Small Wonder 

Father Ted Lawson creates a robot, VICI (played by Tiffany Brissette). The family--Ted, Joan and Jamie--keep VICI's identity secret, and pretend that she is their daughter. Harriet, their ... See full summary »

Creator:

Howard Leeds

Stars:

Richard Christie, Marla Pennington, Jerry Supiran

2 wins & 13 nominations.

Cast

Complete series cast summary:
Richard Christie	...	Ted Lawson 96 episodes, 1985-1989
Marla Pennington	...	Joan Lawson 96 episodes, 1985-1989
Jerry Supiran	...	Jamie Lawson 96 episodes, 1985-1989
Tiffany Brissette	...	Vicki the Robot 96 episodes, 1985-1989
Emily Schulman	...	Harriet Brindle 96 episodes, 1985-1989

Storyline

Father Ted Lawson creates a robot, VICI (played by Tiffany Brissette). The family--Ted, Joan and Jamie--keep VICI's identity secret, and pretend that she is their daughter. Harriet, their nosy and annoying neighbor, has a crush on Jamie and plans to marry him. Her dad, Brandon Brindle, is Ted's boss; Brandon stole credit for Ted's ideas.

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Plot Keywords:

robot | family secret | little boy | little girl | nosy neighbor | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Family | Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

TV-G

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

7 September 1985 (USA)

Also Known As:

Super Vicky

Filming Locations:

Metromedia Square - 5746 Sunset Boulevard, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

The Small Wonder Joint Venture,20th Century Fox Television,Metromedia Producers Corporation (MPC)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

30 min (96 episodes)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The show's producer/writer, Howard Leeds, developed the show's concept in the early 1980s. He initially had a deal at NBC, but they eventually passed where it was later sold to MetroMedia where it went into first-run syndication.

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Goofs

Despite being "made of plastic, microchips here and there", the robot and her costume grew from season to season to accommodate the actress. However, in the season 4 episode "School Monitor", there was an explanation given by the father, who put in a special chip that enabled her to grow to avoid suspicion from friends and neighbors why she never grew and remained the same age.

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Quotes

[imitating a snobby girl]
Vicki the Robot: We don't have skeleton's in our closet... they're in the back of the condo.

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Connections

Featured in The Eighties: Raised on Television (2016)

User Reviews

Unmitigated horror.

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.