# 227 (1985)

> A housewife holds court on her apartment building stoop in Washington, D.C., trading jokes and advice with the neighbors who become her extended family.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/1830

## Facts

- Seasons: 5
- Episodes: 116
- Episode runtime: 30 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: comedy
- Created by: Michael G. Moye
- Network: NBC
- Cast: Marla Gibbs, Hal Williams, Alaina Reed Hall, Jackée Harry, Regina King, Helen Martin, Curtis Baldwin, Barry Sobel
- TMDB rating: 6.7/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088470/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: measured
- Intensity: mild
- Complexity: simple
- Violence: none
- Tone: warm, breezy, comforting, witty, affectionate

## What critics say

Viewers remember 227 as a warm, funny sitcom whose neighborly banter and strong ensemble acting hold up well on rewatch.

## Synopsis

227 (1985-1990) is a American network sitcom created by Michael G. Moye for NBC, running five seasons and 116 episodes. Marla Gibbs plays Mary Jenkins, a housewife who sits on the stoop of her apartment building in a black neighborhood of Washington, D.C., and holds forth with the neighbors who drift past. Hal Williams plays her husband Lester Jenkins, while Alaina Reed Hall, Jackée Harry and Regina King round out the circle of women and neighbors who share the building's steps. The engine of the series is conversation: each half hour is built from gossip, arguments, romantic misadventures and small domestic crises that spill out onto the stoop and into the lobby. Its shape is episodic, a continuing sitcom in which relationships and running rivalries carry from one week to the next. Set in a middle class black urban neighborhood in the 1980s, it foregrounds warm family bonds, female friendship and neighborly loyalty. The register is breezy, affectionate and comforting, with sharp, good-humored banter driving the jokes. Fans of The Golden Girls, The Jeffersons and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air will find resonance in its ensemble warmth and domestic comedy.

## Shows like 227

- [The Facts of Life (1979)](https://ember.film/tv/1700)
- [The Jeffersons (1975)](https://ember.film/tv/1856)
- [The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1970)](https://ember.film/tv/2816)
- [Good Times (1974)](https://ember.film/tv/140)
- [The Cosby Show (1984)](https://ember.film/tv/1657)
- [Girlfriends (2000)](https://ember.film/tv/2278)
- [Perfect Strangers (1986)](https://ember.film/tv/1684)
- [Living Single (1993)](https://ember.film/tv/4057)
- [Designing Women (1986)](https://ember.film/tv/675)
- [Family Matters (1989)](https://ember.film/tv/2550)

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