mindy Gets Her Job" Howard Storm Tom Tenowich & Ed Scharlach January 22, 1981 311 (3x11)
After a tip off from Lola from Mork's Day Care Center, Mindy applies for a job at local TV station KTNS. Finding herself one of many, exceptionally similar, candidates, Mindy makes herself stand out after speaking her mind to the station manager Miles Sternhagen, and gets hired. Warned the job may include some on camera work which she has never done, on her very first night in, a blizzard keeps everyone bar her, Mork and Jake the cameraman from getting to the station. Informed by phone that she has to do the entire news show herself, or lose her new job, Mork leaps in to lend her a chaotic hand.

Note: The First appearance of KTNS-31  

Guest starring: Foster Brooks as Miles Sternhagen

63 12 "Twelve Angry Appliances" Howard Storm Jeff Reno & Ron Osborn February 5, 1981 312 (3x12)
Mindy has a broken record player that the repairman Augustus J. Strand, who supposedly fixed it, won't fix for a second time without her paying for it again. Something he does with a lot of customers. When an increasingly infuriated Mindy fails to reason with him, Mork plots a particular revenge on Strand. Bringing him before a jury of the broken appliances that are in the repair shop.

 Guest starring: Richard Libertini as Augustus J. Strand

64 13 "There's a New Mork in Town" Howard Storm Jeff Reno & Ron Osborn February 12, 1981 313 (3x13)
Mork is ecstatic when he hears from Orson that his Orkan hero, Xerko the Magnificent, is coming to visit him. Xerko, a strapping, handsome, genius, brilliant at anything he does, and already with a better handle on passing for human than Mork, is also pompous and egotistical. Resentful of the growing popularity of Mork's reports back on Ork. Xerko wants both Mork's Earth Observer job...and Mindy...and challenges Mork to a Hollitacker Duel for both. With her father charmed by the newcomer, dismayed Mindy watches Mork's confidence desert him in the face of his hero worship of the swaggering Xerko, and has to find a way to build up his resolve to fight for himself and them.

Guest Starring: Lyle Waggoner as Xerko

65 14 "Mork Meets Robin Williams" Howard Storm Dale McRaven & Bruce Johnson February 19, 1981 314 (3x14)
Robin Williams is in town to do a live Solar Energy Benefit show and Mindy can't get an interview though her job could depend on it. She notes Mork's marked similarity to Robin Williams but Mork does not think he looks anything like him, even after he gets chased by a mob of fans. However while escorting Mindy on her final attempt to meet him, Mork's resemblance gets Mindy and himself into Robin Williams' dressing room, leading to a face-to-face interview with him.

 Guest starring: Foster Brooks as Miles Sternhagen

66 15 "Mindy, Mindy, Mindy" Howard Storm Steve Kreinberg & Andy Guerdat February 26, 1981 3x15 (3x15)
When Mindy is sent on assignment to Kansas for KTNS for a few days, Mork goes crazy missing her, the apartment and the Orkan turning into a wreck. Informed by Bickley that he better pull both together as the building's landlord Al Klevins is going to pay a visit, Mork barely has time to digest that before the Orkan Elder comes to visit for his birthday with the specific hope of seeing Mindy. Both Orkan's missing her, at Mork's behest the Elder tries to clone Mindy, but each clone exhibits only one aspect of her personality and in an extreme fashion. With multiple clones on the go, and Al Klevins arrived to install fire alarms in the apartment, Mork must deactivate the clones before they can cause any trouble.
67 16 "Mork, the Swinging Single" Howard Storm Wendy Kout March 12, 1981 316 (3x16)
Asked out on a date by a guy she met through work, and on the advice of her friends, Mindy tells Mork she thinks they should see other people to better appreciate each other. Unfortunately for Mindy, the suggestion backfires on her massively, when Mork falls in with Glenda Faye's friend the swinger T.N.T. and turns into a party animal and a girl magnet.
68 17 "Mork and Mindy Meet Rick and Ruby Howard Storm Dale McRaven & Bruce Johnson March 26, 1981 317 (3x17)
Both Mork and Mindy are infuriated when Remo fires Ruby, the singer of the restaurant's new band simply because she is pregnant. Mindy takes in Rick and Ruby as she argues with Remo over his sexist behavior. In order to get him to let Ruby sing, she makes a bet with Remo that she will pay their fee if they don't play/bring in the punters. He agrees, and the group goes over well, but after miscalculating her due date, Ruby goes into labor during the performance, leaving the band with no singer for the second night. So Mork steps in to take her place.
69 18 "Mork and the Family Reunion" Howard Storm April Kelly April 8, 1981 318 (3x18)
Fred's massively successful but domineering older brother Dave, with whom he has always had a fraught relationship, is paying a rare visit to Boulder. In order to help her nervous father out Mindy offers to host a family dinner for Dave and her aunt Caroline. Thinking Mork has helped her out by making a delicious dessert for the evening, an alarmed Mork informs her that she has actually taste tested a traditional Orkan dish, Fleck, something no human has ever eaten before. Just as everyone starts to arrive, the Fleck starts to make her behave with increasing strangeness, infuriating her Uncle and wrecking the dinner party. To try and save the situation, Mork prevails upon Dave to try some Fleck too.

 Guest starring: Jonathan Winters as Dave McConnell, Fred's brother. In most of Season 4 he would appear as Mork and Mindy's son Mearth.

70 19 "Old Muggable Mork" Don Barnhart John B. Collins & Deborah Raznick April 16, 1981 319 (3x19)
Cora comes to visit on her way to Las Vegas for a Seniors Convention, and Mindy wants to interview her Grandmother on KTNS about her invigorating and inspiring lifestyle. But the trip takes a turn for the worse when on her way over the apartment to meet Mindy, Cora gets mugged. Worse than the roughing up, and loss of her belongings however, is the sudden fear instilled into Cora. And Mork thinks up a plan to not only get even with the muggers, but restore her confidence.

 Special Guest Star: Elizabeth Kerr as Cora Hudson

71 20 "I Heard It Through the Morkvine" Jeff Chambers "Teleplay by:" Jeff Reno & Ron Osborn
"Story by:" Jim Fisher & Jim Staahl
April 30, 1981 320 (3x20)
After the success of a gossip show on a rival station, Mindy is pressganged by Mr Sternhagen, again on pain of possible loss of advancement/job, to host a similar show for KTNS. Reluctant both on grounds of principle, and because she thinks she won't be able to get those kinds of stories, she fudges her answer to Sternhagen, pretending to be sick. Thinking to help her out, and not understanding how gossip works and what it can do, Mork puts on his snoop hat and goes around town to try and dig up some dirt for her. Taking her place on the show, he spreads gossip about their friends and her.

Guest starring: Foster Brooks as Miles Sternhagen

72 21 "Mindy and Mork" Howard Storm Brian Levant May 7, 1981 321 (3x21)
Mindy's advancing career and increased workload at KTNS reduces her time at home with Mork. unbalancing the life he had previously shared with her. In an effort to cope and support her, Mork over adjusts, taking on the role of 'housewife' and causing on air problems for Mindy. Seeing Mindy struggle, Dr. Lincoln, the TV therapist whose show Mindy is producing, quizzes her about her relationship with Mork, and makes some suggestions including that Mork & Mindy switch places for a morning to see how the other feels.

Guest star: Elinor Donahue as Dr Joni Lincoln

Note: Mindy makes the Report to Orson, in Mork's place

73 22 "Reflections and Regrets" Howard Storm Tom Tenowich & Ed Scharlach May 14, 1981 322 (3x22)
After Mr. Bickley discovers that the 50th Birthday Party Mindy & Mork throw for him, is actually is 50th and not his 49th as he believed himself to be, his regretted loss of a year, leads everyone to reflect on what they regret most in their life. While everyone else takes their turn, Mindy continuously makes excuses to put off her turn, quietly telling Mork she can't say it in front of everyone else. After everyone leaves, she privately shares her regret with Mork, leading to revelations on both their parts.
 Note: This was Tom Poston and Crizzy Wilzak's final episode as regulars and the final appearances of Jay Thomas, Gina Hecht, and Jim Staahl .

Also, no report to Orson is made in this episode.

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