Room 222 was a half-hour comedy-drama that aired on ABC from 1969-74. Set at integrated Walt Whitman High School in Los Angeles, Room 222 is credited with breaking new narrative ground in television. The series, created by James L. Brooks (Rhoda, Taxi) was one of the first shows to deal with such hot button issues of the day as the Vietnam War, race relations, women’s rights and Watergate. However, several issues such as drug abuse and struggles between teens and their parents, remain relevant today. The first episodes of Room 222 drew such weak ratings; ABC was prepared to cancel the program after one season. However, the show earned several Emmy nominations in 1970, including a win for Outstanding New Series of 1969 and ABC relented. From that point on, Room 222 never ranked above #25 in the Nielsen Ratings.
The show centered on African-American history teacher Pete Dixon (Lloyd Haines), who taught in room 222. A man who truly loved teaching, Pete wasn’t afraid to interact personally with his students and volunteered to help whenever one of them had an academic or personal problem. Pete’s girlfriend Liz McIntyre (Denise Nicholas), was a guidance counselor in room 225 at Walt Whitman. Dedicated and personable as Pete is, she cares a lot about helping all students succeed, regardless of whether they plan to attend college or enter the workforce after high school. Though Pete and Liz do their best to keep their relationship quiet, everyone at the school seems to know their involved with each other.
Julia starring Diahann Caroll which debuted in 1968 was one of the first television series to depict an African-American in a role other than a stereotypical servant. In just one year, television had made great strides as Dixon’s student teacher, Alice Johnson (Karen Valentine), a young white girl prone to malapropisms, asks what Dixon prefers, to be called “colored, Negro or black” (this was in the days before African-American, of course). Dixon gives her a charming smile and responds, “I prefer Pete.” That’s the sort of low key humor mixed with some not very subtle, yet still effective, social commentary for which Room 222 was rightly commended.
A season and a half before Norman Lear made “relevant” programming a dominant genre with the introduction of programs like All in the Family and Maude, Room 222 was using the half hour “dramedy” to explore relevant issues. The writers and producers of the show wisely kept the characters from getting preachy. Instead, Pete, Liz, Alice and the principal Seymour Kaufmann (Michael Constantine) talked to the students as if they were young adults, rather than delinquents. (Constantine’s sarcastic, dry wit isn’t to be missed, by the way.)
While Room 222 was still finding its footing during the first season, the writing is so crisp and the acting so honest, it’s hard to ignore. Along with the semi-regular recurring students (Judy Strangis as shy Helen, David Jolliffe as red-head “Afro” wearing Bernie, Heshimu as sullen black kid Jason and Howard Rice as Jason’s opposite, overachiever black kid Richie) are augmented by some fun guest turns by such young stars to be as Bob Balaban, Teri Garr, Cindy Williams and John Rubinstein. Adult guest stars in this first season include Helen Kleeb, William Schallert, Kenneth Mars, Mary Tyler Moore’s Dick Van Dyke neighbor Ann Morgan Guilbert, Paul Winfield, and, as a Walt Whitman alum who’s gone on to a successful singing career, Nancy Wilson.
Room 222 debuted on television at a time when racial tensions were very high in America. In its own small way, the series served as an example of how different groups of people could get along and work out their differences through education and debate. Room 222 also served to pave the way for such groundbreaking series as All in the Family, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Maude, Welcome Back Kotter and a host of others.
Unfortunately, Room 222 is rarely seen in syndication today. Lucky for us, Shout Factory is releasing Room 222 – Season One on DVD on March 24, 2009. I urge all television fans to add this set to their personal collections; Pete Dixon and the rest of the staff make Walt Whitman High School a fun and informative place to visit.
You may, like I did, get a momentary pit in your stomach when you view the pilot episode. It looks like it was mastered from a third or fourth generation videotape, with horribly blanched color, unbelievable softness and degradation of image (to the point where you can’t even make out backgrounds at times) and scratching and other debris. Things improve somewhat, starting with the second episode. While there’s still damage throughout the first season’s 26 episodes, sharpness and color improve dramatically. Room 222 was completely filmed, so you have a somewhat grainy, soft texture to all of this first season. The packaging states that the DVDs “were created from best surviving video masters,” so obviously Shout! is aware of the problem. Hopefully subsequent seasons are in better shape.
The mono soundtracks have survived in much better shape, with above average clarity and sport no hiss or dropouts. Goldsmith’s theme has some “wobble” on the pilot, and some underscore exhibits similar symptoms, but overall this is a decent soundtrack. No subtitles are available.
The set includes a nice interview with James L. Brooks, Denise Nicholas and Michael Constantine. They provide some reminiscences of what the show was like to work on. (Haynes died from cancer in 1986).
