why was gimme a break cancelled

Typical family situation comedy, nothing special. 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. "There ain't no Julio here!" A guide listing the titles AND air dates for episodes of the TV series Gimme a Break!. The husband (played by Dolph Sweet) is the chief of police of Glenlawn CA. She says "I'm so glad we're all past that image of the black woman as an Aunt Jemima." Nell Carter would admit later in interviews that she had a serious cocaine problem when she starred on this show, which spiralled out of control. One of the senior citizens at the center was Papa Jack Jenkins played by Whittman Mayo in the episode. 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. 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. They either recast them, lose cast members or cancel their show. I would be very interested in what anyone here thinks of it. They should of had a Gimme a Break reunion movie. In "Julie Smokes", after slapping Julie, Carl says he had never laid a hand on his kids before. During the summer 1984 hiatus, Dolph Sweet underwent stomach surgery, which was revealed shortly after to be the first extensive treatment for cancer. 15 were here. Please help this article by looking for better, more reliable sources. She can do it all sing, dance and act. Your email address will not be published. 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. I loved it when I was little but imo this has not aged well. Gimme a Break is a non-profit whose mission is to care for caregivers by giving an emotional and physical break as. The series premiered on October 29, 1981. "Julie's Birthday" aired three days after Sweet passed on from the disease at age 64. Nell Carter We heart living like a star. is an American sitcom that ran on NBC for six seasons (198187), starring Nell Carter as Nell Harper, a once-aspiring singer who became a housekeeper for the Kaniskys: patriarch Carl, the chief of police of the fictional Glenlawn, California, and his daughters Katie, Julie and Samantha (the last of the kids played by a young Lara Jill Miller). A later Season 1 episode, "Katie the Cheat," has Carl fuming when he learns that Katie did not actually take a college entrance exam (while Julie did). "The Purse Snatcher" also seems to be one of these. Nell Carter didn't get along with the original producers, Mort Lachman and Sy Rosen. She tries to steal food from Max's fridge and may leave on the run, yet Max catches her. The series starred Nell Carter as the housekeeper for a widowed police chief ( Dolph Sweet) and his three daughters. "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. 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. (TV Series) Julie Smokes (1983) Full Cast & Crew See agents for this cast & crew on IMDbPro Directed by Jim Drake Writing Credits Cast (in credits order) Produced by Film Editing by Larry Harris Casting By Randy Stone Art Direction by Peter Clemens Costume Design by Palmer Brown Makeup Department Production Management Unreliable citations may be challenged or deleted. Kari Michaelson and Nell Carter both had eating disorders during production. Watch Gimme a Break! One of the episodes is called "Knock Three Times". Two new characters were added to the cast: Addy Wilson, Nell's longtime friend, and Joey Donovan, an abandoned seven-year-old orphan. Two episodes were particularly noteworthy. Sweet died Wednesday at Tarzana Hospital, said NBC-TV publicist Matt Bozek. This is ironic since McClanahan was being groomed by the producers to be a regular character on the show - a love interest for the Chief (Dolph Sweet). We heart TV shows. Although not noted on several Gimme A Break! The overhaul and changes made for the sixth season didn't work out, so the producers quickly scrambled to retool yet again with the ratings continuing to decline. 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. Nell even predicted it, teasing her co-star that she would soon be dating Andy Gibb even before he came to the set; she was right. Joey's father was portrayed by two different actors Fred McCarren and Patrick Collins (I). A foster son, Joey (Joey Lawrence), was added to the Kanisky household in season three. to check out the antics of the Kanisky family. In the series pilot, Katie is arrested for shoplifting. 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. The show has been in off-network syndication since 1985. 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. Sweet on July 18th, 1920 in New York, New York. Antenna TV aired the show from January 2, 2018 until December 31, 2021. Gimme a Break! Lara Jill Miller, in particular, was quite close to her. I vaguely remember the theme song. Copyright document.write(new Date().getFullYear()) NBC president Brandon Tartikoff had a lot of faith in Nell Carter and thought she had potential to become a breakout star. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available from thestaff@tvtropes.org. A running gag involved the Kanisky's goldfish, Gertrude. The other cast was great too. It revolves around the manager of a Greek restaurant and his assistant investigate the disappearance of Nell's purse while dealing with the manager's father, who owns the restaurant. Telma Hopkins felt the show lost its ground quickly when they made all the changes in the sixth season. Gimme a Break! And as much as they tried to make it work, there were just things missing. Alter Ego. She believes it was the customer that the two guys had her sit with, and who she took a liking to. In an interview Carter gave for O'Donnell's E! The one that I really thought that she outdid herself in was the "Emergency". When I tried to tape it when I finally got my cable back and I was shocked to learn that it had been taken off the air. IHeartHollywood.com is an online magazine about all thing "Hollywood." Nell's middle name is Ruth, which was also Nell Carter's middle name in real life. Ironically, Tracey Gold, who was herself replaced last minute before the show went to series; wound up doing this herself to another actress for another family sitcom 4 years later. In addition, she said Nell was also unhappy with the script for that week. Gimme a Break! Nell Carter got more creative control of the show when the new producers Rod Parker and Hal Cooper came onto to the show during it's third season. Not a brilliant show by any means, but certainly a show that highlights the great talents of Nell Carter, in basically her only venture in TV. Spring break was eliminated as a way of reducing travel and thus the spread of COVID-19 amongst The University of Alabama campus community. Nov 05, 2007 #8. I was very young when it originally aired. When Carl demands an explanation, Katie makes a snide remark "She can't say anything, she's dead!" http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Series/GimmeABreak. Originally, Nell's mother supported her dream of being a singer, but later became a shrill woman who never had faith in her. Nov 05, 2007 #9. For the six seasons that in ran on NBC-TV(1981-1987) in the eighties,this was one of those shows that was constantly in the top ten ratings during its run on the Peacock network. GIMME A BREAK! He was funny, and changed as the show went on, from the senile old goat to a wise old man. He shared the accountability together with his spouse's buddy, Nell Harper, performed by Tony-winning actor Nell Carter. Joey's supposed backstory of living with an uncle was originally treated as a lie. All these years later I watched a couple episodes just to "check in", and it was pretty much as I'd remembered it. Gimme a Break! One of Nell and Addy's New York neighbors was a young lady named Maggie O'Brien, played by Rosie O'Donnell. What chapter does Gatsby meet Daisy at Nicks house. Their business is recorded as REGISTERED TRADE NAME. She was 54. As they were redoing it, the boy was replaced by Tracey Gold, who was going to play a tomboy named Samantha. Helen Hunt auditioned for the role of Katie Kanisky. 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. Future seasons adding 'child' Joey Lawrence,Jonathon Silverman and Telma Hopkins as a fine tandem to Nell, especially proving more so important after Dolph Sweets sudden death with 2 seasons left. Though I watched Gimme a Break from the start, it goes without saying that I lacked the maturity at that age to fully understand the adult humor and social issues being explored. 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. When producers Hal Cooper and Rod Parker took over the show in Season 3 there many changes that occurred. Damn! Dolph Sweet also played a police chief in the original Out of Towners movie (1970). He was born Adolphus J. - The Complete Series - TVShowsOnDVD.com", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Gimme_a_Break!&oldid=1105749188, Television series by Alan Landsburg Productions, Television series by Universal Television, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles lacking reliable references from March 2011, Articles that may contain original research from July 2011, All articles that may contain original research, Articles with multiple maintenance issues, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Bob Christianson (first two seasons only), Best Young Actress in a Television Comedy Series, Best Young Supporting Actor in a Television Comedy Series, Best Young Supporting Actress in a Television Comedy Series, Best Young Actor Starring in a Television Series, Mort Lachman and Associates (Entire Series), Lauri Hendler as Julie Kanisky Maxwell (seasons 1-5), This page was last edited on 21 August 2022, at 16:16. Before she starred on Gimme a Break, Telma Hopkins' claim to fame was starring in the hit group from the 70s Tony Orlando and Dawn, of "Tie a Yellow Ribbon" fame. 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.". She said that "Once that original formula was broken, it just didn't feel the same. I know she did musicals but her singing voice is like chalk on a blackboard, very nasal. [7][8][9][10] Distribution rights are jointly owned by The Program Exchange and NBCUniversal Television Distribution, successor in interest to previous syndicator MCA Television. At the end of the first episode of the fifth season, the picture fades of the Chief slowly, with no applause from the audience. The show was about a woman named Nell Harper (Nell Carter), who agrees to be a housekeeper for the Kanisky household as a special favor to her late friend, Margaret Huffman Kanisky (played in flashback by Sharon Spelman) who was the wife of police chief Carl Kanisky (Dolph Sweet). DMCA. Alvernette Jiminez who portrayed Nell's friend Angie during the early years said Nell was rude to her and didn't treat her well. Sammy Davis, Jr. made an appearance on this show, and did duets with Nell and Joey. (See the Mary Tyler Moore Show, The Bob Newhart Show, What's Happening, The Partridge Family, etc.). [5], By contrast, the New York Times found the show promising, praising the performances of Carter and Sweet and the way the show balanced wisecracks with bits of seriousness. Kari Michaelsen and Lauri Hendler returned for the Season Six episode Sam Goes to College at the beginning of Season Six despite leaving the show the previous season. However, if you ask me, it was still a good show. Personally I'd kept Gimme a break on forever or even three more seasons. Carter would binge eat. In this episode, she was a busy body on a hospital pay phone. Nell's mother was originally portrayed by Hilda Haynes. When they brought the character back in season 2 she was replaced with actress Bonnie Urseth. But I actually like Mama's Family so go figure. With Nell Carter's personal issues behind the scenes with her drug use, weight struggle, intense mood swings plaguing production and yet another proposed retooling NBC finally had enough and canceled Gimme a Break! They ended up working out their differences and became friends. Other cast members consisted of Dolph Sweet, Kari Michaelsen, Lauri Hendler, Lara Jill Miller, John Hoyt, Joey Lawrence & his brother Matthew Lawrence, Telma Hopkins, Jonathan Silverman, Rosetta LeNoire, Rosie O'Donnell and Paul Sand. 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Writing for the Washington Post, Tom Shales wrote an especially scathing review of the pilot episode. Nell became an uptight, overdramatic control freak after season two. TV Listings. Nell Carter and Rosie O'Donnell never got along in the final season of the show. I still remember watching this show on Saturday nights back in the '80's over at my grandparents house.I believe it was on NBC-at 830pm right after Diff'rent Strokes (another classic sitcom that also has finally made it to DVD).It was an amazing show-It had the premise of a maid taking care of her employer-a police chief and his 3 teenage daughters.After 25 years since its premiere, several cast members have went to that great casting couch in the sky- Dolph Sweet (Chief Kanisky), Nell Carter (Nell Harper) and Howard Morton (Officer Ralph Simpson: They will live on forever via DVD. So three different actors were cast in the role of the youngest Kanisky child; a boy and two girls. Final episode. Too many changes were made and and the series was a completely different show from when it started. Gimme a Break starred the late great Nell Carter who plays a housekeeper that promises her friend to take care of her husband and three daughters when she dies. The daughters were all fired at the end of the fifth season, because of the low ratings on the show. We heart Beverly Hills. 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. The show has been in syndication since 1985. The episode soon only focuses on Max and Danny at the deli and then Max Green's slummy bachelor apartment and the interaction between him and Danny. This was explained in the Flashback episode in Season 3. Parker was completely bewildered regarding the fallout. after Carl dies, much in the same way Florida Evans shouts the same thing after her husband James died on Good Times, ten years earlier. The plan was for Nell to become a housemother at Samantha's college dorm, reminiscent of the early seasons of the hit NBC sitcom the The Facts of Life. He is survived by his wife of eleven years and son from his first marriage. Laurie Hendler on the other hand, was upset and caught by surprise because she had recently purchased a new house. I also love the grandfather character. The new theme has similarities to the first but with a more positive attitude. A very young Joey Lawrence also appeared in it as a young street-hustler-turned-foster-kid-for-the-family. Nell started singing more, Nell's frumpy and unflattering wardrobe, hair and makeup was upgraded to more glamorous and stylish. Nell Harper is the no-nonsense housekeeper and surrogate mother for police chief Carl Kanisky's children: Samantha, Julie and Katie. Mel Carter Gimme a Break! There were two reasons why it didn't happen. Carter died in 2003, at age 54. Kaser was named as the heir to Carters property and guardian of Carters children. usually managed to land in the Top 40 during its first four seasons. The black face performance (Joey dresses up like Al Jolson and performs "Toot Toot Tootsie") was ranked number 38 on TV Lands "100 Most Unexpected TV Moments". When the two are arguing, Katie makes a snide remark about why she thinks her father wanted her to take the test, prompting him to warn her to stop, and when she presses on, he takes off his belt and chases after her. 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. The Alvin Show. 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