Punky Brewster

[MissLlanviewPA]

Okay, how many 80s kids here watched Punky Brewster?

I was a 90s kid, but I used to watch it on the Family Channel (WAY before ABC Family). I fell in love with it 20 years ago at age 4, and I have all 4 seasons on DVD.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1obAHj4Iwr0

To this day, I still my favorite episode is Miss Adorable, where Andy Gibb hosts the Miss Adorable pageant. :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJNHt34bdZk

I'm also pretty certain that this show is half responsible for making a Cubs fan (the other half of the blame goes to WGN ).

[SFK]

I was just thinking about this show last night, having a drink and doing my George Gaynes and Susie Garrett impressions.

[VirginiaHamilton]

Well, this is as good a time as ever to disclose that I dressed as her (albeit a Black version) for Halloween when I was 8.

[SFK]

I remember they made Punky Brewster shoes for little girls when I was in elementary school. They matched but looked mismatched (the colors were reversed) like Punky's.

[Soaplovers]

I was a child of the 80's.. and I remember watching it on Sunday nights. Plus, I remember a lot of girls in my kindergarten class were all dressed as Punky. Also, I remember the Saturday morning cartoon with a magical furry friend as well.

I don't know if a show like this would be played on network tv. It seems like a show like this would only work in the 80s.

[VirginiaHamilton]

Something tells me that they'd water Punky down so that the spunk and the uniqueness of the classic character would be damn near non-existent.

[MissLlanviewPA]

Soleil said in her book that this song came on once at a store she was at with her daughters, and she immediately started crying. When they asked why, she said "someone very special sang this to me when I was a little girl."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBySTzMPzhA

[SFK]

That's a great point. It would probably go straight to Disney or the Family Channel in this day and age. Same goes for Full House.

[MissLlanviewPA]

Candace Cameron, pre-Full House, as a girl who was kidnapped by her father.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0ULE-iAMBI

I'm really sad I missed these now.

I loved George Gaynes in Tootsie. "Does Jeff know?"

The later version of the opening:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCJrrftP7Ds

[DRW50]

Today she would be an overaged Disney princess tween with a boyfriend and with a DILF as her father figure.

Punky Brewster was always a little sad for me but I did watch the show (in syndication mostly). The Challenger episode is the one I always remember most, along with the episode where Margot (loved her) lost her money (and of course got it back at the end), and the episode about the overweight girl, which I was not crazy about.

[MissLlanviewPA]

The Metamorphosis episode is bizarre now, given what Soleil herself went through later on.

And it was blatantly obvious in her Wonder Years episode, too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewxJjZb40kk

[SFK]

That's a great story.

[SFK]

This was a popular Very Special Episode subject in the '80s, the kid on the milk carton era. Silver Spoons did a similar episode.

[Soaplovers]

So did Small Wonder

[SFK]

Carl, you're right, there is a certain sadness to the show. The Challenger episode of course, and Punky getting taken away from Henry, another. The one that made me upset as a kid was when Brandon was sick/injured and they didn't know if he would live. What really got me was the older black lady at the vet's office who was there with her own dog. Her dog doesn't make it and she breaks down. I guess my mother saw the look on my face and reminded me that this was "just a show". Years later, I saw that episode again and realized the actress was Beah Richards who has choked me up on more than one occasion in her television appearances.

Interesting that they're doing it now on the new Dallas.