Was Room 222 a good Sitcom? It ran from 1969-74 and i'm

[TVFactFan]

still trying to get episodes.

[Stuck In The '70's]

I liked it but I always thought it was more of a drama then a sitcom. It probably isn't rerun much because its very dated.

[vze3t9q9]

I saw it too. It was one of the first shows I remember seeing. It was a pretty good show.

[jamesanthony]

This show was well made, but if you're looking to laugh out loud this show doesn't have that kind of humor in it at all.

It was kind of groundbreaking because it dealt with all the social issues of the time (race, class, sex issues, religion etc) and as far as I am aware it was the first 1/2 hour humor show to do so.

Casting African Americans as the leads was rather progressive. Lloyd Haynes and Denise Nicholas were the serious ones. The principal was amusing in a dry wit sort of way and Karen Valentine was goofy/cute/clutsy. The acting and writing was good if you ask me, but again if you're looking for big laughs this show didn't have any per se. There was no canned laughter either. One drawback was that some of the actors who played students appeared in all 5 seasons.

I always wondered why this show didn't do well in reruns. I never saw it until I went out of the country in 1982 and it was syndicated overseas. To me it is no more dated than The Ghost and Mrs Muir, Courtship of Eddie's Father or Bill Cosby Show all of which aired at that same time and were syndicated in the 70s and early 80s.

[Stuck In The '70's]

Originally posted by jamesanthony
This show was well made, but if you're looking to laugh out loud this show doesn't have that kind of humor in it at all.

It was kind of groundbreaking because it dealt with all the social issues of the time (race, class, sex issues, religion etc) and as far as I am aware it was the first 1/2 hour humor show to do so.

Casting African Americans as the leads was rather progressive. Lloyd Haynes and Denise Nicholas were the serious ones. The principal was amusing in a dry wit sort of way and Karen Valentine was goofy/cute/clutsy. The acting and writing was good if you ask me, but again if you're looking for big laughs this show didn't have any per se. There was no canned laughter either. One drawback was that some of the actors who played students appeared in all 5 seasons.

I always wondered why this show didn't do well in reruns. I never saw it until I went out of the country in 1982 and it was syndicated overseas. To me it is no more dated than The Ghost and Mrs Muir, Courtship of Eddie's Father or Bill Cosby Show all of which aired at that same time and were syndicated in the 70s and early 80s.
The last time I saw it was in the early 80's. I believe USA Network reran it but not for long.

[Oriole Adams]

TVLand ran the show for a short time in the mid-1990s. I remember because at first our cable company didn't carry TVLand, and I'd see "Room 222" listed in the TV Guide and get frustrated. We finally did get the channel, and I was able to watch "Room 222" again for a while, but they dropped it from the schedule. It seemed, though, that they only showed episodes from the first season or two.

[jamesanthony]

Originally posted by Oriole Adams
TVLand ran the show for a short time in the mid-1990s. I remember because at first our cable company didn't carry TVLand, and I'd see "Room 222" listed in the TV Guide and get frustrated. We finally did get the channel, and I was able to watch "Room 222" again for a while, but they dropped it from the schedule. It seemed, though, that they only showed episodes from the first season or two.

Aside from going to tvtome.com's episode guide a way to tell which season it is :

Year 1- Karen Valentine is still a student teacher

Year 2-3 Karen Valentine has red hair the episodes in which she and Denise wear extremely short skirts is probably year 2

Year 4- the main title visuals change (in years 1-3 the 4 regulars are shown arriving at school in the morning but in years 4-5 they are already inside- Denise Nicholas wears a wig and Karen Valentine now has a shag hairdo and she drops her books in the hallway)

Year 5- Karen Valentine has a slightly different hairdo

I believe the picture above is from year 1

[marvin g]

Room 222 wasn't a sitcom, it was a drama with some light hearted touches too it. as far as it being dated, yes but any old show would be. Check out Laugh In!! I thought that show was so enterating when I was a child! I even had a Laugh In lunch box. When I see it now it is so dated!! You would have to be a history major or around when the show was popular too know who they were talking about! :eek:

[jamesanthony]

Originally posted by marvin g
Room 222 wasn't a sitcom, it was a drama with some light hearted touches too it. as far as it being dated, yes but any old show would be. Check out Laugh In!! I thought that show was so enterating when I was a child! I even had a Laugh In lunch box. When I see it now it is so dated!! You would have to be a history major or around when the show was popular too know who they were talking about! :eek:

Room 222 had a few episodes with a laugh track in its first season and again in its last year. I saw one from year 1 where there was a flu epidemic and the canned laughter was very distracting.

[jamesanthony]

Originally posted by marvin g
Room 222 wasn't a sitcom, it was a drama with some light hearted touches too it. as far as it being dated, yes but any old show would be. Check out Laugh In!! I thought that show was so enterating when I was a child! I even had a Laugh In lunch box. When I see it now it is so dated!! You would have to be a history major or around when the show was popular too know who they were talking about! :eek:

I remember Flip Wilson from its primetime run, but I had never seen Laugh-In until it was syndicated in the early 80s (i think 1983). When I watched it then I thought: How could people have sat down and watch a whole hour of something like this? Many of the references are very dated and it was too fast paced. In the clsoing credits they still kept cracking jokes and the ending went on for like 5 minutes. Actually watching it I was kind of shocked at some of the things they were getting away with in the jokes: gay references etc. Laugh-In's style inspired shows like Sesame Street and Electric Company which I guess are dated too but I'd much rather watch those.

[hch]

I do remember seeing an episode that featured the Queen of Soul herself. I have only seen bits and pieces of it. What was that episode about?

[jamesanthony]

I do remember seeing an episode that featured the Queen of Soul herself. I have only seen bits and pieces of it. What was that episode about?

That episode is archived at the Museum of TV and Radio (I guess because Aretha is in it). She has a small part as a singer at a Christian coffee house. The main plot is about a student who wants to be a preacher and go to a prestigious university to get his training, but his grades aren't good enough to get in. The subplot is about Lloyd Haynes and Denise Nicholas' characters having a little disagreement. Where is it Written is the name of the episode and its from the third season, 1972 when Aretha had a gospel album on the charts.

[tv star collector]

still trying to get episodes.
Technically, this series was a comedy-drama, not a situation comedy. It had a half-hour format, so that might have led some people to believe it was a sit-com (most dramas are an hour in length). Similarly, in the 1990s ALLY McBEAL further blurred the line between comedy and drama. It WAS an hour but it (and the title character) were both so quirky that it was often played for laughs. So were these shows comedies or dramas? I guess the correct answer is both.

[Ireneparalegal]

I remember watching it and as young as I was, I liked it. It made me want to go to college and have fun. I really liked the red-head guy Bernie. Many famous actors made appearances on that show. Bernie, I ended up finding out back in 1987 that he was working as a production assistant on The Arsenio Hall Show. When my first husband and I went to a taping of the show, an hour before it started Arsenio came out and introduced each person that worked on the show. He then brought out this red-headed guy and asked if anyone recognized him. No one did. Then Arsenio told us to look at the monitors and watch. They started playing the opening sequence of Room 222. When they got to Bernie, they stopped it right there and everyone laughed and applauded. I couldn't believe it. He no longer had that afro, but he was still really red-headed and he was talking to us and making us laugh. He really is a funny guy. I guess his character and him are one in the same person.

[TVFactFan]

I remember watching it and as young as I was, I liked it. It made me want to go to college and have fun. I really liked the red-head guy Bernie. Many famous actors made appearances on that show. Bernie, I ended up finding out back in 1987 that he was working as a production assistant on The Arsenio Hall Show. When my first husband and I went to a taping of the show, an hour before it started Arsenio came out and introduced each person that worked on the show. He then brought out this red-headed guy and asked if anyone recognized him. No one did. Then Arsenio told us to look at the monitors and watch. They started playing the opening sequence of Room 222. When they got to Bernie, they stopped it right there and everyone laughed and applauded. I couldn't believe it. He no longer had that afro, but he was still really red-headed and he was talking to us and making us laugh. He really is a funny guy. I guess his character and him are one in the same person.



Well I finally saw this show and when I discovered it was a DRAMA, I hit the stop button on the VCR-lol Just something for me to keep in my collection since I trade TV Shows

[brgmgb]

I must have watched all of the episodes because Room 222 was part of ABC's Friday lineup:

8:00 Brady Bunch
8:30 Partridge Family
9:00 Room 222
9:30 Odd Couple
10:00 Love American Style (which we were not allowed to watch since my brother & I were younger than 10 at the time, but sometimes we sneaked a peak)

There are no episodes that stand out in my mind, but I'm sure if I saw the episodes, I'd remember them.

[tv star collector]

I still have an audio cassette of an episode that I taped in January 1974. (In
fact, it was the first TV show that I ever recorded.) "Cry Uncle" featured Michael
Lembeck (later of ONE DAY AT A TIME) as a budding comedian. He is the
son of Harvey Lembeck (THE PHIL SILVERS SHOW, "Beach Blanket Bingo," etc.).

[jamesanthony]

I still have an audio cassette of an episode that I taped in January 1974. (In
fact, it was the first TV show that I ever recorded.) "Cry Uncle" featured Michael
Lembeck (later of ONE DAY AT A TIME) as a budding comedian. He is the
son of Harvey Lembeck (THE PHIL SILVERS SHOW, "Beach Blanket Bingo," etc.).
That was the last episode of the series. It is available at the Museum of TV and Radio in NYC.

[tv star collector]

That was the last episode of the series. It is available at the Museum of TV and Radio in NYC.
That's interesting. I didn't realize it was the series finale. It amazes me that
the audio cassette (the first blank cassette I ever bought, by the way) has
lasted for over thirty years ... while many others (incl. some recent ones)
have worn out. I guess that old saying is true: "they don't make 'em like they
used to."

[jamesanthony]

That's interesting. I didn't realize it was the series finale. It amazes me that
the audio cassette (the first blank cassette I ever bought, by the way) has
lasted for over thirty years ... while many others (incl. some recent ones)
have worn out. I guess that old saying is true: "they don't make 'em like they
used to."
The show was cancelled in midseason- I don't think this show was intended to be any sort of special farewell show- that would have (I guess) had Jason, Helen Loomis and Bernie finally graduating or something or maybe Lloyd Haynes and Denise Nicholas' characters finally getting engaged. Those kids had been in that school for a very long time. As was the norm back then they had actors in their 20s playing HS students. There is a rumor that there is another episode after this that was never shown and was never syndicated but I doubt it- shows that have unaired episodes usually include them in the syndication packages.

[TVFactFan]

The show was cancelled in midseason- I don't think this show was intended to be any sort of special farewell show- that would have (I guess) had Jason, Helen Loomis and Bernie finally graduating or something or maybe Lloyd Haynes and Denise Nicholas' characters finally getting engaged. Those kids had been in that school for a very long time. As was the norm back then they had actors in their 20s playing HS students. There is a rumor that there is another episode after this that was never shown and was never syndicated but I doubt it- shows that have unaired episodes usually include them in the syndication packages.


I had the show sent to me because of Denise Nicholas!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[jamesanthony]

I had the show sent to me because of Denise Nicholas!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
That's a good reason. :) She should've been a bigger star than she was, but she did better in the long run than Lloyd Haynes who kind of faded into obscurity and then died of lung cancer.

Denise was in a PBS afternoon series in the early 80s called YES Inc. It was about an after school program in an inner city neighborhood. That's a show I wouldn't mind watching again. She was Ms Merritt the counselor and just as appealing there as in Room 222. That show is almost impossible to find, but it had good acting and for that kind of show it had hard hitting storylines (students on drugs, in gangs, mild profanity etc.) There's an episode of it at the Museum of TV and Radio in NYC with Cleavon Little as a cop and Mykel T Williamson as a tough HS student.

Another thing I saw her in was called Rituals- a feature film with the black guy from Mod Squad as her husband. They were a rich black couple who were so screwed up that their son and daughter committed incest. That was hard to watch.

[TVFactFan]

That's a good reason. :) She should've been a bigger star than she was, but she did better in the long run than Lloyd Haynes who kind of faded into obscurity and then died of lung cancer.

Denise was in a PBS afternoon series in the early 80s called YES Inc. It was about an after school program in an inner city neighborhood. That's a show I wouldn't mind watching again. She was Ms Merritt the counselor and just as appealing there as in Room 222. That show is almost impossible to find, but it had good acting and for that kind of show it had hard hitting storylines (students on drugs, in gangs, mild profanity etc.) There's an episode of it at the Museum of TV and Radio in NYC with Cleavon Little as a cop and Mykel T Williamson as a tough HS student.

Another thing I saw her in was called Rituals- a feature film with the black guy from Mod Squad as her husband. They were a rich black couple who were so screwed up that their son and daughter committed incest. That was hard to watch.


Did you see her in Baby I'm Back? A 1978 Sitcom

[Stuck In The '70's]

That's a good reason. :) She should've been a bigger star than she was, but she did better in the long run than Lloyd Haynes who kind of faded into obscurity and then died of lung cancer.

Denise was in a PBS afternoon series in the early 80s called YES Inc. It was about an after school program in an inner city neighborhood. That's a show I wouldn't mind watching again. She was Ms Merritt the counselor and just as appealing there as in Room 222. That show is almost impossible to find, but it had good acting and for that kind of show it had hard hitting storylines (students on drugs, in gangs, mild profanity etc.) There's an episode of it at the Museum of TV and Radio in NYC with Cleavon Little as a cop and Mykel T Williamson as a tough HS student.

Another thing I saw her in was called Rituals- a feature film with the black guy from Mod Squad as her husband. They were a rich black couple who were so screwed up that their son and daughter committed incest. That was hard to watch.
She also starred on In The Heat Of The Night with Carroll O'Connor. Her character and O'Connor's character got married on the show.

[mraw]

I had the show sent to me because of Denise Nicholas!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I met her a few months ago. She was doing an open discussion on her novel Freshwater Road. She said that she will be sticking to writing (probably from now on). People did ask her about Room 222, but I'd never heard of the show so I don't know what she mentioned about that. She now owns an apartment building and she takes care of her mother. She did mention that she wrote episodes of In the Heat of the Night, but she wasn't credited (I think that was her choice).

Denise said that it's harder for women in her age range to get steady work in acting, so she knew when to move on to something else that would fulfill her desire to express herself, and she found that in writing.

[jamesanthony]

I met her a few months ago. She was doing an open discussion on her novel Freshwater Road. She said that she will be sticking to writing (probably from now on). People did ask her about Room 222, but I'd never heard of the show so I don't know what she mentioned about that. She now owns an apartment building and she takes care of her mother. She did mention that she wrote episodes of In the Heat of the Night, but she wasn't credited (I think that was her choice).

Denise said that it's harder for women in her age range to get steady work in acting, so she knew when to move on to something else that would fulfill her desire to express herself, and she found that in writing.
Good for her. It is true that there aren't that many parts for actresses over 40 (esp if you are not white). She got into acting when she was young so she had a long run- she was about 22 when she was in Room 222 and before that she played Robert Hooks' wife in NYPD and was in a repertory theater group with him and several other African American players. She was also married to Bill (Lean On Me) Withers who apparently used to beat her up.

I watched Baby I'm Back when it came on in 1978 but I don't remember it very well. Denise seemed like she was of a higher caliber than the show though in retrospect- Baby I'm back wasn't trying to be anything too deep and she is clearly capable of very profound dramatic acting.

[Lamont]

i liked it at the time
it was something different
BUT it has NOT aged well at all
and if u watch it today
it seems pretty lame :(

[Scoobiedoo30]

I did watch Room 222 when it was on TV Land and I think Room 2222 Was an Awsome Show

[nndman1]

Like a previous poster mentioned, a show about a school atmosphere is hurt by: 1. Actors staying on too long as students; 2. Ever changing cast of students. See White Shadow. This show was good because the adult characters were strong. Wish it was in syndication now.

[kylie1]

I absolutely loved Room 222 when I was growing up and feel lucky to have grown up during a golden age of tv..........I adored all the characters but especially Lloyd Haynes character. A previous post said he had dies of lung cancer and I am sorry to hear that...I plan to order the DVD set soon.

[OH Nuts!]

I absolutely loved Room 222 when I was growing up and feel lucky to have grown up during a golden age of tv..........I adored all the characters but especially Lloyd Haynes character. A previous post said he had dies of lung cancer and I am sorry to hear that...I plan to order the DVD set soon.

Welcome to S.O. Kyle! Yes I feel like you do abt the show. I was 14 when it first came on, and am sure that I watched every show when it was first on. I really liked the character Pete Dixon. Is the show coming out on DVD. I hope so cause I love it.

And yes I believe Lloyd Haynes did pass away of lung cancer approx. 20 yrs ago.

[Tiger32]

still trying to get episodes.

It was awesome and then some. It was an Emmy Award winning sitcom.

It dealt with many issues of its time, and many of the issues are still relevant today.

It was not korny like the Brady Bunch, and other sitcoms from that time period, it was real. The School was Interracial, at a time when most of America was still segregated, and it showed that Blacks, Whites and Hispanics shared many of the same values. This series had more of impact on society than any other sitcom.

Season 2 is available for purchase through the Shout Factory.

[tv star collector]

Fame can be a mixed blessing sometimes. I recently found out why Judy
Strangis started voice acting in cartoon shows: she was afraid of stalkers,
and animation gave her some anonymity. (She did appear in one other series,
though; the Saturday morning Electra Woman & Dyna Girl, produced by
Sid & Marty Krofft.)

[DJM77]

I remember watching it and as young as I was, I liked it. It made me want to go to college and have fun. I really liked the red-head guy Bernie. Many famous actors made appearances on that show. Bernie, I ended up finding out back in 1987 that he was working as a production assistant on The Arsenio Hall Show. When my first husband and I went to a taping of the show, an hour before it started Arsenio came out and introduced each person that worked on the show. He then brought out this red-headed guy and asked if anyone recognized him. No one did. Then Arsenio told us to look at the monitors and watch. They started playing the opening sequence of Room 222. When they got to Bernie, they stopped it right there and everyone laughed and applauded. I couldn't believe it. He no longer had that afro, but he was still really red-headed and he was talking to us and making us laugh. He really is a funny guy. I guess his character and him are one in the same person.

Very cool story.:) But that had to be later than 1987 since The Arsenio Hall Show didn't make its debut until 1989.

[McGillicuddy]

I must have watched all of the episodes because Room 222 was part of ABC's Friday lineup:

8:00 Brady Bunch
8:30 Partridge Family
9:00 Room 222
9:30 Odd Couple
10:00 Love American Style (which we were not allowed to watch since my brother & I were younger than 10 at the time, but sometimes we sneaked a peak)

There are no episodes that stand out in my mind, but I'm sure if I saw the episodes, I'd remember them.
Remember when TVLand ran this entire schedule along with retro tv commercials one Friday evening in the early '90's?

The Brady Bunch
The Partridge Family
Room 222
The Odd Couple
and
Love American Style

[Tiger32]

Remember when TVLand ran this entire schedule along with retro tv commercials one Friday evening in the early '90's?

The Brady Bunch
The Partridge Family
Room 222
The Odd Couple
and
Love American Style

I loved that lineup in the early 70s, it was the first must see TV lineup.

40s years later, I am still learning lessons from Room 222. That show is still very powerful.

[Sonny Carson]

I've only see three episodes. Two were very good and one was bad. The bad one was a episode with Bruno Kirby being some sort of smart alecky teenager. One of the very good ones was one episode where Jason Allen has a upper middle class girlfriend and her father looks down on him because he's from the ghetto. And Denise Nicholas was scrumptous!

[TV_on_the_Porch]

Very cool story.:) But that had to be later than 1987 since The Arsenio Hall Show didn't make its debut until 1989.

No it didn't have to be later. She probably was referring to Fox's Late Show hosted by Arsenio Hall for a time after the departure of Joan Rivers.

In 1987.