The following table describes the fees and expenses you may pay if you buy and hold shares of the fund. The table does not include the fees and expenses associated with your variable annuity or variable life insurance contract. Had they been included, fees and expenses presented below would have been higher. For information regarding the fees and expenses associated with your variable annuity or variable life insurance contract, please refer to your insurance product prospectus.

Operating Expenses Caption [Text]

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Annual Fund Operating Expenses (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)

Fee Waiver or Reimbursement over Assets, Date of Termination

rr_FeeWaiverOrReimbursementOverAssetsDateOfTermination

September 21, 2018

Portfolio Turnover [Heading]

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Portfolio Turnover

Portfolio Turnover [Text Block]

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The fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs. These costs, which are not reflected in annual fund operating expenses or in the example, affect the fund’s performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the fund’s portfolio turnover rate was 68% of the average value of its portfolio.

Portfolio Turnover, Rate

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68.00%

Expense Example [Heading]

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Example

Expense Example Narrative [Text Block]

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The example below is intended to help you compare the costs of investing in the fund with the costs of investing in other mutual funds. The example does not include fees and expenses associated with your variable annuity or variable life insurance contract. Had they been included, fees and expenses would have been higher.

Expense Example by, Year, Caption [Text]

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The example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the fund for the time periods indicated and then redeem all of your shares at the end of those periods and that you earn a 5% return each year. The example also assumes that the fund’s operating expenses remain the same, except that it reflects the rate and duration of any fee waivers noted in the table above. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:

Strategy [Heading]

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Principal Investment Strategies

Strategy Narrative [Text Block]

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The portfolio managers look for stocks of medium-sized and smaller companies they believe will increase in value over time, using an investment strategy developed by the fund’s investment advisor. In implementing this strategy, the portfolio managers make their investment decisions based primarily on their analysis of individual companies, rather than on broad economic forecasts. Management of the fund is based on the belief that, over the long term, stock price movements follow growth in earnings and revenues. The portfolio managers’ principal analytical technique involves the identification of companies with earnings and revenues that are not only growing, but growing at an accelerating pace. This includes companies whose growth rates, although still negative, are less negative than prior periods, and companies whose growth rates are expected to accelerate. In addition to accelerating growth, the fund also considers companies demonstrating price strength relative to their peers. This means that the portfolio managers favor companies whose securities are the strongest performers compared to the overall market. These techniques help the portfolio managers buy or hold the stocks of companies they believe have favorable growth prospects and sell the stocks of companies whose characteristics no longer meet their criteria.

The fund will usually purchase common stocks of companies that are medium-sized and smaller at the time of purchase, but it will purchase securities of larger-sized companies as well.

Also, although the portfolio managers intend to invest the fund’s assets primarily in U.S. securities, the fund may invest in securities of foreign companies when these securities meet the portfolio managers’ standards of selection.

Risk [Heading]

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Principal Risks

Risk Narrative [Text Block]

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•	Growth Stocks – Investments in growth stocks may be more volatile than other stocks and the overall stock market. These stocks are typically priced higher than other stocks because of their growth potential, which may or may not be realized.


•	Mid Cap Stocks – The fund invests in mid-sized and smaller companies, which may be more volatile and subject to greater risk than larger companies. Smaller companies may have limited financial resources, product lines and markets, and their securities may trade less frequently and in more limited volumes than the securities of larger companies, which could lead to higher transaction costs.


•	Style Risk – If at any time the market is not favoring the fund’s growth investment style, the fund’s gains may not be as big as, or its losses may be bigger than, those of other equity funds using different investment styles.


•	Foreign Securities – The fund may invest in foreign securities, which can be riskier than investing in U.S. securities. Securities of foreign issuers may be less liquid, more volatile and harder to value than U.S. securities.


•	Price Volatility – The value of the fund’s shares may fluctuate significantly in the short term.


•	Market Risk – The value of the fund’s shares will go up and down based on the performance of the companies whose securities it owns and other factors generally affecting the securities market.

•

Redemption Risk –The fund may need to sell securities at times it would not otherwise do so in order to meet shareholder redemption requests. Selling securities to meet such redemptions may cause the fund to experience a loss or increase the fund’s transaction costs. To the extent that an insurance company has a large position in the fund, the fund may experience relatively large redemptions if such insurance company reallocates its assets.


•	Principal Loss – At any given time your shares may be worth less than the price you paid for them. In other words, it is possible to lose money by investing in the fund.

An investment in the fund is not a bank deposit, and it is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) or any other government agency.

Risk Lose Money [Text]

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Principal Loss – At any given time your shares may be worth less than the price you paid for them. In other words, it is possible to lose money by investing in the fund.

Risk Not Insured Depository Institution [Text]

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An investment in the fund is not a bank deposit, and it is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) or any other government agency.

Bar Chart and Performance Table [Heading]

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Fund Performance

Performance Narrative [Text Block]

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The following bar chart and table provide some indication of the risks of investing in the fund. The bar chart shows changes in the fund’s performance from year to year for Class I shares. The table shows how the fund’s average annual returns for the periods shown compared with those of a broad measure of market performance. Fees associated with your variable annuity or variable life insurance contract are not reflected in the chart or table below. Had they been included, returns presented below would have been lower. The fund’s past performance is not necessarily an indication of how the fund will perform in the future.

Performance Information Illustrates Variability of Returns [Text]

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Performance Past Does Not Indicate Future [Text]

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The fund’s past performance is not necessarily an indication of how the fund will perform in the future.

Bar Chart [Heading]

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Calendar Year Total Returns

Bar Chart Closing [Text Block]

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(3Q 2010): 18.43% Lowest Performance Quarter (4Q 2008): -26.62%

As of June 30, 2017, the most recent calendar quarter end, the fund’s Class I year-to-date return was 11.19%.

Performance Table Heading

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Average Annual Total Returns For the calendar year ended December 31, 2016

Variable Portfolios Prospectus | VP Capital Appreciation Fund | Russell Midcap Growth Index

Prospectus:

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Index No Deduction for Fees, Expenses, Taxes [Text]

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(reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes)

Label

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Russell Midcap® Growth Index (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes)

1 Year

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7.33%

5 Years

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13.49%

10 Years

rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear10

7.83%

Variable Portfolios Prospectus | VP Capital Appreciation Fund | CLASS I

Prospectus:

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Annual Return 2007

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45.80%

Annual Return 2008

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(46.18%)

Annual Return 2009

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37.07%

Annual Return 2010

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31.29%

Annual Return 2011

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(6.51%)

Annual Return 2012

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16.00%

Annual Return 2013

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30.92%

Annual Return 2014

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8.14%

Annual Return 2015

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1.93%

Annual Return 2016

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3.23%

Year to Date Return, Label

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Class I year-to-date return

Bar Chart, Year to Date Return, Date

rr_BarChartYearToDateReturnDate

Jun. 30, 2017

Bar Chart, Year to Date Return

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11.19%

Highest Quarterly Return, Label

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Highest Performance Quarter

Highest Quarterly Return, Date

rr_BarChartHighestQuarterlyReturnDate

Sep. 30, 2010

Highest Quarterly Return

rr_BarChartHighestQuarterlyReturn

18.43%

Lowest Quarterly Return, Label

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Lowest Performance Quarter

Lowest Quarterly Return, Date

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Dec. 31, 2008

Lowest Quarterly Return

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(26.62%)

Label

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Class I(1)

1 Year

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3.23%

^[1]

5 Years

rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear05

11.55%

^[1]

10 Years

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8.59%

^[1]

Inception Date

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Nov. 20, 1987

Variable Portfolios Prospectus | VP Capital Appreciation Fund | CLASS Y

Prospectus:

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Trading Symbol

dei_TradingSymbol

AVCYX

Management Fees (as a percentage of Assets)

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0.65%

Distribution and Service (12b-1) Fees

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none

Other Expenses (as a percentage of Assets):

rr_OtherExpensesOverAssets

none

Expenses (as a percentage of Assets)

rr_ExpensesOverAssets

0.65%

Fee Waiver or Reimbursement

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(0.04%)

^[2]

Net Expenses (as a percentage of Assets)

rr_NetExpensesOverAssets

0.61%

Expense Example, with Redemption, 1 Year

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$ 62

Expense Example, with Redemption, 3 Years

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204

Expense Example, with Redemption, 5 Years

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359

Expense Example, with Redemption, 10 Years

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$ 807

[1]	Because Class Y is new, the returns are shown for a share class that is not presented in this prospectus and that would have substantially similar annual returns because the shares are invested in the same portfolio of securities. The annual return would differ only to the extent that the classes do not have the same expenses.
[2]	The advisor has agreed to waive 0.04 percentage points of the fund’s management fee. The advisor expects this waiver to continue until September 21, 2018 and cannot terminate it prior to such date without the approval of the Board of Directors.