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Original Air Date: January 20, 1985 Review completed January 22, 2006 "Punky In The Record Business" Henry rents a piano, but Punky makes a reluctant student. Henry's not willing to give up that easily, so he hires a teacher; hip, young guy Tony Glen, whose contemporary approach wows Punky and leaves Henry feeling out of touch. While teaching, Glen performs an original creation of his, which Punky insists could make it big. They go to see Lonnie Dell, agent and producer, who tells them that they're stars if they can pay a $2,500 investment. Henry gets suspicious and poses as a undiscovered talent, exposing Dell as a con man. Glen thanks Henry for his help and declares that he's not so out-of-touch after all. Second, you may not have noticed (because I do not use the annoying trend of putting cast names in the summary) that Andy Gibb makes his other Punky Brewster appearance here, this time playing a character rather than emceeing a fake beauty pagaent. Well, sort of playing a character; I don't know if I can call a musician playing a music teacher/songwriter a giant stretch. More on that later. Third, you may notice that this allows for a performance number and a half within the show. Gibb performs a solo version of "I Can't Help It" at two points in the episode; not really a new song, as he had recorded it with Olivia Newton-John (!), but the script treats it as such. Fair enough; who really expects Andy to write a whole new number for a one-off appearance? As reported by modern ears, the recorded duet version was kind of bad; if so, then the solo version improves it greatly. The version played on the piano (before the middle of the episode) sounded very nice, and the performance itself lent a great air of having Punky's point-of-view; just sitting near the piano and listening. Very nice. The cut-off guitar version from later on is not so slick; it's in a different key, and the guitar is either out of tune or very badly miked. Still, it's stopped fairly early in, so at least I didn't suffer long. Okay, on to the episode itself. I loved the opening scene with Henry and Punky; I could appreciate both sides of the matter, both being a frustrated keyboard student and a musical perfectionist. Also, the obiligatory "jokes with the letter names of the notes" is done with a quick improv that makes you forget how old those are. I liked it, anyway. Granted, Henry is a doof for lightly slinging technical terms around a reluctant learner, but you have to accept some things for the sake of the plot. The scene introducing the piano teacher is a hoot. Not because of any of the jokes, but because most of the value of the segment is in knowing who the actor is, and the first time I watched this, I didn't have a clue. Picture the mildly confused look of someone who doesn't know Andy Gibb from a turnip field trying to get why everyone is reacting so much to this guy. That was me. Guy can teach a piano, though. I liked the friends analogy, though I have no way of knowing how well that would work with a kid (as I started learning at around 16). Something I should note is that while the segue to the main plot (from piano lessons to recordning contracts) seems a little like something, say, The Simpsons would do, I don't think that it's entirely smooth. I'm all right enough with Punky convinces Glen out of nowhere to go for it, but doesn't it talk a really long time and some demo tapes to get even an independant album made? Well, unless you're making it yourself. Just a minor niggle. On the other hand, I like the discussion between Betty and Henry on his outdatedness. On one hand, it incorporates the usual 'best rivals' vibe that the two have going; the one where they're always ready to take a good potshot at the other even though they're good friends. On the other hand, though, I'm a little surprised that this didn't come up earlier in the series. Sure, "Punky Finds A Home" address the generation gap a little bit, but without the need to get on with it and launch the series, this episode gives it a little more depth. The first scenes in Dell Star Recording Studios...gah, welcome back 80s fashion, you monstrous freak. Welcome ditzy receptionist; you're annoying and need to be quiet. (At least it gives Gibb a chance to try out his sardonic side; it's always a bit of a startle to see him do that.) Also, seeing Lonnie Dell is action is really hammy, but you get just enough cheeseball off of his performance to not take it seriously. Good move. (And I had to laugh at the list of hooks Dell pulls out; all the funnier that those not only exist, but have been topped in the ensuing years.) If you were taking it seriously, this guy would be the worst con artist ever; fortunately, you see the joke coming and just say, "What the heck". The best part of the episode is Henry's anti-con. Gaynes sticks stiffly to character here, resisting the urge to go... well, all the way over-the-top, anyway. Also, while the singing is... less-than-quality (I hope that's an acting trick), there's a good sense throughout of Henry pulling the whole thing out of his butt and smiling the whole time. Crook exposed, good times had, and we're done. Really, it's hard for me to find much fault with the episode (especially since I'm a total sucker for anything dealing with music), but at the same time, nothing really tremendously stands out other than the piano performance. I'm not sure why that is, really. The writing seems fine (if a little uneven at spots), and the actors mostly have fun with their parts. I think the factor in this one may be sense of build, something I've harped on in previous episodes. I've pointed out the Simpsons-esque plot transition, but the thing about that is that the episode almost feels divided in half, and half an episode really isn't enough time to build gags or punchy storylines unless the plot is pared down to fit it. This one isn't; it's a full-episode plot in a half-episode bag. So, it's a fine performance, and the soloing is nice, but the transitions from piece to piece don't all flow; like someone thought they were all in the same key when they weren't. It's a decent showing, but you won't want to play it yourself. - Jimmy Vibes Do the click BONUS: Andy Gibb's performance of "I Can't Help It" from this episode. CrestfallenXYU actually recorded this copy ages ago, probably the same way I would have, so that's his thanks for this track. Click here to download. |