The Full Horror of Small Wonder

[Rev+]

Nobody comes out of this quite the same.

https://youtu.be/BT8y_5i1URk

(We'll have a discussion a little later)

[Twilkes]

I used to video this on a Saturday afternoon when I was 9, to watch when I came back from my piano lessons, was very disheartened years later when one of those TV clips shows unilaterally nominated it the worst sitcom of all time. :-/

[Twilkes]

And knowing me I likely had a crush on latter-season Harriet.

[ajsmith2]

Said it before on this forum, but it's just mind blowing to me that that kind of guileless 50s style sitcom was still being made without any knowingness or irony as late as the 80s. It just wouldn't be possible even 10 years later, or ever again. (Assuming America isn't taken over by some trad values imposing dictatorship at some point in the future, which I guess we can't rule out)..

[bomb_dog]

terrific shit sandwich eating grin from the lad at the start of this one. Add the dads double take over his keyboard and it's gold!

[Twilkes]

Indeed, it was just six years after Small Wonder finished that The Brady Bunch Movie collided that kind of world with mid-90s Los Angeles, a genius move regardless of how successful the film itself was (I happen to like it).

[Virgo76]

The theme tune was weird. "Microchips here and there."
Did she speak in monotone throughout?
Reminds me of that one about the girl with the alien dad who could freeze time. I remember liking that at the time. "Would You Like To Swing on a Star" theme.
The girl could freeze time I mean. Not her dad. That would have been crazy.

[Fambo Number Mive]

Like how the theme tune is just "la la la la" for the first few seconds and the dad is given first billing with an exciting shot of him walking up to sit on the kerb near a road, which sounds like a really crap place to have your lunch at work.

I see it ran for four series.

[Rev+]

Four series of episodes that all had the exact same fucking plot, no less.

I'm almost certain I've started a thread on this monstrosity before, but YouTube reckoned I might want to watch an episode last night and it all came flooding back.  As mentioned, it seems oddly unstuck in time, like something got stuck in the tubes before arriving thirty years late.  ITV bunged it out at the weekend in the early afternoon, and that kind of felt like the right place for it.  In the US however - as far as I understand - it was usually given quite a decent timeslot and was incredibly popular in syndication.  There's an advert from some industry publication that I can't track down at the moment that was hawking it to local stations or whatever, with the selling point being 'look, this show stopped other shit channels from going bankrupt, buy it or die you twats'.

Did she speak in monotone throughout?
Reminds me of that one about the girl with the alien dad who could freeze time. I remember liking that at the time. "Would You Like To Swing on a Star" theme.

I think they dropped the Speak & Spell monotone thing later on because it was freaking the audience out, but might be confusing that with the EVIL version of the robot, played by the same actress, who was brought in Poochie-style to spice things up a bit.

That other one you mention is this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MF5wUVv8Lks

Didn't that pull an odd move like writing out the main character for the last series or something?

[Mister Six]

The theme tune was weird. "Microchips here and there."
Did she speak in monotone throughout?
Reminds me of that one about the girl with the alien dad who could freeze time. I remember liking that at the time. "Would You Like To Swing on a Star" theme.
The girl could freeze time I mean. Not her dad. That would have been crazy.

Small Wonder freaked my nut out the one time I saw it as a kid. I think the little girl having robot lights or something on her back gave me Superman 3/Terrahawks flashbacks.

Whereas the girl from Out of This World made me feel kind of funny, like I really wanted to hang out with her and be best friends and maybe I could hold her hand or something.

28 years old etc etc.

[ajsmith2]

Yeah I remember one episode where she was disassembled and you saw the circuit board on her back like she was the Turkish Chess Player automaton's inner workings being revealed to the crowd and it seemed kind of unsettling in the context of how vanilla the rest of the show was.

I also seem to remember she had an older brother who was obsessed with becoming an entrepreneur in the emerging and lucrative cat toy industry (the ludicrousness of this being the joke of course) but I may be conflating that from somewhere else. Was a long time ago.

[jobotic]

I have never heard of this but it look like the sort of programme where you find out everyone in it is now dead, after having lived horrific lives.

[Rev+]

Well, fear not:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYCeK-z0Wl0

Yeah I remember one episode where she was disassembled and you saw the circuit board on her back like she was the Turkish Chess Player automaton's inner workings being revealed to the crowd and it seemed kind of unsettling in the context of how vanilla the rest of the show was.

That happened all the time.  The dad would command her to shut down, he'd rip the back of her dress off, and then open a door in her back and fiddle about in there.  Wholesome family fun.

[Shaky]

I have never heard of this but it look like the sort of programme where you find out everyone in it is now dead, after having lived horrific lives.

They're all still alive, which is somehow even worse.

[MojoJojo]

That other one you mention is this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MF5wUVv8Lks

Didn't that pull an odd move like writing out the main character for the last series or something?

Weird - from the description I assumed it was Alex Mack (although she didn't have an alien dad), but no it's a different US sitcom with a teenage girl who can stop time.

[dissolute ocelot]

The theme tune is presumably supposed to be kind of a parody of retro sitcom themes? But the rest of the show not so much. Was it supposed to be more satirical originally? I've never brought myself to watch a whole episode, but it makes Blossom look like Gummo. Tiffany Brissette who played the robot was afterwards in an episode of Parker Lewis Can't Lose but hasn't acted since 1991. Wikipedia says she became a nurse. I hope she's happy.

Indeed, it was just six years after Small Wonder finished that The Brady Bunch Movie collided that kind of world with mid-90s Los Angeles, a genius move regardless of how successful the film itself was (I happen to like it).

The Brady Bunch Movie (which I too like) was directed by the legendary Betty Thomas who had directed some early Doogie Howser MD episodes, so she knew this kind of mainstream crap, despite doing edgier stuff for most of her career (from cop dramedy Hooperman through Howard Stern to John Tucker Must Die, and unfortunately some chipmunks humiliating David Cross).

[MojoJojo]

Although googling now, it seems like Alex Mack couldn't stop time. Mandela effect? No, I'm just senile.

[Jack Shaftoe]

Out Of This World was on after I was home from school and every time I accidentally caught a bit being genuinely shocked at how poor it was. I have a distinct memory of one scene being particularly lame and Doug McClure giving this look of utter desolation straight to the camera, real fourth wall breaking stuff, and they gave so little of a shit no-one took it out.

[Glebe]

This was utterly bizarre only-in-'80s-America stuff. No robot involved, but Silver Spoons was probably the nadir of rich-family-with-annoying-brat-kid US cheesiness.

Did she speak in monotone throughout?

I think so yeah. You've made me think of Uncle Robot in Lucas & Walliams' 'Only Jerks and Horses'... "Does not compute, was never in navy."

[Rev+]

Out Of This World was on after I was home from school and every time I accidentally caught a bit being genuinely shocked at how poor it was. I have a distinct memory of one scene being particularly lame and Doug McClure giving this look of utter desolation straight to the camera, real fourth wall breaking stuff, and they gave so little of a shit no-one took it out.

I remember it being one of those things that ran every morning during the school holidays, which seemed about right, but like Small Wonder it was an actual proper primetime show in the US.  Maniacs over there.

[Mister Six]

Weird - from the description I assumed it was Alex Mack (although she didn't have an alien dad), but no it's a different US sitcom with a teenage girl who can stop time.

Could Alex Mack stop time? I thought her thing was turning into a liquid and being able to float. Or did she just have a bunch of different powers through the course of the show? I forget.

EDIT: Ah I just saw your reply, never mind.