TV Quote of the Day (‘Happy Days,’ As an Alien Enjoys Earthly Programming)

TV Announcer: “We'll return to The Andy Griffith Show after these messages.”

Mork [played by Robin Williams] [smiling as he watches]: “I like that boy, Opie. Why does an Earth boy have a Martian name, though?”—Happy Days, Season 5, Episode 22, “My Favorite Orkan,” original air date Feb. 28, 1978, teleplay by Garry Marshall and Joe Glauberg, directed by Jerry Paris

During the 11 seasons of Happy Days, I doubt that I watched more than a half-dozen of its 255 episodes—and I can only recall the plots of about two or three.

But a week or so ago, I was overcome with curiosity when I saw, through the “Guide” feature of my cable TV, that Robin Williams would be appearing on the sitcom, in his first time as the alien Mork from Ork. Technically speaking, it wasn’t the pilot for Williams’ own hit, Mork and Mindy, but it might as well have been, so wild was the reception that the comic received from the studio audience.

It was a good moment for me to catch up with this episode. Considering the turns that Williams’ life and career took—many triumphant, but ultimately sad—I wanted to see what he was like at close to his beginning.

Watching the episode also seemed a bit serendipitous, given the sudden renewed interest in UFOs on Capital Hill. Republicans and Democrats agree on precious little these days, but UFOs is one of them. (Ronald Moultrie, Pentagon Undersecretary for Defense and Intelligence, even told the lawmakers, "We want to know what’s out there just like you want to know what’s out there,” according to blogger Kim Bellard.  Now they’ve even gotten NASA looking into the subject. Who’d have thought it?