Right? Same for that show with that girl from another planet.
Out of this World? Her dad was from another planet.
Weird, he sounded just like Burt Reynolds
Really good reason for that.
All space aliens sound like Burt Reynolds!
LOL! The mom was the dipstick from Saturday Night Fever.
I used to watch both of these shows. And I used to think that girl was cute. And also Jennifer Connelly in Labyrinth.
I crushed hard on Jen Connelly in Labyrinth when I was 7yrs old and I crushed even harder when I saw her in Top Gun: Maverick. Absolutely smokeshow!
Had a crush on her as a kid, ngl. Lol
Then you should find Teenage Bonnie & Klepto Clyde. It’s hard, but it’s out there.
Same, was too young to know better
Ok see I rocked with Evie, I hated Vicki tho
Yep. Evie was the shit. Vicki wasn't.
Was that the one where she could stop time by touching her fingers together? To this day I still wish I had that power.
Hahaha! Yep. I would do exactly that when I needed a breather.
I always got those two confused.
I remember that one because the theme song is permanently burned into my brain.
🎶Would you like to swing on a star?🎶
🎶Carry moonbeams home in a jar🎶
Was literally reminiscing on that show but couldn't quite remember the lyrics of the theme and didn't want to look it up since it was on the top of my tongue...but as soon as I saw those lines it all came flooding back! And now I'm tearing up from the nostalgia and simpler times. Thanks y'all! 😳😢🥺😭 🤦♂️
Is it sad that until the tv show Legion came along, I didn’t realize that theme song is an actual Bing Crosby song. Legion used the song and I was like, it’s the theme song from Out of this World!
This guy's right. So, for those of you who hate the show you can double-hate it for both the content and the theme's association with Bing, the nationally treasured son beater.
I hated this show too (Out of this World was great though), but Jerry Supiran was apparently a stand up guy. You should watch the episodes where he was a celebrity contestant on Double Dare. The exchanges between him and Marc Summers are great! Kid was clearly funnier than his sitcom would allow.
His is a sad story though. Eventually ending up broke and homeless in Nevada because his girlfriend and advisor cleaned out the account holding his money from the tv show.
Never heard of this show.
It was from the days where there were a few newly launched networks trying to become something. I guess there was a change of regulations that freed up on-air space or something.
I think this one was on the newly launched Fox network. It was terrifically low budget and aired at like noon or one on Saturday afternoons. The dead zone between cartoons and sports. It was produced directly for syndication and I guess was intended to be “bargain” fill.
Fox’s more premium prime time offerings in the early days included “the Simpsons”, “Married…With Children”, “in Living Color”, and “Roc”. They definitely had the bangers and owned Sunday nights.
It's weird being an 80's kid and learning about new series this way. This is the first time in my life that i've become aware of this show's existance.
And this ran for (4) years?! Whoa....
It’s strange because IMDb rates this as 7/10
We never got this show in my area. I’d like to think it isn’t something I would have watched. lol
Was that it? Because I have seen people talking about this show and I have no recollection of it ever existing.
People also think I'm making it up when I mention the show 'Our House' with Wilford Bremley as one of the characters (Later seasons had it using the song 'Our House' as the intro theme)
"Our house, is a very very very fine house, with two cats in the yard, oh life used to be so hard..."
I know what you’re talking about. It was like a modern retelling of Little House On the Prairie.
Sadly all I remember of it beyond the intro in later seasons is that it used the 'house' layout to transition scenes. When it had gone to each 'room' in the transition the show was over. Kinda a neat way to keep time.
I think it was first-run syndication so it was on some random times and channels. For some reason I remember it being on a 4pm on a Saturday or a Sunday.
Edit, reposting my rant about this in the top thread to get even more downvotes. I also even watched a couple of episodes last night to remember how bad it was, and it's even worse than I remember:
To anyone saying this show wasn't that bad or it wasn't worse than any other 80s sitcom trash:
This is widely regarded as one of the worst sitcoms of al time, and possibly one of the worst TV shows of all time.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small_Wonder_(TV_series)#Reception
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_sitcoms_known_for_negative_reception
The acting is terrible and the plots are flat and wooden, the characters are deeply unlikable and often horrible people.
But that's just the start of it. That could be survivable.
Because the whole premise is horrifying and suspicious as fuck.
It's like someone watched The Stepford Wives and Westworld back to back and thought to themselves or said "Hey, that's funny! How about that except it's a sitcom and we make it even creepier!"
And if you don't think that the whole premise of the show of a grown man making a pre-teen femdroid and how they all have to keep Vicki a secret isn't creepy as fuck and isn't totally misogynistic, sexist and objectifying I don't know what to tell you.
And then that whole shitty house of cards hangs on the fragile thread of "Hey, it's the 1980s and robots and science fiction are cool!" and then forgot the science fiction part completely, and also forgets most of the robot unless it furthers the dumb plots.
It manages to make Short Circuit seem reasonable and practically Shakespearian and that stinker of a film has an actor in brown face making an absolute hash out of racist Indian tropes for the whole film, but it at least has a cool robot in it and Ally Sheedy doing her damn best to bail water and keep the ship afloat.
I remember watching Small Wonder as a kid and realizing it was horrible even back then. I don't ever remember laughing while watching it. I don't remember a single person laughing while watching it, ever.
This show would come on and you could practically hear peope's eyeballs glazing over as their brain cells started atrophying and dying. You merely tolerated it until something better came on or you got bored enough to go do something else.
I'm pretty sure the only laughter this show ever caused was the canned laugh tracks. Which, hey, maybe it was funny to robots and tape decks.
I'm not just being a hipster snob here. This show was absolutely horrible. It even made ALF look good. Steve Urkel was a breath of fresh air. It made Diff'rent Strokes seem well balanced and realistic. Mr. Belvedere was funnier than this and that show was about as funny as choosing upholstery fabric to refurbish an antique couch.
For fuck's sake, The Thing was funnier than Small Wonders.
Bravo. THere's no way he built that robot WITHOUT thinking about fucking it. I'm sorry. That's how it is.
This was on around the time of the weekend mid day shows where the acting was God awful, everyone dressed really weird with sweater vests and the scripts were just...gah.
The Wasteland where you could only watch golf, religious programming or… Small Wonder.
God, this is so true. Fishing, too, depending on what part of the country you were at.
Gone fishing with Bill Dance today!
I love Bill Dance! Go look at all of his blooper videos on YouTube, there’s a ton of of them.
“GAWL DANGIT!”
And Mama’s Fsmily was right after Small Wonder in my area. Ugh.
And very bad fake robot prop for her back.
She’s a miracle and I grant you/ she’ll enchant you at first sight
She's fantastic, made of plastic/ microchips here and there
🎶She’s a smaaaaall wonder🎶
DAMN YOU
Hated that little Jamie Lawson
I will say that I recently met the actress that played the Mom and she was so nice
No doubt!
I loved it! But I was 7 when it first aired so I think I was their target audience. Watching it now, I can't believe this ever aired, let alone lasted 4 seasons.
It lasted 4 seasons? Good God, I thought it was mercifully cancelled after 1. We watched it every week, but we sure didn't like it. I don't know why we didn't watch something else
Because you couldn't. Kids today will never know the pain of only having 1 option or old people TV.
Lol I loved this show. Was not expecting the title.
Me too. She was a friggin robot! So cool.
I only despised Harriet
Same. Snivelling little shit...
My head canon is that she became the female Terminator in the Sarah Connor Chronicles
A young Summer Glau. I can dig it. The age is pretty close too.
There was only 3 channels the other 2 had news, some sports thing, reruns of Barney Miller, etc. etc. I think I’ll go outside and play.
Hey now, there was nothing wrong with re-runs of Barney Miller.
Ha what was despiseable about it? It was the 80s and it was a VERY 80s show.
One of those times when the internet repeats something without having experienced it themselves, because it made four seasons, not exactly an unsuccessful show. Hell Star Trek (1960s) struggled to make four seasons. I think they only staved off cancellation because of strong viewer feedback though. Back when that worked.
Star Trek was actually cancelled after the first season, and was saved by a massive write in campaign. It was cancelled again after season 3, and that was that.
So it was actually less popular than this show....
I’m with ya’.
I just didn’t understand why a man in his 40s would want to secretly make a 12 year old girl in his garage
Because it was the days of Stranger Danger. Statistics hadn't been compiled yet that showed child molesters almost invariably target victims to whom they have regular access: family members, teachers, etc. A cyberneticist building a state of the art gynoid "daughter" was still considered innocent back then.
As an adult- I wonder why the inventor wanted a life like 10 year old little girl robot.
... With a vacuum mouth
I assumed it was a pinocchio situation at the time, but looking back, yeah, yikes
Dark gritty reboot: https://m.imdb.com/title/tt9220966/
The fact that this show was green-lit at all, was a testament to how much of a coke fueled fever dream the 1980s was. Was their test audiences just filled with creepy uncles and weird family “friends”?
I watched it with the innocence of a child when it originally aired. I recoil in horror when I watch it now.
I loved it as a kid. I watched it recently on YT and realized I was a special child. Lol
Her weird battery pack
Loved this show as a kid, Alf, Alien Nation, what a time to be alive lol
Never saw it. Feels like a show that would have had Ted McGinley guest star in a ‘very special’ episode.
My brother and I loved it. When it was our dad's weekend to have us, it was Small Wonder and spaghetti. It wasn't the best show, but it reminded me of good times. We still say "small wunda" when we do a feat of strength since it used to make us laugh when they sped up the film when she lifted something heavy.
I loved it. Had a bit of a crush on Tiffany. I have all episodes on vhs and dvd.
💖
I hated it also. That stupid robot voice and one of the most hideous casts ever assembled
Then add in the disgusting wardrobe! UGH I loathed it!
This was one of the first syndicated shows I remember as a kid. It was a rough time in TV history for those. They were pretty uniformly awful.
I loved the episode where a kid goes missing and his face is on a milk carton. The episode is all about missing kids. But the kid that goes missing is still missing at the end. lol
I always viewed this as some sort of Punky Brewster rip off with a twist.
Seemed like there were a lot of sitcoms back then about little kids learning life lessons.
- different’ strokes
- facts of life
- Webster
- punky Brewster
Etc.
You don’t see those any more.
I watched this show when I was a kid, and loved it
Show was dumb as hell and the acting sucked....so naturally I've seen every episode
I'm with ya on that! Haha
Most punchable faced family I've ever seen
Every single one of them
The dad next door was in that Chappelle show sketch about the black white supremacist.
William Bogert was his name. He played Matthew Broderick's dad in Wargames and Robert Culp's boss in The Greatest American Hero.
Harriet was the worst.
It’s about a girl who gets Stockholm syndrome when forced to live in a closet and act like a robot.
Every time my little sister turned it on I wanted to jab my eye sockets with forks
I always felt this show was made in some eastern bloc country as some kind of experiment. Like they were all Soviet actors forced to make an American sitcom. It just seemed so fake and was always on at 2:35am. "This is what those capitalist pigs think is sitcom. Keep making episodes or you go to Siberia."
It was one of the few shows I was allowed to watch. This and Alf.
I loved this show…😆😆
Can still the theme song in my head
Uhhhh no false.
I loved it
Great show. Great cast. Plenty of entertaining storylines. Proof is in the pudding. 4 seasons plus decades of syndication. Haters gonna hate.
Hated it but hate watched it when nothing else was on.
Even teenager me thought it was super cringy and just plain weird.
Saw it when I was young, but back then I could watch any garbage and still enjoy it
I’ve never seen it for good reason
So bad it's hilarious. Anyone remember the episode that guest starred Jessie Ventura?
This was the show to watch when I was growing up between 87 and 92. WBSK in Boston had this on in the afternoon before duck tales and darkwing duck.
I liked it…maybe not one of my favorites, but I enjoyed it…
It took me a minute but I do remember this show- the robot girl! I didn’t hate it. Man was there anything they didn’t make a movie about in the 80s? Definitely not a guy falling in love with a mannequin who them comes to life. Oh wait they did that too! 😂
I thought the mom was hot
Terrible acting, still watched it.
Stupid robot voice... horible 80s hair ... anty mom ....but i whatched it all
It was one of my favs.
I loved it. Watched it on reruns every morning during summer vacation.
I had a crush on Vicki.
As a kid I found Vicky cute and the mom hot 🥵
It was meh for me. I neither hated or loved the show. It just was there because my parents didn't have cable yet.
Dick Christy looks like Dexter
I just didn’t watch it. It was syndicated and came on at odd hours so it was super easy to skip.
Terrible but strangely compelling.
It was amusing.. I still remember how she charged stuff by lifting her arm and sticking it in her socket armpit
I thought I loved it except I wanted to smack the neighbor lady. I tried to rewatch it as an adult and I don’t love it lol. Still hate the neighbor lady too
I think whole cast got left in 1989
Yes
Couldn't have been that hated if it made four seasons.
Missed this one myself, but I didn't discover Charles in Charge until like 2007 when it aired on a special Nick @ Nite block.
This and Out of This World was on 3-4 pm on Saturdays. Not really a prime spot for anything, but I did watch them.
I just read up on it and apparently, it had been aired in several other countries, including dubs, and remakes. Not bad for a show don’t seem to like.
Hub? I loved thus show as a kid growing up. It was on every Saturday night at 7:30pm I believe.
Is this the one where they thought Billy Corgan from Smashing pumpkins was the brother?
Jerry Suprian and his dad had faces that even Ghandi would want to punch
Horrible. I still want to slap a few characters
Wasn’t there a spinoff, Too Many C.O.O.K.s?
Absolutely terrible show and I don't think I ever missed an episode.
This TV show taught me that Television execs have no brains or souls.
Loved this show
my favorite 80s show, have all of it on DVD
Even at 11 years old I knew this show was cheesy and a poorly done Punky Brewster/Mr Belvedere knock-off that was garbage.
I didn't as a kid because I didn't know any better, but I reflected on it when I was older, remembering the episode where the Droid makes their car get 700 miles a gallon and the derpy dad's all, PUT IT BACK!!!, when he could have solved the world's energy issues, AND been a trillionaire.Talk about a douche canoe.
Not me! Nor my sister! Freaking loved it and all of it's corny glory
The only time I ever even heard of this show was in an episode of Drawn Together (or maybe Family Guy?) when some characters confused it with Out of this World (a show I have actually seen)
From how terrible it looks I always assumed it was a one season show. It really lasted for four years?
Not me, I enjoyed it
It was/is my favorite.
I watched the first episode again now as an adult because I remember the neighbor lady saying “No nonono No.” so I thought to check it out.
Here’s what I found:
The dad is a super genius who can build tech by himself better than all of Apple and Microsoft combined.
He is also a bafoon.
Harriet should be put in a war zone wearing the enemies uniform.
This whole family acts like mayo would be too spicy for them.
Unwatchable. I couldn’t finish the episode. Look to Three’s Company instead.
And Billy Corgan as Jamie
It IS cheap but it's not terrible. I loved it as a kid lol
Never watched preferred wonder years
How it made it past the Pilot episode is beyond me.
Horrible show. So bad, I think everyone except maybe the dad got out of show business. Robot girl became a nurse and brother became homeless. Or something like that.
Skipped it
I hated this show!! It drove me nuts, the acting,writing,story…just garbage.
One of the worst shows ever. Cringe level 1,000.
Weird syndicated show I occasionally shared 30 minutes, with on a Saturday afternoon, in 1987.
This was the "We Built This City" of tv shows.
Woah. My first real crush i think.
Yeah I hated it. Never missed an episode.
it's still entertaining
Dear Lord I hated this thing
I think these shows were on in a block with the Lyle Alzado show about him being a pro wrestler.
I don't know if my brother liked it or it was all that was on but he would always watch it and so I saw way more of it than I wanted to because I hated it. I don't think I even realized how cheesy and awful it was at the time I just found it very boring and unfunny.
🙋🏻♀️
Garret Morris from SNL made an appearance on this show.
The episode where VICI tries to cure someone's stutter using an air horn loves on in my nightmares.
Loved/Hated
I hated but couldn't stop watching it. Also I was the same age as those kids
You just unlocked a memory! I had forgotten all about this show. I was only little but I remember watching it.
I watched for Emily Schulman! She reminded me of a real life cabbage patch doll and had cameos on Punky too if I'm not mistaken.
Dick looks a lot like Dexter
The boy was kinda swishy.
Every time I see that kid that plays Jamie smiling, it reminds me of the baby from the Dinosaurs TV show. The one always telling the Dad, "Not the Momma!"
This show creeped me the fuck out but now that I see the years it was in I know why, I was 5 in ‘89
I don't like to hate on stuff but.... I will say I never watched more than about 10 total minutes of this show.
I remember catching a few episodes here and there but definitely don’t remember it making it to the late 80’s.
Not that I despised it, more like just really creeped me out and just didn't get entertained.
Who was the actor that later in their career robbed a liquor store ?
Dana Plato from Different Strokes
Dick Christie, on the case!
No-no-no-no-no.
How did this survive 96 episodes and 4 seasons? I grew up in that time period and was 100% aware of it despite having never watched the show. I was 9 to 12 during its run. I’m not sure how I didn’t end up seeing it on tv.
Was pretty bad
Ah yes. The ugly person show.
Credit to getting a kid who definitely looked like the parents. That boy is a dead ringer for the dad.
Starring Billy Corrigan from Smashing pumpkins 😂
I don’t remember this one.
Truth be told, I never watched it. It's possible I watched something else in the same time slot.
She’s fantastic, made of plastic.
I was obsessed I loved it!
All of them had punchable faces especially the redhead girl.
Hated it. The only other sitcom that came close to it was "Check It Out" which starred Don Adams, years after Get Smart. If MeTV ever starts a channel called MeTV-Awful, these two programs should be shown frequently.
The dad and the son look a lot a lot alike great casting.
I can never forget "Wham Bam Body Slam!" from the Jesse the Body Ventura episode
Awful. That kid Jamie has a lisp, right?
I love it
Now I have the theme song stuck in my brain
Some shows were so insipid just on the face that even young me wouldn't watch them. This was one of them. Knew it existed, but have never watched a single episode.
I never hated anyone more than that fat kid for some reason. However, I watched the show every Saturday morning. I don't even know why, maybe because there's nothing else on
Hated it with a passion… Watched it every weekend without fail lol