227
1 9 8 5 - 1 9 9 0 (USA)
116 x 30 minute episodes
227 first aired in September 1985 and ran for five seasons on
NBC before its final episode in July 1990. Based on a play of the
same name, this situation-comedy was set around an apartment
building (number 227) in a racially-mixed neighbourhood of
Washington DC.
Featuring an ensemble cast including Marla Gibbs, Hal Williams,
Alaina Reed, and Jackée Harry, 227 succeeded in becoming a
top-rated television program, surviving criticisms and early
comparisons to other television programs with predominantly
African-American principals (In its earliest episodes the show was
criticised as being too much like The Cosby Show).
The original play had been performed by Marla Gibbs' own Cross
Roads Academy, a local community theatre troupe in Los Angeles.
After its successful theatrical debut, 227 was soon adapted and
produced for television by Lorimar.
Most episodes took place
within and around the apartment building, from the front steps, to
the laundry room, to the individual apartments. Mary and Lester
Jenkins were one of the families struggling to survive.
 Mary (played by Marla Gibbs who had been the feisty, verbally
aggressive maid Florence on The Jeffersons) was a mother of one,
juggling the numerous responsibilities of household, family and
personal life with humorous results.
Lester was a small-time contractor struggling to stay on top of
his own family and job responsibilities. Together, Mary and Lester
had their hands full with daughter Brenda, a studious, talented,
and mostly well behaved young adolescent.
Other important characters included Rose Holloway, the landlady
of the building (who often sat with Mary on the front steps
laughing and gossiping about various other residents); sexually
outspoken tenant Sandra Clark (the building's resident tramp); and
Pearl Shay, an older woman who often leaned out her front window
to comment on Rose and Mary's discussions.
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