Happy Days vs. Mork and Mindy...some advice. (1 Viewer)

[Carlos Garcia]

I was thinking about buying the new Mork and Mindy set, but I had some issues over whether the show would still hold up well after all these years, so I decided to rent it from Netflix instead. Boy am I glad I did! Unlike the first season of Happy Days, which is still as fresh, funny and innocent today as it was in its original run, Mork and Mindy just seems rather dull and lame by comparison. I suppose this may have to do with the show not aging as well as Happy Days. I guess it's really apples and oranges though, I mean how can Happy Days really age, when it was a show about a certain time period being re-created for television. Mork and Mindy was an original show, which I thought was hysterical when I first saw it in the late 70s, however, today I watched the episodes and really don't crack more than an occassional smile. I don't think I have changed, because I still love Happy Days (at least the first 2 seasons) as much as I did when I was a kid, but Mork and Mindy just seems foreign to me now. Anyone else have the same problem? Anyway, I strongly suggest to those out there who may have been looking forward to getting an old show (on DVD) that they haven't seen for years to consider renting it first, before deciding to spend your hard earned cash. You may be surprised that a show you used to love as a kid you now don't think is worth spending money on. It happened to me with Mork and Mindy and I'm happy I only rented it and didn't buy it.

 

[BrianP]

I was actually wondering how this show would hold up myself. I liked it in the early years but thought it started getting too silly when Johnathan Winters joined the show. However I didn't plan on buying the first season until Circuit City had it briefly for only $9.99 on their website a few days ago. Couldn't resist the price and ordered a copy. I guess if I don't like it I will sell it.

 

[Paul Miller]

I did watch this show except in reruns when I was very little, but watching it now on DVD, I really love it. It holds up a lot better for me than Happy Days does and it is one of the few shows which make me laugh.

I really like set and the tranfers look the best of any older show I have seen in awhile.


Paul

 

[JasonPW]

I watched "Mork" in prime-time and in reruns, but never religiously. It just never appealed to me the way "Happy Days" & "Laverne and Shirley" did (I did buy both of those series' first seasons). If I'm surfing around and hit a "Happy Days" or "Laverne and Shirley" I'll more likely than not stay with the rest of the episode. They're the Lay's Potato Chips of situation comedy.

I guess I never got into "Mork" because, especially in
5-a-week reruns, it seemed like there was a new supporting cast every other episode. Even in the truly cruddy post-Richie "Happy Days" universe, you had the Cunninghams, Fonzie, Chachi, Big Al, etc. New characters were brought aboard, but not at the expense of existing characters.

Garry Marshall's book has some great stories of how "Mork and Mindy" was a huge first-season hit, then moved to a rotten time slot, took a ratings dive, and was then tweaked to death by the network.

Doc