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Original Air Date: November 25, 1984 Review completed January 1, 2006 "Miss Adorable" During a sleepover at Punky's, Margaux reveals her plan to enter the Miss Adorable beauty pagaent. Punky decides to enter as well when Margaux tells her that parents want a winner, and Cherie enters the race when she finds out that the host will be Andy Gibb. All three end up in the final five, but when the places are announced, only one places -- Cherie wins the pagaent. Punky comes out disappointed at her placing, but Henry is quick to set her straight. The biggest newsmaker of the episode is Andy Gibb, youngest of the brothers forming the Bee Gees, making the first of his two appearances in Punky Brewster. Appearing amidst an incredible amount of butt-kissing from an off-screen announcer, Gibb takes his MC role and runs with it. I'll give the writers some credit here in that they do provide him with some good material (the crack at the Cubs is even funnier given how recently "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" aired), but the biggest factor is Gibb's screen presence. Unlike many musicians jumping into acting, Gibb comes across in a very relaxed and natural way, and spends as little time as possible hogging the spotlight. Very nice turn by him. In other characters, Cherie finally gets a good chance in this episode to develop into something more than just "Punky's friend". Not that she isn't here, but she also gets a little personality. Let's run it down; she likes Andy Gibb, she has an interest in magic, she continues along with the 'hang loose' kind of attitude she's displayed in the previous episodes, and, oh yeah, she wins the pagaent! What can I say; I thought it was a nice touch to have the most down-to-earth one take the prize in what essentially is a popularity contest. Margaux gets a fair part as well, finally getting an episode that plays to her strengths. Instead of being the unpopular class priss or just one of the group, she's completely in her element. And incidentally, has a pretty nice singing voice. And enough ham in her style to imitate Miss Piggy. Ami Foster plays it all with glee; there's quite a few points in the episode where you can quiet easily tell that she's having the time of her life. In an odd twist, Punky is the one who seems to get the short end of the stick. Her motivation for going into a beauty pagaent is done well enough, and don't you dare tell me that you don't get a chuckle out of her expression when she comes out in her first pagaent dress, but the character blows a fuse when we hit the pagaent itself. Perhaps the writers feared that Punky was going to be overshadowed by Gibb and the talent numbers from the rest of the gang, but the way to fix that is probably not to have Punky ham it up like an Arby's. It worked for Margaux because it was perfectly in-character; not so much for Punky, and her constant asides also had the effect of making her look far less than confident, which just doesn't seem right out of the girl with a friends list longer than your phone book. There could have been ways to make those traits work, but they weren't used. As for the parents, it's an even split. Betty's the one to take charge for the episode, and it makes you want to see her at the head of things more often (like, say, "Baby Buddies Inc."). Susie Garret just has the air of authority down pat. Henry, on the other hand, ends up looking awkward a lot, mostly in comedic ways. Meh, it's just not his episode. Although, is it just me, or does Henry seems a little more oddly feminine in this episode? I can't explain it; he just does. On to the story. I liked the opening segment; annoying Henry is always funny, and the plot is nicely set up. The scenes going into the pagaent itself are pretty good, and like I've mentioned, Punky's first dress and her reaction are a scream. Into the pagaent itself, there's some nice productions (particularly Margaux's songs) and a pretty good job being done of hiding the fact that this is a stage set in a sound studio (you do have to wonder why there's no visible audience at all sometimes, but that's minor). All throughout, there's a few decent one-liners, and the end sequence is strangely satisifying and feels decently geniune. So, how do I get 'average' out of all this? I liked most everything well enough, and I can think of more than a few episodes I'd put below this one, but the fun just doesn't translate to memorable. When all's said and done, this is a fluff episode, with nothing to leave a big impact or make you go, "Whoa, I wasn't expecting that". I can't think of any reason to really label this a bad episode, but neither does anything really jump out at me to nominate it for a Top Ten. I kind of like it, I didn't hate it...that's about the best I can give you. Oh, and one final warning to any guy watching; this episode has about as much testosterone as a pink dress. I know, this is intended as a girl's show anyway, but this one has that extra touch of sugar and spice and everything that will make you check if your bits are still there by the end. The end. - Jimmy Vibes Do the click |