[Mork and Mindy] is one of the few shows intelligent people are not ashamed to admit they watch. I have seen it myself maybe 11 or 12 times already—such is my pursuit of duty and love of scholarship….

Born on the planet Ork, [Mork] came to the United States in an egg. Mindy—supposedly the normal one—is a typical American girl. Funny things can happen when their cultures clash.

This is a very original premise, especially considering that it was thought up by Garry Marshall and family. Marshall is the man responsible for Happy Days, Laverne and Shirley—the blockbusters of the mid-'70s—and numerous mutants. All of these were created by a highly complicated technological process known as Marshall Moronics. Here is how it works: A bunch of Marshall's relatives (his father, his sister Penny, his brother Tony) clone around the swimming pool until they come...