"Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale" of a time when television shows began with awesome TV Theme Songs. "Sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name" and sometimes you want to go back to when TV Theme songs were special. "Here's a story... of a lovely" time when TV Theme Songs served to identify, distinguish and set the stage for the television program that followed. "You take the good, take the bad, take them both and there you have" what unfortunately has become a lost artform. "Believe it or not", sadly it seems no effort or pride is taken in the TV Theme Song ever since Seinfeld proved a short synth-bass riff could be used instead. “Schlemiel! Schlimazel! Hasenpfeffer Incorporated!” This regular feature may not "make all our dreams come true", but it will remember some of the best TV Theme Songs from years past (with a focus on the '80s decade). "Come aboard, we're expecting you."
This time we will cover the theme song for Mork & Mindy. The show debuted in September of 1978 and ran four seasons and 95 episodes crossing over into the early '80s ending in 1982. Mork & Mindy is technically a spin-off of Happy Days since Mork first appeared in an episode which aired in February of 1978. Mork was of course played by the incomparable Robin Williams who was a relative unknown at the time, but his genius was quickly evident. The show was quite popular and it even was nominated for two Emmy Awards after its first season, Outstanding Comedy Series (lost to Taxi) and Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series for Williams (lost to Caroll O'Connor for All in the Family).
Mork became sort of a pop culture icon along with a couple of his catchphrases like "Na-nu Na-nu" and "Shazbat" which he even says during the show's opening theme song. The theme song for Mork & Mindy was composed by Perry Botkin Jr. Botkin was a composer and arranger who co-wrote "Nadia's Theme" which became the theme song for the long-running television soap opera The Young and the Restless and even peaked at #8 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1976. He also worked on other television and movies including the 1984 slasher film Silent Night, Deadly Night among many others.
Here is the openings for a season of Mork & Mindy featuring the theme song...
The theme music does have a very late-70s sound and isn't overly distinctive, but is very pleasing and appropriate at the same time. Mork & Mindy is a show that I really enjoyed and the theme song, despite only being an instrumental, is one I really enjoy as well.
Hope you enjoyed tuning in for another "episode" of TV Theme Songs!