Episode
227: The Butler Did It
Overview
Mary and Rose win a raffle contest and their prize is a butler for a week. They both become quickly annoyed with his presence and ""loan"" him to Sandra. When it is time for him to go home, his boss comes over to the Jenkins and fires him. With no where to go, Alfred fakes a back ache and have the Jenkins' waiting on him hand and foot. His boss later come back and wants to take him back. He admits to Mary that it's only because it was in his father's will to that he must continue to employ Alfred in order to receive money.
Details
- Series
- 227
- Season
- Season 3
- Episode
- Episode 21
- Air date
- 1988-03-12
- Runtime
- 30 min
Episode context
The Butler Did It is Episode 21 in Season 3 of 227. It aired on 1988-03-12. The runtime is 30 min.
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Episode 20: Blues
Brenda's grandfather arrives with a Wailing Eddie record in tow. While letting Brenda listen to it, she accidentally scratches it and her grandfather is devastated. She doesn't understand what's so special about the blues anyway.
Mary and Lester find another rare copy, and it too is ruined accidentally by Brenda.
This episode is cut with scenes of Sandra and Rose singing the blues and narrated by Brenda. Towards the end of the episode, she finally understands what the blue is all about, because she has them. Her grandfather is upset with her and everyone is coming down hard on her about the broken record. She and her grandfather reconcile and Pearl gets Wailing Eddie to come to the Jenkins' and sing.
Episode 22: My Aching Back
When a movie is being shot outside 227, Sandra asks the director if there is any role not yet filled. He gives her a line to say (""Officer, he went that way""), but she cannot say it as naturally as Mary, so he recasts Mary in the role. Sandra is upset.
Mary is so nervous, she practices the line day and night until finally she becomes so stressed that her back goes out. Rose brings a chiropractor to her house to relive her stress and straighten her up (she was bent over before).
When it comes time to say her line she does it well. Sandra winds up with a role after all-- the dead homeless person on the apt. steps.
More episodes from this season
Episode 19: The New Neighbors
When Rose is looking for a live-in superintendent, Manny suggests his father, knowing that the Super's family will live with a 50% decrease in rent. When his family moves in, they later find out that he is also the Superintendent, but Alfonso has no skills in that area. Instead, he would rather play concert violin in a symphony.
When a try-out conflicts with his job as Super, he decides to complete his job as Super, but Rose allows him one more day to complete his job so he can try out for the Orchestra. He doesn't make it, but vows to put his all into being the Super.
Episode 23: Country Cousins
Lester is informed that he has an inheritance coming to him. But before he can collect it, he has to live with some distant relatives and discovers that they are country folk and white.
Episode 18: The Big Deal
Lester's construction company has the chance to be purchased by a multi-national company. The lawyer that is over the proposed merger sub leases the apt and next door, and he and Mary start off on the wrong foot from the beginning. He requests tickets to see the Pointer Sisters, makes Mary cook a steak, (after she'd already made fish) mistakes her for the maid and tells her to clean his apt for $3.00 and hour.
When Mary can't get tickets, she, Rose and Sandra dress up as the Pointer Sisters and host a party for Thurmond. Lester decides that he does not want to sell.
Episode 24: Best Friends
When Mary's high school friend comes to visit, everyone is excited to meet her because she is a famous writer, psychologist, and romance adviser (like Dr. Ruth). Mary imagines what it would be like to be that famous and well liked. She begins to get jealous when Brenda tells her that she wants to be like Dr. Butler. She tells Lester how she feels and he admits that he thinks Thelma may be jealous of Mary and her stable life.
Mary and Thelma get in an argument about who is jealous of whom and they bring up a lot of things that happened in the past. They wind up laughing about how silly they were acting and make up.
Episode 17: The Roommate
When the daughter of Lester's friend comes to stay with the Jenkins until the dorms at Howard University open, she gets a taste of the big city first hand. Sandra is behind on rent for three months and she decides to get a roommate.
Sweet, shy, quiet Donna becomes her roommate after the dorm overbooked. She takes a lesson from Sandra and begins dressing, walking, talking, and acting like her.
She steals Sandra's boyfriend and when Mary talks to her about the new Donna, she gets upset and leaves. Then her parents show up to check on their ""baby."" Mary stalls until finally Donna comes back. They talk privately and Donna apologizes and admits that she was not ready for ""life in the fast lane.""
Episode 16: Sweet Sixteen
When Calvin asks Brenda to his basketball ball, she is not able to go because she is still one week away from being 16 years old. She sulks because she can't go.
The next week, she has a sweet sixteen party and when Sandra asks what she will do now that she is 16, she announces that she is going to go on her first date, and NOT with Calvin. This shocks her parents and Calvin.
When the Jenkins meet her date they drill him before finally allowing them to leave. Around 11 o'clock, the Jenkins go outside the building to spy on Brenda and Durell. Brenda tells him that she is not ready to kiss him. And Calvin, who was hiding by the garbage cans, asks her out for next Friday night.
Episode 15: The Sing-Off
For a choir sing-off, Mary has found housing for all of the competitors except one, and for good reason. He is rude, pushy and impatient. He winds up staying with the Jenkins.
He tries everything he can to guarantee that his choir will win, including taking the judges to dinner and bringing in a professional gospel singer.
The D.C. choir brings in Brenda, Tiffany and friends to sing with their choir, which gives them a unique, youthful sound. The competition ends in a tie, where both teams will represent the East Coast in the California semi-finals.
Episode 14: Shall We Dance?
Mary catches Lester dancing with his old girlfriend.
Episode 13: Snowbound
When Mary and Lester's flight to Hawaii is cancelled due to the blizzard, they go home only to find Rose, Pearl, Sandra and Calvin in their apt, which is one of two apts in 227 with working heat. They all stay there, including the Jenkins' cab driver, whose cab was stuck in the snow, for at least two days before everyone starts to get on everyone else's nerves.
When they realize how they were acting, and that Mary and Lester had to put up with their attitudes in addition to missing their flight, they decide to recreate Hawaii in the apt for Mary and Lester.
Episode 12: The Talk Show
Sandra gets a job on a low budget television station, Channel 87. She tried out for the weathergirl, but bombed!
So the station manager gives her another chance hosting her own talk show. Mary, Lester, Rose and Pearl agree to be on the show and talk about various things (bake sale, rummage). But the station manager wants ""Sex In The 80's"" as a topic, which makes them feel uncomfortable (except Pearl).