This sitcom portrayed its dramatic moments rather poorly

[Svenfan1234]

Gimme a Break is a great sitcom and I like it upon seeing the re runs on Antenna TV. The only thing I would change would be to change the focus from 80% of the Chief's poorly acted melodrama to more of Nell's comedic antics. What , did this show think it was a cross between Barney Miller and Hill Street Blues? The police stories are so painfully and poorly acted it's hard to watch them. Take for example, "Your Prisoner Is Dead". Terrible episode. How did Chief know that that guy was going to pull out a gun? Why didn't Chief leave his gun at his office? Some fetish for killing people, I guess?

I did not feel bad for Chief in one way in that episode. One bullet? One. Freaking. Bullet. Really? And they crossed the line for me when they were pretending to be SO serious. Give ME a break! You are a freaking comedy. Every other sitcoms did very special episodes far better, like Diff'rent Strokes. Even Empty Nest, which had Barbara as a cop (admittedly not a chief of police) did not feel the urge to have her be some arrogant cop who felt herself much more important. Why didn't we see way less of Chief? Those episodes drive me crazy, why not have the show be a drama if you wanted that much drama in it? Oh, well. I guess at the end of the day, we have to consider how this IS only a TV show, but Nell is truly a star on this show. such a classy lady, so funny and I love seeing her. Her episodes are great.

Thoughts?

[Smartboy]

Originally Posted by Svenfan1234

Gimme a Break is a great sitcom and I like it upon seeing the re runs on Antenna TV. The only thing I would change would be to change the focus from 80% of the Chief's poorly acted melodrama to more of Nell's comedic antics. What , did this show think it was a cross between Barney Miller and Hill Street Blues? The police stories are so painfully and poorly acted it's hard to watch them. Take for example, "Your Prisoner Is Dead". Terrible episode. How did Chief know that that guy was going to pull out a gun? Why didn't Chief leave his gun at his office? Some fetish for killing people, I guess?

I did not feel bad for Chief in one way in that episode. One bullet? One. Freaking. Bullet. Really? And they crossed the line for me when they were pretending to be SO serious. Give ME a break! You are a freaking comedy. Every other sitcoms did very special episodes far better, like Diff'rent Strokes. Even Empty Nest, which had Barbara as a cop (admittedly not a chief of police) did not feel the urge to have her be some arrogant cop who felt herself much more important. Why didn't we see way less of Chief? Those episodes drive me crazy, why not have the show be a drama if you wanted that much drama in it? Oh, well. I guess at the end of the day, we have to consider how this IS only a TV show, but Nell is truly a star on this show. such a classy lady, so funny and I love seeing her. Her episodes are great.

Thoughts?

In the first place, I am not sure what your point is in regards to one bullet. When the chief took out his gun, he took one shot at the bad guy causing him to fall. He was a good enough shot so that the one bullet that went into the bad guy's body ended up killing him. Things like that happen. Furthermore, there was one line in that episode that I was especially fond of. This line relates to Julie being my favorite character. The fact that the chief had to go to the store in the first place was because of Katie's absent-mindedness. The things that Katie forgot to pick up included cream rinse for Julie's hair and a pair of pantyhose for Nell. Julie responded to this situation with "it is just like you Katie to put your own personal lust ahead of Nell's pantyhose"! This was in reference to the boy who worked in the store distracting Katie's mind from the things that she was asked to pick up. For a cutie pie like Julie to use pantyhose in her sarcasm really made me drool!

[Svenfan1234]

Originally Posted by Smartboy

In the first place, I am not sure what your point is in regards to one bullet. When the chief took out his gun, he took one shot at the bad guy causing him to fall. He was a good enough shot so that the one bullet that went into the bad guy's body ended up killing him. Things like that happen. Furthermore, there was one line in that episode that I was especially fond of. This line relates to Julie being my favorite character. The fact that the chief had to go to the store in the first place was because of Katie's absent-mindedness. The things that Katie forgot to pick up included cream rinse for Julie's hair and a pair of pantyhose for Nell. Julie responded to this situation with "it is just like you Katie to put your own personal lust ahead of Nell's pantyhose"! This was in reference to the boy who worked in the store distracting Katie's mind from the things that she was asked to pick up. For a cutie pie like Julie to use pantyhose in her sarcasm really made me drool!

I don't think it caused him to fall. Anyway, they wrote a very, very poor episode. They were NOT Hill Street Blues. They were NOT CHiPs. I don't understand why they felt the need to sloppily write an episode unless it was close to Emmy submission time. All shows pulled out the Very Special Episodes either a) After an event or B) Before Emmy submission time. It was obvious that this was written not to tell a story, but to win an award, which they didn't. They weren't even nominated. Horrible episode that I will never, ever , ever watch again. Also Julie was a crappy character. Nobody cared about her, and she was given practically no character. Lol. Oh, how I wish she had been taken out by Joey without any explanation. But she stayed like a bad flu.

[Smartboy]

Originally Posted by Svenfan1234

I don't think it caused him to fall. Anyway, they wrote a very, very poor episode. They were NOT Hill Street Blues. They were NOT CHiPs. I don't understand why they felt the need to sloppily write an episode unless it was close to Emmy submission time. All shows pulled out the Very Special Episodes either a) After an event or B) Before Emmy submission time. It was obvious that this was written not to tell a story, but to win an award, which they didn't. They weren't even nominated. Horrible episode that I will never, ever , ever watch again. Also Julie was a crappy character. Nobody cared about her, and she was given practically no character. Lol. Oh, how I wish she had been taken out by Joey without any explanation. But she stayed like a bad flu.

I find it hard to picture anyone finding fault with Julie! In the first place, I thought she was so cute! On top of that, she was very smart and used her intelligence in very attractive ways. I was twelve-years-old when I first developed a crush on her!

[Svenfan1234]

Originally Posted by Smartboy

I find it hard to picture anyone finding fault with Julie! In the first place, I thought she was so cute! On top of that, she was very smart and used her intelligence in very attractive ways. I was twelve-years-old when I first developed a crush on her!

Well, I find fault with her. But that's cool that you like her. Anyway, I think Samantha's kinda cute when she was little and Katie was always very attractive...I'm surprised it wasn't her that got married. But you know, new writers...Julie should've been written off to college in another state, or off to live with another relative, anything. She wasn't needed.

[Svenfan1234]

The "dramatic episodes" were obviously written for an Emmy, nothing else. However, nobody but Nell was ever nominated for any award -- the cast OR crew. Nell was the true star of "Gimme a Break!", because honestly, if it weren't for her, this show would be as fondly remembered as "Carter Country" or "She's the Sheriff". I wish Gimme a Break had stuck to innocent comedy instead of trying to be Hill Street Blues. I mean, come on, even The Andy Griffith Show did the whole police stories BETTER. They should've had Chief retire after they realized they weren't winning any awards from it.

[70s show watcher]

the dramatic for me were some of the high points of the whole series dolph sweet was a great and imho very underretted actor

[Svenfan1234]

Dolph Sweet was a horrible OVERactor. I cannot stand his constant yelling. That is not acting. Literally just him yelling and acting as if he's just reading words off a page. Nell is the saving grace of the show. Love her, and I do enjoy Gimme a Break just not when they try to rip off Barney Miller.

[70s show watcher]

Originally Posted by Svenfan1234

Dolph Sweet was a horrible OVERactor. I cannot stand his constant yelling. That is not acting. Literally just him yelling and acting as if he's just reading words off a page. Nell is the saving grace of the show. Love her, and I do enjoy Gimme a Break just not when they try to rip off Barney Miller.

we will just have to agree to disagree on this topic