Trivia / Gimme a Break!

• The Cast Show Off: Nell Carter and Telma Hopkins were both professional singers^note Carter was part of the original cast of Ain't Misbehavin'. Hopkins was one third of Tony Orlando & Dawn given plenty of opportunities to show off their skills. The Lawrence brothers were given spots to show their musical skills, as well.
• The Character Died with Him: After Dolph Sweet's death after production of the fourth season ended, his character Carl also died in-universe.
• The Danza: Four of them. Nell, Joey, Matthew, and Jonathan.
• Defictionalization: Nell Carter became a de facto Parental Substitute for countless children, who wrote her character asking for advice.
• Promoted to Opening Credits: Some zig - zagging in each case.
  • Season 2: John Hoyt (as Grandpa Stanley Kanisky) in episodes where he appeared. He was listed in the closing credits for the four Season 1 episodes he appeared in.
  • Season 3: Howard Morton (as Officer Ralph Simpson). He was in the closing credits for Season 2, although he was a semi-regular – in fact, he was in the series premiere – and did get an opening-credits card in one late Season 2 episode.
  • Season 4: Telma Hopkins (as Addy Wilson). Although a semi-regular during Season 3, she was billed in the closing credits in episodes where she appeared.
• What Could Have Been:
  • The Live Episode was to anchor an entire night of live episodes, but by that time all the other shows that were to share the night with Gimme a Break were cancelled.
  • Lara Jill Miller, in an interview years after the series ended, revealed that the Season 6 episode "Parents Weekend" was a test episode for a possible Season 7, with Nell being hired as a housemother and looking after Samantha and her housemates (not unlike the early years of The Facts of Life). The new season – along with at least three other proposed series introduced in Backdoor Pilots – never came to pass.

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