(African American television) GIMME A BREAK! (1981-87) TV photo archive

Gimme a Break! 1981-1987. Photos. [New York]: NBC-TV, 1981-1987. Set of thirty vintage original 7 x 9″ (18 x 23 cm) black-and-white photos. All have affixed NBC promotional text, old photo agency stickers on verso. Overall just about fine.

Gimme a Break! was a sitcom created by Mort Lachman and Sy Rosen that aired on NBC for six seasons from October 29, 1981, to May 12, 1987. The series starred Nell Carter as the housekeeper for a widowed police chief (Dolph Sweet) and his three daughters.

The premise of the show, which was set in Glenlawn, a fictional suburb in California, was that Nellie Ruth “Nell” Harper (Nell Carter) agrees to look after the Kanisky household as a special favor to her dying friend Margaret Huffman Kanisky (played in flashback by Sharon Spelman), the wife of police chief Carl Kanisky (Dolph Sweet). More than a mere housekeeper and cook, Nell serves as a parental figure to the chief’s three teenaged daughters, Katie (Kari Michaelsen), Julie (Lauri Hendler), and Samantha (Lara Jill Miller). A foster son, Joey (Joey Lawrence), joins the Kanisky household in season three. (Wikipedia)