Tubi acquired all seasons of the show as of February 1, 2022. The cast addition of Joey Lawrence's younger brother Matthew Lawrence in the final season, was forced on the producers and ordered from NBC to preserve the cuteness factor. Gimme A Break, was certainly in the same league as any of NBC's other popular comedy shows. Sweet continued dropping weight, due to cancer. Joey Lawrence didn't audition for his role on the show. Nell's character went back to school to get her diploma and starting taking college courses in child psychology. It was released as the third and final single from the album on March 3, 2008, by Jive Records.The song was written by Nate "Danja" Hills, Jim Beanz, Keri Hilson and Marcella Araica, while production was handled by Danja and vocal production was handled by Beanz. Nell Carter Hopkins appeared on many Motown hits and worked with legendary acts like the Four Tops and Marvin Gaye. Later additions to the cast included Stanley Kanisky (Carl's father), Adelaide "Addy" Wilson (Nell's best friend, played by Telma Hopkins), adopted son Joey (Joey Lawrence) and Nell's mother, Maybelle. She and Max Green (Don Rickles) catch an orphaned girl named Danny stealing money and food. 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). Everyone was ideally cast, the costume design was great. The only other storyline in the episode consisted of the activities director Lilly, a four time widow, having a crush on one of the senior members named Andy, and how he refused to go to her house for dinner many times. Nell Carter, who plays the housekeeper for police Chief Carl Kanisky on ''Gimme a Break,'' will eulogize Sweet . Nell's mother was originally portrayed by Hilda Haynes. Two new characters were added to the cast: Addy Wilson, Nell's longtime friend, and Joey Donovan, an abandoned seven-year-old orphan. He then claimed she wasn't very nice to Lawrence and didn't want to do much with him. One of the episodes is called "Knock Three Times". TV Listings. Nell's middle name is Ruth, which was also Nell Carter's middle name in real life. Thelma Hopkins said if the script didn't call for it they wouldn't speak to each other and weren't close outside of the show, but in time managed a decent working relationship. I also love the grandfather character. Gimme a Break! The Hillside Memorial Park and Mortuary is a Jewish cemetery located at 6001 West Centinela Avenue, in Culver City, California. on DVD in Canada between 2006-07. Dolph Sweet and Nell Carter both died young. Lauri Hendler was the only Jewish member of the original cast. All is resolved when Andy brings up his deceased wife Maybelle, and how he's still not over her, but agrees to go to Lilly's place if she invites him again. The Season 2 episode "Julie Smokes" has Carl slap his daughter across the face when, after she lied to him that she was not smoking, she accidentally blew smoke in his face, having unsuccessfully concealed that she had currently been smoking a cigarette. Five episodes into the sixth and final season, the show changed locales from Glenlawn to New York City, when Nell. [11] VEI released Gimme a Break! A guide listing the titles AND air dates for episodes of the TV series Gimme a Break!. To this day I have written letters to the Hallmark Channel, KSMO WB 62, KCMI 38, USA, and KCWE 29 networks requesting that they bring this show back on the air. Gimme a Break! Nell and the Kaniskys had a black goldfish named Gertrude, who keeps getting killed throughout the series (accidentally by Nell, with a rogue vacuum cleaner, or with a sprinkle of Comet) only to reappear again. One episode has Katie hospitalized when her I.U.D. After the original pilot was filmed NBC told the show producers they wanted to go to series with the show; but they had to redo the pilot. including a new theme song, new producers, and new writers (only co-Creator Mort Lachman stayed). The original third child was a red-headed boy named Matthew, as seen in the original pilot. During the show's third season, the writers changed the story line and made it that Margaret Kanisky, who was Carl's wife and a close friend of Nell's, asked Nell to raise her kids after she died. Mr. Kaminsky was a widower with 3 daughters, in the initial seasons and Nell was the surrogate mom/housekeeper. Nell also served as a parent to the Chief's three daughters, Katie (Kari Michaelsen), Julie (Lauri Hendler), and Samantha (Lara Jill Miller). They either recast them, lose cast members or cancel their show. [2][3][4][5] More recently as of January 2018, it is now shown on Antenna TV. This list included Helen Hunt, who is, in fact, my favorite actress ever! The new theme has similarities to the first but with a more positive attitude. It was basic fare for a sitcom, featuring the cute kids, family values, and little lessons learned at the end of each episode. Parker was completely bewildered regarding the fallout. Laurie Hendler on the other hand, was upset and caught by surprise because she had recently purchased a new house. LOS ANGELES (AP) _ Dolph Sweet, the lovable police chief on the NBC's ''Gimme a Break'' who died of cancer at age 64, began his acting career in a one-act play with fellow prisoners of war during World War II. Alter Ego. NBC granted Nell's wishes and replaced Lachman and Rosen with new show runners Rod Parker and Hal Cooper who previously worked on (All in the Family, Maude and Love, Sidney) beginning in Season 3. Cooper and Parker thought the original producers didn't utilize Nell's talents and one of the first things they changed to the show was having Nell sing more on the show. NBC had many quality sitcoms on the air in the 80s, such as Diff'rent Strokes, The Facts Of Life, Silver Spoons, etc. Over its run, the series used two different theme songs. Watch Gimme a Break! Many Jews from the entertainment industry are buried here. We heart you!!! / Throughout the course of Gimme a Break, there had been several un-successful spin-off attempts. Nell Carter was deemed difficult to work with most of the time. Sweet died Wednesday at Tarzana Hospital, said NBC-TV publicist Matt Bozek. Gimme a Break! New Release. 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. Five episodes into the sixth and final season, the show changed locales from Glenlawn to New York City, when Nell, concerned for Joeys welfare after he moved there with his absentee father, traveled there to check on him. Joey's father was portrayed by two different actors Fred McCarren and Patrick Collins (I). . TVTropes is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. [14], This article is about the television series. This re-write was due in part of the backlash the show receiving at the time for the depiction of Nell's character as the "black maid" to a white family. Gimme a Break! I vaguely remember the theme song. Dolph Sweet, the lovingly sarcastic police chief on television's "Gimme A Break" and an actor who began his career in a World War II prison camp, died May 8th, 1985 (shortly after filming the final episode of the 1984-1985 season) of cancer at Tarzana Hospital in Tarzana, California.He was 64. Inter-Uterine Device, an implanted birth control device that, at the time, had a reputation for piercing the uterus and causing dangerous bleeding and possible infection. The Amazing Spider-Man. Nell Carter and Joey Lawrence perform a "Me and My Shadow" number, much like Beatrice Arthur did with Esther Rolle on Maude (1972) due in part that both shows were executive produced by Hal Cooper. We heart living like a star. Parker sat down with Lawrence and had numerous talks with him because he loved the kid and thought was a real pro. Although not noted on several Gimme A Break! A Fan Inquiry to Us on Facebook Leads to Some VERY Interesting New Information! If your show doesn't pull in enough viewers to justify its budget . The series starred Nell Carter as the housekeeper for a widowed police chief ( Dolph Sweet) and his three daughters. 1,041. "Gimme a Break! Later, when he comes back, the two boys try to prove that he stole her purse by putting another purse out to be stolen, along with money from the cash register. She was 54. Lara Jill Miller, in particular, was quite close to her. Helen Hunt auditioned for the role of Katie Kanisky. Reportedly, the tears of the cast during this fifth season retrospective episode, when the Chief and Dolph died were quite real. But in the pilot, he slapped Katie, so that was not true. What Are They Thinking of at NBC? Gimme a Break! She was inconsolable for days after the cast wrap party, refusing to see even close friends as she fell into dark despair. Very good show that was one of many throughout TV sitcom history that revolved around a housekeeper/butler. "Parents' Week". Nell became an uptight, overdramatic control freak after season two. Even Jonathan Silverman was a semi-regular at one point playing Julie's husband. a guest appearance by Tony Randall in part two, NBC was to have an entire block of live episodes the night the episode originally aired. From 2006 until 2010, both networks are Ion Television and MeTV reruns this show, during daytime and nighttime. With Nell Carter, Dolph Sweet, Kari Michaelsen, Lauri Hendler. The performances were top-grade, too. I wish I could sue NBC for the grievous consternation, intestinal distress and aggravated low moaning I have suffered as a result of Gimme a Break, Shales wrote, going on to criticize the shows sex jokes and what he found to be the racial stereotypes embodied by Carters character. This was also the title of a song by Tony Orlando & Dawn, of which Telma Hopkins was a member. DMCA. All of these things would be deemed as child abuse today and would never be in the show. In the episode he slaps Julie, Carl reveals his regret he never slapped Margaret (his now late wife and daughters' late mother) when he couldn't get her to stop smoking, in what would have been a misguided (to say the least) attempt to wake her up to the fact that she was killing herself with her chronic smoking. Officer Simpson also disappeared after Season 5, but it can be assumed that, without the Chief, there was just no excuse for him to be around. Officer Simpson catches Joey Donovan, an abandoned seven-year-old boy, trying to bilk people out of their money. Joey's supposed backstory of living with an uncle was originally treated as a lie. This show is in syndication on Antenna Tv and the episodes are on YouTube . I was very young when it originally aired. Nov 05, 2007 #9. Nov 05, 2007 #8. We heart TV shows. Originally, Nell's mother supported her dream of being a singer, but later became a shrill woman who never had faith in her. The network deemed Gimme a Break! Marty (Paul Sand) was their landlord who also owned a Mexican restaurant under the name "Esteban." The show followed Nell Harper, the housekeeper to Carl Kanisky and his three teenage daughters, Katie, Julie, and Sam. I understand that they had Katie,Julie,Jonathan and baby Nelle exit. If you want to be free from the ads forever consider buying spotify premium! Nell tries to interfere in her mother's love life.Director:Phil RamunoWriters:Mort Lachman (creator), Sy Rosen (creator), 2 more credits Stars:Nell Carter, . Dolph Sweet was in classic movies ,and in Little House on the Prairie. In an interview Carter gave for O'Donnell's E! Nell Carter, the robustly sassy singer and actress who exploded onto the New York musical stage in the Fats Waller revue Aint Misbehavin and went on to become a popular television star in the series Gimme a Break!, died yesterday at her home in Beverly Hills, Calif. She was 54. The episode Julie's Birthday (1985) was Dolph Sweet's last appearance before his death. John Hoyt died in 1991, six years after his on-screen son died. Two of them were during the first season and one was during the second. When the show started, it was stated that the girls mother had recently passed six months prior. She finally sees eye to eye with him, and thanks God for everyone around her, letting him know she also thanks God for him. Gimme A Break was in the sitcom line-up, on NBC in the 80s. During the summer 1984 hiatus, Dolph Sweet underwent stomach surgery, which was revealed shortly after to be the first extensive treatment for cancer. However, if you ask me, it was still a good show. Dolph Sweet also played a police chief in the original Out of Towners movie (1970). While never a powerhouse in the ratings, Gimme a Break! GIMME A BREAK! why was gimme a break cancelled Posted on 2022527by Verified Purchase. The producers took notice Miller's jealousy on set towards Lawrence and that's what inspired them to write the infamously controversial black face episode Baby of the Family. Nell Carter was absolutely magnificent. As ABC was developing Growing Pains, and putting the final touches on it before it went to series; they decided to replace the young actress who played Carol in the pilot, Elizabeth Ward, because she was not testing well with audiences, so Tracey Gold was tapped to take over for the role. "The day it was announced we had an MBA class and the topic was corporate culture. But the show belong to Nell Carter who was a joy to watch. Grandma Kanisky was portrayed by three different actresses Elvia Allman, Elizabeth Kerr, and Jane Dulo. I think that the cast in Gimme a Break was excellent. Contents 1 Cast 1.1 Main characters 1.2 Recurring characters The original theme song's opening line "Gimme a break, I sure deserve it" is a reference to a popular 1970's McDonald's commercial jingle and slogan "You deserve a break today.". episodes. Nell wonders why her mother would have a date, and when her mother shows up, she meets her date, Ernie, a man from her past. The show centered on the lives of the Kanisky Family in Glenlawn, CA, headed by Carl (Dolph Sweet), the widowed Chief of Police in town. "Baby of the Family" had a resentful and jealous Samantha dressing up Joey in black face for a performance at Nell's black church, to get even with Nell for ignoring her. GIMME A BREAK (Entity Number: 1260888) was incorporated on 10/12/2001 in Ohio. The episode aired three days after he died. The producers had zero intentions on recasting Dolph Sweet's role of The Chief. Before she landed her own sitcom, Nell Carter made an appearance in Hair (1979). During the show's third season, Telma Hopkins and Joey Lawrence joined the cast. As the show grew in popularity, the cast also grew and they added in Carl's father played by Stanley Kanisky (who is almost like the original dad from Fraiser), Adelaide Wilson, who was Nell's best friend, played by Thelma Hopkins, Howard Morton who played Officer Ralph Simpson, and as all 80's shows of that time didthey added in an adorable kid, this one played by Joey Lawrence (pre Blossom) as adopted son" Joey"clever. A real romance developed between Kari Michaelson and Andy Gibb when he guest starred. Jonathan Silverman was a good addition after that. 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 (ne Huffmann) (played in flashback by Sharon Spelman), who was the wife of police chief Carl Kanisky (Dolph Sweet). This episode dealt with a Greek restaurant called "Two Guys From Greece" and the two guys who worked at it, Nicky, and his friend Tyler. Writing for the Washington Post, Tom Shales wrote an especially scathing review of the pilot episode. Nell Carter as an overweight housekeeper, a devout guardian to 3 teenage white girls and a force not to be reckoned with whenever she dealt with the Chief of Police - Carl Kanisky, pretty well sums up what this 1980s sitcom is about. January 23, 2003 The only sitcom where there was an earthquake in two episodes. cast members, and just focuses on the two boys and Mr. Pappalard. Towards the bottom of the page of reviews, there is one by somebody who named several stars who, at one point or another, made guest appearances on this series. In the show, the chief of police's wife has just died, and he asks Nell (Nell Carter) to come in and work for him, helping him raise his three daughters in the process. The show "Gimme A Break" was based on a cop who moved his family from New York to California after his wife Margaret passed away and also became the chief of police in a small fictional California town who in turn had this housekeeper named Nell who was no only in charge of the household,but also was in charge of his three daughters too in which Nell was not only the mother to them,but she had some tough love around that too. The first was composed by Bob Christianson with lyrics by Bob Garrett and Marley Sims; two versions of this song were used, one for the first season and a new recording for the second. Status: cancelled/ended Network(s): NBC Run time: 30 min Episodes: 137 eps Genre(s): Comedy, Crime/Mystery . Prior to the pilot episode . She said that "Once that original formula was broken, it just didn't feel the same. Alvernette Jiminez who portrayed Nell's friend Angie during the early years said Nell was rude to her and didn't treat her well. 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