This show had a sadness, a wistfulness to it

[mickrobatt]

I always thought "Gimme a Break!" had a certain sadness, a certain witfulness to it. It was a comedy, but it had some very serious storylines and scenes. It starts out sad because the girls have lost their mother, and the Chief has lost his wife. Cancer is of the devil. This is a show, but cancer is very real. "Mom's Birthday" is a very touching episode. It's not fair that kids have to grow up without a parent for any reason.

What really makes it sad is that the girls eventually lose their father too. And, Carl Kanisky *and* Dolph Sweet died so it was the real thing. There are two episodes in the second season that have the girls worrying about losing their father. When he gets shot, Samantha begins to worry that he will die. It's such a sad scene when she prays and tells God that He has already taken her mother and to please not take her father. At the end Grandpa tells her she must learn to live everyday and make the most of life.

When the Chief gives a kidney to Uncle Ed, all three girls worry about him. They all get into bed with their father because they want to have him close. He tells Samantha that he will not die, and that he will probably live forever. Within two years, he is gone. Samantha cries that she doesn't want to be an orphan, but she is within a couple of years.

The girls eventually have no parents at all. So unfair. Their father loved them so much and wanted to raise them up after their mother died, but then he was taken too by cancer. Whether it's life imitating art, or art imitating life, it's sad. In real life, Dolph Sweet finally gets a really good role on a hit series, and he is taken by cancer before he can really enjoy his success. The on-screen and and off-screen are sad. I'm sure in "Joey's Train" that the actors didn't even have to act. When Nell had her "damn, damn, damn" moment, I bet that was her real feelings. She was very close to Dolph. I heard that Lauri Hendler was close to him too. She said he was a very nice man.

The later episodes are hard for me to watch because the girls have to try to live some kind of life after losing their parents so young. It's sad that Samantha has to go to college with no parents to take her and help her along the way. It's sad that the Chief never saw his first grandchild, little Nell. He would have loved her and spoiled her rotten. The Chief never saw Katie become a successful businesswoman, and he would have been so proud because he always worried about how she would turn out.

I know other shows have had similar things. For instance, "Full House" was similar in that the three girls had lost their mother and were being raised by their father. They had some episodes where they watched videos and talked about their mother. Still, I never felt the same sadness with "Full House". Perhaps because none of the actors actually died in real life. Also, "Gimme a Break!" was so realistic. Sometimes it was so real it was like watching a documentary, a real family. Carl Kanisky was way more of a real dad than Danny Tanner was. "Full House" was really just a cheesy, corny sitcom. "Gimme a Break!" was more raw and real.

Does anyone agree with me?

[Wawwie]

I agree that Gimme A Break was a lot more realistic than Full House which was cheeseball, corny so-called comedy.

I remember the kidney episode where all three girls got into bed with the chief before his operation. I'm not sure, but I think Nell sat on the bed too. But maybe I'm remembering it wrong. It is very sad that the chief died two years later. It's also very sad that grandpa outlived his son. The girls would have been lost without Nell and grandpa. I liked how Katie would call Nell "Mama."