Small Wonder

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!

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.

"Small Wonder" was a show I enjoyed watching when I was a little kid, and I would probably enjoy it today; unfortunately, I haven't seen it in reruns since 1995 or so. Over the years, I have heard and read quite a few negative comments about SW, both here at IMDB and elsewhere. In response to those unjust criticisms, I say this: it's a light sitcom about a robot girl! A 10-year-old robot girl! This isn't groundbreaking television (though the special effects were decent for a low budget TV series from the 1980s), it's "Small Wonder"! One of the main reasons why I enjoyed this series was Tiffany Brissette; as Vicki, she did not express much emotion (because of her role as a robot, of course), but she still displayed enough charm and good comic timing to keep you watching. It is unfortunate that the talented Brissette did not have any other major TV or film roles during her acting career.

Some other comments about SW:

-My favorite supporting character was easily Reggie (Paul C. Scott), Jamie's best friend and the show's token black character. He was always able to score with the girls through his smooth and confident demeanor, while Jamie always ended up looking like a dork.

-Speaking of Jamie, whatever happened to Jerry Supiran? Like Brissette, he showed a lot of promise, but apparently dropped off the face of the Earth when the show was canceled.

-I do agree with SW haters about at least one thing: Harriet Brindle (Emily Schulman). She wasn't just annoying, she was ***ANNOYING***. "Hi-yeee!!! Bye-yeee!!!" Oh, the humanity!

-As if Harriet wasn't bad enough, there was Mrs. Brindle (Edie McClurg). "No-no-no-no-no-no!!" Again, one word: ***ANNOYING***.

Overall, I enjoyed SW for what it was: an entertaining sitcom with a silly premise. I would definitely love to see it in reruns again someday. And to that previous reviewer who suggested the idea of a school based on teaching "Small Wonder", I would sign up immediately.

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.

What is the nature of the self? What does it truly mean to be human? Can man ever transcend the limitations of his physical being and come to understand what is meant by the words "ultimate reality"? Does God exist? Are we alone in the universe?

Throughout the course of human history, great minds have attempted to tackle such questions. Minds of men like Plato, Aristotle, and Socrates. Minds of men like Sartre, Nietzsche, and Freud. While few have had the courage to address the implications of these central existential dilemmas, even fewer have been able to offer any worthwhile insight on such matters, or do any more than merely scratch the surface with repetitive supposition and conjecture.

How rare it is when a work of art can at once synthesize, and then surpass the work of all that has come before it.

"Small Wonder" is just such an achievement.

If the Sistine Chapel were a sitcom, it would be "Small Wonder". If William Shakespeare had been writing sitcoms in the 1980s, he would have written "Small Wonder". If Leonardo da Vinci were alive today he would have painted the Mona Lisa with a pony tail and a red and white dress, and simply called his subject 'Vicki'.

The husband, the father, the inventor. All one man. Ted Lawson. In his workshop he creates a robot daughter who sleeps in his son's closet. Rather than cash in on his invention, which could have totally revolutionized the communications industry, the Lawsons vow to keep Vicki a secret, for some reason.

That one suburban schlub of a man can create life --does create life, in his basement, signifies, validates the presence of the divine in the banal. Man is divine, as he is created in God's image. Yet man can create man. Therefore...

Mrs. Poole, the neighbor, or was it Mrs. Brindle? I'm getting my shows confused I think. Anyway, Mrs. Brindle the neighbor who sits by idly, and had born of her womb a daughter with fiery red hair and marks of the devil all about her skin. Is Harriet Satan? Is Vicki Christ?

A theological treatment of "Small Wonder", in itself, would likely fill multiple volumes. I'm surprised more hasn't been written about the show.

In addition to such a captivating and intellectually challenging premise, the show also featured some of the most remarkable special effects ever to be put on film. Before or since. When Vicki would lift the couch, for instance, it was almost impossible to see the thick blue line around the couch's edges. Special effects which later influenced the likes of "Jurassic Park" and "Independence Day", no doubt.

I could go on and on about this show, but I won't. If you haven't seen every episode at least five times, consider yourself incomplete. I would be both enticed and excited by the proposal of opening up a school, (an Academy, if you will) where the curriculum consisted solely of screenings and discussions of episodes of "Small Wonder".