is an American television sitcom created by Mort Lachman and Sy Rosen that aired on NBC for six seasons from October 29, 1981, to May 12, 1987.

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).

Five episodes into the sixth and final season, the show changed locales from Glenlawn to New York City, when Nell, concerned for Joey's welfare after he moved there with his absentee father, traveled there to check on him.

She subsequently assumed guardianship of Joey and his younger brother Matthew (played by Joey Lawrence's real-life brother Matthew Lawrence) at their father's request, and was forced to permanently relocate there after Chief Kanisky's father Stanley (John Hoyt) sold the family's Glenlawn home.

Over the six-year run, celebrities often appeared on the show, including singers Whitney Houston, Andy Gibb, Sammy Davis Jr., Ray Parker Jr., and The Pointer Sisters.

Other notable guest stars included Milton Berle, Danny Glover, Rue McClanahan, Tony Randall, Helen Hunt, Don Rickles, Gwen Verdon, Dennis Haysbert, Ernie Hudson, Gary Collins, and Elizabeth Berkley.

An earlier episode (from the 1984–85 season), "Baby of the Family", ranked number 38 on TV Land's list of "The 100 Most Unexpected TV Moments"; it depicted Joey dressing and performing in blackface at Nell's church benefit, a plan hatched by Samantha to retaliate for Nell forbidding her to go on an unchaperoned camping trip.

A new theme, with music by Jay Graydon and lyrics by Richard Page, was introduced in the third season and used for the remainder of the show's run.

“I wish I could sue NBC for the grievous consternation, intestinal distress and aggravated low moaning I have suffered as a result of ‘Gimme a Break,’” Shales wrote, going on to criticize the show’s sex jokes and what he found to be the racial stereotypes embodied by Carter’s character.

Reruns of the series are a mainstay of many of Sinclair Broadcast Group's The CW, MeTV and MyNetworkTV stations, especially in low-traffic time periods, due to the low-cost barter setup of the now defunct The Program Exchange.

Later, as part of a block called Club Dorothée under the title Trois filles à la maison (Three Girls at Home) on TF1 in 1993.