Punky Brewster is an American sitcom television series about a young girl (Soleil Moon Frye) being raised by a foster parent (George Gaynes) in Chicago.

Penelope "Punky" Brewster (Soleil Moon Frye) is a warm, funny, and bright child.

[4] The building is managed by 60-year-old Henry Warnimont (George Gaynes), a widowed photographer with a grouchy streak who finds Punky in the abandoned apartment.

[4] The relationship between the two blossoms, despite red tape from social worker Randi Mitchell (Talia Balsam), who ultimately rallies to Henry's side.

The state forces Punky to stay at Fenster Hall, an emergency shelter for orphaned and abandoned children, until their day in court.

[5] Punky's other friends are geeky Allen Anderson (Casey Ellison) and spoiled rich girl Margaux Kramer (Ami Foster).

Because the show had many young viewers and was scheduled after football games (which tended to run long), six fifteen-minute episodes were produced.

In the five-part episode "Changes", Henry's downtown photography studio was destroyed in a fire, and for a time, he seemingly would not be able to recover from the aftermath and resume his career.

Chillings also felt that Henry was unfit to be Punky's legal guardian in the long term due to his health, age, and uncertain financial future.

Henry, back on his feet following surgery, opened up a glitzy new studio at the local mall; in the process, he reunited with Punky.

[7] The final episode of the second season was notable for centering on the very recent, real-life Space Shuttle Challenger disaster.

[9] After two seasons, NBC saw that Punky Brewster and its principal Sunday night stablemate, the four-year-old Silver Spoons, could not compete as strongly as they hoped against CBS' juggernaut 60 Minutes, and cancelled both programs.

[12] Beginning on that premiere date, Punky was packaged such that new episodes would air every weekday (usually late in the afternoon on independent stations).

Many more of Punky and Cherie's friends were seen (although most only made a handful of guest appearances each), with Margaux becoming their comic foil and source of friction.

On April 27, 1988, new episodes resumed for the fourth season, and ran every weekday for a month until the series finale aired on May 27, 1988.

According to Cherie Johnson, "Wedding Bells for Brandon" was not intended to be the series finale; that particular episode came along in the midst of the 1988 Writers Guild of America strike.

[13] In June 2019, UCP announced plans for a new Punky Brewster series starring Soleil Moon Frye.

The series revisits Punky as a single mother of three “trying to get her life back on track when she meets a young girl who reminds her a lot of her younger self.”[14] The series also features Cherie Johnson, returning to the role named after her, as well as Freddie Prinze Jr. as Punky's ex-husband.

[15] In early 2020, NBC confirmed the revival consisting of a ten-episode first season that will air on its new streaming Peacock network.

The final episode in Season 1, titled "Fenster Hall" (aired March 31, 1985), was a failed attempt to create a spin-off of Punky Brewster.

This crossover episode marked the debut of Mike Fulton; T. K. Carter was the intended star of the Fenster Hall spin-off.

Mike's boss was Rita J. Sanchez (Rosanna DeSoto), and his other boys, who he treated as if they were his own sons, were aspiring heavyweight boxer Lester "Sugar" Thompson (Martin Davis), sweet little Dash (Benji Gregory), nerdy intellectual Lyle (Gabriel Damon), who supposedly did Mike's tax forms for him; and huge, hulking Conan (B.J.

It's Punky Brewster!, an animated spin-off with the original cast, appeared on NBC on Saturday mornings.