I’m not surprised that Shout! Factory has acquired the rights to Small Wonder (though I’d like to see them get to releasing season 2 and 3 for some of the shows they already licensed). It does surprise me a little to learn that it is “among the top thirty most-wanted series that are unreleased on DVD” according to TV Shows On DVD voting. I watched the show occasionally and, though I was a kid with undiscriminating tastes, I didn’t think it was anything special. Though like all of you, I can’t get the theme song out of my head, not because it was good but because it was the most anachronistic song ever: it sounded like it was written in the ’50s.

I recall I had two problems with it: one, I hated the dad, thinking of him as a complete wuss, pushed around by his boss, unable and unwilling to reveal his invention to the world, because he was afraid of success or something. And two, I hated Vicki the Robot. I mean, if I wanted a fantasy character on a syndicated sitcom, I’d watch Evie on Out of This World because she had magical alien powers and used them to have fun. (And I’ll bet you that Shout! Factory is trying to get the rights to that show, too, though I don’t know if Burt Reynolds will let go of it.) But who would ever want to be Vicki, an emotionless, monotonic metal person? Apparently, lots of people identified with a super-strong funny-talking tin can, because they voted for her to come to DVD. But I’m going to say that in a battle of syndicated sitcom ’80s fantasy characters, Vicki would get beat down not only by Evie, but also Ethel the Angel from Down to Earth.

However, any of them could and should destroy every single horrible person on She’s the Sheriff.