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TV Theme Songs: Small Wonder

"Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale" of a time when television shows began with awesome TV Theme Songs. "Sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name" and sometimes you want to go back to when TV Theme songs were special. "Here's a story... of a lovely" time when TV Theme Songs served to identify, distinguish and set the stage for the television program that followed. "You take the good, take the bad, take them both and there you have" what unfortunately has become a lost artform. "Believe it or not", sadly it seems no effort or pride is taken in the TV Theme Song ever since Seinfeld proved a short synth-bass riff could be used instead. “Schlemiel! Schlimazel! Hasenpfeffer Incorporated!” This regular feature may not "make all our dreams come true", but it will remember some of the best TV Theme Songs from years past (with a focus on the '80s decade). "Come aboard, we're expecting you."


This time we will cover the theme song for Small Wonder. "She’s a small wonder lovely and bright with soft curls. She’s a small wonder a child unlike other girls." Small Wonder debuted in September of 1985 in first run syndication running for four seasons and 96 episodes. The show was about a guy who secretly created a robot modeled after a human girl and then tries to pass it off as their adopted daughter. The show was created by Howard Leads who had previously created a similar show in the '60s called My Living Doll. Leads also served as a producer and writer on The Brady Bunch and worked on several television series including co-creating The Facts of Life and Silver Spoons. Quite an impressive resumé.


The theme song titled "She's a Small Wonder" was co-composed by Howard Leeds along with Ron Alexander and Diane Leslie. Leeds and Alexander provided lyrics while Leslie composed the music. Leslie, though she went on to have a career as a singer/composer, is probably better known for a career in the voice-over industry, lending vocals to such legendary commercial campaigns as Nair and Clairol, and the 1980 television production of Pinocchio’s Christmas in which she portrayed the Snow Queen.


I could not find it listed anywhere who actually performs the theme song, but it sounds to me like they might have just used some session vocalists. Here is the opening for season 1 of Small Wonder featuring the theme song "She's a Small Wonder"...



Even though many consider Small Wonder to be a bad show, it had to be popular enough and do something right to last four seasons (plus it was a big international success later being dubbed into 50+ different languages). And it has a pretty darn catchy theme song, too! "She’s fantastic made of plastic, microchips here and there. She’s a small wonder brings love and laughter everywhere."


Hope you enjoyed tuning in for another "episode" of TV Theme Songs!

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