"Mork Goes Erk" | |
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Mork & Mindy episode | |
Episode no. | Season 1 Episode 17 |
Directed by | Howard Storm |
Written by | Lloyd Turner Gordon Mitchell |
Cinematography by | Stephen H. Burum F. Bud Mautino, Meredith M. Nicholson |
Production code | Episode 018 |
Original air date | February 8, 1979 |
Guest appearance(s) | |
Morgan Fairchild as Susan |
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Episode chronology | |
Morgan Fairchild as Susan
Conrad Janis as Fred 'Fredzo' McConnell
David Letterman as Ellsworth
"Mork Goes Erk" is the seventeenth episode of the first season of Mork & Mindy. The episode first premiered on ABC on February 8, 1979. "Mork Goes Erk" was later released on VHS on January 1, 1998 as part of a two-episode special which also included "Mork's First Christmas," and on DVD on September 7, 2004 as part of the "Mork & Mindy - The Complete First Season" DVD boxed set.
In the episode, David Letterman portrayed a self-help group leader by the name of "Ellsworth" offering ERK or Ellsworth Revitalization Konditioning. Mork (Robin Williams) and Mindy (Pam Dawber) attend one of Ellsworth's trainings at the suggestion of their friend Susan (Morgan Fairchild), where they endure Ellsworth's authoritarian brand of group therapy. Mork points out hypocrisy in Ellsworth's teachings, and exposes him as a fraud. The episode has been called a parody of the Erhard Seminars Training or "est" course. The episode received mostly positive reviews, and was highlighted as one of the season's best episodes, along with "Mork's First Christmas" and "Mork's Mixed Emotions". David Letterman's performance as "Ellsworth" also received good reviews.
At the beginning of the episode, Mork, Mindy and Bickley (Tom Poston) are all sitting around feeling depressed. Mindy has just learned that Mork's supervisor Orson has arranged for Mork to be transferred to another planet, and Bickley is suffering from writer's block. Their friend Susan comes by to visit, and suggests that they all go and attend a seminar on Ellsworth's Revitalization Konditioning. As the guests arrive at the seminar, Ellsworth nervously asks Susan if all of the attendants' checks are in order. He then lays out the rules for the duration of the training, which includes no leaving and no consumption of alcohol. When Bickley hears this, he promptly gets up to leave the seminar.