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    Nostalgia Central
    Home»Television»Comedy
    Comedy TV Shows - 1980s 2 Mins Read

    Gimme A Break

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    1 9 8 1 – 1 9 8 7 (USA)
    137 x 30 minute episodes

    Fresh from Broadway and her Tony Award-winning performance in the musical Ain’t Misbehavin’, Nell Carter starred in this comedy as Nellie Ruth Harper, a singer who cuts short her musical career to keep house for the crusty but lovable, widowed police chief, Carl Kanisky (Dolph Sweet).

    gimmeabreak2The series revolved around their shared problems in keeping law and order over Carl’s three troublesome young daughters, Katie, Julie and Sam. Because Nell Carter was a heavy-set woman, lots of good-natured fat jokes prevailed.

    Dolph Sweet died of cancer in May 1985 shortly after filming the fourth season’s final instalment. His place as “man of the house” was taken by Jonathan Maxwell (Jonathan Silverman), who had married Julie (Lauri Hendler).

    Joey Donovan, an orphan, had joined the cast in 1983, and when Katie and Julie left the show at the end of the fifth season, Nell moved to New York with Joey and Grandpa and her best friend Addy.

    By then the series was so far removed from its original premise that it lasted only one more season.

    The 23 February 1985 episode was presented ‘live to air’ – a rare event by that stage on television. It was mostly a gimmick to generate interest in the series, whose popularity had begun to fade.

    The show’s theme was sung by Nell Carter herself. Sadly, Nell collapsed and died of natural causes in her Beverly Hills home on Thursday, 23 January 2003. She was just 54 years old.

    Nellie Ruth “Nell” Harper 
    Nell Carter
    Chief Carl Kanisky 

    Dolph Sweet
    Julie Kanisky/Maxwell 

    Lauri Hendler
    Katie Kanisky 

    Kari Michaelson
    Samantha Kanisky 

    Lara Jill Miller
    Jonathan Maxwell 

    Jonathan Silverman
    Officer Ralph Simpson 

    Howard Morton
    Grandpa Stanley Kanisky 

    John Hoyt
    Grandma Mildred Kanisky 

    Jane Dulo
    Uncle Ed 

    Pete Schrum
    Joey Donovan

    Joey Lawrence
    Addy Wilson 

    Thelma Hopkins
    Matthew Donovan 

    Matthew Lawrence
    Marty/Esteban 

    Paul Sand
    Maybelle Harper 

    Rosetta LeNoire
    Maggie O’Brien 

    Rosie O’Donnell

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