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 Aired: 1984 - 1988
Show Type: Live Action
Country of Origin: US
Soleil Moon Frye is Penelope Brewster- Punky for short- a young girl who's been abandoned by her mother. After escaping from the Fenster Hall orphanage, Punky and Brandon the Wonder Dog try their best to survive on the mean streets of Chicago. Living in an empty apartment, they eventually cross paths with the buildings super Henry Warnimont (George Gaynes, a.k.a. Police Academys Commandant Lassard), a photographer whos lived alone ever since his wife died decades ago. When Punky restores his faith in love and humanity, something no one has accomplished in nearly fifty years, Henry takes her in and eventually adopts her.
Although the show is centered around Punky and Henrys relationship and the quandary of whether he is too old to raise a child despite his irreproachable ethics and good intentions, the show also extends itself to the everyday dilemmas of childhood faced by Punky and her friends Cherie, Margeaux, and Allen. In the second season, T.K. Carter (Saved by the Bell, Ski Patrol) appears as Mike Fulton, Punkys teacher who was also orphaned as a child.
But the show didnt stop at orphanhood. Creator David Duclon was unafraid to push the envelope, visiting such dire social issues as CPR, hunger, runaways, kidnapping, retardation, gang violence, and drug use in suburbia. Its crowning achievement in this arena came in 1986 as Punky- like many children- watched the events of the Challenger disaster unfold live in her classroom. At a time when television was too afraid to address certain issues
even with adults, a little girl named Punky was helping children the nation over to understand and better cope with dangers we all were dealing with, dangers it was imperative that children be able to overcome should they come face to face with them.
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