Series Post Mortem

The ratings at the wrap were sagging but better than most of the quickie first-runs pouring onto the tube at the time. It was still a hit with kids, mothers, and techies and sci-fi fans too abashed to publicly admit a fancy to Vicki. Formally, Fox, new to networkhood and pitching a dozen new shows like Indian clubs, simply thought Small Wonder ran out of gas without consulting the more spirited free-lance writers, whose rejected high-quality scripts likely would've hit seasons eight or nine. The show wavered between obliging its commitments as a "kid's show" and evolving into a mainstream family sitcom under fan pressure, but largely forgot a third element.

There's perpetual hunger in the sci-fi community for android/robot characters in top billing and Small Wonder could've sated this built-in audience rather than largely squandering it. These scripts would've significantly altered the tone of the show to a "reality feel" along the lines of The Facts of Life and Diff'rent Strokes, which wasn't impossible since Small Wonder's creator was a principal in those projects too. One of Small Wonder's hallmarks in TV sci-fi was its close adherence to current technical feasibility, and one of its main failings was not exploiting its unique social and science-fiction niche to the fullest. By the episodes aired, over 40% can't be transported to another sitcom because of Vicki's role alone. Were the "gem" scripts that would've pumped up her role and potential used than discarded, it could've easily been 90%. In a nutshell, the producers couldn't see Small Wonder's larger sociological sci-fi potentials.

The magic in fulfilling Small Wonder wasn't so much centering on what Vicki does, as how she influences people and events around her. "Grandpa Lawson," "I Hear You," and "The Wonder Worker" were prime examples that brushed the tip of such intriguing gems. If one thinks how a friendly dog affects a family in subtle ways, then imagine adapting to an interactive "person" who looks and speaks like another human being puttering around the house all day. You wouldn't regard "her/him" as merely a machine after a while; perhaps a taciturn, slow-witted child, but purely nuts and bolts, no. In this respect season one was truer to the "behavior" of a real Vicki and how a family would respond to her/it, especially Joan. Ironically, most die-hard techies and writers saw Vicki's going to school and being social as needless and counterproductive to her robotic concept; the Small Wonder bible cited Vicki's "intelligence" as being no more than that of a smart blue jay (in accord with maximized current technology). Such caused a bit of unhealthy spin-off friction that reflected the dissatisfactions of the writers' circle, and was one reason for Vanessa's evolution.

There were also other flies in the ointment. The kids were wearying of juvenile lines and Brissette simply longed for any. The adult players, whiffing fan mail that more than "just kids" were watching, tended to muscle-in more lines and adult-to-adult scenes till some could've been cloned from Full House, as in "The Strike" and the Ida Mae episodes where Vicki's role is largely peripheral. In many ways, they had forgotten just who the show was all about.