Small Wonder
Encyclopedia
Small Wonder is an American science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...

 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. Although the show was created under Metromedia Productions
Metromedia
Metromedia was a media company that owned radio and television stations in the United States from 1956 to 1986 and owned Orion Pictures from 1986-1997.- Overview :...

, the rights to the show were acquired by 20th Century Fox Television
20th Century Fox Television
20th Century Fox Television is the television production division of 20th Century Fox Film Corporation, and a production arm of the Fox Broadcasting Company...

 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
Alternating current
In alternating current the movement of electric charge periodically reverses direction. In direct current , the flow of electric charge is only in one direction....

 outlet under her right arm, a serial port
Serial port
In computing, a serial port is a serial communication physical interface through which information transfers in or out one bit at a time...

 under her left arm, and an access panel in her back. Despite this, the Lawson family tries to pass the robot off as their adopted 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 red-headed girl-next-door Harriet and her parents, Bonnie and Brandon; the latter 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

  • Victoria "Vicki" Ann Smith-Lawson (Tiffany Brissette
    Tiffany Brissette
    Tiffany Michelle Brissette is a former American actress. She is best known for her role as V.I.C.I. the Robot on the syndicated American sitcom Small Wonder, which aired from 1985 to 1989.-Career:...

    ) - 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
    Serial port
    In computing, a serial port is a serial communication physical interface through which information transfers in or out one bit at a time...

     under her left armpit. Vicki's artificial intelligence is not perfect. She is incapable of emotion
    Emotion
    Emotion is a complex psychophysiological experience of an individual's state of mind as interacting with biochemical and environmental influences. In humans, emotion fundamentally involves "physiological arousal, expressive behaviors, and conscious experience." Emotion is associated with mood,...

    , speaks in a monotone voice, and interprets most commands literally. She does manage to blend in to 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 upon something such as a new detergent or to greatly increase the gas mileage of cars, which Ted and Jamie often saw as a chance to get rich quick, only to find her improvements were not perfect. Vicki lives in a large cabinet in Jamie's bedroom, and becomes more human over the course of the show.
  • Jamie Lawson (Jerry Supiran
    Jerry Supiran
    Jerry Michael Supiran is a former American child actor. Supiran is best known for playing Jamie Lawson on the situation comedy Small Wonder, which aired from 1985 to 1989....

    ) - The 12 year old son of Ted and Joan.
  • Ted Lawson (Dick Christie
    Dick Christie
    Dick Johnson is an American actor. He is best known for portraying Ted Lawson on the 1980s situation comedy Small Wonder....

    ) - 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
    Marla Pennington
    Marla Lynn Pennington is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Joan Lawson on Small Wonder, her last acting role to date....

    ) - Ted's wife. Joan regards Vicki as a real person more than anyone else on the show does.
  • Harriet Brindle (Emily Schulman
    Emily Schulman
    Emily Hope Schulman is a former child actress and commercial agent, and current acting instructor...

    ) - The young and nosy little neighbors' daughter who has a crush on Jamie.

Recurring

  • Brandon Brindle (William Bogert
    William Bogert
    William Bogert is an American character actor best known for his semi-regular role of Brandon Brindle on Small Wonder from 1985 to 1989. He also portrayed Kent Wallace, the host of Chappelle's Shows Frontline spoofs...

    ) - Harriet's father. Becomes Ted Lawson's boss after stealing Ted's ideas.
  • Bonnie Brindle (Edie McClurg
    Edie McClurg
    Edie McClurg is an American character actress. She is known for her perky North Central dialect , common to persons from Middle America.-Career:...

    ) - Harriet's mother. Written out after the second season.
  • Ida Mae Brindle (Alice Ghostley
    Alice Ghostley
    Alice Margaret Ghostley was an American actress. She was best known for her roles as housekeeper Esmeralda on Bewitched, as Cousin Alice on Mayberry R.F.D., and as Bernice Clifton on Designing Women, for which she received an Emmy Nomination for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series in 1992...

    ) - 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
    Tiffany Brissette
    Tiffany Michelle Brissette is a former American actress. She is best known for her role as V.I.C.I. the Robot on the syndicated American sitcom Small Wonder, which aired from 1985 to 1989.-Career:...

    ) - 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
The Morning Show with Mike and Juliet
The Morning Show with Mike and Juliet is an American syndicated morning talk show. Produced by Fox, the show first aired on January 22, 2007 to a number of markets originally through Fox and MyNetworkTV, most in the Fox Television Stations Group...

, Tiffany Brissette appeared in-studio as a guest for a "Where Are They Now?" segment; unbeknownst to her until the segment began, Dick Christie
Dick Christie
Dick Johnson is an American actor. He is best known for portraying Ted Lawson on the 1980s situation comedy Small Wonder....

, Marla Pennington
Marla Pennington
Marla Lynn Pennington is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Joan Lawson on Small Wonder, her last acting role to date....

, and Edie McClurg
Edie McClurg
Edie McClurg is an American character actress. She is known for her perky North Central dialect , common to persons from Middle America.-Career:...

 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
Boulder, Colorado
Boulder is the county seat and most populous city of Boulder County and the 11th most populous city in the U.S. state of Colorado. Boulder is located at the base of the foothills of the Rocky Mountains at an elevation of...

 and attending nursing school
Nursing school
A nursing school is a type of educational institution, or part thereof, providing education and training to become a fully qualified nurse. The nature of nursing education and nursing qualifications varies considerably across the world.-United Kingdom:...

.

International airings

In the United Kingdom, the show was screened regionally on the ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...

 Network and in the early 1990s on Sky One
Sky One
Sky1 is the flagship BSkyB entertainment channel available in the United Kingdom and Ireland.The channel first launched on 26 April 1982 as Satellite Television, and is the fourth-oldest TV channel in the United Kingdom, behind BBC One , ITV and BBC Two...

. In Italy, the show appeared in the mid-1980s on Italia 1
Italia 1
Italia 1 is an Italian commercial television channel on the Mediaset network. It is oriented especially at young people.Italia 1 was launched in January 1982 and, originally, was owned by Rusconi; after a few months, however, due to the aggressive dumping practices of Silvio Berlusconi's rival...

 network and was titled "Super Vicky". In France, the series was shown as "Petite merveille" on Canal+
Canal+
Canal+ is a French premium pay television channel launched in 1984. It is 80% owned by the Canal+ Group, which in turn is owned by Vivendi SA. The channel broadcasts several kinds of programming, mostly encrypted...

, starting in November 1985. In Spain, the show was broadcast on Antena 3 Televisión
Antena 3 (Spain)
Antena 3 is a Spanish terrestrial television channel owned by Antena 3 de Televisión. Some of the more popular programmes broadcast by Antena 3 include Aquí no hay quien viva, El Barco, Los Protegidos, Los Simpson and El Internado....

 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
STAR TV (Asia)
Satellite Television Asian Region is an Asian TV service owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation.In 2009, News Corporation restructured STAR Asia into four units – STAR India, STAR Greater China, STAR Select and Fox International Channels....

 in the mid-1990s. In Latin America, the show appeared on Rede Globo
Rede Globo
Rede Globo , or simply Globo, is a Brazilian television network, launched by media mogul Roberto Marinho on April 26, 1965. It is owned by media conglomerate Organizações Globo, being by far the largest of its holdings...

 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
Frecuencia Latina
Frecuencia Latina , better known as Channel 2, is a Peruvian television network. The network was founded on May 31, 1962 by the Cavero Family Group who turned the station into a network filled with musical programs and variety shows...

 in Peru, where it was called La pequeña maravilla. It aired on GMA Network
GMA Network
GMA Network is a major commercial television & radio network in the Philippines. GMA Network is owned by GMA Network, Inc. a publicly listed company...

 in the mid-1980s, and on ABC
Associated Broadcasting Company
The Associated Broadcasting Company, Inc is a television network in the Philippines, with main broadcast facilities and transmitter located at 762 Quirino Highway, San Bartolome, Novaliches, Quezon City. The network was previously known as the , Associated Broadcasting Company remains the legal...

 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 (year unknown)

Awards and critical reception

Year Award Category Recipient
1986 Young Artist Award
Young Artist Award
The Young Artist Award is an accolade bestowed by the Young Artist Foundation, a non-profit organization founded in 1978 to recognize and award excellence of youth performers, and to provide scholarships for young artists who may be physically and/or financially challenged.The Young Artist...

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
USA Today
USA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...

, 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."

First Season

Episode # Prod # Episode Name Original Air Date
1-01 101 Vicki's Homecoming September 7, 1985
1-02 102 The Neighbors September 14, 1985
1-03 103 The Sitter September 21, 1985
1-04 104 The Suitor September 28, 1985
1-05 105 Sibling Rivalry October 5, 1985
1-06 106 Spielberg, Jr. October 12, 1985
1-07 107 The Lie October 19, 1985
1-08 108 The Bully October 26, 1985
1-09 109 Slightly Dishonorable November 2, 1985
1-10 110 The Adoption November 9, 1985
1-11 111 Child Genius November 16, 1985
1-12 112 Ted's New Boss November 23, 1985
1-13 113 Brainwashed November 30, 1985
1-14 114 The Burrito Story January 4, 1986
1-15 115 The Camping Trip January 11, 1986
1-16 116 Love Story January 18, 1986
1-17 117 Substitute Father January 25, 1986
1-18 118 The Robot Nappers February 8, 1986
1-19 120 The Company Takeover February 15, 1986
1-20 123 Good Ol' Lou February 22, 1986
1-21 121 The Reluctant Halfback March 1, 1986
1-22 122 Show Biz May 3, 1986
1-23 119 The Real Facts of Life May 10, 1986
1-24 124 The Grandparents May 17, 1986

Second Season

Episode # Prod # Episode Name Original Air Date
2-01 215 Chewed Out September 13, 1986
2-02 201 Money, Money, Money September 20, 1986
2-03 203 My Mother the Teacher September 27, 1986
2-04 213 Here Comes the Judge October 4, 1986
2-05 209 Homeless Causes October 11, 1986
2-06 212 Crazy Like a Fox October 18, 1986
2-07 210 The Older Woman October 25, 1986
2-08 204 Who's the Boss? November 1, 1986
2-09 207 P-P Paula November 8, 1986
2-10 211 You Gotta Have Heart November 15, 1986
2-11 202 The Shoplifter November 22, 1986
2-12 208 Thanksgiving Story November 29, 1986
2-13 206 Neighborhood Watch December 6, 1986
2-14 205 Movin' Up January 10, 1987
2-15 221 Top Secret January 17, 1987
2-16 218 The Personality Kid January 24, 1987
2-17 216 Matchmaker, Matchmaker January 31, 1987
2-18 223 Little Miss Shopping Mall February 7, 1987
2-19 214 Victor/ Vicki-toria February 14, 1987
2-20 222 Look into My Eyes February 21, 1987
2-21 217 Wally the Wimp February 28, 1987
2-22 219 The Cat's Meow May 9, 1987
2-23 220 Vicki Goodwrench May 16, 1987
2-24 224 Double Wedding 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. 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
Shout! Factory
Shout! Factory is an entertainment company founded in 2003 that was started by Richard Foos , Bob Emmer and Garson Foos initially as a specialty music label...

 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
The Complete Third Season 24 TBA
The Complete Fourth Season 24 TBA

♦ - Shout! Factory select title, sold exclusively through Shout's online store as well as eBay and Amazon.

See also

  • Not Quite Human
    Not Quite Human
    Not Quite Human is the name of a series of young adult novels by Seth McEvoy about a widower scientist, Dr. Jonas Carson, whose lifetime work was to create an android. Dr. Carson names the android Chip. In order to conceal his project from those who would use Chip or Dr. Carson's skills for...

    , 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
    Disney Channel
    Disney Channel is an American basic cable and satellite television network, owned by the Disney-ABC Television Group division of The Walt Disney Company. It is under the direction of Disney-ABC Television Group President Anne Sweeney. The channel's headquarters is located on West Alameda Ave. in...

    .

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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