I wish producers had shared plans for the series had there been a 7th season

[Wildchats]

The show really wasn't that great after season 4, but it got renewed for a
5th season and then a 6th.

It seems that the first 7 episodes (The entire disc 1 of season 6's DVD) really establishes a change in the show with so many changes, one after another... Sam talking about going to College, Julie and Jonathan moving to Bakersfield, Katie moving to San Fransisco and Addy going off to NY to work at the university. Then Nell taking Sam to College in New Jersey, visiting Addy in NY, Tim visiting Joey and suprising him with his little brother, Matthew, Tim wanting custody of the boys, Nell going back to Glenlawn all sad, then going back to NY and Tim giving the boys to Nell. Then Nell going off and renting an apartment without Addy there, them moving into the apartment, Mama Maybelle saying she moved to NY because Lorretta and Howard and Jerome moved there, too, Grandpa selling the house in Glenlawn and moving to NY to join Nell, and Nell getting the reader job at McDillon and Lowd.

After that point, and all that change, everything seemed to be about two characters. Joey and Mama Maybelle with minor walk by's of Marty, Maggie, Grandpa and Matthew. Nell, Joey, Addy and Mama Maybelle were a big part of the season. A good deal of episodes were all about Joey. Joey's this, Joey's that in the title. It got boring because everything was about Joey and it was just getting plain dumb. However, it was still watchable.

The last episodes of the series were pretty much about Nell and Mama Maybell, when you look at it. "Someday My Prince" was to have aired before "Nell The Boss," earlier in the season, but it aired out of order and that made absolutely no sense there, making it the 2nd last episode of the series. The final true 2 episodes of the series were "Save The Church" and "Mama's Date". What I liked about them was they were ALL about Nell and Mama Maybelle. It wasn't all about Joey. I always liked anytime Mama Maybelle was in an episode.


It seems to me, from all reviews, that the show did not know they were getting cancelled, after being moved around to several timeslots, nights, et. that season, and ended the season with a real cliffhanger to both Nell and the fans, but did not use "To Be Continued". The way "Mama's Date" ended, was for sure a cliffhanger to the viewers, because it let's them speculate that Ernie might be Nell's real father, yet given how her Mama was a devoted woman and told Nell she knew the answer as to if she slept with Ernie or not, we could rest easy she didn't.


Nell's Mama told her Ernie met her and she loved him, but she loved Nell's father more because he was no trumpet player or musician as she knew it wouldn't work out, yet wanted to go on the road with him and he declined her offer, so it can be assumed they did nothing but sleep in the Tweedledee motel.


But I would love to know if there were any plans or episodes already written or planned out for the course of the 1987-1988 season, and if Ernie would have return for more episodes. It seems that the way the show was moving in that episode, that Ernie would have been back again with Mama Maybelle as he was in a great deal of the final show and didn't just get a few lines, and they'd be together, since they both were now reitired and weren't going on the road.


This leads me to wonder if season 7 we would have seen a wedding between Mama and Ernie, since they were now old enough to be together and a final peace pact between Nell and Mama Maybelle. It feels sad that both Nell and Addy didn't have husband's by the end of the series. They both dated on and off throughout seasons 3-6.


I think they really should have been given one last season to close up the characters. They closed the girls up in early season 6, but Nell and Addy still remained single and roomies with Matty and Joey when the show ended. Plus, they should have had Nell get some sort of big break in a musical on Broadway or something and get discovered before they ended the show. When I think about it, she loved to sing, she was a singer, and in the final season, she rarely sang, except in the apartment and not out in crowds. I think the show title "Gimme A Break!" can work two ways, one way, she was overworked as a housekeeper/mother, two, she kept chasing her dream as a singer, even though she stopped going on the road and sang at times at restaurants, on boats, et. I think a good series finale should have had something to do with her getting discovered in NYC.