Different colors Chucks, an overall and a bandana or two are all the favorite title characters in Peacock Punky Brewster revival had to get back in touch with the kind of girl of the rainbow-colored sunshine she used to be.
This is because this Punky (reviewed by Soleil Moon Frye) is all great as a divorced mother of three who so a large part of her marriage to Travis (Freddie Prinze Jr.), that she lost touch with the playfulness that made her so kind. Although it’s a little hard to believe, because her eldest Hannah (No Good Nick‘s Lauren Lindsey Donzis) is the greatest surrogate / babysitter in her mother and father’s lives, being an immature adult and having a fun child are technically not the same thing.
Besides, as shown in The Pilot, Punky is a former photojournalist who owns her own photography studio (just like her late foster father Henry did), and she has to take care of Hannah and the sons Diego (Noah Cottrell) and Daniel (Oliver De Los Santos) more often than not because she’s their mother, and that’s what good mothers do. She also walks with the family dog (shouldn’t the kids do that?), A cute Golden Retriever named Brandy in honor of Punky’s child dog, Brandon. Punky still has feelings for Travis and he still feels for her, and it’s a lot of fun to watch, because Frye and Prinze Jr. has tangible chemistry. And Travis makes chocolate pancakes, which are always hard to resist.
There is also the sweet bestial energy that Punky and Cherie (an ageless Cherie Johnson) share, with the latter overseeing a foster care service for foster children. It would have been great to hear Cherie talk about Betty, the late grandmother who raised her – hey writers, please give this woman some cultural roots, please – it’s nice to see Punky and Cherie give hugs of support and kick back and drink together. . And it’s a thoughtful layer of character to turn Cherie into a lesbian with an amazing girlfriend named Lauren (Fringe benefitssee Jasika Nicole). (Audiences will meet her in future episodes, with Episode 6 being the show’s strongest and most thoughtful episode in the way it addresses sexuality and gender. So, there it is, too.)
As the best best friend she is, Cherie indirectly introduces Punky to Izzy (Quinn Copeland), a ridiculously adorable hedgehog who acts a lot like Punky did as a child and whose mother also let her down. After a series of sitcom accidents and missteps, Punky naturally realizes that she wants to adopt Izzy. And Travis, Hannah, Diego and Daniel also realize that they love little Izzy, and want her to stay too.
Is the new Punky Brewster sometimes a little too bubbly for his own multi-camera, studio-audience laugh-track good? You bet you’re sweet ‘holy macanoli’, and the kids are snarky at Disney level, which roasts the nerves a bit. But in a cynical world where parents spend unnatural time with their offspring through this pandemic, it’s nice to know that moms and dads can also watch this family comedy, a family.
Oh yeah, and the possibility of Punky meeting her biological mother, who released her at the end of the episode, is an exciting touch, if only to see which actress can play her.
What do you think of adults? Punky Brewster?