Why ‘Small Wonder’ Is the Best Clean Family TV Show

Why Old TV Still Works

Here's something interesting. It's not that old TV sucks. It's that old TV never had to try to be cool. It just wanted to give families something to enjoy together and laugh at. And if old TV truly sucked, then no one who watched it as a kid would go back to it as an adult. So if cheesy automatically meant not worth watching, then my own kids wouldn't have even bothered. But they loved it. That's what your family deserves. Laughter, connection, and a show that doesn't take itself too seriously. Decades later, it still delivers. That's not a bad show. That's a great one. Please stay tuned to the end because I have a very important announcement to make.

Meet the Lawson Family Secret

Welcome to Wholesome TV Picks. I'm your host, Jennifer Avila, and this is the only podcast where every recommendation is backed by 35 plus years of watching wholesome TV your family can actually trust. Let's get into today's episode. Today's family TV series pick is the eighties television series, "Small Wonder". It's about the Lawson family, Ted, Joan, Jamie, and Vicki who live with a secret, and that is that Vicki is no ordinary little girl. She is a robot built and programmed by her engineering genius father Ted Lawson.

The Lawson family is brought to life by a wonderful cast. We have Dick Christie as Ted Lawson. Marla Pennington as Ted's lovely wife, Joan, Jerry Superior as Jamie Lawson and the wonderful Tiffany Brissette as Vicki. One question that I noticed that has come up many times on Google and Reddit threads is, what does Vicki stand for in "Small Wonder"? It stands for Voice Input Child Identicate.

The Neighbors You Can't Escape

They also live next door to the most annoying neighbors on the planet, the Brindles Brandon, Bonnie and Harriet this. Wonderfully annoying family is brought to life by William Boger as Brandon Brindle. Eddie McClure asked Bonnie Brindle for the first few seasons and their daughter Harriet, who was played by Emily Schulman, who actually has a cameo in "The Wonder Years" that I talked about last week. My daughter was the first one to notice when she said, "Mom, that looks just like Emily Schulman". And on the credits of "The Wonder Years", she saw Emily Schulman. So you see all these wonderful actors are woven throughout eighties television and movies.

This show is totally funny. We're talking really big belly laughs. My daughter was the one that loved this show more than oldest son, but you'll get a kick out of it.

Brandon and Bonnie's Hilarious Visits

There are so many jokes throughout this show between Ted and Brandon. Brandon's the type of neighbor, who also works with Ted at the robotics company, but Brandon doesn't like to work and he takes credit for all of Ted's ideas and work. So everyone at the office thinks Brandon's the smart one and his wife Bonnie, oh my gosh, has the most memorable greeting in the show growing up I always remember this.

Bonnie always enters the scene with a "Hi-eeeee!!!!!!!!" And then she always leaves with a "Bye-eeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!" They just invite themselves over, walk in as if they own the place. Brandon and Bonnie come over and they're saying, "Oh, our electricity's out". Ted and Joan will be like, "Oh, I'm so sorry to hear that." They go, "Yeah, us too. All of our food went bad." And then they'll say, "Oh, how horrible". "Well, what are you guys gonna do for dinner?" And Brandon says, "Oh, well we've got some wonderful neighbors that'll have us over. " "No problem. " And Joan and Ted will say, "Well, that's nice. I hope you have a wonderful evening". And then they go, "Oh, we will. What time should we be here?"

Jamie's Crush and Her Wild Schemes

Harriet is totally in love with Jamie. She's always thinking of their wedding plans and everything she does and thinks it's always about how she's going to win. Jamie can't stand her. So there's always this hilarious dynamic between Jamie and Harriet.

The Funniest Moments Jamie Gets

Jamie gets a visit from his grandpa and he's been traveling to Africa. So he comes back with some gifts for Vicki and Jamie. One of them is this African mask on a stick that Jamie can use. Shortly after Jamie gets this mask, there's a knock at the door, and it's Harriet. Jamie holds the mask that his grandpa just gave him, opens the door and Harriet screams, "Ah, what is it?!!" And Jamie holds the mask and puts it to her face and says, "It's a mirror!"

Jamie and Vicki are eating lunch, and Warren, who's this cute, lovable, fat kid with thick black glasses. Warren says that he needs to go on a diet so he can look good for the prom. Then Jamie looks at Warren and says, "You've got a date to the prom." And Warren says, "I'm taking my sister." "At first, she said, no, but my mom made her say yes."

Harriet comes to the door and says, "Hi handsome to Jamie". And Jamie says, "Harriet, can't you see? I'm busy? " "I've never seen so many hunks of beef in one room at the same time. " Jamie says, "We're learning how to tie knots Harriet says, "Well, " I know how to tie the most important knot of all." And she grabs Jamie's arm and puts her head on his shoulder and says, "The wedding knot", and Jamie says, "Oh, I know an even more important knot than that." "There is no better knot." "Oh, but there is. I'll show you." Jamie opens the front door, pushes Harriet out and says, "How not to be a pest!"

When Kids See Themselves on Screen

There's another moment where I see my own kids in various episodes of this show, and one point, there's a scene where Jamie apologizes to his dad for something and then he says, "I'll do anything for you dad to make it up. Just name it." Ted walks into the kitchen and says, "Jamie, can you do me a favor?" And Jamie says, "Sure. Dad, name it. " And he says, "Take out the trash. And Jamie in a solemn face says, "Name something else". It is just like my oldest son. So it's just little funny quirks that we see in our own family mirrored in this TV show.

Every Episode Teaches Something Real

This is a show that is great for children of all ages and they can even watch it completely on their own without any parental supervision. Every episode has a lesson to it. There's stories about jealousy, courtesy, respect, entrepreneurship, self-sacrifice, kindness to others, respecting teachers, respecting elders, not taking advantage of others, discrimination.

There's episodes where Jamie's using Vicki to do his homework, telling her to clean his room, all kinds of things. There's many instances of that throughout the show and Ted says "You can't have her do it." "Why? " "she's a robot, that's what she's for. You can do it yourself." You know, it kind of reiterates the point that we as humans don't have to rely on technology to do everything that we can do for ourselves.

There are quite a few powerful episodes that actually tackle some hard topics: even a missing child story. Even though these episodes tackle more serious topics, the writers still manage to blend humor into them, so it's easier for children to absorb.

When a Robot Learns to Feel

There are other episodes too where Ted engineers an even better Vicki, and calls her Vanessa. We see her in a few episodes. Let's just say Vanessa ends up being quite a handful . There's also a time when Ted creates another computer personality named LES, but it goes awry when LES falls in love with Vicki and Vicki falls in love with LES and ends with Vicki's first sign of human emotion.

Ted's parents come to visit to meet their new granddaughter. They notice she's a little off. You can see that he doesn't like Vicki And Vicki says, "Grandpa doesn't like me." And Jamie and Joan, one of them says, "Dad, look at Vicki! I think she's crying." And Ted goes, "Jamie. Vicki's a robot. She doesn't show... No Ted Look, " Joan says, " There's a tear falling down her cheek."

Why Critics Missed the Point

This family TV series is mind boggling to many because if you Google this show, you'll find so many poor ratings and poor comments of people criticizing this show wondering how this show was ever on TV. Even adults, who think back of themselves as children watching this, even questioning their own sanity as a child. Me, I love this show. I will never get bored of it, and it was even more special sharing this with my kids.

So the writers were limited and had to be very creative on what they filmed and presented to the audience. And this TV show was filmed in front of a live studio audience at the Fox Studios in Los Angeles. I am not saying this is some Emmy award winning television show. Remember, this is a children's television show. The main audience was children, it's a show that was meant to give children something to experience and to have characters that they can relate to and something that they can just laugh at, you know, and escape from the reality of life.

Why Your Family Needs This Show

I think this is a show, much like the other shows I've talked about in recent weeks, "The Wonder Years " and "Rescue 911 that families really need. It helps you escape from the mundane, from the chaos of the world right now. And just gives you a 25 minute bubble to sit and enjoy something together and forget about the cares of the world. And remember a time when life was simpler.

You can watch all the episodes of "Small Wonder" for Free on YouTube, and I'll leave the links in the show notes. Start from episode one and enjoy watching Jamie and Vicki and all their friends grow up, and all the cute, hilarious storylines that go along with them. This is intentional screen time for you and your children to sit down and enjoy together.

If you enjoyed this episode, do me a favor and head on over to Apple Podcasts and leave a review. It really helps grow the show and help others find wholesome family TV shows like this.

Jennifer's Important Announcement

Now for my important announcement to you, my listeners. It is with a heavy heart that I have decided to end this podcast. This was not an easy decision to make. This announcement was spliced into today's episode at the last minute, so I apologize if the audio quality does not match. You'll still get one more new episode next week, followed by a special episode explaining my decision to end this podcast, and there were a lot of factors that played into it. So be on the lookout for episode 70. That will be the not-so-lucky number of the final episode of the podcast.

Next week, I'll introduce you to a mischievous dog that ended up becoming one of the most decorated dog war heroes during World War II. It's a dog you may have never heard of and it's a very heartwarming and charming Disney film that many people don't know about. Don't miss it.

Thanks for listening. Remember, your values matter and your TV should too. I'll catch you next week. Take care.