Gimme a Break!

- Season 1

(1981)

Recently widowed Police Chief Carl Kanisky returns home to find his household in a mess. His housekeeper, Nell, has vacuumed his goldfish, Gertrude, his youngest daughter, Samantha, has a black eye, his middle daughter, Julie, is kissing a boy in the kitchen, and his oldest daughter, Katie, has been picked up for shoplifting.

Nell is tired of striking out on the dating scene, so the Chief sets her up with one of his officers.

The Chief is reunited with a woman he knew when they were both high school students - when she runs into his police car.

Nell, the Chief, and the girls try to take their minds off of the fact that it today would have been the girls' mother's birthday.

Nell and the Chief, who have both struggled with weight problems for years, try not to think about food.

Nell quits her job and moves out of the house when she argues with the Chief over inviting her boyfriend to stay the night.

The Chief is caught in a stand-off at a drug store and is forced to shoot the hold-up man.

Katie sponsors Julie for membership in the Silver Slippers, an exclusive club to which she belongs.

Julie falls in love with Arnie, a boy she meets at a video arcade.

Nell's ex-husband Tony, a singer who had a modest Top 40 hit in the mid-1960s, returns to audition for a gig on a TV show.

The Chief hopes Katie will be the first member of the Kanisky family to go to college, but she doesn't believe she can do well on a test. She asks Julie to take the test for her.

Katie is hospitalized with what turns out to be complications from an Intra-Uterine Device.

Nell goes back to Alabama when she learns her father is dying.

Samantha runs into the house after getting into a fight. Failing to get the attention of Nell and the Chief, who are fighting because Nell sat on his hat, she runs off with a squad car.

On their 55th wedding anniversary, Grandpa Kanisky discovers a shocking revelation about Grandma when he goes through their old love letters.

Katie's band has an opportunity for a gig in Hollywood.

Samantha believes that an innocent kiss from a boy has made her pregnant, but no one will clear up the situation for her.

Two burglars break into the house while the Chief and the girls are away at an award ceremony and Nell is out with a friend.

Katie's friend Valerie is pregnant, and her boyfriend Jonathan is unsure about marrying her.