Vicki

I had a crush on Vicki.....when I was 7 years old! Small Wonder, whenever I see it, reminds me of my childhood glory years from 1985-1989. It has the same formula plots that "Full House" would use later, only there's two kids (if you can call Vicki a kid) instead of 3. Vicki is a robot Ted Lawson created (this was back in the early computer boom of the mid 80's, so the show fit in with its pop culture surroundings) since Ted and his wife always wanted a little girl. The problem is each week they go through stunt after stunt to keep Vicki's robot identity a secret and to make their neighbors believe she's a real little girl. It didn't help that Ted dressed her up in the same Raggedy Ann-type dress with the high socks for the first couple of seasons, or that she spoke in a monotonic robot voice. Throw in a wisecracking son and a boy-crazy girl next door (Harriet) and you have yourself a classic sitcom! In season 3 they "humanized" her more, as Ted put a chip in Vicki so she could talk like "normal" people do, and they bought her actual clothes so she wouldn't look like a doll anymore (it was typical 80's garb mind you). When I watch reruns nowadays, I laugh at myself for actually loving this show back in the day. I put it up there with ALF and Charles In Charge when I talk about my favorite 80's sitcoms.

I remember on a Saturday afternoon about 12 years ago I walked in on my mom watching this show in her bedroom, then I started watching it with her. That's how my little "Small Wonder craze," if you will, began. I remember that in 1992 and '93 KTTV Channel 11 (my local Fox affiliate) aired two episodes Saturday and Sunday afternoons at 2:00 and 2:30. Then in about '94, they started showing it Monday through Friday afternoons at 1:30, then started airing it at 1:00 AND 1:30 all year round. In '95 and '96 they only showed it in the summer at 1:00 and 1:30 PM. Then after that, they yanked (stopped showing) it :'(, and I have been mad at them ever since. But I saw in another message board that this winter KDOC Channel 56 (another station in my area) would pick up the show. I'm keeping my fingers crossed :D.

Anyway, I liked this show because of only one thing: Vicki the Robot! I had a ***HUGE*** crush on her/it. I would (and still sometimes do) dream about her/it. My mom told me today that that was just part of being a little kid.

I guess it is no Small Wonder that said Fox affiliate stopped showing this wonderful, wonderful show. I guess maybe they figured that people were just plain tired of seeing the same 96 episodes over and over.

I never saw the show when it was originally on. I seemed to catch most 80's shows when they would go into reruns in the early 90's.

I absolutely got hooked on this show every day after school in reruns.

I am a computer geek and I got a kick out of the "Technology" behind it.

The neighbors were your typical annoying neighbors which made them great. The daughter with the crush on Jamie, the annoying parents always coming over. At least they knocked... or did they?

I haven't seen this on TV in a while, I keep hoping Nick would pick it up along with Alf and Punky Brewster. But alas, not yet. Maybe some day they'll get the point.

DVD would be better, but I would never get the time to sit down and watch all 96 episodes (So close to the milestone 100!) so I'd settle for Re-Syndication.

It's funny when reading people talking about this show, they are so angry and hateful at how much they dislike. It's almost like they take it personally. I have no hate for this show. I think it's fun, mindless entertainment. I preferred it over shows like Alf, which I think is a good comparison, since he was a non-human character lead as well. Most of the jokes on Small Wonder are insult jokes. The special effects, I think, were done deliberately to look silly. It's like the show was done as a parody of sitcoms in general. 4 seasons is a long time for a 'bad show' to be on. If nobody was watching, then it wouldn't have last one season, but clearly there was enough interest to keep it going. That's no small wonder!

Even though I was only in elementary school, I still remember watching "Small Wonder" every day, watching each of the 96 episodes several times! The premise is so fantastic: how can a robot that's virtually identical to a 10 year old girl fit into a family and society? This show had such a wide audience in its four years of existence, ranging from young kids to grandparents - it appealed to everyone!