Punky Brewster
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| Punky Brewster | |
|---|---|
 Punky Brewster title card |
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| Format | Situation Comedy |
| Created by | David W. Duclon |
| Starring | Soleil Moon Frye George Gaynes Susie Garrett Cherie Johnson T. K. Carter Ami Foster Casey Ellison Brandon |
| Country of origin |  United States |
| No. of seasons | 4 |
| No. of episodes | 88 (44 NBC; 44 syndicated) (List of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) |
David W. Duclon |
| Producer(s) | Rick Hawkins Liz Sage |
| Associate producer(s) |
Michael Holt |
| Running time | approx. 0:24 per episode (NBC); approx. 0:22 per episode (syndicated) |
| Production company(s) |
Lightkeeper Productions NBC Productions (1984-1986) Coca-Cola Telecommunications (1987-1988) |
| Distributor | Coca-Cola Telecommunications (1987-1988) |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | NBC (1984-1986) Syndicated (1987-1988) |
| Original run | September 16, 1984 – May 27, 1988 |
Punky Brewster is 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, 1987 to May 27, 1988.
Contents |
[edit] Overview
Penelope "Punky" Brewster (played by Soleil Moon Frye) is a warm, funny and bright girl, abandoned by her parents. 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.
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). 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, and he becomes Punky's foster father, and later officially adopts her in season 2.
Her other friends are geeky Allen Anderson (Casey Ellison) and stuck-up rich girl Margaux Kramer (Ami Foster).
[edit] Production companies
The show was produced by Lightkeeper Productions and NBC Productions during the network run. When the show was revived for first-run syndication, 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. 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.
[edit] 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.
[edit] Origin of the name
"Punky Brewster" was the name given the series by NBC Programming Chief Brandon Tartikoff. 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.
[edit] 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
- T. K. Carter as Michael 'Mike' Fulton
[edit] 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.
[edit] Spin-off
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.[1] It ran from September 14, 1985 to September 4, 1988, 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.
[edit] References
- ^ "It's Punky Brewster" (1985) - Company credits. Retrieved on 2007-12-08.
