Small Wonder (TV series)

Small Wonder
Promotional poster
Genre	Science fiction sitcom
Created by	Howard Leeds
Directed by	Peter Baldwin John Bowab Bob Claver Dick Christie Linda Day Selig Frank Leslie H. Martinson
Starring	Tiffany Brissette Dick Christie Marla Pennington Jerry Supiran Emily Schulman
Theme music composer	Rod Alexander Howard Leeds Diane Leslie
Opening theme	"She's a Small Wonder"
Ending theme	"She's a Small Wonder" (Instrumental)
Composer(s)	George Greeley Ed Lojeskie
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	4
No. of episodes	96
Production
Executive producer(s)	Howard Leeds
Producer(s)	Budd Grossman Bruce Taylor
Camera setup	Multi-camera
Running time	22–24 minutes
Production company(s)	20th Century Fox Television (1986-1989) Metromedia Productions (1985-1986)
Distributor	20th Century Fox Television (DVD prints of episodes only)
Broadcast
Original channel	Syndication
Picture format	Color (480p)
Audio format	Monaural
First shown in	1985-1989
Original run	September 7, 1985 (1985-09-07) – May 20, 1989 (1989-05-20)

Small Wonder is an American science fiction sitcom that aired in first-run syndication from September 7, 1985 to May 20, 1989. The show chronicles the family of a robotics engineer who, after he secretly creates a robot modeled after a real human girl, tries to pass it off as their daughter. The show was created under Metromedia Productions, as the rights to the show were acquired by 20th Century Fox Television in 1986.

Premise

The storylines revolve around V.I.C.I. (an acronym for "Voice Input Child Identicant", pronounced Vicki), an android in the form of a 10-year-old girl, built by Ted Lawson, an engineer/inventor for United Robotronics, in an effort to assist handicapped children. The robot is taken home by Lawson so that it can mature within a family environment. V.I.C.I.'s features include superhuman strength and speed, an AC outlet under her right arm, a serial port under her left arm, and an access panel in her back. Despite this, the Lawson family tries to pass the robot off as their daughter.

The Lawson family tries to keep the robot's existence a secret, but their disagreeable neighbors, the Brindles, keep on popping up at the most unexpected moments — especially nosy next-door neighbor Harriet whose dad just happens to be Ted Lawson's co-worker. The show's humor frequently derived from V.I.C.I.'s attempts to learn human behavior, V.I.C.I's literal interpretation of speech and the family's efforts to disguise the robot's true nature.

To explain child actress Tiffany Brissette's aging during the show, Ted gave V.I.C.I. an upgrade in the series' third season. He aged her face, dressed her in modern clothes, and allowed her to eat and drink. The food passed through her naturally and the drink cooled her internal system.

Characters

The cast of Small Wonder during the first season

• Victoria "Vicki" Ann Smith-Lawson (Tiffany Brissette) - A robot modeled after a real human girl. The robot was a Voice Input Child Identicant (V.I.C.I.), but was nicknamed Vicki. She has real hair and realistic skin. She possesses super human strength and speed and runs on atomic power. Vicki has an access panel in her back, an electric socket in her right armpit, and an RS-232 serial port under her left armpit. Vicki's artificial intelligence is not perfect. She is incapable of emotion, speaks in a monotone voice, and interprets most commands literally. She does manage to blend into the real world to a point. Vicki attends school, and no one but her family members and a few trusted friends know her secret. Occasionally Vicki had rare abilities that seemed to only appear in one or two episodes, such as elongating her neck to reach a door's peephole, shrinking her size to become as small as a doll or making herself ten feet tall to get noticed by everyone. One recurring theme was that Vicki had a super-powered learning system which enabled her to improve something such as a new detergent or to greatly increase the gas mileage of cars, which Jamie often saw as a chance to get rich quick, only to find her improvements were not perfect. Vicki lives in a cabinet in Jamie's bedroom, and becomes more human over the course of the show.
• Jamie Lawson (Jerry Supiran) - The 12 year old son of Ted and Joan.
• Ted Lawson (Dick Christie) - Jamie's father. Vicki's creator. A robotics engineer who originally created Vicki as a domestic servant whose girl-child appearance was only meant to be a selling point.
• Joan Lawson (Marla Pennington) - Ted's wife. Joan regards Vicki as a real person more than anyone else on the show does.
• Harriet Brindle (Emily Schulman) - The nosy neighbors' daughter who has a crush on Jamie.

Recurring

• Brandon Brindle (William Bogert) - Harriet's father. Becomes Ted Lawson's boss after stealing Ted's ideas.
• Bonnie Brindle (Edie McClurg) - Harriet's mother. Written out after the second season.
• Ida Mae Brindle (Alice Ghostley) - Brandon's outspoken, know-it-all sister, who is nearly identical to his wife Bonnie.
• Reggie Williams (Paul C. Scott) - Jamie's best friend.
• Jessica (Lihann Jones) - Jamie's sometime girlfriend.
• Warren Enright (Daryl Bartley) - Jamie's sometime school friend.
• Vanessa (Tiffany Brissette) - Evil robot who looks identical to Vicki, but does not speak in monotone. (Seen in seasons 3 and 4)

2009 reunion

On January 14, 2009, on Fox's The Morning Show with Mike and Juliet, Tiffany Brissette appeared in-studio as a guest for a "Where Are They Now?" segment; unbeknownst to her until the segment began, Dick Christie, Marla Pennington, and Edie McClurg were all present for the interview via satellite. Fond remarks and memories were shared about Brissette in the very brief segment. On the show, Brissette had stated that she was living in Boulder, Colorado and attending nursing school.

International airings

In the United Kingdom, the show was screened regionally on the ITV Network and in the early 1990s on Sky One. In Italy, the show appeared in the mid-1980s on Italia 1 network and was titled "Super Vicky". In France, the series was shown as "Petite merveille" on Canal+, starting in November 1985. In Spain, the show was broadcast on Antena 3 Televisión as Un robot en casa in December 1995. In India, China, Pakistan and other Asian countries, Small Wonder was syndicated on local TV stations and the Star TV Network in the mid-1990s. In Latin America, the show appeared on Rede Globo and, later, TV Record in Brazil and was called "Super Vicky", VTV (Venezolana de Television) in Venezuela between 1987 and 1990, Canal 13 in Argentina, and Frecuencia Latina in Peru, where it was called La pequeña maravilla. In the Philippines, it aired on GMA Network in the mid-1980s, and on ABC in 1992. In Saudi Arabia, it was aired during the '80s as a daily family show during the month of Ramadhan on Saudi TV (Channel 2). India on Star Plus first in English then in Hindi most of the time. In Indonesia, aired by TVRI. In Iraq it was presented to children in an Arabic subtitle and called (الاعجوبة الصغيرة) aired on تلفزيون العراق - ألقناة ألاولى in the year 1987,time of the show was 10:30 AM of the weekend "Friday".

Awards and critical reception

Year	Award	Category	Recipient
1986	Young Artist Award	Best Young Supporting Actress in a New Television Series	Emily Schulman
1987		Exceptional Performance by a Young Actress in a Long-Running Series, Comedy or Drama

In 2002, Robert Bianco, TV critic for USA Today, listed it as a contender for one of the worst TV shows of all time. This was repeated in 2003 by Mark Lewisohn of the BBC who referred to the program as, "widely considered one of the worst low-budget sitcoms of all time."

Episodes

First Season

Episode #	Prod #	Episode Name/Summary	Original Air Date
1-01	101	Vicki's Homecoming Ted Lawson introduces his family to V.I.C.I or the Voice Input Child Identicant, a secretly constructed robotic domestic aide in the form of a ten-year old girl.	September 7, 1985
1-02	102	The Neighbors The Brindles, the Lawsons' snoopy neighbors, suspect the Lawsons are hiding something and attempt to sniff out their family secret; while Harriet shows off her toy robot.	September 14, 1985
1-03	103	The Sitter When the Lawsons' babysitter cancels, Ted sees an opportunity for a new function for Vicki.	September 21, 1985
1-04	104	The Suitor Jamie's friend Warren, the school nerd, falls in love with the only girl who doesn't slam the door in his face, Vicki.	September 28, 1985
1-05	105	Sibling Rivalry Jamie decides to run away when he feels that his parents attend to Vicki more than him.	October 5, 1985
1-06	106	Spielberg, Jr. When Jamie and his best friend Reggie put together a sci-fi movie project for school, the directorial power goes to Jamie's head.	October 12, 1985
1-07	107	The Lie Jamie learns the value of a consistent honesty when he can't convince his parents that he's not responsible for breaking a teapot.	October 19, 1985
1-08	108	The Bully When a bully begins extorting money from Jamie and his friends, Ted attempts to teach Jamie how to fight.	October 26, 1985
1-09	109	Slightly Dishonorable Jamie uses Vicki to do his homework and gets on the school's honor roll.	November 2, 1985
1-10	110	The Adoption After Bonnie Brindle tips off Child Services about the Lawson's new child, Vicki must pass a medical exam.	November 9, 1985
1-11	111	Child Genius With Child Services watching, the Lawsons must hire a tutor for Vicki, and Joan resolves to complete her teaching degree.	November 16, 1985
1-12	112	Ted's New Boss Following a house fire, the Brindles muscle their way into staying with the Lawsons.	November 23, 1985
1-13	113	Brainwashed When Vicki begins to mimic Harriet, Ted decides to reprogram her.	November 30, 1985
1-14	114	The Burrito Story Jamie attempts to mass-produce burritos made by Vicki.	January 4, 1986
1-15	115	The Camping Trip The Lawsons, Reggie and Harriet take a wilderness camping trip and get lost.	January 11, 1986
1-16	116	Love Story Jamie throws a lavish party to impress his first crush.	January 18, 1986
1-17	117	Substitute Father Brandon Brindle begins a father war when he finds that a golf-crazed Ted has been neglecting Jamie.	January 25, 1986
1-18	118	The Robot Nappers A rival robotics firm suspects that Vicki is a robot and plans to steal her.	February 8, 1986
1-19	120	The Company Takeover Cutbacks at United Robotronics have the Lawsons scrambling for odd jobs.	February 15, 1986
1-20	123	Good Ol' Lou Ted is motivated to get the family into shape when an obese co-worker loses a record amount of weight.	February 22, 1986
1-21	121	Like Father, Like Son Jamie tries out for the Pee-Wee football team.	March 1, 1986
1-22	122	Vaudeville Vicki A vaudeville actor becomes convinced that Vicki is his long-lost daughter.	May 3, 1986
1-23	119	The Real Facts of Life Jamie attempts to educate his dad in the ways of love.	May 10, 1986
1-24	124	The Grandparents Ted must break it to his father that Vicki is a robot.	May 17, 1986

Second Season

Episode #	Prod #	Episode Name	Original Air Date
2-01	215	Chewed Out (AKA Smoker's Delight) Jamie and Reggie try smoking for the first time; Vicki tries smoking too which angers Ted.	September 13, 1986
2-02	201	Money, Money, Money Jamie thinks that his crush Jessica will only like him if he has a lot of money.	September 20, 1986
2-03	203	My Mother the Teacher When Jamie's teacher is ill, Joan Lawson gets hired as a substitute.	September 27, 1986
2-04	213	Here Comes the Judge Jamie plays a judge in his school's mock courtroom.	October 4, 1986
2-05	209	Home Sweet Homeless The Lawson family get a first hand experience at how a homeless man lives when Jamie accidentally brings one home.	October 11, 1986
2-06	212	Crazy Like a Fox A con man sells Jamie and Vicki stolen merchandise that doesn't work.	October 18, 1986
2-07	210	The Older Woman Jamie meets Harriet's older sister Mary, so he makes a plan to get to know Mary better.	October 25, 1986
2-08	204	Who's the Boss? Jamie has a dream that he's the boss of his parents.	November 1, 1986
2-09	207	P-P-P Paula Jamie is assigned to help a stuttering girl gain confidence to give an oral report. Vicki decides to get to the root of the stuttering through aversion therapy.	November 8, 1986
2-10	211	You Gotta Have Heart Vicki becomes best friends with Harriet in order to learn more about love; while Ted thinks about inventing a heart for Vicki.	November 15, 1986
2-11	202	The Shoplifter Mrs. Fernwald from Child Services visits the Lawson family; and Vicki steals an expensive gold watch from the department store.	November 22, 1986
2-12	208	Thanksgiving Story Jamie's friend Adam talks about being from a broken home, so Jamie and Vicki try to bribe an agengy into going on a ski trip.	November 29, 1986
2-13	206	Neighborhood Watch The Lawson family get robbed so they develop a Neighborhood Watch program.	December 6, 1986
2-14	205	Movin' Up Ted turns down a job promotion at one of the top robotics companies.	January 10, 1987
2-15	221	Top Secret Ted makes up a story about Project Blender to make his job sound exciting.	January 17, 1987
2-16	218	The Personality Kid Reggie thinks Vicki has a stuck-up personality, so Jamie gives her an adjustment.	January 24, 1987
2-17	216	Matchmaker, Matchmaker Jamie wants a new bike so he starts a computer dating service.	January 31, 1987
2-18	223	Little Miss Shopping Mall Vicki gets entered into a beauty contest, but Ted doesn't want her to enter.	February 7, 1987
2-19	214	Victor/Vicki-toria Jamie disguises Vicki as a boy named Victor to aid his struggling baseball team, but Ted is unsure about having a robot play against a bunch of little boys.	February 14, 1987
2-20	222	Look Into My Eyes Vicki tries out hypnosis on the Lawsons after she sees it performed on television.	February 21, 1987
2-21	217	Wally the Wimp Joan gets a visit from her college friend Wally. Guest star Jesse "The Body" Ventura.	February 28, 1987
2-22	219	The Cat's Meow Ted buys Vicki her first toy, a robot cat that causes Vicki to have an emotional breakdown.	May 9, 1987
2-23	220	Vicki Goodwrench Jamie wants to get a summer job so he and Vicki decide to work at Sid's Garage.	May 16, 1987
2-24	224	Double Wedding Ted and Joan, and Bonnie and Brandon Brindle decide to renew their wedding vows.	May 23, 1987

Third Season

Episode #	Prod #	Episode Name	Original Air Date
3-01	303	Woodward and Bernstein	September 12, 1987
3-02	312	Everyone Into the Pool	September 19, 1987
3-03	314	Whodunit?	September 26, 1987
3-04	306	Bride and Groom	October 3, 1987
3-05	302	It's Okay to Say No	October 10, 1987
3-06	307	Read My Lips	October 17, 1987
3-07	316	The Promotion	October 24, 1987
3-08	320	The Lawsonville Horror	October 31, 1987
3-09	308	The Bad Seed	November 7, 1987
3-10	318	Breakfast of Criminals	November 14, 1987
3-11	317	The Fats of Life	November 21, 1987
3-12	309	The Bank Job	November 28, 1987
3-13	305	Oooga Mooga	December 5, 1987
3-14	301	Here Today, Gone Tomorrow	January 16, 1988
3-15	304	Bye Bye Brindles	January 23, 1988
3-16	319	For Sale by Robot	January 30, 1988
3-17	411	Ronald McDonald House	February 6, 1988
3-18	325	The Russians are Coming, the Russians are Coming	February 13, 1988
3-19	311	I'll Drink to That	February 20, 1988
3-20	313	Big J, the D.J. (Special guest star NFL star Lyle Alzado)	February 27, 1988
3-21	324	The Rock Band	April 30, 1988
3-22	415	Book-It	May 7, 1988
3-23	310	Safety First	May 14, 1988
3-24	320	When You Hear the Beep	May 21, 1988

Fourth Season

Episode #	Prod #	Episode Name	Original Air Date
4-01	409	Divided We Stand	September 17, 1988
4-02	413	Double Dates	September 24, 1988
4-03	315	The Gang's All Here	October 1, 1988
4-04	422	Rashomon	October 15, 1988
4-05	410	Come Fly With Me	October 22, 1988
4-06	322	Love at First Byte	October 29, 1988
4-07	405	The Sheik	November 5, 1988
4-08	403	Togetherness	November 12, 1988
4-09	416	My Favorite Martian	November 19, 1988
4-10	406	Mommie Dearest	November 26, 1988
4-11	407	No Laughing Matter	December 4, 1988
4-12	401	Tag, You're It	December 11, 1988
4-13	404	The Jailbirds	January 7, 1989
4-14	408	Riches to Rags	January 14, 1989
4-15	418	Radio Days	January 21, 1989
4-16	421	Kid-O-Grams	January 28, 1989
4-17	402	More About L.E.S.	February 4, 1989
4-18	420	Hooray for Hollyweird!	February 11, 1989
4-19	419	Minnesota Vicki	February 18, 1989
4-20	417	Vicki Doolittle	February 25, 1989
4-21	414	The Tattletale	April 29, 1989
4-22	323	The Strike	May 6, 1989
4-23	412	See No Evil	May 13, 1989
4-24	326	Thy Neighbor's Wife	May 20, 1989

DVD releases

Shout! Factory has released the first two seasons of Small Wonder on DVD in Region 1. Season 2 was released as a Shout! Factory select title, available exclusively through their online store.

DVD Name	Ep#	Region 1
The Complete First Season	24	February 16, 2010
The Complete Second Season♦	24	June 22, 2010

♦ - Shout! Factory select title

References in popular culture

• American Dad!: In the episode "Haylias", Hayley's secret agent code name is "Small Wonder". And, in "Brains, Brains and Automobiles", a flashback in Roger's mind shows him auditioning for the part of V.I.C.I. in the 1980s.

• Family Guy: In the episode "Brian Goes Back to College", Tiffany Brissette is seen at the Small Wonder booth at a convention of fans of 1980s TV series.

• I'm With Busey: In the episode "Technology: Rise of the Robots", Gary Busey is (in real life) fooled into temporarily believing that a young girl, dressed and acting like V.I.C.I., is actually a robot (series regular Adam de la Pena includes an explanation describing Small Wonder and Brissette).

• MADtv: In episode #707 (November 24, 2001), V.I.C.I. (played by Stephnie Weir) was parodied in a spoof of the TV game show The Weakest Link, where all the contestants were classic American TV stars.

• The Small Wonder Experience: A musical group from Joshua Tree, California named after the television program (and also in honor of the famous guitarist Jimi Hendrix). The band's songwriter and guitarist, Leslie Mariah Andrews, cites the show as a memorable influence on some of her early work. Jerry Supiran, cast member of the original series, showed his support for the band and made an appearance at a March 2013 concert of theirs, celebrating the release of their debut CD.

• TV Junkies: In the episode "I, Wonder: It's Small Wonder meets I, Robot" (Episode #16) of this YouTube-based web comedy, Small Wonder is spoofed simultaneously with the movie I, Robot.

• Two Broke Girls: In the episode 'And the 90s horse party' they met a bunch of ‘80s dance party-attending hipsters at a Laundromat who claim that Tiffany Brissette from the Small Wonder TV show would be attending the party.

• In (500) Days of Summer the protagonist describes the titular character as being "either an evil, emotionless, miserable human being or she's a robot. Small Wonder. You know, Vicki?"

• On the audio commentary for the South Park episode "The Simpsons Already Did It", co-creator Matt Stone laments "we only get compared to The Simpsons which is unfortunate that we get compared to one of the best shows on television, ever and one of the most popular shows on television, ever and the show with 350 episodes. So we never get compared to Sister, Sister or Small Wonder, we always get compared to The Simpsons, which I guess is a good thing."

• In the Season 4 Glee episode "Guilty Pleasures", when the glee club members reveal their musical and pop-culture guilty loves to each other, Tina Cohen-Chang (played by Jenna Ushkowitz, dresses up as VICI in one scene and speaks in her characteristic monotone, and disconcerts bitchy cheerleader Kitty by following her around in-character.

See also

• Not Quite Human, a series of novels in which a scientist creates an android, passing him off as his son, telling only his daughter the truth. The series was made into several TV movies for the Disney Channel.

External links

• Small Wonder at the Internet Movie Database
• Small Wonder at TV.com
• Small Wonder at epguides.com
• Small Wonder at Retrojunk
• Small Wonder at TV Acres
• Small Wonder at BoingBoing