I try NOT to remember Punky Brewster. I just remember it was a show worth avoiding. But, anyhow, my 5-yr old has tennis shoes (sneakers) that are half one pattern, half the other. Someone said it reminded them of Punky. Can someone refersh my memory? …and then, we’ll conveniently forget I ever asked! 
I merely recall that some of the kids from the UK’s ‘Grange Hill’ school soap went to the US once, and at some TV bash we saw them meet an annoying-looking girl who announced that she had a show called “Punky Brewster”. I remember thinking even then that I was glad she didn’t show up over here.
I may be doing the lass a great disservice. I was only about 10.
Yeah, she would wear two different shoes at the same time. (I was just thinking about this the other day–not Punky Brewster in general, I mean, but just the shoe thing. Weird.)
Presented for your approval:
Soleil Moon Frye, late of Sabrina, the Teen Age Witch.
There’s at least one candid nude picture of Ms. Frye frolicking in a park floating around on the internet. (Which I honestly just stumbled upon quite a few years back while trying to find out whatever happened to her.)
I had no idea she had been on Sabrina, The Teenage Witch. Well, I never watched the show regularly, and haven’t seen an episode for many years. Ms. Frye joined the show for its last three seasons. (I love Caroline Rhea. Melissa Joan Hart’s not bad either.)
That said, I looked at Ms. Frye’s filmography and - aside from Punky Brewster and Sabrina - the horror sequel Pumpkinhead II: Blood Wings (1994) seems to be the highlight of her career, at least in movies.
On a side note, does anybody else have a problem viewing the photos on the Internet Movie Database. The gallery thumbnails load fine, but when I click on them, where the image would be, there’s nothing. It’s really annoying.
Anyhoo…
From The Roches’ album Speak The Anti-Sex Backlash of the 80’s :
I have to say I kinda liked Punky Brewster. I thought it was a cute show.
Side note: Many years ago I worked for a woman named Brooke. She was only a couple years older than me, and we nicknamed her “Punky B” because, I think, she liked to wear mismatched shoes. Soleil would have been a young teenager, or maybe preteen, at the time I was working for Brooke; looking at the linked photos of her, I am astonished to see that Soleil bears an astonishing resemblance to Brooke. Wow.
Those photos also show me that Soleil did indeed have breast reduction surgery. You may recall hearing that when she hit puberty, she developed very quickly and wound up with uncomfortably immense breasts. I mean bigger-than-Dolly-Parton immense. So big that they were causing back problems.
If it’s any help, I owned Punky Brewster hightops when I was in third grade. They were white with teal and pink “patches” on them, so that might fit the 1/2 of one pattern, 1/2 of another pattern recollection. They also had glow-in-the-dark piping between the colored and white portions of each shoe.
Yesterday was George “Henry” Gaynes’s 87th b’day (though he’s bka the commandant from Police Academy than Punky’s foster dad [originally he was an opera singer- last time I saw him on anything he looked the same as ever]).
The main thing I remember about Punky Brewster is that Andy Gibb was on it several times in different roles. I think his guest shots on PB were his only source of income at the time (seriously- he was doped up, not performing, and desperately trying to kick the habit as his brother’s houseguest- such a pretty boy, shame he stopped too late). I also remember that the landlady was played by Marla Gibbs’ real life sister and that the dog was named Brandon in honor of then wunderkind (an now deceased) Brandon Tartikoff, and that there was a cartoon version.
