MovieChat Forums > Punky Brewster (1984) Discussion > Cancelled after 4th season

Cancelled after 4th season


Does anyone know why the show was cancelled so prematurally? After all, there were only 4 seasons. Many other show that began in the early 80s lasted much longer than that. ie: Who's the Boss, The Cosby Show, etc.

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Maybe because the kids were getting a little old. Most of the shows that last so long have new younger kids in them. Plus the show's draw was mainly at younger kids, whereas these shows that last 7, 8 seasons have more of an adult draw as well. Of course, I am only speculating, and I would have loved more seasons of Punky Brewster regardless of these statements. :-)

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i dont know if this was the reason why it was cancelled but i remenber my stepfather watching football then by the time it came on it was too late for me to stay up or i just forgot it came on cause i hated football still do. but i Loved the show

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[deleted]

when she hit puberty she grew massive 38DD breasts by age 14. (her measurements were 38DD-26-35

her body was so small she had back pain and didn't want to walk around.

by age 15 she had breast reduction surgery and was down to a 36C-24-34.

she was on opera before the surgery, they were massive on her small frame at 14 years old

can you imaging if they had kept the show until she hit puberty and her boobs exploded like that?

man, id have had an even bigger crush on her

(dont call me a perv, it was age appropriate at the time, shes only a year younger than me)

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Uh, the show wasn't canceled because Soleil went through puberty. It was likely canceled because the target audience was growing up and was loosing interest in the show.

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Cherie Johnson said that the last episode involving Brandon's "wedding" wasn't supposed to be the series finale. That last episode came along during a writer's strike and the show was never able to regain its traction.

https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/74018/oral-history-punky-brewsters-refrigerator-danger

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1988_Writers_Guild_of_America_strike

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I think the biggest obstacle to the show was the time slot. 6:00pm Central Sundays. During football season it was preempted nearly every week. The games never ended when scheduled. If it wasn't cancelled they would announce that they were joining it in progress. Sometimes it seemed like the object of the game was not to score touchdowns and field goals but to see how long you can possibly stretch out the last 5 minutes of the clock. One time I was astounded that it looked like it actually was going to end on time and someone scored in the last few seconds and tied the game. The overtime lasted nearly an hour. My kid loved this show and he would be so disappointed when it would be cancelled nearly every week. I'm surprised it lasted as long as it did.

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I always felt bad they never had a final episode where she finds her mother, that would have been the perfect ending to a great show.

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Possibly that was the plan but often a series doesn't know if they will be renewed until a whole season is filmed or even aired. A lot of shows I watched with my kid were pretty inane but my wife and I really enjoyed this show.

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Does anyone know why the show was cancelled so prematurally? After all, there were only 4 seasons. Many other show that began in the early 80s lasted much longer than that.


Actually, NBC canceled it after its THIRD season due to low ratings. It ran one more season in first run syndication like Silver Spoons and Webster did for their last seasons. Also, the onset of puberty could also be considered a contributing factor as well.

When theres no more room in Hollywood, remakes shall walk the Earth.

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