The Final Episode #52: Punky Brewster (1984 - 1988)

 

I know that I write about a lot of sitcoms and cartoons as Final Episodes but this is really an column of sorts that really started because I just thought it would be neat to showcase the Final Episodes of TV shows I watched as a kid. It grew into something a bit different but I still go back to stuff I did watch. So I talk about a lot of sitcoms and cartoons because I watched sitcoms and cartoons. I wasn't the weird kid watching Star Trek or Hill Street Blues behind his parents back or something. No I watched Punky Brewster like a good little boy/not nerd. I wouldn't be come a nerd until it wasn't fashionable to still enjoy this stuff and become a boring adult whos only fun he gets is from getting black out drunk. It's easier to be a nerd than that on your liver. Of course you have to deal with other nerds so that's not so easy on your brain. What I'm saying is you gotta deal with shit no matter who you are sometimes. Uh where was I? Oh yeah Punky Brewster.

I still enjoy reviewing the Final Episodes of cartoons and sitcoms because you never know what you are gonna get. In the realm of sitcoms it seems to be one of four things: A wedding, A baby, Moving out of the family home/beloved area the show took place or A clip show. Punky Brewster actually combines two of these things for its Final Episode which I will get into when I go over the history and the overall plot of the show like I usually do so keep on reading to find out what the hell I'm babbling on about (I promise you this time you will find out) 

Punky Brewster had a weird premise honestly. It was about a little girl around 10 years old who was abandoned by her mother in a Chicago department store. She would find a vacant apartment to live in with her dog Brandon before being found out by Henry played by George Gaynes. George is probably most famous for playing Commandant Lassard in Police Academy, Police Academy 2: Their First Assignment, Police Academy 3: Back in Training, Police Academy 4: Citizens on Patrol, Police Academy 5: Assignment Miami Beach, Police Academy 6: City Under Seige, and Police Academy: Mission to Moscow (yes they finally got rid of the sequel numbers at part 7). He did not show up for the animated series (I don't think anyone did) or the live action show (Michael Winslow did though bless his heart).

Henry and Punky become close and Henry becomes her foster father and then adopts her sometime in season two I believe. Punky becomes friends with Cherie and all kinds of other kids in the apartment building. They go on your usual shinanagians that sitcom kids get up too. This show also talked about some serious shit and got dark. Cherie gets stuck in a damn refrigerator.  I must also comment on how they had a cartoon spinoff by Ruby-Spears called It's Punky Brewster that ran for one season of about 12 episodes on Saturday Morning. She befriended an alien or some mystical creature and that's all I know about it. It sounds fucking wild. Oh and this show had TK Carter AND Eddie Deezen in it (although Deezen leaves after a few episodes in season one) and ANY thing that has those two in it is worth while.

So what were my memories of Punky Brewster, well for one my kid sister loved the show so much that she called this dog toy she got Brandon. She still has that toy 25 or so years later. Pretty wild I think. I wish I didn't tear the shit out of my toys. Anyway Punky Brewster to the best of my memory would come on one of the SPECIAL channels. You know the channels that would stay scrambled until you paid for them. I believe one was a movie channel, one was The Family Channel which was Disney Channel Canada Style (this channel would show Duck Tales so it was cool too) and I believe TBS was the channel that showed Punky Brewster. This would make sense as the Family Channel and TBS would become a part of our cable package after enough time. We went from 20 channels to I think around 40. It was wild the day waking up to find that out. Anyway Punky Brewster wasn't something I sought out but of all the shows I had to watch with my sister this one was fine. It was charming and funny and I had already seen every Police Academy movie (don't worry I will not repeat the list) so I liked seeing Commandant Lassard be a nice old man instead of a goof. I also desperately wanted a dog as a child so getting to see Brandon in just about every episode was always great. Brandon got himself into like 8,000 costumes it seemed.

So I think I should start by mentioning this according to Cherie Johnson (who played Punky Brewster's best friend Cherie and would also play Laura Winslow's best friend Maxine in Family Matters) this wasn't intended to be the Final Episode because of the 1988 Writers Striker. I don't know if that means they were planning to renew this show for Season 5 and the Strike messed things up or if they just had to hurriedly come up with something for the Final Episode. Now I know what you are thinking: Oh yay a new CLIP SHOW Final Episode. I love hearing Michael complain about old clip show episodes. It's a great time for everyone anywhere! Thing is this clip show episode is weird because it's also a wedding episode. 

Yes that's right, at least this clip show episode was something more than the cast talking in a room about old memories of old episodes so that they could show clips and call this a new episode. They actually give this one a plot. So you are asking yourself Is Henry getting maried? Nope. Now you are all weirded out because there's not many other choices of who can get married. This doesn't take place in Alabama so they can't have child brides so who gets married!? If you guess Brandon the dog than yes. You are correct! Brandon gets married! To Brenda! I liked the bit when Henry thinks Brenda is Brandon and sees two Golden Retrievers and makes some silly joke about having Double Vision. The comedy in Punky Brewster is very silly but still feels kinda natural. 

This might be my second favorite clip show after Webster because well there's still stuff to talk about. This entire episode has so many dogs in it so if you love canines you will love this episode. After watching it you will probably get depressed because you realize that all of those canines and several members of the cast have all gone on to Heaven (remember All Dogs go to Heaven told us that well all dogs go to heaven and I'm sure George Gaynes went to heaven too becuase God wanted another Police Academy movie I guess?) I also enjoyed seeing Cherie's grandma or aunt or whatever she was crying over the wedding. I enjoyed the interaction between her and Gaynes. Still there's not that much to talk about because it's also a wedding episode and they didn't really have enough time to do anything new with the wedding stuff because of the Writers Strike. Still they made a better clip show than fucking Spider-Man 1967 did that's for sure.

FINAL VERDICT: Maybe I'm not being completely fair because it is a clip show and I can't say I'm in love with them but seeing the clips of Brandon acting like a silly dog were fun. I like silly dog clips. It's like this episode was Youtube before Youtube! This episode also has a Care Bear cookie jar in it and if that doesn't mean it gets a passing grade than I don't know what does!