Punky Brewster (2021)
Earlier this week, Peacock (NBC Universal’s streaming service) announced the cancellation of 2021’s Punky Brewster reboot after a single season. My reaction (and apparently, millions others) was… “there was a Punky Brewster reboot?”
One of Peacock’s best kept secrets was 2021’s PUNKY BREWSTER, a reboot of the original show that aired in the mid-80s. Soleil Moon Frye returns as Punky Brewster, now a middle-aged single parent of three. Living in the same Chicago apartment she grew up in, Punky is raising her 15YO biological daughter Hannah along with her two adopted sons, Diego (14) and Daniel (11). By the end of the first episode, Punky has also taken in Izzy, a seven-year-old who reminds Punky of her childhood self. Also along for the ride is Punky’s ex-husband Travis (Freddie Prinze Jr.), who despite being separated comes and goes freely to and from the apartment. Also back is Punky’s childhood friend Cherie (Cherie Johnson), who now manages Fenster Hall, Punky’s childhood shelter.
PUNKY BREWSTER is an interesting mix of new and old. Many of the storylines are progressive. In one episode, Cherie and her girlfriend Lauren propose to one another; in another, Diego defends Daniel in a fight after he goes to school with painted fingernails while wearing a sarong. That being said, the show has a very 80s sitcom feel, right down to the laugh track. Issues are introduced, lessons are learned, and everything is neatly wrapped up by the end of the episode.
Unlike the original show which occasionally dipped into darker subject matters (remember the time Punky gave Cherie CPR after she hid inside an abandoned refrigerator during a game of hide-and-seek?), the 2021 reboot keeps things pretty light. Most of the episodes revolve around the family unit’s relationships — Punky’s relationship with her ex-husband, Izzy’s relationship with her new family, Cherie’s relationship with her girlfriend, and Hannah’s relationships with boys. There’s also a series overarching storyline regarding Punky and her birthmother, who makes contact with Punky for the first time.
For those who grew up watching the original, PUNKY BREWSTER offers plenty of callbacks. In one episode, the treehouse Punky and her friends built in the original series is repaired and updated. In another, Punky and Cherie run into their childhood friend, Margaux. During an 80s block party, Izzy dresses up as the original Punky Brewster: bandannas, mismatched Converse, and all. Punky keeps a photo of Henry hanging on her apartment wall, which she occasionally speaks to. In her car, Punky cranks the 80s tune “Maniac,” which calls back to the first episode of the original series. And of course, you’ll get to hear catch phrases like “Holy Macanoli!” and “Punky Power!” more than once.
The series is not perfect. Most confusing is Punky’s relationship with her ex-husband Travis, who sometimes knocks when he enters the apartment and sometimes doesn’t. It is alluded to that the couple split due to Travis’s commitment to his gigging rock band, but throughout the series he watches the kids and even turns out a tour to stay at home, which begs the question why he didn’t do that before divorce papers were filed. We are presented with a divorced couple who constantly hang out, occasionally kiss, and no doubt would have been reunited by the end of season two. Also problematic were the episode where Izzy gets to meet her WWE heroes and the episode where Punky teaches the kids a lesson by making them sleep in her brand new shiny SUV. Both episodes push product placement to the point that they almost felt like commercials. The SUV episode features lingering shots that look like advertisements.
The problem with most rebooted sitcoms is that they start with the question “what are those kids you grew up watching up to now?” and don’t move forward from there. In Fuller House, and the Saved by the Bell reboot, and to a certain extent The Connors, that’s all we get. But in a few cases, like Netflix’s Cobra Kai, the story continues.
PUNKY BREWSTER has that kid-friendly Dis-Com feel. I would have loved a second season in which Punky stepped out of the house and we got to see what Chicago was really like for the kid-turned-adult still full of Punky Power. I enjoyed the first season and was looking forward to the show moving forward — not in a gritty fashion, but a slightly more adult one. Maybe though, in this single season, we saw what we needed to see — that Punky Brewster and her clan turned out okay.
