A Live Studio Audience: Sitcom Themes--Punky Power!

[BrandonDaCollector]

So it had been a long time since anybody posted here which makes Me wonder why and what is going on here I have been thinking about this that I said about a while back but I didn't have a chance cause there was other stuff for Me to do. While there is so many topics that is quite lacking with activities for whatever reason for months I try post a variety of fun stuff to keep things fresh and exciting but that is just Me.

So here is three TV sitcom shows that I got into about a decade ago. When I got hurt back in 2013 (10 years ago this year, it was a huge deal back then on the board but I'm not discussing it) and while I was in the hospital over at SLU being depressed for weeks they had TV Land on the TV and it was one of the only things I was interested in. Here is the three shows that I just loved back then

The King of Queens.

The Wiki Page ---> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_King_of_Queens

I never paid attention to it before till during this time. I thought it was really good. Kevin James & Jerry Stiller were ok but My attention was on Leah Remini, I found her so hot yet so pitiful. Many times when I'd watch these episodes I say to the TV gosh this UPS guy is lucky and he really doesn't realize it



Here is the intro.



Also during this time I got into the The Exes because of Leah Remini. I thought the characters were pretty good but with her nice hot & cool yet funny presence I was sold on watching it cause it was different and I could relate to most what was going on. It didn't have this humor that is in poor taste like others did then in TV shows and movies.

The Wiki Page ---> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Exes



Here is one of the Intros



Here is a really good scene of Remini's Nicki.



Leah is one of the most underrated actresses and one of the hottest of the 90s & 2000s. Tom Cruise's scientology really brought her down, she exposed this long ago



Another one that I loved that I briefly posted in the Christmas Topic but of course it was skipped by people here on the board which was right after Kirstie Alley had died I thought that this show was great. Like The Exes it had good old fashion humor and had many people I was already familiar with from Seinfeld & Cheers including Kirstie Alley whom I really liked because of her unique beauty and persona.

Wikipedia Page ---> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirstie_(TV_series)

Guest stars were great too as they included the likes of Christopher McDonald & John Travolta




Here is the cool intro



Of course TV Land had to cancel Kirstie before it had a chance to have a second season and if that wasn't enough they had to cancel The Exes not too long after that I don't know what today's society thinks but IMO these were some of the best TV comedy shows in recent times and were just as good & engaging to keep up with as much as the ones in the 80s & 90s



So that's all, finally I got to postin' this. i didn't forget, I just didn't have a chance to do. I hope you liked it

[packerbacker180]

King of Queens is on all the time. I don't think I've ever intentionally watched an episode, though. I've caught parts and it seems funny, but I've never been a big Kevin James fan. But yeah, there is something about Leah Remini. I didn't know who she was back then, but she had a brief appearance on Who's the Boss back in the day.



Which was a backdoor pilot for a a sitcom called Living Dolls. It only made it to twelve episodes, and I'd be lying if I said I'd ever seen it, but you might recognize another actress who made her debut on the show.



But I think I the first time I really recognized her was as Stacy Carosi in the epioses of Saved by the Bell where they all get summer jobs on the beach and she's the Malibu Sands Beach Clug owner's daughter.





I can honestly say I've never heard of The Exes but that looks like a decent cast with Newman and Donald Faison. I heard of Kirstie, never watched it though. All those sitcoms by Nickelodeon, like Hot in Cleveland, I just never watched them when they aired.

[BrandonDaCollector]

That was all good trivia there PB and I cannot say I saw that stuff nor knew her then. She was a very nice looking girl too. If I saw her him My school class back in the day I would have definitely hit on her The only one I recognized from Living Dolls was Halley Berry, that was probably one of her first roles

I was never a fan of Kevin Janes, he's one of the guys that handsome big guys and stuff is a pure wasteful jerk to say it mildly

Well I would give the Exes a chance, its a really good show and there's options to see it all for free online but I would see it from the beginning and Kirstie was so good too, the whole series is on YT. It's really one of the best I've seen but that is just Me

[packerbacker180]

Yep, that was Halle Berry's first role.

[OneNineSix]

[BrandonDaCollector]

So did you see everything else we did here OSN cause nobody posted on here till I brought this back up

I thought so PB, she looked a new pretty fresh face there like who this gal

[BrandonDaCollector]

OK PB, I was thinking about what you said in a post a little while ago about your topic. I wasn't ignoring it, I was like yeah, we haven't talked about in a while but what could be next Nobody's posted on it since the Winter I mean what a shame So it kinda clicked when you did Married with Children the other day and I'm like dang, I don't recall PB ever talking about that theme. Well here it is, it's by Frank Sinatra and it's really one of his finest songs. It really matches the intro rather well they way they placed it. One thing I love is music as you know and something like this should always be in a conversation IMO You can elaborate more on this PB

[packerbacker180]

Not my favorite Sinatra song, but it was such a nice juxtaposition when compared to the plot of the show. Pretty sure the two are synonymous now. I didn't always watch the show, but there are some terrific episodes like the supermarket sweep style episode that still hold up pretty well.

Ok, haven't done one of these in while, and I posted the opening to the very first episode of Punky Brewster over in the Zen clip. A couple months ago I stumbled across a marathon on Freevu so I watched a couple episodes. If you weren't alive back then, or two young, you probably don't know how big a deal Punky Brewster was. The major networks would often air kid friendly shows in semi-prime time on Sundays at 7 PM before moving on to more adult actions dramas like Knight Rider or Hardcastle and McCormick. There was no Sunday Night Football. The Simpsons weren't around yet, and Bob Saget hadn't yet begun to air baseball nut shots on America's Funniest Videos.



Kid shows in prime time? It was a crazy idea, like if someone thought a show like Saved by the Bel would do well in prime time. Surely, no one would think that, right?



So in 1984 along came little Soleil Moon Frye as Punky Brewster, a show that also starred Commandant Lassard himself, George Gaynes.



You have to realize this was still in the early years of cable so nobody knew much about Nickelodeon, or the Disney Channel. In fact, all you really had from Disney was The Wonderful World of Disney which aired weekly. So to have an hour of almost primetime dedicated to kids sitcoms was a big deal. So in 1984 Punky Brewster and Silver Spoons were must see TV.



Punky Brewster told the story of a little girl and her dog who were abandoned by her parents. She eventually sneaks into an apartment building where she's discovered by widowed curmudgeon Henry Warnimont. Melting his heart, Henry takes the little waif in and heart-warming hilarity would ensue for 4 seasons totaling 88 episodes. And Punky Mania exploded with toys, clothes, stickers, etc. Heck, there was even a Saturday Morning cartoon of which I covered in the Toon section *checks notes* almost 3 years ago.

post38820.html?hilit=punky%20brewster#p38820

There were a couple episodes that always stuck with me, the one that covered the Challenger Explosion. I was actually home from school with pinkeye that day and watching Pres Your Luck when it happened. And there was another episode about the importance of learning CPR when Punky's friend Cherie decided to hide inside an old refrigerator and she suffocates.



And the "cave episode"!



But you came here for the theme, amiright? Or at least that's why I'm here. This theme is a bit of an earworm, so press play at your own risk of having the lyrcis stuck in your head. You've been warned.



The theme was written by Gary Portnoy and Judy Hart Angelo, and performed by Portnoy. The duo are best know for having written the theme to Cheers so hopefully everyone there knows their names.



Sadly the actual theme is youtube only, so if you don't feel like clicking on the link, here's the music but without the actual visuals from the theme.



There was even a very short-lived attempted spinoff named Fenster Hall, the place Punky stayed when she was taken from Henry for a brief couple episodes, but the show didn't make it past the first episode. And of course, the show was revived in 2021 on Peacock with a brief theme that echos the original.



I haven't seen the new series. Is it any good?

Guess we'll just wait and see.

[BrandonDaCollector]

Gosh, it's been many,many moths since I posted that but I'm glad you said about it PB I never gave the new one a chance especially since how things are in these modern times. The original song was good and the new song was good but the Peacock one is just so short. I hate that in TV shows when the intro is so darn short. The the music & intro is My fave part of any TV show, it's what really gives what your watching more personality and a complete feeling. Good post about all of this Punky Brewster PB

[packerbacker180]

I kind of hate when shows don't have a theme. A lot of new shows barely do, but classic themes really help make shows more identifiable and iconic IMO.