1. ’80s Sitcoms
In the 1980s, the traditional family sitcom started getting more and more non-traditional. A normal family where the mom and dad are a married couple raising their kids? Boring. Seen it all before a million times. It’s more interesting to have a family where a mom is raising her kid, but then hires a male housekeeper, who also lives at their home while he also raises his kid, like on Who’s The Boss? Regular, nuclear families are just for squares. Nobody wants to watch something like that.
2. Getting Weirder
And from there, family sitcoms in the ’80s would only get weirder. People were apparently bored of families where all the members were human. And that’s how you get a show like ALF, where the newest member of the family is an alien who apparently loves to eat cats. Don’t lie to us. You know that Alf still haunts your nightmares. You have recurring dreams about him every night. Even hearing the name sends shudders down your spine. And probably your cat, too. Anyway. Enough about Alf.
3. ‘Small Wonder’
But there was one show that was perhaps the weirdest of them all. A show that maybe you thought was all a strange fever dream, but it was completely real. It actually made it past the drawing board and into the pitch meeting, and they decided that it would be a great thing to put on TV. Everyone would love it. No one would question it at all. That show was Small Wonder.
In case you haven’t seen the show, or don’t quite remember the premise, here it is. Dad Ted Lawson was an inventor, and he has now created his greatest invention. It’s his very own robot daughter, named Vicki. Who doesn’t want their own robot daughter instead of a real daughter? No one, that’s who!
4. The Real Vicki
As you might have guessed, Vicki was actually an acronym of sorts. The robot was actually called a Voice Input Child Identicant, or V.I.C.I. And on the show, Vicki as played by 10-year-old Tiffany Brissette.
5. Before The Show
Brissette was in the spotlight from an early age. Her mom entered her in beauty pageants when she was just two years old. From there she appeared in commercials, and did a few episodes of Webster.
6. Playing Vicki
Then in 1985, she got cast as Vicki on Small Wonder. The show didn’t air on a major network, and instead ran in syndication across the country. The show ended five years later in 1989, after making 96 episodes.
7. Life After Vicki
After Small Wonder, Brissette kept acting for a while. In 1991, she appeared on the sitcom Parker Lewis Can’t Lose, and then several episodes of the drama series Equal Justice.
8. Where Is She Now?
The life of child actor can be difficult as they transition to becoming an adult. Many have troubled lives after experiencing the highs of fame. So what is Tiffany Brissette up to now?
9. Brissette Today
As it turns out, Brissette is doing just fine away from the spotlight. She left the acting world and went to college where she got her Bachelor’s in psychology. Then she studied more and became a registered nurse.
10. Staying Private
Brissette said she left the acting world as a teen in order to preserve “my normalcy and sanity.” She lives in Colorado, and has left her robot days behind.
11. Vicki’s Brother
However, Brissette wasn’t the only child actor on the show. The robot Vicki also had a human brother, named Jamie. So what happened to the actor who played him? And why didn’t he get to be a robot, too? We don’t actually have the answer to that question.
12. Jamie’s Story
Jamie as portrayed by an actor named Jerry Supiran. In 2012, it was revealed that he was homeless after losing his job as a waiter. He partially blamed the situation on a stripper he dated when he was 18, who stole what was left of his trust fund.
13. Bouncing Back
However, Supiran reportedly bounced back from that low point. In 2013, the woman who played his TV mom (Marla Pennington Rowan) said she had lunch with Supiran and he had gotten engaged. “I think he’s in a really good place,” she said.
14. The Right Move
Brissette said she knows leaving Hollywood behind was the right move. “‘Less is more,’in my words,” she said. “Moving forward and exploring life kept me normal. It was a fabulous run, but I was ready for what’s next.”
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