Conrad Janis

Conrad Janis occupies Mork & Mindy as Fred McConnell, the human father-in-law in a Boulder apartment that ABC turned into a star vehicle after a Happy Days cameo. Robin Williams lands the Orkan; Pam Dawber steadies the earthling half; Janis is the mortal who has to live with the nanu-nanu. Rainbow suspenders and network gimmicks chased lightning. Fred is the dad who photographs as sitcom furniture and plays as the speed limit.

Mork & Mindy ran on ABC from 1978–1982. ABC star vehicle from a Happy Days cameo: nanu nanu, rainbow suspenders, a mortal speed bump with a straight face. Conrad Janis holds Fred McConnell through that window without treating the credit as scenery.

Start with Conrad Janis at s01e01. The Happy Days cameo becomes an ABC star vehicle. Williams lands an Orkan in Boulder; Dawber is already the human stabilizer. Rainbow suspenders loading; form about to bend. The hour that still shows the turn is s01e03. Mork Moves In is the roommate premise locking. Improvisational voltage inside a multi-cam apartment: nanu nanu as catchphrase, Dawber as the craft that keeps the hour on Earth. s01e24 stamps later weather — codes as position, not a plot recap.

Improvisational voltage needs a wall. Janis supplied it without trying to out-funny the alien. On TV Flash he is 1970s form-bend comedy: a Boulder living room that still reads as a contact sport, and a McConnell who kept the experiment from floating off the set. ABC's 1978–1982 run still files Conrad Janis as Fred McConnell; s01e01 remains a fair door.