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The TV Station #12 - Punky Brewster (Just Say No)

When George Gaynes passed away at the beginning of 2016 at the grand old age of 98, I was reminded of how much he was a part of my childhood - I loved (and still love) the Police Academy movies and every day after school there one be a block of 80's shows on Sky One and one of the ones I most looked forward to was Punky Brewster (along with Different Strokes).

So childhood affection means I'm a bit biased when it comes to Punky Brewster. With a theme song I unironically find awesome (it's even on a couple of my playlists) and I also do think the title character's actress - Soleil Moon Frye, does genuinely give one of the best child performances in any sit-com.

It's obvious by the episodes title that it's an episode with a message, something quite infamous with US sitcoms in that time period and often get called "Very Special Episodes" which see characters maybe get addiction or have to deal with peer pressure and honestly they usually come closer to an half hour lecture rather than a sit-com. The title Just Say No was named after campaign which was not only in America but UK had it's own campaign too (Grange Hill, a long running children's drama series had a storyline and even a single called Just Say No).

So in a nutshell the plot of the episode is that Punky and Cherie join a clique called the Chiklis and it turns out ...dun-dun-dun... they do drugs and want Punky and Cherie too as well.

Given how it's only a 25 minute episode so it's quick to introduce into the mix, not long after they are initiated into the clique and when Punky asks if they are drugs the leader replies "just some grass, a few uppers and a little nose candy" which is obviously just hilarious because it comes from a preteen and she basically keeps wanting the girls to "party" with them. The script was clearly written by an adult who forgot what it's like to be a kid. 

So after this scene the girls are in a big dilemma - obviously they don't want to do any sort of drugs, but they'll be out of the club. This involves Punky going to visit cool teacher Mike (T.K. Carter) for advice which even though it's a lecture on peer pressure it does become one of the shows best handled moments despite of Mike doing a James Brown impression for some reason before handing her a leaflet for the Just Say No campaign.

Back at the treehouse the girls are holding a joint as the leader tells them to grow up and tries bullying them into it. so instead Punky and Cherie start a group that makes you feel good about yourself called the Just Say No Club (I know which club sounds more fun) and even gets one of the girls to join (yay)/

The episodes ends with a Just Say No music video, showing t-shirts getting hand out and picket signs at event, which shows the girls on a march which they attend.

Obviously the message is really in your face but I've seen worse and more forced Very Special Episodes as it does a fairly good job of balancing the normal flow of the show and it's message
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