I wonder
If this is the first sitcom to have special effects. There pretty good considering
shareI'm pretty sure they used a lot of special effects in Mork and Mindy. But this show does seem to be heavy handed on the special effects, with Vicky turning her head around, speed up effects, the facial distortions, etc.
I agree, some of them are fairly creative and unusual for a sit-com in the 80s. Computer and robot based shows were pretty hot back then. There were a ton of shows based on robots and computers. Most of them based on the idea that robots and computers were magical things that could do anything if programmed properly. They used a ton of special effects in these shows. A lot of those shows didn't air long.
I remember a show Automan about a computer video game character that the programmer mistakenly programmed the computer wrong and the computer made the character into a real person. I don't know if it was meant as a sit-com, but it was goofy. I think it actually aired 2 episodes.
The problem with the effects was that they looked bad even back in the day, and they were often to show Vicki doing something that she couldn't possibly do. You're right in that the 80s had machines doing virtually magical things, but common sense should tell you that no matter how advanced Vicki was she'd never be able to flap her arms and fly. Even if they could generate life the speed they'd need to flap would generate so much heat and friction it would damage her. No matter how strong she is she would not be able to lift objects like she does because the center of gravity would cause her to fall over (i.e. when she is standing and has an arm out with something heavy on it like a refrigerator). Also the show shows her doing crazy things that have little to no value so why would Ted have built her wiht those capabilities (i.e. extending her legs so that she would be about 9' tall)
Civility is just a warm and fuzzy name for censorship.