| Gimme a Break! | |
|---|---|
Title screen used during the first and second seasons |
|
| Genre | Sitcom |
| Created by | Mort Lachman Sy Rosen |
| Directed by | John Bowab Hal Cooper Jim Drake Linda Day Dick Harwood Jules Lichtman Will Mackenzie Patrick Maloney Phil Ramuno Tony Singletary Oz Scott Howard Storm |
| Starring | Nell Carter Dolph Sweet Lara Jill Miller Lauri Hendler Kari Michaelsen Howard Morton John Hoyt Joey Lawrence Telma Hopkins Jonathan Silverman Rosetta LeNoire Matthew Lawrence Paul Sand Rosie O'Donnell |
| Theme music composer | Jay Graydon |
| Opening theme | "Gimme a Break" performed by Nell Carter |
| Composer(s) | Bob Christianson |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 6 |
| No. of episodes | 137 (List of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Hal Cooper Mort Lachman Rod Parker |
| Producer(s) | Arthur Julian Coleman Mitchell Geoffrey Neigher |
| Running time | 22–24 minutes |
| Production company(s) | Alan Landsburg Productions (1981–1985) Reeves Entertainment Group (1985–1987) |
| Distributor | NBC Universal Television Distribution The Program Exchange (2006–present) |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | NBC |
| Original run | October 29, 1981 – May 12, 1987 |
Gimme a Break! is an American sitcom which aired on NBC from October 29, 1981, until May 12, 1987. The series stars Nell Carter as the housekeeper for a widowed police chief (Dolph Sweet) and his three daughters.
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The sitcom took place in the fictional Los Angeles, California, suburb of Glenlawn. Nellie Ruth "Nell" Harper (Nell Carter) agrees to be a housekeeper for the Kanisky household as a special favor to her late friend, Margaret Kanisky (played in flashback by Sharon Spelman), who was the wife of police chief Carl Kanisky (Dolph Sweet). Nell also served as a confidante to the chief's three daughters, 17-year-old Katie (Kari Michaelsen), 15-year-old Julie (Lauri Hendler), and 13-year-old Samantha (Lara Jill Miller). A foster son, Joey (Joey Lawrence) was added in season 3.
Over the six-year run, a number of celebrities appeared on the show, including singer Whitney Houston, Andy Gibb, Sammy Davis, Jr., and Ray Parker, Jr.. In some of these episodes, the guest would eventually perform a song with Nell. During the third season, Pat Sajak guest-starred as himself when Nell and Addy were contestants on Wheel of Fortune.
Two episodes were particularly noteworthy. The episode "Cat Story" was performed and broadcast live on March 2, 1985, as a promotional gimmick, which the cast was able to pull off without a hitch. Another episode that aired earlier in the 1984–85 season, "Baby of the Family", ranked No. 38 on TV Land's list of "The 100 Most Unexpected TV Moments"; the latter episode depicted Joey dressing and performing in blackface at Nell's church benefit at Sam's behest after Nell did not allow Sam to go on an unchaperoned fishing trip.[1]
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, the successor company to original syndication MCA Television. FremantleMedia owns the international rights, as they own Thames Television, which acquired Alan Landsburg Productions and Reeves Entertainment Group product in 1990. The creators of the show were Mort Lachman and Sy Rosen.
Carter performed the lyrics in both versions of the theme song. The original version was used for the first two seasons and was replaced with an up-tempo rearrangement with new lyrics for season three onward.
Nell Carter had a stormy relationship with Gimme a Break!'s original producers Coleman Mitchell and Geoffrey Neigher, which involved personality conflicts and creative differences. The uneasy interaction heightened as the show's success grew heavily in the early seasons, so much that Mitchell and Neigher were dismissed from the show at the behest of Carter just prior to the start of the 1983–84 season. Mort Lachman, the show's co-creator, was retained as co-producer (he would serve in this role for all six seasons). NBC then hired the veteran team of Rod Parker and Hal Cooper to take over as executive producers, following their stint at the recently canceled Love, Sidney. Carter found that she saw eye to eye more often with Parker and Cooper on all levels, and due to the stability the latter team would stay with the program for the rest of its run.
During the summer 1984 hiatus, Dolph Sweet underwent stomach surgery, which was revealed shortly after to be the first extensive treatment for cancer. Over the course of the 1984–85 season, Sweet's health went into serious decline as the cancer further ravaged his body. Producers found it increasingly difficult to keep him on-screen due to his condition and gaunt appearance, but Sweet insisted on working as much as possible in order to help him cope with his illness. Sweet died on May 8, 1985, after taping had completed on season four. To open the next season, the crew wrote out the character of Carl Kanisky and built the season premiere ("Joey's Train") around the family's coming to terms with the loss and their indecision over facing the one place that evoked the most memories of Carl – his empty bedroom.
As the fifth season saw the death of the chief, Nell became the head of the household. Officer Simpson, who remained a friend of the family after the death of his superior, stuck around for another season. Julie and Jonathan, who were now living in the Chief's old room, found out they were expecting a baby; their daughter, whom they named after Nell, was born before season's end.
While never a powerhouse in the ratings, Gimme a Break! usually managed to land in the Top 40 during its first four seasons. However, because of Dolph Sweet's death, the ratings dropped during the fifth season. At this point, the producers were faced with a dilemma: either cancel the series or renew it for a sixth season with significant changes. At the start of the 1986–87 season, Katie moved to San Francisco; Julie, Jonathan, and baby Nell moved to San José; and Samantha attended college in New Jersey. However, she was still seen occasionally in the sixth season, visiting from school. Addy got a job in New York City, so Nell, Grandpa and Joey came to New York to join her. There, they discovered Joey's irresponsible father, Tim (guest star Patrick Collins), 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." Nell's Mama Maybelle (Rosetta LeNoire) began being seen in more recurring roles starting in season six after previous guest appearances. She had moved in with her other daughter and son-in-law, who also recently moved to New York and was a TV weatherman.
One of Nell and Addy's New York neighbors was a young lady named Maggie O'Brien, played by Rosie O'Donnell. O'Donnell later revealed how, at first, she was thrilled and excited at being cast on a major prime time television show, yet very quickly became disappointed and disheartened at feeling snubbed by most of the cast, who, for the most part, treated her more as an interloper than as a fellow actor.
There was also friction between O'Donnell and Carter herself, who did not befriend the younger comedienne and only addressed her during rehearsals as her character's name "Maggie", which according to O'Donnell, was not because Carter was into the Stanislavsky Method. In an interview Carter gave for O'Donnell's E! True Hollywood Story, she was adamant that frequently calling her "Maggie" was a tactic to help young Joey and Matthew Lawrence focus on their lines, rehearsals and shootings without acting up, as kids often do. Carter also said that she called other cast members by their character names for the same reason.
Despite these extensive changes, ratings continued to decline as NBC began to move the show around to various spots in its schedule (the show averaged out at #42 in the Nielsens for season six, which was actually 7 spots higher than in its third season, when NBC evidently gave the show more support). Gimme a Break was canceled in the spring of 1987.
The show has been in off-network syndication since 1985. Reruns have also aired nationally on WWOR EMI Service (September 30, 1991 to December 31, 1993) and the USA Network (September 22, 1997 to September 11, 1998).[2][3][4][5]
Currently airs on WVTV CW 18 in Milwaukee 6 nights a week
Distribution rights are currently owned by The Program Exchange.
Universal Studios Home Entertainment released a three-disc DVD of the complete first season of Gimme a Break! on February 14, 2006, available in the United States only. The Complete Series is now available in the US.
Visual Entertainment released the first two seasons of Gimme a Break!' on DVD in Canada between 2006-07. In 2009, VEI announced that they plan on releasing the entire series in a complete series box set in 2010.[6]
VEI released Gimme a Break! The Complete Series on DVD in Canada on July 20, 2010.[7]
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