# 227 (TV series)
**227** is an American situation comedy that aired on NBC from September 14, 1985, portraying the everyday lives of the tenants of a middle-class Washington, D.C., apartment building numbered 227. It starred [Marla Gibbs](https://www.edgepedia.org/marla-gibbs), already well known as the maid Florence Johnston on *The Jeffersons*, and ran for five seasons and 116 episodes.[1](https://interviews.televisionacademy.com/shows/227) • [2](https://epguides.com/227/) Sources differ on the exact end date: the Television Academy's show page gives the final NBC airing as May 6, 1990, while McNeil's *Total Television* lists the run as September 14, 1985, through July 28, 1990.[1](https://interviews.televisionacademy.com/shows/227) • [3](https://www.worldradiohistory.com/BOOKSHELF-ARH/History/Total-Television-Programming-1948-1991-McNeil.pdf)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Network and run | NBC, September 14, 1985 to May 6, 1990 per the Television Academy; McNeil's encyclopedia gives a final date of July 28, 1990[1](https://interviews.televisionacademy.com/shows/227) • [3](https://www.worldradiohistory.com/BOOKSHELF-ARH/History/Total-Television-Programming-1948-1991-McNeil.pdf) |
| Premise | Family life in a black neighborhood of Washington, D.C., centered on the tenants of apartment building 227[4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/227) |
| Origin | Adapted from a 1978 play by Christine Houston about women in a predominantly black apartment building in 1950s Chicago; the series reset the story to present-day Washington, D.C.[1](https://interviews.televisionacademy.com/shows/227) |
| Production | Embassy Television, 1985–1988; ELP Communications for the final two seasons, 1988–1990[1](https://interviews.televisionacademy.com/shows/227) |
| Ratings peak | Number 14 in the Nielsen ratings in its second season[5](https://interviews.televisionacademy.com/news/silver-anniversaries-of-the-golden-girls-and-227) |
| Signature award | Jackée Harry won the 1987 Emmy for outstanding supporting actress in a comedy series, the first African American to win in that category[6](https://www.aarp.org/entertainment/television/iconic-black-sitcoms/?msockid=23f5055beec76220170313caefbd63dc) |
| Episode count | 116 episodes over five seasons[2](https://epguides.com/227/) |
## Premise and origins
The series followed the people living in a middle-class apartment building in Washington, D.C., through rent hikes, garbage strikes, and everyday neighborhood life. Mary Jenkins, played by Marla Gibbs, was the gossip-loving housewife described as the "thread" that held the building's tenants together as a close-knit, not always harmonious family.[1](https://interviews.televisionacademy.com/shows/227) • [7](https://www.sonypictures.com/tv/227)
**The stage play.** Playwright Christine Houston wrote the original play, titled *227*, in 1978 about the lives of women in a predominantly black apartment building in 1950s Chicago. The television adaptation changed the setting to present-day Washington, D.C. The show was created as a starring vehicle for Gibbs, who had starred in Houston's play in Los Angeles; her character Mary was written in a similar tart-tongued register to her *Jeffersons* role of Florence Johnston.[1](https://interviews.televisionacademy.com/shows/227) The Los Angeles Times reported that the play, based on Houston's childhood, was performed at Gibbs's Crossroads Acting Academy in 1983, and that after it opened for a second run, producer [Norman Lear](https://www.edgepedia.org/norman-lear) took an interest and invited network executives to see it; Embassy [Television](https://www.edgepedia.org/television) then produced the series for NBC, with Gibbs helping to adapt the piece and co-producing it.[8](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1985-09-17-ca-20325-story.html) One scholarly account calls the series a de facto spin-off of *The Jeffersons*.[9](https://archive.learcenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/africainthemedia.pdf)
## Cast
The ensemble included Marla Gibbs as Mary Jenkins, Hal Williams as her husband Lester, Alaina Reed-Hall as Rose Lee Holloway, Jackée Harry as neighbor Sandra Clark, Regina King as Brenda Jenkins, and [Helen Martin](https://www.edgepedia.org/helen-martin) as Pearl Shay.[4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/227) The *Washington Post* notes that Harry, initially contracted for just seven episodes, became a fan favorite and won the 1987 Emmy for outstanding supporting actress in a comedy series for her role as Sandra Clark.[10](https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/tv/2023/12/27/black-tv-history/) Early episodes centered on Mary and Rose trading comments from the building's stoop, and critics highlighted the comedic rapport between Gibbs and Reed-Hall.[11](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/227/s01)
## Reception and context
227 premiered on September 14, 1985, the same night as *The Golden Girls*, and both series aired in NBC's Saturday night line-up, alongside *The Facts of Life* and *[Amen](https://www.edgepedia.org/amen-tv-series)* in the 1986–1988 schedule.[5](https://interviews.televisionacademy.com/news/silver-anniversaries-of-the-golden-girls-and-227) The show became one of the most popular late-1980s sitcoms, peaking at number 14 in the ratings in its second season.[5](https://interviews.televisionacademy.com/news/silver-anniversaries-of-the-golden-girls-and-227) All five of its seasons appeared among the family sitcoms in the Nielsen Top 20 for the 1986–87 television season alongside *The Cosby Show*, *Family Ties*, and *Growing Pains*.[12](https://popularculturereview.org/uploads/1/3/6/5/136597491/pcr_35.1_online.pdf)
Early episodes drew criticism for being too much like *The Cosby Show*, NBC's highly successful predominantly African-American sitcom of the same period, though 227 went on to succeed as a top-rated program.[13](https://www.museum.tv/tv-encyclopedia-17/227) A *Slant Magazine* review of the first-season DVD noted that some critics called the show a knock-off of *The Cosby Show*, while arguing that the comparison missed how differently the two series treated black consciousness.[14](https://www.slantmagazine.com/dvd/227-the-complete-first-season/) Common Sense Media places the show within the 1980s boom of black sitcoms and notes that its portrait of a middle-class black community was still new representation on television at the time.[15](https://www.commonsensemedia.org/tv-reviews/227)
One documented episode shows the series engaging directly with contemporary politics. In the 1986 episode "A Matter of Choice," Lester weighs a lucrative real-estate project funded by a South African company during the global anti-apartheid boycott campaign, and ultimately turns the job down after a conversation with an elderly black electrician whose civil-rights work had made such a neighborhood move possible for a black family.[9](https://archive.learcenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/africainthemedia.pdf)
## After the run
Rotten Tomatoes records a 44% Tomatometer from 18 reviews for the first season against an 86% audience score, with its critics consensus crediting Gibbs and Reed-Hall's rapport while noting uneven storytelling.[11](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/227/s01) The series has remained available decades after cancellation: [Sony Pictures](https://www.edgepedia.org/sony-pictures) lists it streaming on Hulu, Pluto TV, and [Antenna TV](https://www.edgepedia.org/antenna-tv), and [JustWatch](https://www.edgepedia.org/justwatch) additionally lists Tubi and the Sony Pictures Core Amazon Channel.[7](https://www.sonypictures.com/tv/227) • [16](https://www.justwatch.com/us/tv-show/227) Its cultural footprint persists in small ways: Quinta Brunson has named *227* among the family shows she watched as a child, and the show's theme-song jingle, "There's no place like home," recurs in retrospective discussions of 1980s television.[17](https://time.com/6145151/quinta-brunson-abbott-elementary-interview/) • [5](https://interviews.televisionacademy.com/news/silver-anniversaries-of-the-golden-girls-and-227)
## References
1. [227, Television Academy Interviews](https://interviews.televisionacademy.com/shows/227)
2. [227: A Titles & Air Dates Guide, epguides](https://epguides.com/227/)
3. [Total Television Programming 1948–1991 (McNeil), World Radio History](https://www.worldradiohistory.com/BOOKSHELF-ARH/History/Total-Television-Programming-1948-1991-McNeil.pdf)
4. [227, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/227)
5. [Silver Anniversaries of "The Golden Girls" and "227," Television Academy Interviews](https://interviews.televisionacademy.com/news/silver-anniversaries-of-the-golden-girls-and-227)
6. [10 Iconic Black Sitcoms That Changed Television, AARP](https://www.aarp.org/entertainment/television/iconic-black-sitcoms/?msockid=23f5055beec76220170313caefbd63dc)
7. [227, Sony Pictures Entertainment](https://www.sonypictures.com/tv/227)
8. ["227" Her Third Series: Winning Numbers Are Coming Up for Gibbs, Los Angeles Times (1985)](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1985-09-17-ca-20325-story.html)
9. [Africa in the Media, Lear Center archive](https://archive.learcenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/africainthemedia.pdf)
10. [Don't forget these overlooked classics in Black TV history, The Washington Post (2023)](https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/tv/2023/12/27/black-tv-history/)
11. [227: Season 1, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/227/s01)
12. [The Legacy of Garry's Show, Popular Culture Review 35.1](https://popularculturereview.org/uploads/1/3/6/5/136597491/pcr_35.1_online.pdf)
13. [227, Museum of Broadcast Communications encyclopedia](https://www.museum.tv/tv-encyclopedia-17/227)
14. [DVD Review: 227: The Complete First Season, Slant Magazine](https://www.slantmagazine.com/dvd/227-the-complete-first-season/)
15. [227: Parents' Guide & TV Review, Common Sense Media](https://www.commonsensemedia.org/tv-reviews/227)
16. [227: Where to watch streaming online, JustWatch](https://www.justwatch.com/us/tv-show/227)
17. [Quinta Brunson on Using Comedy to Address America's Education Problems in Abbott Elementary, TIME](https://time.com/6145151/quinta-brunson-abbott-elementary-interview/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Series and fictional screen worlds › Scripted television and comedy series › Sitcom and comedy series › American sitcoms and comedy series › 1980s and 1990s network sitcoms*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 19, 2026; Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license