Punky Brewster

Punky Brewster is an American sitcom about a girl named Punky Brewster (Soleil Moon Frye) being raised by her foster parent Henry Warnimont (George Gaynes). The show ran on NBC from September 16, 1984 to September 7, 1986 and again in first-run syndication from September 26, 1986 to May 27, 1988.

After 7-year-old Penelope "Punky" Brewster and her beloved dog Brandon are abandoned at a shopping center by Punky's mother, Susan Brewster, Punky is taken in by Chicago photographer and apartment building manager Henry Warnimont, who lives on the apartment building's second floor. Henry's friend, Betty Johnson, lives upstairs from Henry. Betty is a registered nurse who has had custody of her granddaughter, Cherie, ever since Cherie's parents died in a car accident.

When the show first started, it was aired on Sunday nights after the weekly televised NFL football game, which would sometimes run overtime into Punky Brewster's 7:30 PM time slot. Instead of cancelling the show because of this, they would make 15 minute episodes to air whenever the football game ran into the show's time slot. Six of these 15 minute episodes were made. Whenever the show is in syndicated reruns, these six 15 minute episodes are aired in three 30 minute packages of two 15 minute episodes each. After Punky Brewster's first two seasons, the show went into first-run syndication for its last two seasons.

- info from TV.com & Wikipedia