227 is an American television sitcom created by C.J. Banks and Bill Boulware and starring Marla Gibbs as Mary Jenkins, a nosy, tart-tongued housewife at the centre of the lives of people in a middle-class apartment building in Washington, D.C.
The series aired in the USA on NBC from 14 September, 1985 to 6 May, 1990. There are 116 half-hour episodes in five seasons.
The series originally aired in South Africa on the old SABC channels, in the late eighties and early nineties. No exact broadcast information is available.
227 premiered on DStv's M-Net Series channel on Saturday 27 February 2010, at 20h00. See "Seasons" below for seasonal broadcast dates and times.
Season 2 premiered on M-Net Series on Saturday 18 September 2010, at 20h30. New episodes broadcast weekly. There are 22 episodes in the second season.
Season 2 Repeats
Sundays: 02h30, 08h30, 14h30
Synopsis
227 followed the lives of people in a middle-class apartment building in Washington, D.C. At the centre was Marla Gibbs, who portrayed Mary Jenkins, a nosy, tart-tongued housewife.
Hal Williams played her husband, Lester, a construction worker, and Regina King played their studious 14-year-old daughter, Brenda; it was King's first significant acting role.
Also cast in 227 was Jackée Harry as the building's sexy vamp, Sandra Clark, who constantly bickered back and forth with Mary about their respective views on life.
Helen Martin arrived to play Pearl Shay, a crotchety-but-kind busybody neighbor, who was always known for snooping. Pearl had a grandson named Calvin Dobbs, played by Curtis Baldwin, whom Brenda had a crush on and would finally date later in the series' run.
Alaina Reed Hall played kindhearted best friend to all, Rose Lee Holloway. She had a daughter named Tiffany, played by Kia Goodwin, who disappeared after the first season.
Halfway through the first season, Rose became the unexpected landlord of the building after the building's stingy slumlord Mr. Calloway (who was constantly mentioned but never seen onscreen) died out of the blue. Rose stayed on as landlady until the fourth season.
By the time taping started on the third season in 1987, Jackée Harry, who had just won an Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress changed her stage name to simply Jackée, which she used until 1994.
In the fourth season, Countess Vaughn joined the cast as Alexandria DeWitt, an 11-year-old child prodigy who becomes the Jenkins' houseguest. The following year, however, Alexandria disappeared from the show without an explanation.
By the time production on the fourth season commenced in 1988, tension between stars Gibbs and Jackée were mounting due to the show's increasing focus on the Sandra character. To keep the stars happy, Jackee was given the chance to spin off Sandra into her own show.
Jackée's television pilot, entitled Jackée, found Sandra moving to New York City and finding work at a spa. The pilot was rejected, and Jackée returned to 227, appearing only sporadically.
The show's final season saw Toukie Smith, Barry Sobel, Stoney Jackson, Kevin Peter Hall and Paul Winfield join the cast in an effort to rejuvenate the show's sagging ratings.
In the end the cast additions proved fruitless and 227 ended its run in the spring of 1990.
Seasons
Note: these dates and times apply to the run of the show on M-Net Series only. Broadcast dates for the original run of the show on the SABC are not available.
Season 1 (22 episodes)
Premiere: 27 February 2010 | Finale: 11 September 2010 | Saturdays, 20h00
Season 2 (22 episodes)
Premiere: 18 September 2010 | Finale: 12 February 2011 | Saturdays, 20h30