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Join Date: Jan 09, 2001
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- Other Thoughts:
She's a small wonder jumped the shark when that awful red head girl Harriet catch on that Vickie was not a girl but she a robot. The little portly boy Jamie was pathetic as a fourth rated actor.
I remember this one. You'd think the scripts were written by a robot.
This show was dogsh-t from the start but it REALLY got bad when the mother became a teacher (just like when Mrs. Garvey taught the city school in Little House) and Vickie went to school too. Also, even though she was a teacher she still managed to wear those fluorescent jumpsuits all the time. This show is so bad in concept and execution it's almost enjoyable, unlike pretentious crap like "Sports Night."
Not only was the acting on this show horrible, but whenever they would show Vicki do something stupid like "Warm Coffee" and then show her hands on the coffe pot turning bright red....it drove me nuts. Jamie was a pansy, the Dad was a loser...I think that the only "cool" thing about this show was that the next door neighbor's mom was the secretary from Ferris Buellers Day off. Grace!!!!!!" I need a life, I am criticizing Small Wonder.
I owe a lot to this show. If it where not for this show, my life would be very different now. First of all, i would not have discovered that my uncle roy sodomized me while i was watching this show as a child. For some reason, i always got this aching sensation everytime i watched it. Then one day, it all came back. I grew up on this show!! 5 stars *****
I think the mother on this show was hot!!!!!!
First there was Vicki. Then came her not really evil twin but another robot girl played by the same actress, who was basically evil. Man, I loved that show and almost forgot about the twin (I think her name was Veronica or something) until I was reading a web site about the show...guess I was subconciously trying to forget.
Jumped from Day One. This show used to disturb me. I always wondered why they made Vicki a robot, when a show about an intelligent only-child young girl would have been far more interesting, and plausible. Then it hit me. The producers found out their lead could not act, and instead of having a girl act in a robotic fashion, they'd just make her character into a ROBOT. Genius! Now we know why those television hacks get paid so much! An interesting side effect of this was that all the latent pedophiles in the audience could oggle Vicki without feeling guilty. She was, after all, only a robot! In general, producers just don't seem to target the latent pedophile demographic as much, if any. This show, and possibly Punky Brewster, may have been the exception.
Looking back on this show, you'd think maybe Ed Wood directed it.
Vicki the Robot wore the same red dress on every episode. But I think probably the most disturbing thing about this show was that at night they kept Vicki in a closet in Jamie's room. I don't even want to know what that little freak made her do when the lights went out.
The premise was so stupid!! This guy was brilliant enough to build a robot that looked convincingly like a little girl....yet he couldn't figure out how to make her not talk in monotone??
When know it all aunt Ida Mae joined the cast. That bitch was damn annoying, and she f'in ruined a great show that had the potential to never jump the shark.
This show definitely jumped the shark from day one, but it also has the potential of winning a first ever "Jumping the Shark posthumously" award. Yes, you heard me right. This show jumped after its death when rumors spread that Billy Corgan played Jamie. This is outrageous for 2 reasons: 1. They don't look alike and 2. Billy Corgan would have been a teenager playing an 11 yr. old. This show was absolutely horrible.
The day Vicki cried-she was a robot, dammit! She talked in monotone, yet she could cry?????
Wait a minute. The girl was a robot?
When they wanted the robot to become an evil machine that was freaking weird as all hell because she was a nice pretty girl and was not mean and nasty and the thought of that is sick.
I grew up watching this show and I love the concept of a little girl being a robot and the intro song ruled
I hated this show immensely, but you have to admire their spirit when they get Jesse the Body Ventura (waaay pre-Gov. days) to guest star as the mom's ex-boyfriend.
Man, I am like obsessed with this show...could anyone have made a worse tv program if they set out to? The best part is, it was my grandma's FAVORITE show. We put her in a home shortly after she made that comment.
I used to watch on the local Fox affiliate when I was a youngster, and I remember this one time where the opening credits were dubbed in Spanish. Not the theme song, mind you, but the title and actor/character names were read off. It was bizarre. Jumped when Harriet found out Vicki's a bot, but does anyone remember Adam (8isE) Rich's guest appearance as the bad kid who gets Jamie to chew tobacco?
This show was dropped in front of the shark when it premiered.
It was a toss-up between Lyle's spotlight-stealing cameo and that episode where Vicky joins the greaser gang. Whatever the case, the show took a sharp turn downward in that uncomfortable episode where the Shiek came from the Middle East and claimed Vicky as his bride. Does anybody remember that sexy robot belly dance she did?! Yowsers!
I still remember every word to the theme song. I loved that show.
I loved this show! I still to this day wish that I could stop time like Vicki did just by touching my index finger tips together. And believe me, I have tried numerous times.
"Small Wonder" was a simply wonderful premise... a cute show about a robot trying to fit into society as a 10 year old girl. This was also one of the last shows to center around family values, and its audience was so appreciative... audiences ranged from 4 years old (like I was) to 94, techies and non-techies alike. After the fourth season, the cast and crew were all ready for a fifth season, with a slightly modified premise, but the network had other ideas. Fox acquired this show shortly after it started to become a national network. However, Fox was more interested in adult and cheap programs like "Married with Children" and "Parker Lewis Can't Lose" and didn't really pay much attention to a family show like "Small Wonder". Trying even harder to move away from family shows like "Small Wonder", Fox simply trashed the show without a second thought, despite a very respectable 7 or 8 Neilson rating throughout the entire series. Fox completely underestimated the show's popularity as it tried to use raunch to get national. Even today, many people remember the show with fond memories, as I do. In fact, I used to pretend what life would have been like if Vicki were my sister! After all, my real sister couldn't lift the refrigerator! We're trying to bring "Small Wonder" back to television! Please go to http://www.angelfire.com/ma3/ericdn/sw.html to share your (positive) experiences, memories, etc. about the show and to try to convince Fox to reair our classic "Small Wonder"!
Is it my faulty memory or did the bad kid who chewed tobacco develop cancer in that very same episode? It's okay if it's true, because it saved my life, this episode saved my life!
When they made her smoke to teach a lesson. Thing was she smoked during the wHOLE damn episode. Boy, she just puffed away. They never really made her like a kid but treated her as a robot like us, the viewer would think...yeah she can marry a shiek because she's NOT a REAL grrl but a ROBOT(duh!) The cast sucked too but did you ever notice that a few of them were in really good 80s films...(ie Ferris Bueller, Troop Beverly Hills) of course the grrl that played the lead never acted again cos...yeah....she's a robot.
"Vicki" did not possess the ability to stop time by touching her index finger tips together. The above commentator is confusing her with "Evie" from "Out of This World". (which was paired with "Small Wonder" in some markets)
What a horrible, HORRIBLE show, good only for a laugh at it's so-called "family values!" What's so "valuable" about a robot in the shape of a child? They kept her in a CLOSET, had her wearing the same butt-ugly outfit alla time, and SERVED them as a MAID.............then the family would profess to LOVE "her" as a DAUGHTER!!! Poorly written, conceived, acted, you name it. Many fan sites are thinly-veiled fetishistic droolfests over the possibilities of putting human-shaped robots to work for us humans...especially such "cute" (UGH!) little girls!!
She's fantastic, made of plastic, microchips here and there . . . one of the last great TV theme songs of all time!!!
It was like a "good" Ed Wood movie. Sick and tasteless, especially when they discussed the bodily functions of VICI. I agree about that theme song...there hasn't been any good TV theme songs since the '80s.
I had flashbacks of this show after I saw "A.I. Artificial Intelligence". This show was godawful, and I'll bet producers are STILL not calling Tiffany Brissette, let alone hearing of her. She might be in the Witness Protection Program right now, for all we know. Thank God this show is dead and buried.
It would have to be when Jaime was following that story about the cafeteria serving horse meat to students. In a burst of creativity he named his source "Deep Pockets". Yeah. Good ref, and I actually think I got it at the time, but it was still very, very stupid
this is the worst show ever broadcast on television. i adore it! whose idea was this? how desperate was the fox channel that they aired this (though not in my market; in new york you could only get this on uhf channels or cable from what i remember)? and lastly, how perverted is the above poster who said this show emblematizes family values? is that what you think families should do: lock their daughters in closets at night (in their son's room, no less!) after she's done cooking & cleaning & serving the dinners? since that poster obviously failed to notice, she was their SERVANT, dickless! with that kind of "family values" background she would have grown up to be a prostitute, turning automated tricks in the Hunt Point section of the Bronx or something. Didn't you ever read Moll Flanders? To the rest of you out there, if anyone knows where I can get a copy of the theme song (THE best theme song of all time, no doubt) please post it below. Thanx.
Day one. Emily Schulman (Harriet Brindle) could jump a show simply by moving in across the street from the studio. The girl has like, Scrappy Doo levels of annoyingness.
I've watched TV all my life and this is the WORST show ever made! I don't say that lightly; I really mean it. The whole premise is absurd, Jamie is a pudgy swish-boy who always seemed to be eating, the dad is a big dork, the neighbors are annoying. Vicki, through no fault of her own, recites every line in that irritating monotone voice. It's like fingernails on a chalkboard. If I ever met whoever is responsible for this piece of crap, I'd punch them in the face!!
A show this insipid ranks, along with a few others, in that rarest category where there is a sub-decline, or the decline is omnipresent- a consistent sixth-sense experience, or the shark jumping is retroactively applied to a loser of a premise. How do I love thee? Let me count the ways by venting my unparalleled hatred. This genius of a bomb defies discussion of specific episodes. It comes upon you first as a sense (as if you were being directed by a totalitarian force through the television convincing you to "indulge, indulge, indulge in your hatred"- the ravenesque muse of Hamlet), then as the theme music invades your sense of modern American reality (reminds me of the squarest, middlest of americanest holiday special with church singers in red and green sweaters- families all across Minnesota watching this on a cold Friday December eve, and by-the-way to a previous poster, see sitcomsonline.com to download the audio wav), all this with credits rolling (you watching in disbelief much as you would watching Barney- mouth open, afraid to get up and go to the bathroom for some reason, somehow held down in chair by magnetic force of disbelief/hatred); at this time father walks through kitchen door with turtleneck sweater and bowl haircut that screams, "yes, I take it up the ass," ahhh . . . but is not the pride of a loving father not enough to warm our hearts? I thank Jesus Christ for the creators of this show. I praise them. And . . . I hate them. They have added love and light to my cynical childhood, one in which I look back upon and find a twisted satisfaction. I say to myself, "Gee, what if I had grown up in the 50s watching shows that accurately represented the irrepressible lameness of the Eisenhower, mother-in-apron, Betty-Crocker, help the elderly lady next door with the packages but don't accept the nickel, era"? I would never have known the genius that would become the worst shows ever produced. Small Wonder assaults the senses of all good people the world over. It accomplished self-parody before the opening credits of the first show- that's genius! You can have all the Seinfelds and Cheers you want, but they can't make you HATE, which is criteria for any great JTS show. Did you HATE the father? I did! Did you HATE that asinine neighbor girl? I did! Did you want to hang yourself after the show because the post-partum depression left you cold and alone in a confounding world? I did! This challenges me to describe all my emotions- I don't think I'm capable of conveying the utter disgust that this show made me feel in a decade that drowned in its own cheesy hell-lava. Where are these people now? What is that dip**** robot doing now? What is "Daddy" doing these days- refining his Method acting skills in the chance that maybe he'll nail a part with DeNiro (i.e., he finally finds his "voice," his role of a lifetime after deluding himself that he's been an "artist," a detached struggling actor with sunglasses as not to be "noticed" as he walks down Houston Street, carrying with him the unrelatable memories of being broke and shooting heroin in an East Village flophouse)? Or would you place your money on the probability that he's just another jackass, that robot-ass-girl is turning tricks while her boyfriend is out delivering pizzas? Man, I wish I could go on with this. . .
This is creepy...one of the above posters mentioned that they watched the show on a local Fox affiliate, and one time the opening credits were in Spanish. Well, it just so happens that I used to work at a Fox affiliate, and I remember one time when we accidentally ran the opening credits of "Small Wonder" in Spanish!
This IS one the worst series of all time. I did find one episode that was funny though. It was when Vicki and Jamie were thrown in jail and Vicki started acting like James Cagney in all of those prison movies she had been watching. Other than that, the show sucked.
Did no one learn after Holmes and Yoyo that the premise of passing a robot/android off as a person JUST DOESN'T WORK?
This has got to be the absolute worst show ever! Remember when she would short-circuit or whatever and they would open up a panel in her back as though it were a fuse box and reprogram her. Still freaks me out!
Ha, ha... I remember this. It really was unbelievably bad. I seem to remember that no-one on it could act... and the theme tune was so dire. Odd how nobody in the entire town noticed she talked in a continual monotone, wasn't it? I liked the evil robot, whose name was actually Vanessa. She was good. How annoying was that stupid Harriet girl? She had the worst haircut ever and never did anything useful. Great show... me and my sister used to watch it faithfully every day. It is really hilarious. "She's a small wonder..."
This show jumped the shark at it's vile inception in the pits of Hell. As disturbing as the poster who ruminates at length about the hatred and despair this show causes was, he was absolutely right. This show - a stupid TV show - had the power to make me angry. Although occasionally forcing myself to watch a few minutes in horror and disbelief, I would usually lunge physically for the remote control any time this steaming pile of serial killer feces would flash across my screen. There truly are very few shows on TV that can stoke such a dark, ferocious revulsion in a human being without tapping into some pre-existing hang-up that a person has. For instance, Fundamentalists might hate South Park, black people might hate Amos and Andy, or whatever. People often can hate a show because it's contrary to some belief or ideal they hold. The sick thing about this show is that it evokes such a reaction from nothing. It strives to be inoffensive to the most reactionary corners of society and yet has become repugnant to nearly all. This show represents everything wrong with humanity. If I were religious, I might imagine this show as the very face of the Devil itself. Sick. Wrong. Sick. Wrong. Sick.
Day one, without a doubt. The show was so bad you almost think it was done on purpose. Big BOOOO to the mom's clothing (the collars turned upward, yeckkkk!!!!). Too bad Vickie couldn't put that whole family in one of those cabinets!!!! The family next door should have had their own show. They rocked!!! Wonder why this show didn't last?? No "small" wonder here...
Small Wonder never jumped. It was the most subversive show of the 1980s. Dig it: A suburban family (and you don't have to ask what color they were) can't deal with the screwed up son they had, so they decide to get a new kid. And rather than create her through the usual means, they build her. Aldous Huxley isn't dead--he's simply consulting for TV. Think about the mere premise of the show, and you'll see its genius. Add to your ruminations the (deliberately?) bad acting and anti-septic set pieces (I think they used the House from Growing Pains). The utter banality of the family's life, so devoid of meaning that the entrance of Harriet (a red-headed step child, no less!) is enough to upheave it. Small Wonder was a perfect commentary on America! The idle rich, the rejection (and deadliness) of sexual relations, the alienation from one's own family, the dehumanization caused by blind faith in technology, all packaged into a laugh track sitcom. Post-modern to the CORE! There is no better example than Harriet's Mom playing a character that referenced other characters she had played on other TV shows, which were themselves parodies of 1950s archetypes. Check out also the gender ambiguity in the son's name, "Jamie," then notice he shows no interest in girls. God, what brilliance. With Small Wonder, either you get the joke or you're the one being made fun of.
I just have one thing to say: does every step-child in family-oriented sitcoms have to be red-headed? See Diff'rent Strokes. Seriously.
The WORST show EVER made. However, I must say that this show allowed a class of completely different souls stuck together in a high school math class to bond. Circa 1992: None of us cared too much for math (teacher included) so we inevitably discussed television and music. The only thing we all agreed about, was that SW was the worst show ever.
Of the grotesque freak show cast, I would single out the perpetually sarcastic Ted as the most objectionable. On the smoking episode Vicky cried out bizarrely "Peter! Peter! Peter!" It must be an arcane Hollywood reference, but one wonders who in the show's viewer demographic was expected to recognize it. The thought crossed my mind that V had hit puberty at that moment, but even such a notion failed to stir (much) interest. It's not a serious discussion when it jumped. The question of course is did it ever NOT jump? I can identify one time. The kids put together a company & called it IBM: International Burrito Makers. When something is funny you have to admit it, even if it weakens your argument.
This show is one of a handful that instantly makes me start shaking in rage...Kind of like when Dr. Banner starts getting pissed off and starts to Hulk out...that sort of thing...Ugh..even thinking about the show..makes...me ...ARRRGHHHHH....**rips shirt to shreds**
I haven't seen the show in years, but there is one episode in particular that convinces me that the writers were completely out of touch with reality: Some advertising executive offers Vicki a part in a TV commercial for a kid’s cereal for $15,000, and family agrees let Vicki in the commercial. I’m not referring to the premise, but I am talking about a decision made by the family. The commercial is filmed (The filming of the commercial is unbelievable in itself because the ad exec is operating the camera, and Jamie is operating the clapper! Maybe other crew members were involved with filming the commercial, but I don’t remember. If a person is being paid $15,000 to act in a commercial, I would think it would have more than two or three crew members…but that is a rant for another day). The commercial is finished, and Vicki is going to be paid, until the family learns that the cereal being advertised is not healthy for children. The family decides that they cannot accept the money because the cereal Vicki is advertising for is unhealthy. Huh? What kind of a stupid reason is that? I am sure that even in the 1980s, actors and celebrities refused to take certain roles or endorsed certain products/services because of moral, ethical, or political reasons. I can easily imagine an actress not accepting a high-profile role because of nudity, a celebrity not endorsing Planned Parenthood because he or she does not believe in abortion, or an actor not endorsing the Republican Party because he is a Democrat or a member of a third-party. The examples I have given are also believable because even if someone passes an offer, there will be others waiting for the actor/celebrity to sign. In the Small Wonder episode, the family deciding to refuse the money is NOT believable because 1) it is HIGHLY unlikely that another commercial offer will come for these people, 2) the family knew that it was a commercial for a kid’s cereal (children’s cereal is notorious for containing high amounts of sugar) so they should have had some idea of what the product was and 3) refusing to endorse a product for such a STUPID reason is mind-boggling. If someone offered the average person on the street $15,000 to appear in a commercial or a mainstream movie, regardless of the product or subject matter, he or she would probably do it and take the money because the offer would NEVER come again if it were refused. Especially if he or she has a child (as does the family in Small Wonder); the $15,000 could contribute to a college fund. Anyway, the family goes to the ad exec and tries to get out of the deal. The exec refuses and walks off. The family then thinks of a plan to get out of the deal: they will invite him over to their house and act all stuck up and snobbish in order for him to tear up the contract. (Earlier in the episode, the ad exec expressed his hatred for hiring kids who acted self-important) The exec does come over to the family’s house with the check and they act snobbish and we see the exec’s horrified reaction. The audience is supposed to laugh at the ad exec and applaud the family for trying to get out of this deal. We are supposed to root for this family who are THROWING AWAY FIFTEEN THOUSAND DOLLARS for no damn reason! Anyway, the exec tears up the contract and leaves the family’s home, leaving the check behind (!). The family tears up the check because it would be “dishonest to cash the check.” And then the episode ends. I do not know if there were later episodes where the family is financial trouble, but if there were, I wouldn’t feel sorry for them. Even though there are episodes of other shows where I felt the writers were out of touch with reality (Family Matters, latter episodes of Seinfeld), nothing could top the absolute stupidity of this episode.
This is easily the WORST show ever produced (and I use the words "show" and "produced" lightly, for they barely apply here). My brother and I were typical 80s TV junkies and this is the only show we wouldn't sit through, very special episodes of Mr. Belvedere aside. The entire premise was ridiculous and the acting was awful all around, but the most annoying part of the show bar none was that red-headed demon from the seventh circle of Hades, Harriet. In our neighborhood Harriet was so notoriously lame that to call someone "a Harriet" was the greatest insult one could bestow. When your target demographic (pre-teen kids) hates and fears your program, you know something is wrong.
I would have to say when the son had the dream where he was the ONLY human in the WHOLE house. If that wasn't bad enough, the NEW robots, along with the regular robot, made 4 basketball shots with their backs turned towards the hoop AT THE SAME FREGGIN TIME!
THIS WAS THE WORST SHOW IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD!VIKKI'S ROBOT VOICE MADE ME WANT TO POKE MY EAR DRUMS OUT.JAMIE WAS THE MOST OBNOXIOUS TURD IN TV BEATING OUT THE OTHER OBNOXIOUS TURD 'CHIP' FROM 'KATE AND ALLEY'.I ONLY WATCHED 5 OR 6 EPISODES BUT I CAN NOT BELIEVE IT WAS ON FOR MORE THAN ONE SEASON.YOU BETTER CHECK YOUR FACTS
I cannot restrain myself: "Small Wonder" was without a doubt, the absolute WORST TELEVISION PROGRAM EVER, at least in the U.S. It wasn't funny, it was just plain creepy. Only Pat Boone in a recurring character role would make "Small Wonder" less tolerable. Of all SW's horrendous moments, I think the absolute worst came when Jamie and Vicky had to explain to their ignorant, suburban, whitebread 80's parents what rap was. They "improvised" a rap demonstration for Mom and Dad, trading rhyming lines off one another. Interestingly, Vicky's monotone escaped her during the rap demonstration, but Jamie rapped in monotone. Something tells me this wasn't intentional.
Bizarre. Yet never jumped, for it was a testing ground for the FOX network before they went crazy with Cops, When Animals attack, etc. (Just think, if this show was really a hit, FOX would have been PAX. Scary. Now I remember all the aspects of this show, from the kid's name (Jamie, even at 10 years old I thought that name for a male child was queer as hell) the dad and mom were idiots, and Vicki the robot was a comic genuis. How else? Buster Keaton couldn't do this stuff as well as Vicki did. Amazing. Where is this chick today? I remember the episode where there was a big misunderstanding about the 11 year old Jamie "doing drugs". When Jamie said "Hi" to the dad the dad replied "Yeah, I'll bet you are." A Classic One liner that I still use today. BTW, this show was remembered by MAXIM magazine about a half year ago in one of their monthly columms where they compare it to a rival. That's gotta mean something.
There is no doubt in my mind that this is by far the worst show of all time. This show jumped the shark on day one. Let's put it this way, how many shows do you know that are so amazingly weak that they have cameos by both Lyle Alzado and Hul Hogan? Enough said. The writing is as flat as a pancake and the acting could not be worse on any soap opera. As for the special effects, Good God!My eyes will never forget the few times I actually sat through this totally flushable piece of crap! I have never seen anything worse on t.v. before or since, and hopefully never will.
The death of us all, really. This IS the shark. Our society, as we knew and wanted it, ended at the end of the opening credits. Remember, this was a show so bad that networks laughed at it, yet it still found its way into our mind's eye. That robot chick, in retrospect, was actually pretty good: never broke character, always consistent in her lines, went through what I imagine had to be a quite painful adjustment to life in a tit-girdle, as she never 'developed' on the show. Shame on anyone who badmouths this show; because of its syndicated obscurity, anyone who saw it must have sought it out on their own. Shame on you. Shame on us all. Caveat: while I have purposely and willingly put unbelievably harmful chemicals into my body, because of this show, I will never chew tobacco.
Oh this is by far one of the worst, most awful, horrific shows I ever had to watch as a young child of the 80's. This show jumped from the second that ear wretching theme song , that sounds like they payed some one off the street outside the studio lot to do. Even now Im thinking of that song and curling up in a ball scared like. Ted is that smart that he can make a robot yet he seemed like the biggest idiot I have ever seen in my life. The mother with her disciplining them all the time and being so wishy-washy, she pissed me off so much. Why is it about this show that, we all saw it yet all hated it? I remember one of my sisters friends would always go wild when the show came on. She would scream "Small Wonders! Small Wonders!" and Im like the show was Called Small Wonder not Wonders and is this the future of our society? People like this are one day going to be working and holding jobs and running the country and we kids are getting excited over a young girl playing a robot that talks in a monotone voice!? Even as a kid I realized how bad this show was, it was probably one of the stupidest shows I had to watch yet for some reason I watched it every weekend. It was like something drew me to this show. Was it the feeling of wanting to punch that little puke snot nosed brat Harriot.. ooo I always hated little bitches like that. That kids parents were probably the most annoying and sickening as well. For such a bad show they cast the characters so well. It was almost scary in a way. Then theres Jamie, this kid makes Kevin Arnold look like a saint. He must have been the most spoiled and selfish kid on the planet. Not to mention he wasn't very bright either. His schemes were sad and his using Vicki for his own personal gain got a bit lame after a few hundred times. Then there is Vicki. The whole premise is just ridiculous!! A perfectly humanoid robot that is mistaken for a real life child that even the next door neighbor who worked for the same company as Ted coudln't figure out!? She talked in a monotone voice and no one ever found this strange? They kept her in a closet for the night? Why ? What was the point of this? The joke just got old after 4 episodes. Ok its a robot that no one else besides the family itself can know about. Lets see what funny antics we get into this week of everyone thinking she is so amazing for the things she can do. Lastly the whole budget and lame plots were really the downfall of this show. It was trying to teach a moral lesson every week but Family Matters it was not. Heck even the Brady Bunch's lessons made more sense then this show. The guy mentioned them turning down the 15,000 bucks due to the cereal having sugar in it. That alone really does say it all. Were they thinking that all of the sudden all the kids watching the show would protest against cereal companies and say "Mom I don't want this cereal, on Small Wonders they said it was bad for me. Get me Rasin Bran" There was other episodes that focused in school and even the kids were just so dumb, No one ever had a problem with Vicki, they found it normal for someone to never age and wear the same clothing and talk like a robot. What school is this? The world that all these people lived in must have just been in the mind of some drugged our mad man and none of this ever happened. I know its just a TV show.. but jeez.. this was just hard to watch, and yet we all did so what does that tell you all!!? We will watch anything when we are kids and that is why this show lasted for as long as it did. Thank goodness we will never see trash like this on again in syndication, makes one year for the days of My Secret Identity and Out of this World. If you are one of the few in your 20's now that hasn't seen it consider yourself lucky, for the rest of us.. you have my sympathies.
Wow. And I thought root canals were painful. Let me throw this out there...did any of you find it odd that the mother always talked in a Cinemax-porn voice?? Wow. And...it was too bad that Vicki wasn't programmed to whack the entire production staff with baseball bat. Tisk Tisk.
This has to rank in anyone's top 5 for reasons why T.V. shouldn't exist. The producers probably WISHED the writers were doing coke (ALA 'Alf'),then it might of been funny or....something....anything. I don't remember any specific episodes, just the creepy feel the whole enterprise gave me. The grade school play sets, the changes between painful overacting or none at all ( and not only from the 'bot),the deafening laugh track..... I would say it was like an SCTV take-off,but I would NEVER sully that excellent show's name like that. If Ed Wood made a series,it would look like this. My main feeling while watching it was "WHY?",that is,how did anyone think this would sell????. I think SHRILL is the only word I can think of that would describe it. I really believe there has never been anything THAT bad on since. I actually miss it!!!
Leave Harriet alone. About the only reason that I even liked this show is Harriet. Vicki gets on my nerves. Jaime is a namby-pamby, but is ok. I also like it when Harriet tortures Jaime all the time. I think she's cute. On some episodes, you would want to smack that stupid robot. Not only is she irritating, but she is so unlikable. Long live Harriet Brindle.
Does no one remember??? This show definitely jumped the shark when Jamie and Reggie went undercover to catch the schools drug dealer. Jamie wore that sad, sad 80's ear piece to communicate with the police officer, then had to lie to the drug dealer and tell him he had hearing problems. On a side note: What the hell were those drugs anyway, they looked like prescription allergy medicine. Silly Jamie, the good stuffs downtown.
I watched Happy Days and Who's the Boss. When Small Wonder came on, I switched off Fox and on to Paramount's Star Trek. Therefore, I came to hate Star Trek (not in small part because of 'Reading Rainbow's' Levar Burton or 'Stand By Me's' Gordie), simply too afraid to give this show a chance. I was a very bored little kid, I did not need the additional emotional burden that this show threatened to place upon my fragile, impressionable mind. NO ONE CAN COMPLAIN OR CLAIM THAT THEY SUFFERED IRREPARABLE HARM FROM WATCHING THIS SHOW!! You should have paid more attention to the impending doom implied by the theme song. It was more foreboding than an air raid siren in Baghdad. At least it was accurate. Shame on you. All of you. For you have sold your very souls for much less the price of rock n' roll.
The time Vicki malfunctioned and began comitting several evil acts. They had to trick her into shutting herself down. They challenged Vicki, telling her she may be smart, but she couldn't rub her tummy and pat her head at the same time. Vicki accepted the challenge but apparently Vicki forgot that her off button was on top of her head and she shut herself down. I just remember thinking how stupid that whole sequence was.. I was pretty young then too.
In the "Bad TV Hall of Fame". Of course the vote here is DAY ONE. I took broadcast programming in college and this show was constantly used as an example of a bad TV show (and that was back in 1989). To that pseudo-intellectual boob who stated that the show was some "inside subversive joke", you are the reason that crap like this gets put on the air. TV executives could care less about your phony "Aldous Huxley-Brave New World reference reasoning for watching, they just want viewers. Their "inside joke" is that they were able to get morons like you to watch this crap.
Holy crap! I still remember this, but everyone except for me and my friend hated it. I don't know how she even remembered it--she hates the '80s. My brother and I used to watch this on the Philadelphia Fox affiliate (we have the NY and Philly channels in my area of South Jersey!!) on Saturday nights when we stayed at my Grandma's house (along with the Golden Girls and Empty Nest--I was brought up on geriatric sitcoms). Occasionally, we watched it at home. Quite frankly, I was three when this show came on, and that Vicky the Robot was scary. Does anyone remember when Vicky went (or did she fall in) into a swimming pool, and she was bald? God, that was scary!!!!!! I remember that little porker Jamie--and Harriet--how annoying!!! The BEST thing was that Grace from "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" was in it. And those neon jump suits still are etched in my mind. Yikes!!!!! Now, I need to give my bud a call. We need to freakin' discuss this show!
This show wasn't supposed to be about a little robot, but the idea was added after they realized they were stuck with this horrible actress who was the Executive Producer's daughter. Great save....not. Small blunder.
Jumped from day one because it was a fundamental mistake to make the show in the first place as a show. “Small Wonder” could have been an above-par made-for-TV movie in an age of disease-of-the-week movies or other fodder “inspired by actual events”. Unfortunately, network execs have this compulsion to turn every funny idea into a sit-com – which is the same way of saying “we’ve got this idea for a show; how do we keep it static and undeveloped for 26 half-hours?” As a TV movie, they could have used a single plot to explain how they started with a robot made to look like a girl (and given a room in a closet) and ended up with a new family member. The idea of keeping her in a closet or occasionally lifting off a faceplate and revealing her cybernetic endo-skeleton seems creepy if its done week-after week. On the other hand, it works dramatically if the story starts from that point and evolves into VICI becoming a member of the family – “just because I’m synthetic doesn’t mean I don’t have feelings”. Instead, the show became a pastiche of every bad US sitcom, but stayed truthful mostly to “Bewitched” or “Jeannie” – our nosy neighbors and our son’s annoying friends must never learn that VICI is a robot!!! (to keep the secret, the life-like cyborg was given a monotone voice and super-strength, and always wears the same toy-doll style dress). The robot’s monotone voice is probably only a joke to parents who know that most kids that age sound like hyper-verbal versions of the band-camp geeks of “American Pie”. In short, a good idea (not a great one) killed by TV.
My co-worker and I are long-time fans of this website, yet we are first time writers. Therefore, we are a tad nervous... Anyway, Small Wonder scared the schizzy out of us both. We are not sure who scared us more: Vici or Jaime! Also, we think we may have seen Harriet on an episode of Star Dates. Can anyone confirm this? One more thing...I specifically remember Vici winking at the camera/audience at the end of every show. My co-worker does not have the same memory. Can anyone affirm this for us???
From the first airing it jumped. What a truly, and I mean truly, horrible piece of junk. Bad acting, bad (horrible) premise and mind numbing dumb throughout. One of the worst show, and that's saying a lot, EVER.
This show's concept was very basic. For the most part, it was pretty cute and funny. It was what a family sitcom should be. The plot wasn't the best, but with all the crap we see on television now, it looks great.
This was the worst show in the history of TV. It sucked every which way you can think of. That chubby boy Jamie and Harriet the neighbor girl were the 2 most annoying creatures I have ever experienced. All the acting was worse than you would see in the worst porn flick. And the whole premise is about a robot that looks like a real girl, only why on Earth would anyone create a robot that looked like real flesh and bone and could do pretty much anything, then keep it a secret, pretending it's your daughter. Wouldn't you want to profit from such a miraculous invention? And why didn't the neighbors question why Vicky the robot always was wearing that same dress day after day?
I must concur with the majority of the above posters and say SMALL WONDER was one of the worst pieces of tripe to hit the airwaves in the history of television. Saying it jumped from day one would be way too kind. This show was beyond embarrassing and I'm assuming anyone who had a part in it, especially Tiffany Brissette, is probably in the witness protection program right now.
this show has got to be the worst show ever aired on television. that being said, one show came to mind for me as the point where the show jumped the shark is the Very Special Kid on the Milk Carton episode where Vicki and Jamie meet a girl at school who was kidnapped by her dad when she was a baby (unbeknownst to her). We find all this out when Vicki upon looking on the back of a milk carton and asks the girl: "Are you lost?" Long story short, the dad finds another milk carton with the girls face on it (after buying several cartons of milk) and calls the police. I swear nothing worst then an awful show trying to be socially conscious. Another note about this show in it's four year run on syndication it went through about 3 production companies. and that's all i want to talk about that
A childhood favorite, but even at age 10 I knew this was dumber than the next door neighbors on the show. I think I kept watching to see how stupid it get, how white bread the robot's family could get, or how "aftesrchool specialy" it could get in the final season. No small wonder (don't hit) Seth Green is thankful he didn't get the role of the brother.
Not only did the actress playing Vicki do outstanding work as a robot, all of the other actors gave robotic wooden performances - and the sad thing is I was completely addicted to this show - it just was not a Saturday afternoon without this mindless and fascinating monotoned fluff - too bad TVLand does not air reruns and it is not out on DVD
This show never jumped the shark, in my opinion. I'm laughing at how much people hate this innocent, typical 80's sitcom. Just because it's old now doesn't mean it was bad then. I also remember simpler times while watching this show. It's sad that it was pulled from a fifth season simply because Fox wanted to air filth like Married... With Children.
The Show was probably best classified as one of those "Let's see what Happens When..." kind of deals. The fact that this piece of crap went on for 4 years is a feat that defies even physics...Then again, there have been worse sitcoms that have lasted longer (Coughcough...Yes, Dear...Coughcough) and they don't seem to get the flak that Small Wonder has received.
This show jumped the moment some absolute imbecile thought it up. Just found out Tiffany Brissette (VICI), is going to be one of the housemates on the season of The Surreal Life starting in early '07. The worst part of this isn't that she's a has-been child actor. The worst part is she is a PSYCHIATRIST. I think she might need the therapy if she believes this is a good life move.
You don't have to chronicle when this show went down. I saw it once and it was so awful. Well the hell were these writers thinking of a girl speaks monotone all the time and wears the same doll clothes everyday. Geee, ya think someone wouldn't have already noticed or said something about it! Btw, the father on this crappy show got his start on an episode of The Ropers, another sharkfest!
Compared to the garbage sitcoms foisted on us now ("According to Jim," "2 and a Half Men," "Yes, Dear," that one with the moron brother from Raymond, that one with Damon Wayans), "Small Wonder" is like Shakespeare. "I-am-Vicky-hopefully-sharks-do-not-like-to-eat-android- girls!"
"Day One" jumping doesn't fit. This thing jumped when they were doing rehearsals BEFORE they taped the first episode. The actress who played Vicki was the BEST YOUNG ACTRESS AVAILABLE ?!?! C'mon--- whose daughter was she?? The producer's?? The director's? The syndicator's?? ABSOLUTELY THE WORST TELEVISION SHOW EVER !!
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09-26-2013, 07:00 PM
Small Wonder Boned the Fish When...
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