Different colored chucks, a jumpsuit and a bandana or two are all the title characters adored at Peacock’s Punky Brewster revival needed to get back in touch with the kind of girl with the rainbow sunshine she used to be.
That’s because this Punky (reprized by Soleil Moon Frye) grew up as a divorced mother of three who put then so much in her marriage to ex-husband Travis (Freddie Prinze Jr.) that she lost touch with the game that made her so captivating. Although it is a little hard to believe, because your oldest Hannah (No Good NickLauren Lindsey Donzis de (Lauren Lindsey Donzis) goes above and beyond being the substitute / standard adult nanny in the life of her mother and father; being an immature and fun adult are technically not the same thing.
In addition, as shown in the pilot, Punky is a former photojournalist who owns her own photo studio (as well as her late adoptive father, Henry), and she has to look after Hannah and her children Diego (Noah Cottrell) and Daniel (Oliver De Los Santos) most of the time because she’s your mother, and that’s what good mothers do. She also takes the family dog for a walk (shouldn’t children do that?), A beautiful Golden Retriever named Brandy in honor of Punky’s childhood dog, Brandon. Punky still has feelings for Travis and he still feels for her, and that’s fun to watch in large part because Frye and Prinze Jr. have tangible chemistry. And Travis makes chocolate pancakes, which is always hard to resist.
There is also the sweet best friend energy that Punky and Cherie (an eternal Cherie Johnson) share, with the latter overseeing a foster care service. While it would have been great to hear Cherie talk about Betty, the late grandmother who raised her – hey writers, give this woman some cultural roots, please – it’s fun to see Punky and Cherie give supportive hugs, relax and drink together. And it’s a layer of thoughtful character to make Cherie a lesbian with a wonderful girlfriend named Lauren (Fringeby Jasika Nicole). (The audience will get to know her in future episodes, with Episode 6 serving as the strongest and most careful part of the program in the way it addresses sexuality and gender. So there is that, too.)
Being the incredible best friend she is, Cherie indirectly introduces Punky to Izzy (Quinn Copeland), a ridiculously adorable boy who acts much like what Punky did as a child and whose mother also abandoned her. After a series of mishaps and wrong steps from the sitcom, Punky, of course, realizes that he wants to adopt Izzy. And Travis, Hannah, Diego and Daniel also realize that they love little Izzy too, and want her to be around too.
Is the new Punky Brewster sometimes a little too bubbly for your own multi-camera, is the studio audience good to laugh? You can bet your sweet “santo macanoli” that it is, and the kids are sarcastic at the Disney level, which irritates a little. But in a cynical world where this pandemic causes parents to spend an abnormal amount of time with their children, it is good to know that mothers and fathers can watch this family comedy, too, a family.
Oh, and the possibility of Punky meeting his birth mother, who came to see her at the end of the issue, is an exciting touch, just to see which actress could play her.
What do you think of adult Punky Brewster?