The show 'Punky Brewster' was epic for its era. Not only did it cast a little girl as the lead in a sitcom, something that hadn't really been done in Hollywood yet, but it also explored topics that most family-friendly shows tried to shy away from.
An entire generation remembers the show fondly, which begs the question, whatever happened to it?
But with the throwback series poised for a comeback — and with Soleil Moon Frye as the lead — it's the perfect time to talk about why the original show was canceled in the first place.
An inkling as to the true answer is found in the pages of a 1986 newspaper article from The New Sunday Times. The article recounted both the casting of Soleil Moon Frye as the lead of Punky and an interview the then-nine-year-old had at a local park.
The journalist who penned the article pointed out that "the show's ratings border on embarrassing," but for some reason, Soleil was still charming her way into the public's hearts. While they may not have been watching her show, people liked the little girl and flocked to parades, parks, and wherever else Soleil was on display. Unlike other child stars, she didn't get out of the industry young, but she seems to have turned out just fine.
The New Sunday Times also elaborated on the show's original concept: the president of NBC Entertainment wanted a show that starred a little girl because not many TV series had done it. Then, he met a woman whose precocious daughter was named Punky Brewster. Thus began a search for a little girl who could play Punky — and precious few other specifics for writing the pilot.
Tons of little girls (well, mostly their moms) rushed to auditions, but Moon Frye had connections thanks to her parents, and the fact that she and her brother had both worked on TV already.
Anyway, the grumpy tone of The New Sunday Times article points out that the show itself was never really the highlight: it was Soleil and her personality. In fact, it was moreso her personality in person than her character, as obviously the people who loved her didn't love her TV show...
The end of the series, which the cast and crew clearly felt came too soon, occurred mid-writers' strike, confirmed one of the staff writers via MentalFloss. Unfortunately, that meant the show's final episode wasn't originally intended as its final episode. Still, the producers agreed that the dog wedding they'd had for the fourth season's final episode was a decent way to go out.
But the real reason the show ended? Those ever-low ratings.
As Mental Floss pointed out, the show was "well-received by its juvenile audience," but that "wasn’t enough to sustain the expense of a primetime series." As the costume designer elaborated, "There was a lot of care involved" when creating the show with kids in mind, but ultimately, their parents didn't buy it.