Had Dolph Sweet not Been Stricken with Cancer and Died...

[kanisky7896]

Had Dolph Sweet not been stricken with cancer and died, do you think that the writers for Gimme A Break! would have married Julie and Jonathan the way they did?

Personally, I'm not sure. I'm kinda torn on this one. I think that it could have gone either way. At that point, Julie hadn't had a major storyline in awhile. "Julie's Lie" (when Nell caught Julie and Jonathan at the ski lodge) was a good storyline, but given her character, it wasn't all too compelling. It kinda seemed like a typical middle child storyline. Just my opinion on that one. When Julie and Jonathan did elope, I would've loved to have seen the Chief's reaction to the news!

However, I think that had Dolph Sweet not have gotten sick, I think that the writers would have either a.) Married Julie and Jonathan anyway, or b.) Made Julie and Jonathan as boyfriend and girlfriend for most of Season 5 and married at the end of Season 5, and made Julie pregnant at the beginning of Season 6, finally to give birth at the end of Season 6.

These were just my thoughts. What do you all think?

[Wildchats]

They married them even before Dolf died. It was wrtitten that way. He could have passed at any time. Early in the season. In early season 5, in later season 5. I guess Jonathan was created because Dolf got sick, becuase he didn't appear until the 2nd half of the season. However, Dolf could have passed away anytime. He was still acting when he filmed the last episode of season 4 which was when the two married.

I think 1989 is the year GAB would have ended. It just seems like a good year. Either 1989 or 1990. I'd go with 1990 because the girls always used to say "This is the 80s, Nell!" Either 8 or 9 seasons the show would have lasted if Dolf was living.

1987-1988 Season 7

1988-1989 Season 8

1989-1990 Season 9


I doubt the show would have lasted 10 years. It would have been over once the girls grew up. Especially Sam. She still looked young. I think they aged them badly on the show. They used to skip ages really fast.

Season 1 Sam was 12. 2 she was 13 I think. 3 she was 14. In 4 she was 15 and in 5 she was 16 I think. However, I don't know if they revelaed the ages or the school years a lot. All I know is in season 1 she definitly was 12. In season 3 she definitely was 14 which is accurate. However in season 4 I think she was 15-16 and by season 5 she was 17 because in season 6's premiere she turned 18. That makes sense though. That's why I'd rather have the characters birthdays in the summer months, so their ages would be accurate by the time the new season started.


In season 1 Sam was a 12 year old who wore braces so said Katie

In season 3 Sam didn't wanna sit on Nell's lap because she was 14.

In season 4 she said 15, I'm 15! When Leopold showed up with Katrina.

In season 5 I have no idea how old she was.

But by season 6 she had turned 18 by the premiere. The high school years and the ages really confused the heck out of me with the girls.



For ex.


Julie in season 1 was a Junior at Lincoln High. Katie was supposed to take the test for college, but in season 3 she was graduating high school. Julie I think was graduating high school in season 4, and Sam graduated high school I believe at the end of season 5. Now, the way they wrote it in season 1, Katie was a Senior? Or was she taking a test as a Sophomore? Because she would have been a Junior in season 2 (Impossible because Julie was already a Junior in season 1 and she would have graduated high school in season 2) and in season 3 katie would have been a senior. Also impossible because Julie was supposed to be in first year of College in season 3 if she was a Junior in season 1.


I hate how they wrote the girls schooling/ages on this show. Never accurate.

[kanisky7896]

Originally Posted by Wildchats

They married them even before Dolf died. It was wrtitten that way. He could have passed at any time. Early in the season. In early season 5, in later season 5. I guess Jonathan was created because Dolf got sick, becuase he didn't appear until the 2nd half of the season. However, Dolf could have passed away anytime. He was still acting when he filmed the last episode of season 4 which was when the two married.

I think 1989 is the year GAB would have ended. It just seems like a good year. Either 1989 or 1990. I'd go with 1990 because the girls always used to say "This is the 80s, Nell!" Either 8 or 9 seasons the show would have lasted if Dolf was living.

1987-1988 Season 7

1988-1989 Season 8

1989-1990 Season 9


I doubt the show would have lasted 10 years. It would have been over once the girls grew up. Especially Sam. She still looked young. I think they aged them badly on the show. They used to skip ages really fast.

Season 1 Sam was 12. 2 she was 13 I think. 3 she was 14. In 4 she was 15 and in 5 she was 16 I think. However, I don't know if they revelaed the ages or the school years a lot. All I know is in season 1 she definitly was 12. In season 3 she definitely was 14 which is accurate. However in season 4 I think she was 15-16 and by season 5 she was 17 because in season 6's premiere she turned 18. That makes sense though. That's why I'd rather have the characters birthdays in the summer months, so their ages would be accurate by the time the new season started.


In season 1 Sam was a 12 year old who wore braces so said Katie

In season 3 Sam didn't wanna sit on Nell's lap because she was 14.

In season 4 she said 15, I'm 15! When Leopold showed up with Katrina.

In season 5 I have no idea how old she was.

But by season 6 she had turned 18 by the premiere. The high school years and the ages really confused the heck out of me with the girls.



For ex.


Julie in season 1 was a Junior at Lincoln High. Katie was supposed to take the test for college, but in season 3 she was graduating high school. Julie I think was graduating high school in season 4, and Sam graduated high school I believe at the end of season 5. Now, the way they wrote it in season 1, Katie was a Senior? Or was she taking a test as a Sophomore? Because she would have been a Junior in season 2 (Impossible because Julie was already a Junior in season 1 and she would have graduated high school in season 2) and in season 3 katie would have been a senior. Also impossible because Julie was supposed to be in first year of College in season 3 if she was a Junior in season 1.


I hate how they wrote the girls schooling/ages on this show. Never accurate.

The part about Dolph Sweet and how the second half of Season 4 was written is a given. My question was had Dolph Sweet NOT have gotten sick and had he NOT have died, do you think that the writers would have had Julie and Jonathan married the way they did or would they have made Julie and Jonathan a dating couple for awhile before they got married. My feeling on that was that I thought that the storylines could have gone either way. As for when GAB would've ended had Dolph Sweet lived, I think that nine seasons would have been pushing it, given the way that the 80's had evolved at that point. I think that GAB would've ended in either '88 or'89. That's just my opinion.

I also had a problem with the inaccuracies of the girls' ages. In Season 1, Katie was a senior, Julie was a junior, and Samantha was in junior high. In the episode, "Katie the Cheat", when Katie was given the choice whether or not to retake the test, the Chief told Katie that she "could go to college this Fall" which indicated that she was a senior. I also found it a bit odd that Julie was a junior in high school in Season 1, because she was only 15 years old. The only way that Julie could have been a junior in high school at age 15 is either she had a very late birthday, or she skipped a grade. It semmed like they kept the same ages for the girls in the second season. In the third season, Katie was 18 (which made me wonder if Katie had to repeat her senior year), Julie 16, and Samantha 14. But yeah, I definately see what you mean about being frustrated about the inaccuracies of the girls' ages.