227
Do You Love Me?
TV Flash files “Do You Love Me?” as hour 5 of 116 in the TV Flash guide — 227 (1985–1990) on NBC, season 1, episode 5, aired 1985-10-19, 30 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S01E05: listed hour 5 of 116 in the 227 guide, hour 5 of 22 in season 1. It aired 1985-10-19 (30 min). The listed hour before it is “The Refrigerator” (S01E04). Next is “Pilot” (S01E06).
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
News of the breakup of her neighbors' marriage has Mary worried that the same thing could happen to her and Lester. Mary plans an evening of romance for her and Lester. Lester buys flowers (at Mary's suggestion) and they try to force romance by going out to eat, dimming the lights, and playing romantic music. But they realize that the only thing that works is by letting it happen naturally and reminiscing about the past. Meanwhile, Sandra has to babysit her 6-year-old niece Susie while her sister Harriet and her husband visit his sick mother. She solicits Mary's advice on what to feed her and how to get her to fall asleep. (This episode was taped after the pilot to add additional characters and provide background for those in the pilot episode.)
Viewer FAQ
Where does Do You Love Me? sit in the 227 guide?
S01E05 is listed hour 5 of 116 — hour 5 of 22 in season 1, season 1 episode 5.
When did 227 S01E05 air?
Do You Love Me? aired 1985-10-19 and is listed at 30 minutes.
Do I need The Jeffersons first?
Only if you want Florence's ghost. 227 is Gibbs's own stoop — working-class D.C., not a continuation. The building is the neighborhood; the uniform stays in the other series.
In the series
Why this series still plays
Marla Gibbs free of Florence's uniform: an apartment-stoop sitcom where the building is the neighborhood and Jackée Harry's Sandra is a walking velvet bomb. Working-class D.C. ensemble comedy with porch gossip as the plot engine. Jackée's supporting-actress Emmy was the official notice; the reruns remain the afterparty — shade, hats, and found family.
The stoop is the silhouette. NBC, 1985–1990: a D.C. apartment building dressed as a neighborhood, Marla Gibbs free of Florence's Jeffersons uniform, Hal Williams as Lester, Jackée Harry's Sandra as a walking velvet bomb. 227 is Jack Elinson's working-class Black ensemble, porch gossip as the plot engine, Alaina Reed Hall in the mix, Regina King starting as a child actor. *Hats that do the talking, shade as tailoring, a velvet look that photographs as a supporting-actress bomb.* Style is the plot. If you only…
Filed against
- Marla Gibbs as Mary Jenkins
Marla Gibbs’s Florence Johnston refused to eat anyone’s dignity on The Jeffersons — deluxe apartment, Lear living-room fight, a theme that still sells real estate — then ran 227’s stoop as neighborhood plot engine. Eleven seasons of…
- Hal Williams as Lester Jenkins
Hal Williams played Lester Jenkins on 227 — Marla Gibbs free of Florence's uniform, an apartment-stoop sitcom where the building is the neighborhood, Jackée Harry's Sandra as a velvet bomb. Working-class D.C. ensemble, porch gossip as…
- Jackée Harry as Sandra Clark
Jackée Harry’s Sandra Clark was a walking velvet bomb on 227 — stoop gossip as plot engine, working-class D.C. as a sitcom neighborhood, Marla Gibbs free of Florence’s uniform. Porch voltage with a laugh that could rearrange a building.…
- Alaina Reed Hall as Rose Lee Holloway
Alaina Reed Hall’s Rose Lee Holloway kept 227’s building a neighborhood — Marla Gibbs free of Florence’s uniform, Jackée Harry’s Sandra as a velvet bomb, working-class D.C. ensemble, porch gossip as the plot engine. Stoop sitcom as civic…
- Regina King as Brenda Jenkins
Regina King’s Brenda Jenkins grew up on 227’s stoop — working-class D.C., porch gossip as plot, Jackée’s velvet bomb in the same building — then carried Watchmen as Sister Night through Tulsa 1921 and mask-as-history. Sitcom kid voltage;…