Sitcoms Online Photo Galleries - Punky Brewster: Soleil Moon Frye

Punky Brewster aired from September 1984 until September 1986 on NBC and in 1987 and 1988 in first run syndication.

Punky ( Soleil Moon Frye) was a cute 7-year-old Chicago girl with a lot of problems, but a sunny outlook on life. Abandoned by her parents, spunky Punky and her adorable puppy set up housekeeping in an empty apartment, where they were soon discovered by the building manager Henry Warnimont ( George Gaynes), a dour old bachelor. He was about to turn them over to the authorities when-well those big eyes, that winning smile, that loving heart, who could resist? Somehow he pursuaded the skeptical authorities to let Punky stay with him for a while, and the little girl began to bring sunshine into Henry's world. Stories revolved around their adjustments to each other, and Henry's professional work as a photographer. Eddie ( Eddie Deezen) was the kooky building maintenance man, Cherie ( Cherie Johnson) was Punky's playmate, Betty ( played by Marla Gibbs' sister Susie Garrett) was Cherie's mother, Margaux ( Ami Foster)the stuck up classmate at school, Allen ( Casey Ellison) another of Punky's friends, and Mrs. Morton ( Dody Goodman) her teacher. Punky got a new teacher, Mike Fulton ( T.K. Carter) for the 1985-1986 season.

According to reports published when this series was announced, there was a real Punky Brewster, though not quite as depicted in the show. NBC programming head Brandon Tartikoff , while a youth had had a crush on a tomboyish older girl by that name. Years later he nicknamed his own first child Punky. He also thought it would make a great name for a TV series so when this show went into development , Punky it was-after NBC's lawyers tracked down the real Punky and got permission to use her name ( She was married to a lawyer in Connecticut , received a royalty for the use of her name , and even appeared once in a cameo role as one of the teachers at Punky's school. She was credited under her married name Peyton B. Rutledge). And the puppy who followed Punky around on the show? It's name was Brandon.

NBC canceled the show when its ratings couldn't weather the competition from CBS' 60 Minutes and Columbia Pictures TV who had bought the syndication rights, produced new episodes to make the show more profitable in syndication, there having been only 44 episodes for the two year run on NBC. 44 additional episodes were made -21 in the fall of 1987 and another 23 in the spring of 1988. In the series finale Brandon got married to a dog named Brenda, as the show's humans remembered how much he'd grown over the past four years.

An Article from The New York Times

TV WEEKEND; COPS-IN-HAWAII SERIES; KIDDIES VS. '60 MINUTES'

By JOHN J. O'CONNOR
Published: September 14, 1984

The new season shifts into high gear this weekend with series premieres and a first- run made-for-television movie.

''Hawaiian Heat'' moves onto the ABC schedule tonight at 9 on Channel 7, with a two-hour premiere (its hourlong slot will be Fridays at 9). The heroes are Starsky-and-Hutch-type police officers who leave the grime and cold of Chicago for the sun and bikinis of Hawaii. Its originality is not overwhelming.

Officers Mac Riley (Robert Ginty) and Andy Senkowski (Jeff McCracken), both about 30, have been friends since childhood. In fact, when Mac would not cooperate in a departmental investigation of his own corrupt policeman father, Andy refused to abandon his partner, and the two of them have since been pointedly denied promotions. Fed up with Chicago's winters and its criminals, who are getting meaner and younger, Mac kidnaps his friend to Honolulu after Andy has become engaged to a woman he has known since high school. What could one do, Mac asks, ''when your very best friend was about to make the biggest mistake of his life.''

Five minutes after reaching Hawaii, the chums are involved with a woman who operates a helicopter service and her former college roommate, whose Hawaiian father, a decent man trying to save his local community, has become involved in a heroin deal. The chief of police, looking for new faces to infiltrate the drug scene, turns to Mac and Andy, promising them steady work if they succeed. Along the way, there are nasty villains, beautiful women on picturesque beaches and the usual car chases. One chase sequence involves a pickup truck, a stretch limo, a jeep and a helicopter. All of this might be ho-hum, except that Mr. Ginty and Mr. McCracken give Mac and Andy the kind of nice offbeat spin that could develop into a diverting action-adventure romp.

Against ''60 Minutes,'' An Hour of Kid StuffUnable to put a dent in the ratings of the CBS ''60 Minutes'' with a news magazine of its own, NBC is reverting to the old kiddie ploy. The 7-to-8 P.M. slot Sundays on Channel 4 will now be filled with two youngster-oriented situation comedies. The already established ''Silver Spoons'' will be shown at 7, while the new ''Punky Brewster'' goes on at 7:30. Punky (Soliel Moon Frye) is a 7-year-old girl who has been abandoned by her mother at a shopping mall. Hiding out in an empty apartment, she is discovered by crotchety old Henry (George Gaynes), a photographer, whose wife died a year after they were married.

Punky is a beaming barrel of Shirley Temple-like spunk. Henry is a grumpy old slob doing his best to hide a heart of gold. Can the two, along with a modest collection of eccentric neighbors and friends, find happiness as an adorable situation-comedy couple? They will try. Convinced that she's a terrible person, Punky runs away briefly from Henry's apartment, but returns with the explanation, ''I thought it over, and I'm gonna give you one more chance.'' If nothing else, Punky is a lot cuter than Mike Wallace.

Herbert Gold Novel As Television MovieOn the television-movie schedule, tonight at 9 Channel 2 has ''Threesome,'' based on Herbert Gold's novel ''Salt.'' Had this been made in the 1930's with Cary Grant in the central role, the audience would probably have been treated to a smooth depiction of a charming bounder. Put in 1980's terms, however, and with Stephen Collins providing the searingly on-target portrayal, the same character emerges as a still charming but decidedly vicious rat.

Filmed in and around New York, getting all those familiar shots near the posh area of Fifth Avenue and 59th Street, ''Threesome'' finds Peter (Mr. Collins) getting ready to welcome from the Midwest his longtime best friend, Dan (Joel Higgins). Dan has just been divorced and wants to start a new career as a stockbroker. Peter is solidly established in that business and has become the epitome of the successful Manhattan bachelor. He eats at the right restaurants, orders the right wines, belongs to the right clubs, is seen with the right women and, it seems, can get away with anything. Just before Dan arrives, he decides to dump his steady and genuinely loving woman, Barbara.

Later, Peter makes the magnanimous gesture of ''offering'' Barbara to Dan as a possible date. But when Barbara and Dan get serious about each other, Peter senses that he is losing control of the situation and moves in for the figurative kill. The motivations get overpat, including one about Peter's never having felt loved enough by his parents. But the characterizations ring true, and the performers, directed by Lou Antonio, are outstanding. Peter's silken callousness (''There is no tragedy he cannot turn into a farce,'' someone observes), Dan's nice-guy tenderness and Barbara's ambivalent ambitions are evoked with a sharpness that gives the overall production a cutting edge unusual for a television movie.

For more on Punky Brewster go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punky_Brewster