Do You Think 'Small Wonder' Was A Classic Case Of It Was Soooo Bad It Was Good?

[Brian Damage]

Cast
Dick Christie – Ted Lawson
Marla Pennington – Joan Lawson
Jerry Supiran – Jamie Lawson
Emily Schulman – Harriet Brindle
Tiffany Brissette – Vicki the Robot

Plot
Dad creates a robot, Vicki, but the family keeps it secret from the rest of the world (including nosy neighbors), pretending she is really part of the family.

Why it’s on the list
The only funny thing about Small Wonder is how bad the show was. Just goes to show that 1980s show standards were slightly lower than they are today. Really? A lame girl robot? And it ran for four seasons?

http://tv.popcrunch.com/the-25-worst-sitcoms-ever/

[robby76]

Okay the premise of the show was a little lame, but for the 80s nothing was out of the question. Don't forget this is a kids show.

However... have you seen the episodes recently? I bought the season 1 dvds and the comedy one-liners hold up fine, and there are a lot of them! The cast has some noteworthy actors - namely the entire Brindle family.

[LittleMissGenius]

Originally Posted by robby76

Okay the premise of the show was a little lame, but for the 80s nothing was out of the question. Don't forget this is a kids show.

However... have you seen the episodes recently? I bought the season 1 dvds and the comedy one-liners hold up fine, and there are a lot of them! The cast has some noteworthy actors - namely the entire Brindle family.

I agree. The show really isn't that bad. I think it gets mocked so much because of the premise which is very far fetched and the production values were lower than low. I have the DVDs which I watch fairly regularly and a lot of the writing and jokes still hold up. I think the worst of actors of the bunch are the adults. The mom and the dad were pretty wooden but I think Tiffany Brissette was a good actress.

[Marvo301]

You have to remember that Small Wonder was a first run syndicatiion show and as such it's production budget was much smaller than what a network show would have. I think they made a very good show within the limits they had.

[Stuck In The '70's]

Originally Posted by Marvo301

You have to remember that Small Wonder was a first run syndicatiion show and as such it's production budget was much smaller than what a network show would have. I think they made a very good show within the limits they had.

I agree Marv. I always enjoyed the show.

[TMC]

Originally Posted by LittleMissGenius

I agree. The show really isn't that bad. I think it gets mocked so much because of the premise which is very far fetched and the production values were lower than low. I have the DVDs which I watch fairly regularly and a lot of the writing and jokes still hold up. I think the worst of actors of the bunch are the adults. The mom and the dad were pretty wooden but I think Tiffany Brissette was a good actress.

The premise of Small Wonder sort of reminds me of the Not Quite Human books, which would later be turned into a trilogy of Disney Channel movies. The key difference is that said robot was a boy and was physically made to look like a teenager. I think the idea of having Vicki be a pre-teen instead of several years older, kind of makes the underling circumstances creepier (a la in almost a Toddlers & Tiaras sort of way perhaps).

[GSU2004]

Originally Posted by Marvo301

You have to remember that Small Wonder was a first run syndicatiion show and as such it's production budget was much smaller than what a network show would have. I think they made a very good show within the limits they had.

Agreed! It was a family oriented show. If it were to be on network television during this time, it should have been paired with Alf. The 80's were a time when science fiction was used as a formula for comedy.