In 1978 the ABC comedy Mork & Mindy hit the air. The show—about a naive, human-looking alien from the planet Ork—and its star Robin Williams quickly became hits. Expressions from the show, like "Nanu Nanu" and "Shazbat," and Mork's striped suspenders became overnight cultural icons. The frantic pace and inspired lunacy of this first season made it a wonderful addition to television history, especially to the tradition of William's hero Jonathan Winters and the show's sitcom ancestor My Favorite Martian. In subsequent seasons Mork & Mindy would change and drop in the ratings, but it will forever be a milestone in television and comedy.

Mork & Mindy began as a spin-off from Happy Days. Mork is sent to earth from the planet Ork in an egg-shaped ship to observe and report on earth's customs. He meets Mindy McConnell (Pam Dawber) and returns to her house to...