227
Mary's Christmas
TV Flash files “Mary's Christmas” as a desk essential hour — 227 (1985–1990) on NBC, season 1, episode 13, aired 1985-12-14, 30 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S01E13: listed hour 13 of 116 in the 227 guide, hour 13 of 22 in season 1. It aired 1985-12-14 (30 min). The listed hour before it is “The Big Piano Play-Off” (S01E12). Next is “The Bed of Rose's” (S01E14).
Essential hour: “Mary's Christmas”. Mary's Christmas is a stoop holiday: Gibbs as center of gravity, found family as the rerun, hats already in the shot.
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
When their church loses their land lease, the tenants must find another lot to place their church on. They enlist Lester's company's help to move the church to its new spot. Everything is OK, until the church comes up missing. Everyone is worried because they will have no place to have their Christmas pageant. They decide to build a large manger on the empty lot to hold the service. They later find out that the church was placed at the wrong lot.
Viewer FAQ
Where does Mary's Christmas sit in the 227 guide?
S01E13 is listed hour 13 of 116 — hour 13 of 22 in season 1, season 1 episode 13.
When did 227 S01E13 air?
Mary's Christmas aired 1985-12-14 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;…