Here's another great sitcom that was on several times every weekend and I would watch every airing I could: SMALL WONDER. That right there my friends - is television! SMALL WONDER was another 'high concept' show (as they called them) about the Lawson family. Dad Ted was a robotics engineer who build a robot that looked just like a little girl. He calls his project a "Voice Input Child Identicant" or VIKI (Vickie) for short. Ted brings the robot home to learn how to act more like a real girl and the Lawson family decides to pass Viki off as their adopted daughter. Then the fun begins. Viki has superhuman strength but has no emotion, so she sometime takes everything literally. If somebody asked her to say...hit the lights on your way out Viki would knock a lamp off the table as she exited the room! Or if the mom asked Viki to help her move the sofa while she was vacuuming, Viki would pick up the whole couch with one hand. That's crazy! Man, that was a good show. It was also the first time the public took notice of actress Edie McClurg who played nosey neighbor Ms. Brindle. After two seasons on SMALL WONDER, McClurg left the show to play nosey neighbor Ms. Poole on the network sitcom VALERIE. (She was also the high school secretary in FERRIS BULLER'S DAY OFF.) Also I gotta mention that the mom in SMALL WONDER was also in NATIONAL LAMPOON'S CLASS REUNION (Love that Movie!) Seriously, this show is long overdue it's DVD box set. It did well in the ratings, hanging on for four seasons, airing from September 1985 through the beginning of 1989. According to the internets, it was a big hit in India, China, Pakistan, Brazil and Peru.
And who can forget that great theme song! Check out the son's Gremlin pajamas in the intro!
I started singing the theme song as soon as I read the title of your post.
ReplyDeleteThis was one of my favorite 80's sitcoms.
Here's what you simply can't beat: TV intros where each character is doing something generally representative of his or her primary character trait, but then they pause just long enough to look up at the camera and smile. THAT is television!
ReplyDeletePs. Loved the show as a kid--as an adult I'm a little creeped out that Vicki is dressed like a toy every single day. Seriously, did the neighbors never notice this?