227 is an American sitcom television series that originally aired on NBC from September 14, 1985, to May 6, 1990. The series stars Marla Gibbs as Mary Jenkins, a sharp-tongued, inner-city resident gossip and housewife, and lower-floor neighbors Sandra Clark and Pearl Shay.
227 followed the lives of people in a middle-class apartment building, 227 Lexington Place (the numerical address in which the sitcom’s name comes from), in Northeast, Washington, D.C. The show was centered around Mary Jenkins (Marla Gibbs), a nosy, tart-tongued, but loving housewife. Her husband, Lester (Hal Williams), had his own construction company, and their daughter, Brenda (Regina King, in her first television acting role), was boy-crazy yet smart and studious.
Amen is an American sitcom television series produced by Carson Productions that aired on NBC from September 27, 1986, to May 11, 1991. Set in Sherman Hemsley‘s real-life hometown of Philadelphia, Amen stars Hemsley as the deacon of a church and was part of a wave of successful sitcoms on NBC in the 1980s and early 1990s which featured predominantly black casts.
The series revolves around Ernest Frye, a widower deacon of the First Community Church of Philadelphia, who also works as a lawyer. He is often dishonest and frequently gets into trouble with his many harebrained schemes. Frye has a single daughter named Thelma. Reuben Gregory is the new, young pastor of the church, and also the object of Thelma’s affection. The two get married during season four, despite the fact that Gregory and Frye often butt heads. In the series finale, Thelma gives birth to the couple’s first child.
Bustin’ Loose is an American sitcom starring Jimmie Walker based on the 1981 film of the same name which aired in first-run syndication from September 26, 1987 to September 11, 1988.
Jimmie Walker stars as Sonny Barnes, a former con artist, who had been caught by the authorities and sentenced to five years of community service. He was placed in the home of social worker Mimi Shaw (Vonetta McGee), who lived with four orphans: Rudey (Larry O. Williams, Jr.), Trish (Tyren Perry), Nikky (Aaron Lohr) and Sue Anne (Marie Cole). Sonny lived in the basement and worked around the house doing odd jobs. Meanwhile, the kids all loved listening to Sonny’s ofttimes exaggerated tales.
Charlie & Co. (also known as Charlie & Company) originally aired on CBS from September 18, 1985 to May 16, 1986. Created by Allan Katz, the series stars Flip Wilson and Gladys Knight. Charlie & Co. is regarded as CBS’s answer to The Cosby Show, which was a ratings success for NBC at the time. Unlike The Cosby Show, which ran for eight seasons, Charlie & Co. lasted only one.
The series follows a middle class African American family who lived on the South Side of Chicago.
Charlie Richmond (Flip Wilson) is a black middle-class employee of the Division of Highways, who juggled his work and home life with his wife, Diana, a schoolteacher played by Gladys Knight. The couple had three children: sixteen-year-old “Junior” (Kristoff St. John), fifteen-year-old Lauren (Fran Robinson), and nine-year-old Robert (Jaleel White). Della Reese joined the cast during the latter half of the first season as Charlie’s sister-in-law, Aunt Rachel.
He’s the Mayor is an American sitcom that aired on ABC from January 10 to March 21, 1986. It stars Kevin Hooks as a 25-year-old man who is elected mayor of his hometown.
Homeroom aired on ABC from September 16, 1989 to December 17, 1989. The series stars stand-up comedian Darryl Sivad as a fourth grade teacher at an inner-city school. ABC executives created the show as a vehicle for Sivad after seeing his routine on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.
The series follows Darryl Harper (Sivad), a highly paid advertising copywriter who decides to quit his job to teach underprivileged kids at P.S. 391, an inner city school in New York City. Darryl’s wife Virginia (Penny Johnson) supports his choice but Virginia’s father, Phil Drexler (Bill Cobbs) does not. Phil frequently voices his disapproval to Darryl which he feels is his right as Darryl and Virginia live rent-free in the brownstone Phil owns and also lives in.
Melba is an American sitcom which aired on CBS from January 28, 1986, until September 13, 1986. The series was a vehicle for singer/actress Melba Moore.
The show was about the home and work life of Melba Patterson (Moore), a divorced mother who was the director of New York’s Manhattan Visitors Center. Melba was raising her 9-year-old daughter Tracy (Jamilla Perry) with the help of her mother Rose (Barbara Meek) and her white “sister”, Susan Slater (Gracie Harrison). Melba and Susan had been close since childhood, since Rose was Susan’s family’s housekeeper when they were growing up. Jack (Lou Jacobi) and young Gil (Evan Mirand) worked for Melba at the visitors’ center.
Checking In is an American sitcom and a spin-off of The Jeffersons that aired for four episodes on CBS from April 9 to April 30, 1981.
In the seventh-season finale episode of The Jeffersons, “Florence’s New Job“, the Jeffersons’ maid, Florence Johnston (Marla Gibbs), accepted a job to become the executive housekeeper at the fictional St. Frederick Hotel in New York City. The series follows Florence’s misadventures at the hotel with her co-workers: Lyle Block, her stuffy manager; Elena Beltran, her assistant; Earl Bellamy, the inept house detective; Hank Sabatino, the lewd handyman; Betty, the floor supervisor; Dennis, the bellboy; and Mr. Claymore, the hotel owner.
Frank’s Place is an American comedy-drama series that aired on CBS for 22 episodes during the 1987-1988 television season. The series was created by Hugh Wilson and executive produced by Wilson and series star and fellow WKRP in Cincinnati alumnus Tim Reid.
Frank’s Place is the most recent show that ran for only one season that was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series.
Set in New Orleans, Frank’s Place chronicles the life of Frank Parrish (Tim Reid), a well-to-do African-American professor at Brown University, an Ivy League university in Providence, Rhode Island, who inherits a restaurant, Chez Louisiane. In the premiere, Frank travels to New Orleans intending to sell the restaurant. However, waitress Emerita (she waits only on customers with twenty years or more of patronage) of Chez Louisiane — Miss Marie (Frances E. Williams) has a voodoo spin (curse) put on Frank ensuring that he will come back to carry on his family’s business. Consequently, when Frank returns to New England, the life he’s known there suddenly goes inexplicably haywire. Feeling he has no choice, Frank returns to New Orleans and makes many discoveries about black culture in New Orleans, the differences between northern and southern lifestyles, and himself. (cont’d)