Did NBC start losing faith in "Gimme a Break" once "The Cosby Show" debuted?

[TMC]

To give you a better idea:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0081869/trivia

The Cosby Show, with it's affluent black family, redefining the African American sitcom and how blacks were perceived on TV, and becoming a national phenomenon, helped bring an end to Gimme A Break. After the Cosby show premiered and became a big hit, NBC executives were no longer satisfied with the Nell Carter sitcom about a sassy black maid in a white family. It seemed old hat, and vaguely stereotypical now. NBC warned Gimme A Break it needed to make drastic changes in the fifth season or they would cancel it. This is when the girls (Samantha, Julie and Katie) were fired, the location was changed to upscale Manhattan, and Nell became an assistant at a publishing house; a more acceptable, yuppy position for a black character in the post-Cosby world. This is also when the show jumped the shark. The original chemistry Nell had with the girls and the Chief was gone, the charm of the original house in Fresno was gone, the charm of the original family which had drawn viewers in was gone. The show quality continued to deteriorate at this point and the show was canceled in 1987.

Granted, Gimme a Break to the best of my knowledge, was never a huge hit anyway, as it never cracked the top 30 in the Nielsen's (which was still a pretty big precedent given that we still only had three major networks back then). I'm sure that the untimely passing of Dolph Sweet gave NBC another good excuse to get rid of GAB.

[Wildchats]

The Cosby Show was good, but I think Gimme A Break! was so much better! Gimme A Break! deserved one more season, even if in the NYC setting. I bet they could have closed it up nicely there.

[gidgetgrape]

Some people get stuck on Nell being a maid, but as the show progressed she was more than that. She was a mother. She was a friend. She was a trusted advisor.

[Smartboy]

Originally Posted by gidgetgrape

Some people get stuck on Nell being a maid, but as the show progressed she was more than that. She was a mother. She was a friend. She was a trusted advisor.

I will agree with you that Nell was much more than just a maid. She was very smart and very much a part of the family. I liked her character a lot. As far as the "Cosby Show" is concerned, I am going to have to say that I never got into it. I know that a lot of people all over the United States and beyond watched it religiously, but it was never my ballgame.

[MrCleveland]

Originally Posted by Wildchats

The Cosby Show was good, but I think Gimme A Break! was so much better! Gimme A Break! deserved one more season, even if in the NYC setting. I bet they could have closed it up nicely there.

I do agree... Samantha was supposed to be in season 7 and Nell would be cleaning her dormitory. I'm sure all the season 6 characters would be there as well. Even Grandpa Stanley would still be on.

[TMC]

Supposedly, the late Season 6 episode "Parents' Week" was supposed to be a set up for Season 7, where Nell came back to work at Sam's college as a house mother.

There might have been several factors involving the cancellation:

1. The show was already in syndication by then, so not necessary to do more episodes if ratings aren't high.
2. Ratings were bad by now.
3. NBC was doing very well by now, unlike when show first started, so they could get rid of shows more easily if they weren't doing well ratings-wise.
4. The show was already retooled once and it didn't work, so NBC thought it wasn't worth another retooling.
5. They had A Different World, Cosby Show spin-off also coming out that fall, so they thought, "We have this already, so we don't need two of them."

[RetroGuy2000]

That last season was terrible. I couldn't watch after they fired the majority of the original cast. When the Kanisky Girls were no longer on, the show lost its mojo.

[Smartboy]

Originally Posted by RetroGuy2000

That last season was terrible. I couldn't watch after they fired the majority of the original cast. When the Kanisky Girls were no longer on, the show lost its mojo.

I will agree with you that the last episode was pretty stale.

[TMC]

Originally Posted by RetroGuy2000

That last season was terrible. I couldn't watch after they fired the majority of the original cast. When the Kanisky Girls were no longer on, the show lost its mojo.

This kind of reminds me of what happened with Too Close for Comfort roughly around the same time. Like Gimme a Break, TCFC dropped Ted Knight's two daughters in favor of a retool (The Ted Knight Show or retroactively, Season 6 of TCFC). Both GAB and TCFC ultimately had to deal with the male leads (Dolph Sweet and Ted Knight) succumbing to cancer. Although, TCFC ended production right then and there instead of continuing for two more seasons like the former.

I'm also kind of intrigued that Kari Michaelson would later guest star on Full House as David Coulier's love interest and Lydia Cornell (Sara Rush on TCFC) and previously guest starred as Bob Saget's love interest. And instead of their trademark blonde hairdos, they both sported a brunette hair color.

[rusty spike]

I liked GAB a lot more than CS. Nell just seemed to be more genuine than the cardboard cut-outs on CS.