Punky Brewster (2021 TV series)

Punky Brewster is an American television sitcom that premiered on Peacock on February 25, 2021. It is a revival to the show of the same title, and stars Soleil Moon Frye and Cherie Johnson, with Quinn Copeland, Noah Cottrell, Oliver De Los Santos, Lauren Lindsey Donzis and Freddie Prinze Jr. In August 2021, the series was canceled after one season.

Premise
Punky Brewster is now a divorced mother raising three children: her teenage biological daughter Hannah, and her two adopted sons, Diego and Daniel. She lives in the same Chicago apartment where she grew up with her foster father, Henry Warnimont, and even works as a photographer, just like he did. She encounters a girl at Fenster Hall named Izzy, who, like Punky, was abandoned by her mother. Punky is still best friends with Cherie, who works at Fenster and arranges to have Izzy live with a foster family, but after seeing the similarities in Izzy compared to when she was her age, Punky decides to take her in and raise her with her three children. Punky also has an on-off relationship with her ex-husband Travis and discovers that the mother who abandoned her in the grocery store as a child is still alive and has been looking for her for years.

Main

 * Soleil Moon Frye as Penelope "Punky" Brewster
 * Cherie Johnson as Cherie Johnson
 * Quinn Copeland as Izzy
 * Noah Cottrell as Diego
 * Oliver De Los Santos as Daniel
 * Lauren Lindsey Donzis as Hannah
 * Freddie Prinze Jr. as Travis

Guest stars

 * Seth Green as Evan (episode: "Two First Dates")
 * Ami Foster as Margaux Kramer (episode: "The Look of Daniel")
 * Alexa Bliss and Charlotte Flair as themselves (episode: "The Look of Daniel")
 * Sharon Lawrence as Susan (3 episodes)

Production
A Punky Brewster revival series was reported to be in development in June 2019. In September of that year, it was reported the series, along with the Saved by the Bell revival, would appear on the Peacock streaming service. A 10-episode first season was greenlit by Peacock in January 2020. On August 19, 2021, Peacock canceled the series after one season.

Reception
Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported an approval rating of 57% based on 14 reviews, with an average rating of 5.90/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "It's delightful to see Soleil Moon Frye again, but with dated plotting and a lack of focus, Punky Brewster can't quite fill her multicolored Cons."