Mork and Mindy
Mork and Mindy was a half-hour sci-fi-based situation comedy broadcast from 1978 until 1982 on the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) television network. The series starred Robin Williams as Mork, an alien who had come to Earth from the planet Ork, and Pam Dawber as Mindy, his human comedic foil. Mork travelled in an egg, and at the end of every show would report to his boss, Orson, a wise old alien who was never seen, but did reply to Mork's comments.
This series was Robin Williams's first major acting break. Though the show was a spinoff of Happy Days, which was set in the 1950s, Mork and Mindy was set in the 1970s Boulder, Colorado. The comedian Jonathan Winters appeared in later episodes as the couple's infant son.
The series was hugely popular in it's first season, the Neilsen ratings were very high, near #1. The second season killed off Mindy's parents and introduced new, younger cast members and a more disco-like theme. Also, the main focus was no longer Mork adjusting to the new world he was in. This proved to be fatal to the series. Ratings were down to 35, and they never looked up again, despite several efforts to bring back what people wanted from the series. Mork and Mindy crashed and burned in its fourth season. It was cancelled.
Fortunately, Robin Williams remained succesful afterwards by quickly signing on for Popeye. Pam Dawber, however, had no such luck.