Thursday, February 25, 2021

On The Air: Punky Brewster (2021)

 Punky Brewster is all grown up.

Peacock's latest revival sees Punky (Soleil Moon Frye) now divorced and raising her three kids on her own, although her ex-husband (Freddie Prinze, Jr.) drops by periodically.

The concept is not too dissimilar to Disney Channel's recent Raven's Home, the follow-up to That's So Raven, but how far it goes remains to be seen.

The original Punky spent 2 seasons on NBC before going into syndication for 2 more. Since the series ended, George Gaynes (Henry) had passed away, so Punky honors Henry by keeping his picture on her living room wall., and, judging by the opener, everything could be coming full circle for Punky when an orphan enters her life.

Let's scope the trailer:


10 episodes make up the first season, and Peacock is hoping lightning strikes twice, as Saved by The Bell has been renewed for a 2nd season on the streamer. For what it's worth, Sony owns the rights to the original series, since Columbia Pictures Television handled distribution for the series when it was syndicated.

Rating: B.

2 comments:

Goldstar said...

I saw the trailer yesterday. Why would Punky take in a child when she already has three, two of which are adopted? Seems like overkill to me.

And the show is constantly hinting that Punky and her ex still have feelings for one another, so why break them up in the first place?

Punky Brewster 2021 could easily been a show about a grown up Punky, her husband and their kids, but instead, NBC basically threw several different premises into blender and called it a show. Remember the law of KISS (Keep It Simple, Sir).

hobbyfan said...

While it's still a sitcom, attempting to recapture the spirit of the original series (reviewed at Saturday Morning Archives), there's that sense of creating drama to keep viewers interested.