Long-running and beloved sitcoms almost always get the chance to end on their own terms. Even if we’re talking about a staple of the genre like Seinfeld or Home Improvement, these shows eventually found themselves at the end of their run and concluded in a way that was befitting everything that had come before it, even if it wasn’t the ending fans expected. One of the reasons sitcoms have maintained their place as a staple in television is the comfort that the settings and characters provide for the audience. As a result, an ending that gets it right can take a sitcom from having a shining place at the pinnacle of pop culture’s memory to being branded with a scarlet letter.
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One sitcom that has found itself lingering between those two extremes, though, is the 1980s classic Mork & Mindy. The spinoff from Happy Days not only occupies a distinct place as a successful sitcom spinoff show, but also as a successful science fiction sitcom show. Mork & Mindy has managed to maintain its place as one of the best sitcoms of the era, and perhaps, all-time, due in large part to Robin Williams’ iconic performance. The strength of his work in the show makes fans forget about what happened at the very end of Mork & Mindy, which is almost too surreal to believe, and it happened 44 years ago today, on May 27, 1982.
Mork and Mindy’s Last Episode Wasn’t the Real Finale
A key component of Mork’s life as an alien on Earth is the reports that he compiles and sends back to his home planet of Ork. In the series finale of Mork & Mindy, titled, what else, “The Mork Report,” the titular alien reveals the four elements that make for a happy marriage on Earth, including Honesty, Respect, Romance, and Compatibility, with the episode showcasing how he and Mindy embody each in their relationship.
Mork hopes to get a promotion for his work, and by the end of the episode, he does. It’s a moment that ties everything together, with an episode that shows off why this pair works so well together, and why this sitcom was so distinct. But the most interesting thing about this ending is that it wasn’t the original plan for the series, but rather a quick fix so the series could end on a happy note.
Though a ratings success upon its debut, Mork & Mindy saw a major decline in ratings as the series continued. As a result, by the time Season 4 had come along, the series was officially on its last legs. Production on the fourth season carried on as though it would potentially return for a fifth season, but once it became clear that the show wasn’t returning, the team realized that they had a problem with how the show would end. The good news is that “The Mork Report” (which was also directed by Williams) marked the perfect story to slot in for the ending, but things almost got very dark and very weird with Mork & Mindy.
Mork and Mindy Almost Ended on a Cliffhanger
The initial plan for Mork & Mindy‘s final run of episodes was for a three-episode arc to be the conclusion. In keeping with the bizarre spirit of the series, this trilogy, titled “Gotta Run,” introduces another alien who has married a human woman, Kalnik. A Neptunian, unlike an Orkan, the pair seem to hit it off at first and are poised to become pals, when the malevolence of Kalnik’s true intentions makes itself clear. The deception of the character gets deeper when it’s revealed that his wife, Tracy, isn’t actually his partner, but an android who is equipped with explosives. After her attempt to seduce Mork is thwarted, she explodes in their apartment, and all of this is just the first of the three-part storyline.
Across the remaining pieces of the “Gotta Run” trilogy, Mork & Mindy are on the run, not only from Kalnik, but also from the arms of the United States government that have been led to believe that Mork is dangerous. The pair realizes that the only way to combat this is to go public and reveal Mork’s existence to the world, even though it’s Mindy’s worst nightmare. To their surprise, not only does the world accept Mork after his global reveal, but he immediately becomes the most famous person on the planet.
In the end, and the third part of the trilogy, it’s all too overwhelming for him, though, and Mork returns to their busted apartment home, only for Kalnik to confront him and prepare to kill both Mork and Mindy. To stall their inevitable death, Mork tricks Kalnik by asking to wear his favorite pair of shoes when he dies, later revealed to be time travel shoes. After clicking his heels, Mork sends himself and Mindy back to the Stone Age, where they befriend cave people. Naturally, Kalnik makes his way back in time as well to kill them, too, with Mork and Mindy escaping from his killer instinct by clicking the time travel shoes once again. The episode ends with the pair caught in a twisting vortex, and Mork lamenting, “I don’t know what’s in store for us, but whatever happens, we’ll have each other.”
As noted, this wasn’t the final moment of the show itself, but it very nearly was. Not only would this have delivered a cliffhanger that would have left the audience reeling about what happened next, but it would have fundamentally altered what the show’s trajectory would be in a potential fifth season. Unlike other notable TV shows that ended on cliffhangers, Mork & Mindy had an advantage, as the team knew the series wasn’t coming back and they had enough time to adjust the broadcast schedule to give the series a satisfying end.
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