not only idthe raitngs get bad when the cheif died but theyalo Droppe even more whhenNBC decidedto get rid of kari mihaleson and luari HenlerAnyone Else? and couldtthey had let katie and julie make ghuestapeerance once in a while like they id with samantha?

I really wish they had kept Katie and Julie. The show sucked without them.

iam gld you andi agrrre onthat ifthey had kept them the show might have lasted longer what dou think? was inNBC ideah to get rid of them?

In the documentary special about the show, Kari Michaelson said she was glad to be let go because she wanted to focus on other things. Laurie Hendler said she had been caught off guard by her lay-off; she had just bought a house.

After the unexpected loss of the Chief, the show should have tried to prevent losing any more characters. They could have done all sorts of things in place of moving to New York.

It would be cool if they had found a way for Nell to work at the police station. Then there'd be a reason to keep Simpson on the show. Can you imagine Nell as a detective? She was already nosy, so it would have been the perfect job for her. Or she could have even done some desk job like marketing.

Julie should have gone to a local college and lived at home (with her husband). Since Katie wasn't interested in college, she could have gotten married and had a baby. Imagine Nell getting in all kinds of funny situations with the baby.

They still could have added Joey's brother.

In the documentary special about the show, Kari Michaelson said she was glad to be let go because she wanted to focus on other things. Laurie Hendler said she had been caught off guard by her lay-off; she had just bought a house.

After the unexpected loss of the Chief, the show should have tried to prevent losing any more characters. They could have done all sorts of things in place of moving to New York.

It would be cool if they had found a way for Nell to work at the police station. Then there'd be a reason to keep Simpson on the show. Can you imagine Nell as a detective? She was already nosy, so it would have been the perfect job for her. Or she could have even done some desk job like marketing.

Julie should have gone to a local college and lived at home (with her husband). Since Katie wasn't interested in college, she could have gotten married and had a baby. Imagine Nell getting in all kinds of funny situations with the baby.

They still could have added Joey's brother.

Anything would have been better than what they did, MAB. Your ideas are far better than what they did on the show. That final season is dead to me.

I wasn't aware that Lauri was caught off guard. Which documentary is this?

Hi RetroGuy,

When I said "documentary", I meant "The E! True Hollywood Story" of Gimme A Break at https://youtu.be/L6diioslTbM.

The documentary starts talking about the show's format change at 26:09.

Hi RetroGuy,

When I said "documentary", I meant "The E! True Hollywood Story" of Gimme A Break at https://youtu.be/L6diioslTbM.

The documentary starts talking about the show's format change at 26:09.

Thanks so much for the link! :wave:

In the documentary special about the show, Kari Michaelson said she was glad to be let go because she wanted to focus on other things. Laurie Hendler said she had been caught off guard by her lay-off; she had just bought a house.

After the unexpected loss of the Chief, the show should have tried to prevent losing any more characters. They could have done all sorts of things in place of moving to New York.

It would be cool if they had found a way for Nell to work at the police station. Then there'd be a reason to keep Simpson on the show. Can you imagine Nell as a detective? She was already nosy, so it would have been the perfect job for her. Or she could have even done some desk job like marketing.

Julie should have gone to a local college and lived at home (with her husband). Since Katie wasn't interested in college, she could have gotten married and had a baby. Imagine Nell getting in all kinds of funny situations with the baby.

They still could have added Joey's brother.

In addition, Kari did an FB live recently and said that she asked to be let out of her contract at the end of season 5. This has me wondering if with Katie no longer on the show for season 6 if that gave them the push to retool the show without Lauri as Julie either.

I had no idea that Kari made a motion to get out of her contract. Did she ever give any explanation as to why she wanted out?

I hated the final season. If they wanted to have the girls more independent they shoulda let them move out but still drop by not change locations

I will agree that the last season of "Gimme a Break!" was very stale. In my opinion, there are a lot of shows that overstay their welcome, but very few do it to the degree that "Gimme a Break!" did. For example, I would say that the last few season of "Three's Company" were pretty watered down. On top of that, I was born the same year that "Sesame Street" made its debut. The "Sesame Street" that I grew up with was very much about the hard, cold world that we live in. During the epidemic, boredom has caused me to watch some current episodes of "Sesame Street". It is now all about sugar-coated nonsense. I think that is a shame when political correctness takes it toll on so many of these classic shows!

I hated the final season. If they wanted to have the girls more independent they shoulda let them move out but still drop by not change locations

Does anybody else find it hilariously ironic that even though the first five seasons took place in Glenlawn, California, Carl Kaniski, Officer Ralph Simpson as well as the plumber and Captain Luchesi from the "Samantha Steals a Cop Car" episode all have thick New York accents. And yes, I'm well aware that Dolph Sweet, Howard Morton, and Phil Rubenstein (Captain Luchesi) were actually from New York City. But still, why couldn't they just set Gimme a Break in NYC right from the beginning?

Kari wanted to get into a fashion career (as a designer, not a model) at this time.

Kari wanted to get into a fashion career (as a designer, not a model) at this time.

That is very interesting.