25 years ago; Punky Brewster enters syndication

[simmytbone]

Hey guys,

25 years ago, Punky Brewster returned for a 3rd Season

However, 1 year after NBC cancelled the series, the show made its jump to syndication

By the syndicated run, however, the show had clearly started to mature. Many more of Punky and Cherie's friends were seen (although most only made a handful of guest appearances each), with Margaux ever more becoming their comic foil and source of friction. Early in the third season, Allen moved away to Kansas with his mother, following his parents' divorce. As Punky herself embarked on junior high, her avant-garde day-glo and multicolored outfits, along with her pigtails, segued into more traditional teenage styles, and her declaration of, and reliance on "Punky Power!" gave way to the realization that intelligence, common sense and a strong will can get one out of any problem. More of her dalliances with boys entered the stories, with the ones she chased and those that tried to pursue her. Punky's spunk and vivacious attitude toward life did remain though, thanks in part to the sunshine brought in by the most important man in her life, her adoptive dad.

Henry's photography studio at the mall continued to see much success, so much that by the end of the third season he received an offer from the magnate of Glossy's, a photo studio franchise, for a $100,000 buyout of Warnimont's which also included the offer of Henry becoming manager of the Glossy's location. Henry accepted, but soon found that his creativity and business style was not being appreciated by his new employers. He quit Glossy's, but then decided to give into Punky's and Cherie's dream to run their own teen hangout/burger establishment, and invested into another mall property which ended up being splashed with as much color and originality as Punky's bedroom. All involved, which even included Betty and Margaux, unanimously decided on christening it "Punky's Place". Into season four, much of the action continued to take place at the mall, with Henry, Punky and her friends' efforts to keep their new restaurant afloat and the many teenage misadventures which passed through at Punky's Place.

While the show was in production throughout the 1986-87 season, it did not return to the air via first-run syndication until October 30, 1987. Beginning on that premiere date, Punky was packaged such that new episodes would air once every weekday (usually late in the afternoon on independent stations). The entire third season (1986–87) aired in the five-days-a-week format through December 7, 1987. The following Monday, reruns of the third season took over on weekdays, while the episodes shot during the 1987-88 season were completing. On April 27, 1988, new episodes resumed for the fourth season, and ran every weekday for exactly a month until the series finale aired on Friday, May 27, 1988.

The final episode, "Wedding Bells for Brandon", had Brandon fall in love with Brenda, a golden retriever who belonged to one of Henry and Punky's neighbors. Their whirlwind romance culminated in a cute wedding ceremony in the courtyard, which was mostly attended by other

Columbia Pictures Television/Coca-Cola Telecommuncations distributed the show for the next 2 seasons and the series was still Videotaped @ NBC Studios Burbank, CA which was also the home to the shows @ the time

$ale of the Century w/Jim Perry and Summer Bartholomew, Classic Concentration w/Alex Trebek, Wheel of Fortune w/Pat Sajak & Vanna White, The Original SCRABBLE w/Chuck Woolery and Super Password w/the late Bert Convy

and also, during that time, Snorks also entered syndication and Fraggle Rock moved to NBC Saturday Mornings with an animated version

Punky Brewster was produced by Lightkeeper Productions in association with Columbia Pictures Television/Coca-Cola Telecommunications A Unit of the Coca-Cola Company

and now, here it is:

The Opening to the syndicated version of Punky Brewster

Check it out:



and now, here's the very 1st episode of the syndicated version of Punky Brewster entitled

"Reading, Writing And Rock & Roll" with Guest Stars DeBarge and TV Veteran Danny Wells from The Super Mario Bros. Super Show

Part 1


Part 2

[TMC]

Punky's syndication history?

Punky Brewster All-New Episodes Premiering September 23rd on KTLA

Punky Brewster on WSBK 38 in Dr. Dorten

Punky Brewster Promo on KTVU Fox 2 in Wake Up! It's Time to Go to Sleep

[Mace Dolex]

So brand new episodes of Punky Brewster would air daily instead of weekly? Seems like an odd decision since they would quickly run out of fresh episodes within a month before repeating the cycle.

[TMC]

Originally Posted by Mace Dolex

So brand new episodes of Punky Brewster would air daily instead of weekly? Seems like an odd decision since they would quickly run out of fresh episodes within a month before repeating the cycle.

I'm assuming this was done under the assumption that kids would always have something to watch after school (if that makes sense).