Gimme a Break!

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For other uses, see Give Me a Break.

Gimme a Break!
Gimme a Break! title screen
Genre	Comedy
Creator(s)	Mort Lachman and Sy Rosen
Starring	Nell Carter Dolph Sweet Kevin Dobson Lara Jan Miller Lauri Hendler John Hoyt
Country of origin	United States
No. of episodes	137
Production
Running time	30 minutes (per episode)
Broadcast
Original channel	NBC
Original run	October 29, 1981 – May 12, 1987
Links
IMDb profile

Gimme a Break! was an American sitcom which aired on NBC from October 29, 1981 until May 12, 1987. It starred stage actress Nell Carter as the housekeeper for a police chief and his three daughters, whose mother had died.

1 Premise
2 Supporting characters
3 Later developments
4 Trivia
5 DVD Releases
6 External links

[edit] Premise

The sitcom took place in a fictional town of Glen Lawn, California. Nellie Ruth "Nell" Harper (Nell Carter) agrees to be a housekeeper for the Kanisky household as a special favor to her late friend, who was the wife of police chief Carl Kanisky (Dolph Sweet). His three daughters were (oldest to youngest) Katie (Kari Michaelsen), Julie (Lauri Hendler), and Samantha ("Sam"; Lara Jill Miller).

[edit] Supporting characters

Officer Ralph Simpson (Howard Morton) was a dopey police officer who worked with Carl. During the second season, Carl's parents, Grandpa Stanley (John Hoyt) and Grandma Mildred (Jane Dulo), were occasionally seen, as was his brother, Ed (Pete Schrum), an overweight mortician who loved to play practical jokes. Grandma, however, died after that season, and Grandpa moved in with Carl and his family. Ed got married and was written out of the series.

The third season saw occasional appearances of Adelaide "Addy" Wilson (Telma Hopkins), Nell's childhood friend who worked as a teacher. Joey Donovan (Joey Lawrence) was a six-year-old orphan who joined the Kanisky household that year. Addy became a regular cast member one year later. That same year, Julie married Jonathan Maxwell (Jonathan Silverman), a pizza-delivery man, who moved into the household.

[edit] Later developments

The fifth season saw the death of the chief (Dolph Sweet had died), and Jonathan became the head of the household. In order to keep the falling ratings from dropping, the producers of Gimme a Break! made several changes after the fifth year. Katie moved to San Francisco; Julie, Jonathan, and their baby, Nell, moved to San José; and Samantha attended college in New Jersey. Addy got a job in New York City, so Nell and Grandpa and Joey came to New York to join her. There, they discovered Joey's irresponsible father, Tim, who showed him his brother, Matthew (played by Matthew Lawrence, Joey's real-life brother), and left them with Nell and Grandpa. Marty (Paul Sand) was their landlord who also owned a Mexican restaurant under the name "Esteban." One of their New York neighbors was a young lady named Maggie O'Brien, played by Rosie O'Donnell.

As a promotional gimmick, one episode of this series was performed and broadcast live. The episode aired on March 2, 1985.

The show was produced by Alan Landsburg Productions, whose successor-in-interest, Reeves Entertainment Group, took over production in 1985. The American syndication rights are held by NBC Universal Television Distribution. Fremantle Media owns the international rights, as they own Thames Television, which acquired Alan Landsburg Productions and Reeves Entertainment Group product. The creators of the show were Mort Lachman and Sy Rosen.

[edit] Trivia

The December 8, 1984 episode "Baby of the Family" ranked as #38 on TV Guide and TV Land's List of the 100 Most Unexpected TV Moments. TTT

[edit] DVD Releases

Universal Home Video released a 3-disc DVD of the complete first season of Gimme a Break! on February 14, 2006, available in the US only. On May 30, 2006, VEI Entertainment released a Canadian exclusive DVD of Season 1. VEI subsequently released the second season on January 16, 2007, once again exclusive to Canada. It is not known if Universal Home Video will be releasing any subsequent seasons of Gimme A Break for the US market.