Interesting Punky Brewster Facts

[CliffClavin]

The name of the title character comes from that of a childhood sweetheart of then-NBC programming chief Brandon Tartikoff.


Punky's dog Brandon was named after then-NBC programming chief Brandon Tartikoff.


Fred Gwynne was originally to play Henry but backed out when, in an audition for the title character, he was identified Herman Munster, as his role on "Munsters, The" (1964).


Because the show had many young viewers and was scheduled after football games which tended to run overtime, six fifteen-minute episodes were produced. This was done rather than joining a full-length episode in progress, because that would disappoint children watching the program, and showing it later tended to put them up at a time parents may have considered too late for their children.


The program-producing unit of the NBC network produced the first two seasons. When it was cancelled, the show was sold to Columbia Pictures Television for $60 million. Columbia produced the latter two seasons (though there is a one year interval between them) without NBC's involvement.


Cherie Johnson was the niece of the show's creator and producer, David W. Duclon, who named the character for her. Nevertheless, she auditioned for the role like everyone else and was picked by the network to play the role.