Punky Brewster

infobox television
show_name = Punky Brewster


caption = "Punky Brewster" title card
format = Situation Comedy
runtime = approx. 0:24 per episode (NBC); approx. 0:22 per episode (syndicated)
creator = David W. Duclon
executive_producer = David W. Duclon
producer = Rick Hawkins
Liz Sage
asst_producer = Michael Holt
starring = Soleil Moon Frye
George Gaynes
Susie Garrett
Cherie Johnson
T. K. Carter
Ami Foster
Casey Ellison
Brandon
country = USA
company = Lightkeeper Productions
NBC Productions (1984-1986)
Coca-Cola Telecommunications (1987-1988)
distributor = Coca-Cola Telecommunications (1987-1988)
network = NBC (1984-1986)
Syndicated (1986-1988)
first_aired = September 16, 1984
last_aired = May 27, 1988
num_seasons = 4
num_episodes = 88 (44 NBC; 44 syndicated)
list_episodes = List of Punky Brewster episodes |

"Punky Brewster" was an American sitcom about a girl named Punky Brewster (Soleil Moon Frye) being raised by her foster parent Henry Warnimont (George Gaynes). The show ran on NBC from September 16, 1984 to September 7, 1986 and again in first-run syndication from September 26, 1986 to May 27, 1988.

Overview

NBC run

Penelope "Punky" Brewster (played by Soleil Moon Frye) is a warm, funny and bright girl, abandoned by her mother. Her father walked out on her family, then her mother abandoned her at a Chicago shopping center, leaving Punky alone with her only companion, her faithful dog Brandon. Afterwards, Punky discovered a vacant apartment in a local building.cite web|url = http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3DO3zE9zeo|title = You Tube - Punky Brewster's First Scenes|accessmonthday = July 15|accessyear = 2008|date = September 16, 1984|publisher = NBC]

The building was managed by photographer Henry Warnimont (George Gaynes), an old and grumpy widower. Punky quickly became friends with Cherie Johnson (Cherie Johnson), a young girl who lived upstairs in Henry's building with her grandmother, Betty Johnson (Susie Garrett), who worked as an RN at the local Cook County Hospital. Once Henry discovers Punky in the empty apartment across from his, he hears her story. The relationship between the two blossoms, despite red tape from social workers, who ultimately rally to Henry's side. As their day in court approached, Punky was invariably forced by the state to stay at Fenster Hall, a shelter for orphaned and abandoned children, which made her realize all the more how close she had grew to Henry. Finally, their day arrived, and court approved Henry to become Punky's foster father.

Punky's other friends are geeky Allen Anderson (Casey Ellison) and stuck-up rich girl Margaux Kramer (Ami Foster). During the NBC run, Punky's teachers were regularly seen; in the first season, cheerful Mrs. Morton (Dody Goodman) and in the second season, hip Mike Fulton (T.K. Carter). Mike formed a close relationship with Punky and her friends, and was also portrayed as a social crusader of sorts. Also in the first season, Margaux's socialite mother, played by Loyita Chapel, appeared on a recurring basis, and there was a kooky maintenance man in the Warnimont building named Eddie Malvin (Eddie Deezen) who only showed up in the first several episodes.

Many memorable episodes and storylines took place during the second season, which built up the show's popularity among young viewers. The most crucial development of the year began on the February 2, 1986 episode, the first installment of a five-part storyline. Henry's downtown photography studio was destroyed in a fire, and it seemed for a time that he would not be able to recover from its aftermath and resume his career. As a result of his stress, Henry ended up hospitalized for a bleeding ulcer. During this time, Betty and Cherie made arrangements for Punky to stay with them until Henry recovered. Unfortunately, everyone's stability was halted when bureaucratic social worker Simon P. Chillings (guest star Timothy Stack) showed up, found out about Henry's condition and ultimately deemed the worst - not only did he find the Johnsons unsuitable to care for Punky in the meantime, but he felt that Henry was unfit to be her legal guardian in the long term, due to his health, age, and uncertain financial future. Chillings made Punky a ward of the state yet again, and she returned to Fenster Hall. Despite Punky's efforts to escape from Fenster, a trick pulled by Margaux in which she dressed up and pretended to be Punky, and advocacy from Mike Fulton, Chillings ended up placing Punky with a new foster family, the fabulously wealthy Buckworths. Things gradually returned to normal though, as Henry was back on his feet following surgery, opened up a glitzy new studio at the local mall and therefore was able to reunite with Punky. At the conclusion of the story arc, Henry officially adopted Punky.

The final episode of the second season was notable for centering around the very recent, real-life Challenger Space Shuttle tragedy. Punky and her friends watched the live coverage of the shuttle launch in Mike Fulton's class, and after the explosion occurred, Punky is traumatized and finds her dreams to become an astronaut are crushed, until she is visited by special guest star Buzz Aldrin. Although the episode received high ratings, NBC would, in the following weeks, decide to cancel the show.

First-run syndication run

By the syndicated run, however, the show had clearly started to mature in more ways than one. Many more of Punky and Cherie's friends were seen (although most only made a handful of guest appearances each), with Margaux ever more becoming their comic foil and source of friction. Early in the third season, Allen moved away to Kansas with his mother, following his parents' divorce. As Punky herself embarked on junior high, her avant-garde day-glo and multicolored outfits, along with her pigtails, segued into more traditional teenage styles, and her declaration of, and reliance on "Punky Power!" gave way to the relization that intelligence, common sense and a strong will can get one out of any problem. More of her dalliances with boys entered the stories, with the ones she chased and those that tried to pursue her. Punky's spunk and vivacious attitude toward life did remain though, thanks in part to the sunshine brought in by the most important man in her life, Henry.

Henry's photography studio at the mall continued to see much success, so much that by the end of the third season he received an offer from the magnate of Glossy's, a photo studio franchise, for a $100,000 buyout of Warnimont's which also included the offer of Henry becoming manager of the Glossy's location. Henry accepted, but soon found that his creativity and business style was not being appreciated by his new employers. He quit Glossy's, but then decided to give into Punky's and Cherie's dream to run their own teen hangout/burger establishment, and invested into another mall property which ended up being splashed with as much color and originality as Punky's bedroom. All involved, which even included Betty and Margaux, unanimously decided on christening it "Punky's Place". Into season four, much of the action continued to take place at the mall, with Henry's, Punky's and her friends' efforts to keep their new restaurant afloat and the many teenage misadventures which passed through at Punky's Place.

First-run syndication scheduling & series finale

While the show was in production throughout the 1986-87 season, it did not return to the air via first-run syndication until October 30, 1987. Beginning on that premiere date, "Punky" was packaged such that new episodes would air once every weekday (usually late in the afternoon on local stations). The entire third season (1986-87) aired in the five-days-a-week format through December 7, 1987. The following Monday, reruns of the third season took over on weekdays, while the episodes shot during the 1987-88 season were completing. On April 27, 1988, new episodes resumed for the fourth season, and ran every weekday for exactly a month until the series finale aired on Friday, May 27, 1988. The final episode, "Wedding Bells for Brandon", had Brandon fall in love with Brenda, a golden retriever who belonged to one of Henry and Punky's neighbors. Their whirlwind romance culminated in a cute wedding ceremony in the courtyard, which was mostly attended by other neighborhood canines.

Production companies

The show was produced by Lightkeeper Productions and NBC Productions during the network run. After two seasons, NBC felt that "Punky Brewster" and its principal Sunday night stablemate, the four-year-old "Silver Spoons", could not compete as strongly as they hoped against CBS' juggernaut "60 Minutes", and cancelled both programs. Like many cult-favorite sitcoms of the time, "Punky Brewster" was revived for first-run syndication (as was "Silver Spoons"). Production on "Punky" went undelayed, and its third season began shooting on schedule. NBC could not co-produce the episodes due to then-existing FCC regulations regarding network involvement in syndicated TV programming. Thus, they made a syndication deal with Coca-Cola Telecommunications to co-produce two more seasons of episodes, plus US syndication rights to the NBC-era episodes. Although Coca-Cola held onto the deal during the next two seasons of "Punky Brewster", production was moved over to Warner Bros. in the second syndicated season, whereupon they became a co-producer with Coca-Cola.

DVD release

As of 2006, US TV distribution rights for the entire series belongs to Sony Pictures Television, while NBC Universal Television Distribution controls the non-US distribution rights. All four seasons are currently available on DVD in Region 1. On July 10, 2007, Season 1 was re-released in separate volumes for parents and fans who don't wish to purchase entire season sets.

Theme song

The theme song for "Punky Brewster" is "Every Time I Turn Around", written by Gary Portnoy and Judy Hart Angelo and sung by Portnoy.

Origin of the name

. He remembered a girl he had known in his own childhood whose actual name was "Punky" (a nickname) Brewster. Before the series aired he had NBC lawyers track her down (actual name, Peyton Brewster) and secure her permission to use her name for the lead character. In a clever casting move, NBC hired her to do a cameo in one episode as a teacher at Punky's school so that both the real and fictional Punky Brewster could be on screen at the same time. She is credited at the end of the episode by her married name, Peyton B. Rutledge.

Cast

*Soleil Moon Frye as Penelope 'Punky' Brewster
*Brandon as Brandon
*George Gaynes as Henry Warnimont
*Susie Garrett as Betty Johnson
*Cherie Johnson as Cherie Johnson
*Ami Foster as Margaux Kramer
*Casey Ellison as Allen Anderson (1984-1986)
*Eddie Deezen as Eddie Malvin (1984)
*Dody Goodman as Mrs. Morton (1984-1985)
*Loyita Chapel as Mrs. Kramer (1984-1985)
*T. K. Carter as Michael 'Mike' Fulton (1985-1986)

Episodes

The series ran for four seasons from 1984-1988 with 22 episodes in each season. All four seasons have been released to DVD by Shout! Factory.

pin-off

:"See also: It's Punky Brewster (TV Series)."

The final episode in Season 1 titled "Fenster Hall" was a failed attempt to create a spin-off of "Punky Brewster". It was originally a one hour episode, but was cut into two shows for syndication.

"It's Punky Brewster!", an animated spin-off with the original cast appeared on NBC on Saturday mornings. The cartoon was produced by Ruby-Spears. It ran from September 14, 1985 to December 6, 1986, for a total of 26 episodes. The series was later syndicated by Claster Television as part of a package featuring the DIC series "Maxie's World" (the "lead" program), and "Beverly Hills Teens".

This series included the addition of one new animal character known as Glomer (Frank Welker); a creature known as a "leprechaun gopher" that came from a world at the end of the rainbow. Glomer had various magical powers and one of them was the ability to transport Punky and her friends, Margaux, Cherie, and Allen, and at times her beloved dog, Brandon, to any part of the Earth instantly. Some episodes included Glomer having to correct his own mistakes when he plays around with magic and transforms Henry into a statue of Julius Caesar, or where Punky figures she can ask Santa Claus for anything. (Santa is on vacation at the time, and wearing an aloha shirt, and also knows Glomer.) Through an accident, Punky accidentally makes Christmas come early (in July). Punky then decides not to ask Santa for anything, realizing how hard he works to give gifts to kids the world over.

See Also List of Animated Spinoffs from Prime Time Shows

References

External links

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