Gimme a Break! backdrop
Comedy•Family

The Worst Episodes of Gimme a Break!

Every episode of Gimme a Break! ranked from worst to best. Explore the Worst Episodes of Gimme a Break!!

Binge this in 2d 20h•Peaking at 8.0/10

Gimme a Break! is an American sitcom which aired on NBC for six seasons, October 29, 1981, until May 12, 1987. The series stars Nell Carter as the housekeeper for a widowed police chief and

Airs on
NBC
BestEpisodes
WorstEpisodes
BestSeasons
AllEpisodes

Seasons6

All123456

Episode Rankings

  1. #1 Worst Episode
    Click to reveal
    Gimme a Break! Season 1 Episode 1 - Katie the Crook
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #1 - Katie the Crook

    S1:E1

    In the series premiere, Samantha comes home with a black eye, and Nell teaches her a few skills on how to fight. Julie an her friend are studying on where babies come from, and as the cheif comes home, he walks into the kitchen to find them kissing. Simpson then arrives at the house with Katie, who was picked up for shoplifting, but wasn't arrested. Katie has been actin like this because of the recnt death of Margaret, her mother, and the cheif and her make amends in the end.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  2. Gimme a Break! Season 1 Episode 2 - A Good Man is Hard to Find
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #2 - A Good Man is Hard to Find

    S1:E2

    Nell and Angie go to a bar to meet guys. However, Nell gets sad that she isn't admired by any of the men. She then goes home and the Chief decides to fix her up with one of his officers. What he doesn't know is that the officer is just doing the Cheif a favor so he can get a better job position. The Cheif throws the man out and tells Nell what happened when she comes out ready for her date. Nell realizes he wasn't interested in her because she is overweight. Angie then shows up and invites Nell out and she accepts, even after being rejected by the officer.

    Director:Will Mackenzie
    Writer:Unknown

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  3. Gimme a Break! Season 1 Episode 3 - The Second Time Around
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #3 - The Second Time Around

    S1:E3

    A woman accidently hits the cheifs police car, because her contact lense came out as a moth sat on her face. When she meets the cheif to tell him how sorry she was for smashing into his car, she realizes the two went to Franklin High together, and she was a cheerleader, while the cheif was a professional football player. The two hit it off, and begin dating, and Samantha is sad because she doesnt want a step-mom. In the end, when Marion wants to sleep with the cheif, he hastily rushes out of her apartment and knew he could not go trough with it because of his love for his dead wife Margaret. However, Nell tells him thathe does not have to worry and that Margaret would have wanted him to move on.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  4. Gimme a Break! Season 1 Episode 4 - Mom's Birthday
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #4 - Mom's Birthday

    S1:E4

    A woman with a perfume gift for Margaret on her birthday shows up, learning that Margaret is deceased. When the Cheif comes home, he is upset because it is Margaret's birthday and she died 6 months earlier. He decides to take the family out to dinner at a Mexican restaraunt, but when the mariacci singers sing ""Happy Birthday"" to a woman named Margart, the family begins to feel sad again. Nell decides to get out the family home movies to which the Cheif objects to, but in the end is happy seeing Margaret the way he remembered her.

    Director:Will Mackenzie
    Writer:Unknown

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  5. Gimme a Break! Season 1 Episode 5 - Do or Diet
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #5 - Do or Diet

    S1:E5

    Nell decides to hold her PORKO'S meeting at the house, and when she gets on the scale she gets mad because she gained two pounds. WHen the Cheif comes home he is disgraced by the group and has a bad case of indigestion, forcing him to stay on vebetables for the next three weeks. However once Nell and the CHeif begin their diet, the Cheif insists on sampling her lasanga, and then they go on an eating bindge. The next moring when they wake up, they cant believe how crazy they were to eat so much in one sitting.

    Director:Linda Day
    Writer:Unknown

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  6. Gimme a Break! Season 1 Episode 6 - A Man in Nell's Room
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #6 - A Man in Nell's Room

    S1:E6

    When the Cheif finds a man in Nell's room, he tells her he doesn't want her fooling around with guys in the same house as his teenage daughters. Nell decides to quit, and moves in with Angie for one night. The Cheif tries to adjust to Nell not being around and everything goes awry with the turkey being thrown through the front window, and the clothes shrinking in the wash. In the end, Nell gets fed up with staying with Angie and decides to come home, to which the family is overjoyed having her back.

    Director:Herbert Kenwith
    Writer:Booker Bradshaw

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

    7. Trending NowTRENDING NOW

    The 20 BEST Episodes of Gimme a Break!

    READ
  7. Gimme a Break! Season 1 Episode 7 - Your Prisoner is Dead
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #7 - Your Prisoner is Dead

    S1:E7

    As he is on an erand at the drug store, the chief witnesses a robber hold up the place. When the robber turns his gun on him, the chief shoots him in self-defense. However, when he finds out that his prisoner has died, he thinks seriously of retiring from the police force since he has never shot a person before. In the end, Nell convinces him to go back to work, when she makes him realize that he really is a pretty good cop.

    Director:Will Mackenzie
    Writer:Erik Tarloff

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  8. Gimme a Break! Season 1 Episode 8 - Julie's Rejection
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #8 - Julie's Rejection

    S1:E8

    Julie wants to join Katie's club, and gets help from Nell and Katie on how to be cool, sitting, and dancing. When she shows up to Katie's group of friends, she totally messes up, as they ask her several questions about personal experieces such as kissing and virginity, and she is rejected into the club. In the end, she says she only wanted to be in the club because of the jacket they get, but cries hystericolly, because she knows she cannot be like Katie and her friends. Katie decides in the end to quit the clique that she is in, and decides that she and her sister need to stick together.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  9. Gimme a Break! Season 1 Episode 9 - Julie's First Love
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #9 - Julie's First Love

    S1:E9

    Julie goes off to the arcade after having no luck at finding a date to the Junior prom. At the arcade, she meets a worker there who is into computers named Arnold and she asks him to the prom and he accepts. However, the Cheif is mad that Julie returns home late and grounds her, not wanting to hear her side of the story. In the end, Katie realizes that Julie is at the arcade because she mentioned being short on quarters and the Cheif decides to go down there, letting her know that he cares a lot for her and that he allows her to go to the prom with Arnold.

    Director:Linda Day
    Writer:Unknown

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  10. Gimme a Break! Season 1 Episode 13 - Nell Goes Home
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #10 - Nell Goes Home

    S1:E13

    As the Cheif is getting ready to leave for an assignment in New York, Samantha is mad that she can't go fishing with a male friend of her's due to the fact that he will not be around to watch them. After he leaves, Nell gets a call from her mother telling her that her father had a heart attack. Nell takes Samantha back home to Alabama to visit her family. At her house, Nell is told by her mother that her father doesn't want to see her. However, Samantha is sad for the way she treated the Cheif because he wouldn't let her go fishing. Nell realizes she will see her father even though he doesn't want her to. In his room, he acts the way he did to Nell when she was younger, and doesn't mind that he is dying. He still doesn't forgive Nell for running away when she was 16. In the end, Nells Father dies, and at his funeral, Nell is told to read the Eulogy that her father wrote. He actually was happy that she came home to him after all those years. Nell sings ""Amazing Grace"" as the Cheif walks

    Director:Will Mackenzie
    Writer:Booker Bradshaw

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  11. Gimme a Break! Season 1 Episode 15 - Grandma Fools Around
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #11 - Grandma Fools Around

    S1:E15

    The family gets ready for Grandma and Grandpa's 55th anniversary at the house. Meanwhile, back at their house, Grandma and Grandpa are reminiscing over old photos and love letters that Grandpa sent her during World War 2. When Grandpa reads one of them, he finds out it wasn't his, and he threatens to leave Grandma and wants a divorce. Grandma goes to see the family and cries over waht has been happening. Carl is upset at his mother, yet goes to see Grandpa and brings him to the house. At the house Grandpa and Grandma do not speak, and Nell gets fed up and tells them that she is divorced, Ed is a single bachelor, the Chief recently lost his wife, and they all wish they had someone to love. Grandma and Grandpa finally get back together after this talk Nell gives.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  12. Gimme a Break! Season 1 Episode 16 - Hot Muffins
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #12 - Hot Muffins

    S1:E16

    Katie's band is a big success in Glenlawn as they perform at amateur night at a restaraunt. A big producer spots them, and tells them he loved the act, and offers them a job far away. Katie decides at first she wants to go, because she started her group, and without her, they would be nothing. However, Nell lets her see deep inside that all she wants to be is a star, and she finally decides to stay behind with her family, as her group goes off to see if they can make a success with their career.

    Director:Will Mackenzie
    Writer:Geoffrey Neigher

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  13. Gimme a Break! Season 1 Episode 17 - Sam's Affair
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #13 - Sam's Affair

    S1:E17

    Samantha and her friend Scottie from her baseball team decide to sit on the couch and watch some television. As they are intimidated by a love story, they talk about kissing, and they decide to try it. As Julie and Katie walk in on them, they suspect that they have been fooling around, and when the cheif finds out, he tells Samantha that after she kisses a boy she will end up pregnant. Due to this remark, Samantha mistakes that she can get pregnant from kissing, and seeks help from Julie, Nell, and Grandpa, but they aren't very good at it. Finally, when Nell sees Samantha crying in her room, she tells her that she thinks she is pregnant, and Nell tells her never to beleive what her father says because he is full of it, and she decides to teach her the facts of life.

    Director:Jim Drake
    Writer:Unknown

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  14. Gimme a Break! Season 1 Episode 18 - The Robbery
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #14 - The Robbery

    S1:E18

    The Kaniskis come home to find burglars at work, when they return home from thei cheif's law enforcement officer of the year award ceremony. However, Nell is at a stip club, seeing male exotic dancers, returns home, tricks the robbers by saying there are jewles in the closet in a locked box, gets the chief's gun, and saves the family from danger. When the reporter shows up, Nell and the girls try to make the chief look good, even though he was tied up by the robbers, and make it look like he was the hero, but finally, the chief admits to the reporter that Nell is the real hero, and she did a very important deed for the family, which they will always be grateful of.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  15. Gimme a Break! Season 2 Episode 1 - Nell Goes to Jail
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #15 - Nell Goes to Jail

    S2:E1

    While Nell is on the phone with Angie, her phone dies out and a second later a man from the phone company takes the phone away. She gets fed up and goes to the phone company to get it back, claiming that she did pay her bill, but the man there (Mr. Swackhammer) says that the computer called her ""Ms. Fong"", and that she is behind 3 months on it. She gets really aggrevated and pulls the phone out and ends up in Jail, where Simpson acts as a person with no typingt skills at all, jotting down Nell's info. Nell calls Hamilton Storm, Glenlawn's news reporter, and he flies to the scene, reporting that Nell had been wrongfully accused of not paying her phone bill. Mr. Swackhammer then gets a call from his boss, telling him to drop the charges on Nell, and Nell is let free. Nell is then rewarded with a bunch of new phones for the house, and installing them is Mr. Swackhammer, the new ""Telephone Installer"".

    Director:Jim Drake
    Writer:Unknown

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  16. Gimme a Break! Season 2 Episode 2 - Brother Ed and the Hooker
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #16 - Brother Ed and the Hooker

    S2:E2

    At the bowling alley, the Cheif meets up with Maxine, a prostitute who is used to nail bad cops. When Ed meets Carl at the bowling alley, he introduces him to Maxine and the two hit it off. When the Cheif finds out that Ed and Maxine moved in together, he tells Ed that he will not have his brother living with an ex-prostitute since she has decided to retire from the business. In the end, Ed stands up for himself and Carl accepts his brother and Maxine living together.

    Director:John Pasquin
    Writer:Unknown

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  17. Gimme a Break! Season 2 Episode 3 - Sam's Imaginary Friend
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #17 - Sam's Imaginary Friend

    S2:E3

    Katie and Julie go out on a double date as Samantha tells everyone to make room for Debbie Jo, an imaginary friend of hers. The Cheif thinks she is crazy and talks to Nell about sending her to a shrink. When the thought of Debbie Jo gets too far, the Chief grounds Samantha and goes up to her room and pretends to beat Debbie Jo up and tell Samantha that he doesn't want to send her to a shrink. Samantha runs to Nell and says she hates her father and then tells Nell that Debbie Jo is her only true friend and that no one plays with her anymore since Julie is now dating and has no time for her anymore. Nell tells Samantha to tell Debbie Jo she has to leave and she agrees. She puts her inside of her Jewelery box as she says a tearful goodbye to her and tells her that her mom's picture will watch over her that she keeps inside of it. Nell comforts Samantha who is finally over Debbie Jo.

    Director:Jim Drake
    Writer:Erik Tarloff

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  18. Gimme a Break! Season 2 Episode 4 - Grandpa's Visit
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #18 - Grandpa's Visit

    S2:E4

    When Grandma leaves to go see her sick sister who is about to have an operation, Grandpa is sent to live with the family for a few days. When he shows up he is nothing but trouble, as he wakes up in the middle of the night, bangs a bag of ice cubes on the counter to crush them, causes the garbage disposal to go insane, spies in on a neighbor's backside, and makes Nells puzzle fall the floor, only to vaccuum it up and wake everyone up. Nell gets mad and tells Grandpa that he is causing nothing but noise. When the Cheif tells him to stop doing the things he is doing, Grandpa leaves and goes to the mortuary. In the end, Nell shows up and tells Grandpa to come home and that she was sorry for acting the way she did to him.

    Director:Jim Drake
    Writer:Unknown

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  19. Gimme a Break! Season 2 Episode 7 - The Chief's Gay Evening
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #19 - The Chief's Gay Evening

    S2:E7

    The Chief goes on a stakeout with two officers where they are on lookout for an old-lady targeter. One of the officers dresses up as a woman and stays out in the streets, while the Chief and the other officer wait inside listening to the sounds on the recorder. The Chief cracks a few jokes with the officer about gay people and the officer is offended by this. He then tells the Chief that he himself is gay. The Chief says that he knows it's not going to be easy for the officer to be known as a man who has ""come out"". In the end, the Chief is stuck in the bathroom when the other officer hears that the targeter has struck. He runs to stop the targeter and is wounded. The Chief finally is able to see that he is not a bad man after all.

    Director:Linda Day
    Writer:Unknown

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  20. Gimme a Break! Season 2 Episode 9 - Sam Faces Death
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #20 - Sam Faces Death

    S2:E9

    Nell is out of town at her cousin's funeral as Simpson storms into the house and says that the Cheif was shot but is alright. The Cheif is mad at Simpson because he accidently shot him in his office when he showed a fellow officer his secret moves with his gun. As he shows the family how he performs the moves, he accidently shoots the gun again and the bullet smashes into the fish tank, killing Gertrude the goldfish. Soon everyoen learns that the Cheif has an assasin against him as Simpson is interviewed on the news, telling everyone he saved him from being shot dead by his gun. Samantha becomes obsessed that God is taking too many people around her and begins to talk to him about why he takes people away. In the end, Sam talks to Grandpa and he tells her that she should enjoy life and take it slowly and not have to worry about death anymore. When Nell returns from her cousins funeral, Samantha fills her in on what happened while she was away and she cannot beleive it, as Simpson shoot

    Director:Jim Drake
    Writer:Unknown

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  21. Gimme a Break! Season 2 Episode 10 - Nell Goes Door to Door
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #21 - Nell Goes Door to Door

    S2:E10

    Angie tells Nell that she is going on a trip to Mexico with the money she made by selling vaccums. She urges Nell to attend a gathering where the operator of the sales talks about how rich everyone is getting off of the product. Nell then has a party at the house and invites people to it and demonstrates the amazo vac. However, it does not work the way she intended it to, and goes back to another meeting and tells everyone that the salesman is a fake after doing research on him.

    Director:Linda Day
    Writer:Unknown

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  22. Gimme a Break! Season 2 Episode 12 - Love, Kidney
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #22 - Love, Kidney

    S2:E12

    While playing the accordian at dinner, Uncle Ed falls I'll and feints into the fishtank while cooling off. He ends up in the hospital and when he wakes up he realizes that he needs to have a kidney transplant for not living a healthy life and a sibiling would be the best bet for a transplant. The Cheif talks with Ed and is worried about him and tells him he will do anything to help him get through this. Ed asks him if he'll donate his kidney to him and he agrees. Once the family hears this, Julie is against it, and slowly the rest of the family begins to get scared and they have thoughts on the Cheif dying. The CHeif tells Nell that if he does die in the operation that she can raise the girls and she will get the house. Before the operation, the girls and Nell join the Cheif in bed and have hot cocoa and are afraid that he may die. However, the operation is a success and everyone dances as Ed's doctor plays the accordian for the family.

    Director:Linda Day
    Writer:Booker Bradshaw

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  23. Gimme a Break! Season 2 Episode 13 - Julie Smokes
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #23 - Julie Smokes

    S2:E13

    The Chief finds a cigarrette in his sock and questions each of the girls about it. When he finds out that Samantha and Katie don't smoke, he tears through Julie's room and then appologizes when she tells him she would never smoke. However, she smokes when he leaves the room but he catches her. She then moves to Grandma and Grandpa's after he hits her and it's up to him to get her to come home. He tells her that years before he and Margaret were smokers and he quit and so did she, but went on and off until it was too late and she got lung canger and died. In the end, Julie realizes that is the reason why he slapped her and she agrees to come home and stop smoking.

    Director:Jim Drake
    Writer:Ed Jurist

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  24. Gimme a Break! Season 2 Episode 14 - The Centerfold (1)
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #24 - The Centerfold (1)

    S2:E14

    When Mr. Swackhammer shows up to inform the Cheif about the female officer who posed nude, he rushes into work and tells her she is fired. Once the town and the country get a hold of what happened, they are against what the Cheif did. Even the girls and Nell don't like how he fired the officer. The police station begins to be mobbed by angry women who picket and are forced to leave, and Simpsons mother shows up and hits the Cheif with her pocket book. If that wasn't enough, Hamilton Storm shows up to do a cover story on how unfair the Cheif is, just as a mad bomber shows up and is about to blow up the whole place.

    Director:Jim Drake
    Writer:Unknown

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  25. Gimme a Break! Season 2 Episode 15 - The Centerfold (2)
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #25 - The Centerfold (2)

    S2:E15

    The man who has a bomb strapped to him tells Simpson he knows him from some place. He realizes that he's seen him before at the singles bar. They both talk about how they can never pick up women, and how Simpson likes a woman officer but he can't have the courage to tell her. The man decides at the last second to stop the bomb and tells Simpson he will look him up when he is done his time in jail. Simpson then confesses to the Cheif that he sent a picture of the officer from the Christmas party to the magazine and that is why they chose her to model in it. The Cheif decides to take back his compliment of telling Simpson he is a hero. The Mayor of Glenlawn who is about to be re-elected tells the Cheif to re-hire the officer or else he will fire him. The Cheif decides to go to a live telecast taping with the Mayor and decides to hire the officer back. Simpson finally has the courage to tell the officer he likes her and she decides to go out with him.

    Director:Jim Drake
    Writer:Unknown

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

Worst Episodes Summary

"Katie the Crook" is the worst rated episode of "Gimme a Break!". It scored /10 based on 0 votes. Directed by Unknown and written by Unknown, it aired on 10/29/1981. This episode scored 0.0 points lower than the second lowest rated, "A Good Man is Hard to Find".