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Punky Brewster
Cast of "Punky Brewster", starting from the bottom-right going counter-clockwise: Soleil Moon Frye, Casey Ellison, George Gaynes, Susie Garrett, Cherie Johnson, Brandon the Wonder Dog, and (center) Ami Foster.
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 episodes	88 (44 NBC; 44 syndicated)
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)
Broadcast
Original channel	NBC Syndicated
Original run	September 16, 1984 – May 27, 1988

Punky Brewster is an American sitcom which 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 1 Overview 2 Production companies 3 Theme song 4 Cast 5 Spin-off 6 DVD releases 7 References 8 External links

Penelope "Punky" Brewster (played by Soleil Moon Frye) is a warm, funny and bright girl, abandoned by her parents. Punky's father walked out on her family when she was 2. Several years later, Punky was abandoned by her mother who took her to a Chicago supermarket and disappeared. Punky was alone with her only companion, and 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 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 adjacent 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 adopts her.

Her other friends are geeky Allen Anderson (Casey Ellison) and stuck-up rich girl Margaux Kramer (Ami Foster).

One of the most memorable episodes^{[citation needed]} was built around the 1986 Space Shuttle Challenger disaster in which Punky hears about the deaths and her dreams of being an astronaut are nearly squashed. In the end, however, her schoolteacher and Henry, along with guest star Buzz Aldrin, both tell her that she should still follow her dreams of becoming an astronaut.

Other notable episodes include an incident where Cherie gets locked in an old, junky refrigerator during a game of hide-and-seek (she hid in there and couldn't get out, and subsequently passed out from lack of oxygen), and Punky had to perform CPR (which she had just learned at school) to save her life, as well as an episode where Punky wants to buy a bra, where she utters the famous line, "I'm getting boobs!" to a shocked and embarrassed Henry.

One of the most serious episodes of the series in its later years dealt with child abuse (even though Punky wasn't the victim in that episode).

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. Seasons 1, 2, and 3 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. According to Shout! Factory, the 4th and final season is scheduled for release on February 26, 2008.

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

• Soleil Moon Frye as Penelope 'Punky' Brewster
• Brandon as Brandon the Wonder Dog
• 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

The episode "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] & NBC Productions^{[citation needed]}. 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; a creature that came from a world at the end of the rainbow (perhaps a cross between a juvenile leprechaun, with reddish goatee, and a teddy bear). 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.

Seasons 1-3 have been released on DVD in Region 1 by Shout! Factory, Season 4 will be released on February 26, 2008. There was some speculation that Seasons 3 & 4 would not be released as after releasing the first two seasons, Shout! Factory lost the distribution rights. They have since secured the distribution rights for Seasons 3 & 4 after some delay. All releases also contain episodes of the spin-off cartoon It's Punky Brewster!

DVD Name	Ep #	Release Date	Additional Information
Season One	20	June 1, 2004	New interviews with actors Johnson and Foster, creator/executive producer David W. Duclon and writer Barry Vigon 4 episodes of the spin-off cartoon
Season Two	22	February 8, 2005	It's Punky Brewster Cartoons Interview with George Gaynes ("Henry Warnimont")
Season Three	22	July 25, 2006	2 1/2 hours of "It's Punky Brewster"
Season One (re-release)		July 10, 2007	The first season is being broken out into volumes, for those parents and fans that have no desire to purchase season sets, as mentioned by Brian Ward of Shout! Factory [1].
Season Four	22	February 26, 2008 [2]	It's Punky Brewster Cartoons Trivia Quiz

1. ^ "It's Punky Brewster" (1985) - Company credits. Retrieved on 2007-12-8.

• Punky Brewster at the Internet Movie Database
• It's Punky Brewster at the Internet Movie Database