Small Wonder (1985–1989) User Reviews

I Want This Back on TV

[saurabh_2087 · 8/10 · 11 March 2009]

How can u guys criticize this show ... it was meant for kids .. i used to watch it when i was a kid .... and i want it back cause it reminds me of my childhood ..... how i used to enjoy it .... i have watched all the episodes many times and still wouldn't mind watching it again for fun .... I know this show has flaws .... bad acting, direction, writing but who cares about these things at the age of 5 - 12. Who knows about these things at that age .... common people i don't think this show deserves such a low rating ... it did what it was meant to do ... to make kids laugh and enjoy half hour of television .... besides thi my favorite shows were I dream of Jeanie, Bewitched, Silver Spoons, Different Strokes, The Duck tales cartoon .... these shows were not meant to be "good" in every way ... but they made me laugh at that age and i was hooked up .... thats all that matters ...

It's not perfect, but it's watchable!

[peeedeee-94281 · 7/10 · 7 September 2018]

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!

Not so Bad!

[Sylviastel · 7/10 · 17 October 2006]

Remember that this show was one of the first sitcoms in syndication in the 1980s. It was a new thing. When a sitcom or drama could not get a network, they went with syndication. I thought this show was alright in syndication because it reached a wide audience. I often saw it on Saturday evenings usually before Mama's Family. I was a kid so I didn't know better. I think we pretended that we were Viki or played her in our backgrounds. The show was never meant to be serious in the first place. The cast was somewhat decent with Marla Pennington, Edie McClurg who left to do Hogan Family, Tiffany Bressette, the guy who played her father, the brother, and the red-head girl next door with her father. The writing wasn't great but it wasn't bad. I don't recall ever not watching it. It just seemed like it came for a simpler time. I only wish Syndication was still around. It is but not as it was in the 1980s. It was the equivalent for independent films, rather just sitcoms.

Where are they?

[dweilermg-1 · 10/10 · 16 October 2018]

Whether or not you liked the show it had a talented cast of newsomers yet they've had no success since. BTW if the Lawsons wanted people to believe Vicki was a real girl shouldn't she have had more than 1 dress?

Classic 80's comedy

[Smooth B · 17 November 1999]

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.

Getting the DVD's

[Noexpert · 7/10 · 31 July 2007]

These silly but enjoyable adventures of Vici the android and the Lawson family dealing with the new child that isn't human - is sometimes believable, full of word plays, is dramatically predictable with twisted surprising plots, and strangely addictive. The multiple writers and directors create a wide variety of characters. Information on the show is readily available from the many fans supporting "fan-sites".

Although the ninety-six episodes in four seasons is not available publicly, the demand might be great enough to make it happen. Amazon.com has started a waiting list that you may sign up for. Current (August 2007) DVD's on the market are no better than recordings from broadcast and include from 36 to 52 episodes. Fairly expensive for the quality, completeness, and shady operations...

SO SIGN UP at Amazon.

Extraordinary little wonder show.

[OllieSuave-007 · 9/10 · 28 January 2017]

This was actually quite a good show - unique and funny. It's a show about Father Ted Lawson who creates a robot named VICI. The robot becomes a part of the family, doing all sorts of superhuman capabilities, but her identity is kept a secret.

It's fun seeing VICI doing all sort of tricks, keeping the family's neighbors like the nosy Harriet in bewilderment.

It's a perfect little show for the entire family, especially the kids where they could enjoy some live action comedy but with a nice touch of extraordinary fun.

Grade A-

not bad

[hellsnavy16 · 7/10 · 1 October 2017]

i just saw an episode and it surprisingly holds up. the humor is there, a classic formula for comedy, based on setup and payoff that strangely feels refreshing in the current age of television, despite the canned laughs - this is no big bang theory, the laugh track is not merely masking the show's shortcomings, but - like a drummer, seem to be used to accentuate the punchline. at the end of the day it is no masterpiece, the parents are awfully awkward, but the kid actors are great. especially the episodes where you get to see vicky at school. the show accomplishes everything it sets out to do and then some. i recommend wasting time with this instead of reality television

Vicki was the show

[view_and_review · 8/10 · 14 March 2020]

"Small Wonder" was super-tight. It was never really that funny, but I was always interested in what little Vicki would do. She was the entertainment. Jamie was alright, but he was hardly the funniest kid on t.v. at that time. Vicki was the show.

This ain't M3GAN

[safenoe · 7/10 · 9 April 2024]

I remember Small Wonder from the 1980s, alongside My Sister Sam, My Two Dads, Cheers, and The A-Team. Anyway, I sometimes wonder if Small Wonder was the inspiration for the 2022 smash hit M3GAN, because in a way, M3GAN is like the Black Mirror version or rendition of Small Wonder with the innocence completely stripped away and reconstructed in a way that would make Small Wonder recoil in horror. Anyway, there is a certain charm to Small Wonder, and this was before social media and all init, and Tiffany Brissette, who played the Small Wonder, ended up becoming a registered nurse so that's a big deal.

Unmitigated horror.

[neutrino68 · 1/10 · 4 December 2006]

An atrocious affair all around. The high concept almost guarantees complete awfulness. In the face of such overwhelming odds most t.v. shows give up, and this stinker is no exception. The robot 'daughter', VICI (Virtual Idiot, Cringe Inducing) is played with prescription-grade annoyance by a monotoned mutant child. This child actor has the dead, robot eyes down pat. Downright bonechilling. The parents are creepy and not-to-be-trusted, as they treat this machine as if she were human, except when things go wrong with her circuits in front of strangers. Then they lock her in the closet like some lesbian stepchild. One episode has a strange, ultra-right-wing twist when VICI is entered into an international trivia or spelling contest. Dad finds out that VICI's Soviet competitor, Yuri Something-Or-Other, is using a cheat sheet. Dad gives the kid a lecture about how in America we are independent minded and how communism is really bad and how the communists have proved they are bad by having a little boy cheat just to make the Soviet educational system look good. This rah-rah pro-America, Soviets-Are-Cheaters lecture FROM A MAN WHO ENTERED A ROBOT INTO A CHILDREN'S SPELLING CONTEST! What's the message here? Americans are superior because our computers can spell better than real Soviet children? Americans have a moral right to cheat because we're cheatin' in the name of democracy? Twisted trash that will rot your mind. Don't give it the chance.

Small Wonder ...Release to DVD!

[avjr27 · 10/10 · 20 June 2006]

Small Wonder was a sci-fi sitcom about a family who has a robot daughter. Ted Lawson, an engineer at a huge robotics firm, brings home a project that he is working on: a robot in the shape of a 10-year-old girl. The robot was a Voice Input Child Indenticant, but was nicknamed Vicki for short. Not only did she brighten up Ted's wife Joan, but also was a great sister to their only child Jamie Lawson. They tried to keep the fact that Vicki was a robot from the entire world, but found it difficult when their neighbors, The Brindles, started snooping around the house. What the bad part was, Brandon Brindle, the head of the Brindle family, was Ted's boss and he does his best to lie, cheat and steal to get him further up the ladder. His wife, Bonnie, was no better than he was, and his bratty daughter Harriet had a killer crush on Jamie.

Jamie, however, would rather play with Reggie, his best friend and confidant than to have Harriet chase him everywhere. Jamie also tried to teach Vicki how to be a normal kid, but all she could do is mimic people and do things literally. Vicki also had an evil side to her named Vanessa, who was smart-mouthed, conniving and treacherous at times. But other than that, the Lawsons enjoyed four years of living with a robot and no one outside the family was ever the wiser, not even the ever-nosy Brindles.

Small Wonder ran in syndication from 1985 to 1989 and was a ratings hit. There were talks of doing a spin-off series dedicated to Vanessa named Too Good to Be True but it died in the planning stages.

Amazon release this to DVD please!

ANTHONY V JR

Fun

[CanadianRonin · 7/10 · 26 June 2018]

This is a pretty zany sitcom about a guy who is lonely so he builds himself a robot daughter. It's just a typical 80's sitcom with some average family type situations with the twist being the robot girl doesn't understand the human world and learns lessons every week. The dad's a pretty good actor.

How could anybody like this show?

[latherzap · 1/10 · 27 January 2002]

Unfunny comedy about a family and their robot daughter "Vicki". I watched this show on a UHF channel frequently when it first came out (I was ten years old, bored at that time of day, and it helped pass the time). Horrible as it was, I kept watching it- fascinated that apparently some people actually liked it. There's really nothing positive to say about Small Wonder.

EVERY episode features a scene where Vicki is asked to help clean the house or move some furniture. Sample: A family member says "Vicki, could you lift the couch so I can vacuum underneath it?"- Vicki uses one hand to grab one end of the couch and lifts the ENTIRE piece of furniture over her head (with bad special effects). This causes the laugh track to explode with guffaws and chuckles. I mean, it's just so zany ya know? Why,this stunt gets funnier with each episode!

Ten years old, and even then I knew it was one of the worst TV shows ever. That pretty much says it all.

Unfairly criticized

[app354 · 16 October 2002]

"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.

OMG I remember this!

[lillyviolin · 10/10 · 29 April 2007]

I was so excited to see that someone posted the episodes on www.you-tube.com. I haven't seen this show since I was little.

I loved it then and loved VICI. I can't wait until it comes out DVD. It's so cute and great for kids.

There is something about the show, something innocent and wholesome. VICI was an ideal show about how families interact and about how love works for all.

I hope it doesn't cost too much when it comes out on DVD. Some of these old shows cost way too much, and despite the fact it was a GREAT show, I don't' wont to spend too much.

Loved this show!

[shadowsofred2006 · 10/10 · 20 June 2021]

Cheesy and fun. Childhood favorite I watched before school almost every morning.

Love it

[trebordjackson · 9/10 · 25 November 2018]

It's Bewitched with a robot this show is pretty funny

One Of The Worst Comedies

[atlasmb · 2/10 · 11 May 2018]

There are plenty of television comedies that might be considered juvenile. They lack nuance and rely upon simple gags or corny jokes. But "Small Wonder" is sophomoric, an embarrassment.

The basic premise of the series is that a young girl talking in a monotone is funny. The small girl is Tiffany Brissette, who plays VICI-a pint-sized robot invented by the father of show's family. Child actors who display real talents, who can emote on camera, or who are precocious can be assets to a series, but "Small Wonder", by having its star portray a robot, makes her an unemotional, one-trick pony.

One of the show's worst transgressions is its obnoxious laugh track, which is used liberally whenever VICI speaks.

Another annoyance is the character Harriet Brindle, a 9-year-old neighbor who only thinks about boys. She is as aggressive as plenty of other sitcom maneaters, but her youth makes the character feel inappropriate.

At the center of this circus of the unfunny lies the writing. The lines are an insult to viewers, and they make the characters unbelievable and boring.

It was delightful show

[williamclose · 10/10 · 19 March 2021]

This show had its charm perfect to watch with family the kids in this show were so adorable may be because i myself was 6 years old kid at that time.

This was really awful

[irishm · 2/10 · 28 October 2014]

I remember this when it was originally on the air. I was living in a basement apartment using a small TV with rabbit ears and whatever channel this was on was the only channel I got, which was the only reason I ever even knew this show existed. Typical of many high-concept shows, it starts with the shred of an idea someone came up with after probably one too many cocktails, and voila, we have a stinker of a series. The writing was atrocious and all the actors were terrible, with special mention to Dick Christie as the father who was one step below everyone else at "abominable". Out of morbid curiosity I Netflixed a few episodes a year or two ago just to check and see if it was as bad as I had remembered. It was. I'll never check back again; I've learned my lesson.

A superlative artistic and philosophical achievement

[kinskimonkey · 27 September 2002]

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".

One Of The Greatest 1980 TV Sitcoms Of All Time!

[cannoncnn · 10/10 · 27 December 2015]

"Small Wonder" is one of my favorite TV shows of all time right next to TV shows like "Punky Brewster", "Charles In Charge", "The Wonder Years", "Family Ties" (my favorite TV sitcom of all time!), "Married With Children", and the 1970s live-action TV show "The Amazing Spider-Man"!

For those who've never heard of "Small Wonder" (who hasn't?, it's about a robotics engineer named Ted (Dick Christie) who creates a robot named Vicki (Tiffany Brissette). When he takes Vicki home, his wife Joan (Marla Pennington) treats her as if she was a real human girl and his son Jamie (Jerry Supiran) makes her do his homework and do his chores while their annoying neighbor Harriet (Emily Schulman) keeps on trying to get Jamie to play with her throughout the whole show.

The special effects in my opinion are really cool and interesting. This quite possibly one of the greatest 1980 TV sitcoms of all time! People and critics may say that the show can be creepy 9it's not at all), kids will love this show!

Series Finale?

[dweilermg-1 · 10/10 · 9 December 2020]

It might've been dandy for Vicki to meet up with Julie Newmar's MY LIVING DOLL robot character!

A contender, by USA Today, as one of the worst shows in history

[momohund · 1/10 · 4 September 2006]

I remember this show back in the eighties. It was 30 minutes of pure hell. Poor acting, below average story lines, terrible effects, and nothing more than mindless waste. This show is why people talk about the vast wasteland of television and how it rots peoples minds. to make it worse i had this neighbor that watched this show religiously and he would always tell me about each episode after he watched it. I hated 80s TV.

Fortunately, not many of these people are acting anymore. i particularly hated the father he reminded me of every below average white man and his crappy job and his stupid home in strip mall America