FAMILY MATTERS (TV SERIES)

'''Family Matters''' is an American sitcom about a middle-class African-American family living in Chicago. The series aired from September 22, 1989 to May 9, 1997 on ABC and, with a network change, moved to CBS on September 19, 1997 to July 17, 1998. ABC Family airs reruns from 7:00-8:00 a.m. on weekdays and weekends and again from 1:00-2:00 p.m. weekdays only.
The show, a spinoff of ''Perfect Strangers'', originally focused on the character of Harriette Winslow, and her family: husband Carl Winslow, a police officer; rebellious son Eddie Winslow (so much so that he was grounded practically every other episode); smart daughter Laura Winslow; and youngest child Judy Winslow. They had opened their home to Carl's streetwise mother Estelle Winslow as well as Harriette's sister Rachel Crawford and her son Richie Crawford after the death of Rachel's husband. The Winslows' nerdy next-door neighbor, Steve Urkel, was introduced midway through the first season and quickly became the focus of the show. It was part of ABC's ''TGIF'' from 1989 until 1997.
Having aired for 214 episodes, ''Family Matters'' is the second-longest running comedy with a predominantly black cast in the history of American television, surpassed only by ''The Jeffersons''.

Contents

History

Early years

On-going Themes/Gags

Science Fiction

Comical show, serious issues

Original characters leave the show

''Deck the Malls'' Episode: The Last of the Cast

Cancellation

Nielsen Ratings

Characters

References in popular culture

Trivia

See also

External links

History

Early years

''Family Matters'' was originally envisioned as a working-class version of ''The Cosby Show'' featuring an extended family. It was not a spin-off of ''Full House''. Many of the shows' characters are analogues of ''Cosby Show'' characters: eldest Winslow child Eddie (Darius McCrary) is adapted from Theo Huxtable, middle child Laura (Kellie Shanygne Williams) was reminiscent of Vanessa Huxtable, and little Judy (Valerie Jones in the pilot, Jaimee Foxworth thereafter) was derived from Rudy Huxtable. It is also interesting to note that Michelle Thomas, who played Myra Monkhouse in later seasons, had a role on ''The Cosby Show'' as Theo's girlfriend, Justine. The kids, along with their policeman father Carl (Reginald VelJohnson), elevator operator mother Harriette (Jo Marie Payton), aspiring writer aunt Rachel Crawford (Telma Hopkins) and her young son Richie (twin infants Joseph and Julius Wright during the first season, Bryton McClure thereafter), and Carl's feisty Mother Winslow (Rosetta LeNoire), found themselves in typical sitcom family situations.
Steve Urkel (Jaleel White) was the most famous character on the show. Introduced midway through the first season, the bespectacled Urkel, complete with high-pitched voice and suspenders, was the ultimate nerd; he was highly intelligent, but was very clumsy. His trademark line, "Did I do that?" (whenever he caused an accident) became a catchphrase imitated across the United States. ABC even hosted contests in which viewers were asked to send in their best impression of Urkel in order to win a grand prize. Originally intended to be a one time only character, White's portrayal of Urkel was so enthusiastically received, that he became a permanent part of the cast; in fact, several scripts had to be hastily rewritten to include Urkel, while new opening gags were added on already completed shows.
The show's original theme was the Louis Armstrong classic, ''What a Wonderful World'', but was scrapped after the first episode. ''As Days Go By'', written by Jesse Frederick, Bennett Salvay, and Scott Roeme, and performed by Jesse Frederick, would be the theme for the rest of the series until 1995, when the show's theme was cut. The longer version for ''As Days Go By'' can be see on ABC Family for the first three seasons. The first-season version of the opening credits features a scene showing the family riding their bikes across a bridge over the Chicago River. This is an allusion to its parent series, ''Perfect Strangers'', which featured a scene from the same exact point in its own opening credits.

On-going Themes/Gags

It didn't take long for the show to develop an idiosyncratic set of on-going plot elements, which certainly added both tension and comedy, even if they did so at the expense of credibility. Not surprisingly, the sheer absurdity of the episodes only increased as the series went on.
A curiously large number of episodes threw the major characters into life-or-death situations (Carl falling into a frozen pond, Steve falling out of a hot-air balloon, Eddie and the gang hanging precariously from a fire escape, Carl discovering a bomb in a treadmill and to get off the treadmill without causing the bomb to explode), which were usually resolved within a few minutes.
Another recurring theme was the humor derived from gratuitous property damage. Whether Urkel was knocking over a lamp, breaking the Winslow's windows on several occasions, taking the blame for crashing the Winslow family Station Wagon into the living room house even though Eddie was the driver, completely destroying Carl's garage shelves, or having inventions going wrong and ending up destroying a piece of the house, breaking something was a tried and true way to get a laugh. He once Nuked Chicago...by sitting on the controller of a Thermonuclear Device he built for Laura, to win a science fair at school. Fortunately, it was just Laura's dream. A well known tag line to Urkel's destruction is "Did I do that?"

Science Fiction

Critics claim the show "jumped the shark" in the later seasons that introduced many outrageous inventions from Steve Urkel; turning it from a down-to-earth family show into a science-fiction based show. These plotlines helped to bend the reality of the show as it seemed hard to believe that the lives of the characters would continue so normally with the discovery of such groundbreaking inventions. These inventions included: Steve's Urkel Bot, an intelligent robot that fell in love with Laura and briefly became a police officer; Steve's transformation chamber, that turned him into Stefan Urquel as well as other odd characters; Steve's shrinking machine; and his teleportation pad.
These stories strained credulity more and more in the show's final seasons, and the series gradually developed a self-aware sense of humor on the subject. In the Season 8 episode "Father Time," Carl casually shrugs off Urkel's invention of a time-travel device, citing all Steve's previous impossible creations and insisting a time machine is "no big deal" in comparison.

Comical show, serious issues

While most of the episodes were wildly comical (some likened the show to a Black version of ''Laurel and Hardy''), there were episodes on serious topics, such as teen alcoholism, dysfunctional families, racism, sexism, cancer, death, dyslexia, school bullying, and gun violence (this episode resulted in a short school shooting where one of Laura's friends was shot and the cast gave a public service announcement (P.S.A.) after the episode's conclusion). Several episodes also focused on Carl's job as a policeman, and the dangers inherent in such a career. There was also an early episode centered around Harriette and Rachel's father (portrayed by Paul Winfield), who tried to reunite with his daughters after abandoning the family when they were very young (their mother had told them that their father was killed when his fighter plane was shot down).

Original characters leave the show

As the focus of the show began to center more and more around Urkel (and occasionally Stefan), other, original characters were shunted to the periphery of the show. By 1993, the actresses who portrayed two members of the Winslow household, namely Judy (Jaimee Foxworth) and Rachel (Telma Hopkins) left the show. Hopkins (as Rachel) made guest appearances until 1997, but no explanation was ever given for Carl and Harriette's youngest child mysteriously disappearing though she was mentioned once in a later episode as still being upstairs cleaning her room (this was something of a meta-joke, as the last time Judy is seen, she goes upstairs to her room, never to come down again). The real reason was that Judy was never popular with fans and rarely had an entire episode centering on her character. In the third and fourth seasons, she was little more than a background character, appearing in episodes merely to fulfill contractual obligations, and often not getting a single line. Because of this, she was completely written out of the show. Some still say that Judy is still up in her room doing chores.
In later seasons, other characters disappeared. Shawn Harrison's character Waldo was said to have gone off to culinary school, giving his character some closure. Bryton McClure, who played Richie, started to appear less once 3J was introduced and disappeared by the last season. Rosetta LeNoire, who played Mother Winslow, was gone by the last season as well, after she married Fletcher. Jo Marie Payton-Noble, the original actress who played Harriette, left in December 1997 before the last season as she disliked how the show placed so much emphasis on Steve Urkel and his sub-characters (Stefan, Myrtle, O.G.D., etc.). Many believe this is a case of the series jumping the shark. According to a ''Parade'' viewer question asking why she was replaced, Jo Marie Payton-Noble also wanted to write or direct an episode, but never could. She was replaced by Judyann Elder.

''Deck the Malls'' Episode: The Last of the Cast

In the Season 9 Christmas episode "Deck the Malls", Estelle Winslow, Rachel Crawford, and Richie Crawford all appear for the last time. It is also Jo Marie Payton's last appearance as Harriette. Many consider this the true finale, as it features the entire cast (except Jaimee Foxworth). After this episode the show's continuity, once again, takes a major dip. Rachel never returns and Richie has also disappeared without a trace, presumably gone to live with his mother.

Cancellation

During its final season, the show moved to CBS, and ''Family Matters'' ranks as one of the longest running black sitcoms along with ''The Jeffersons'' and ''The Cosby Show''.
The show never had a proper series finale. The tenth season, which was supposed to feature the marriage of Steve and Laura, never entered production. The ratings had been on a steady decline for the last couple of years, and CBS decided to cancel the show (as well as ''Step by Step'') after only one season on the network. After the season wrapped, the sets were dismantled, much to the surprise of the cast and crew. The Season Nine finale, a two-parter, ended up becoming the de-facto series finale; although not an official finale, it did succeed in featuring the several types of plots prominent throughout the years. It was not only a very special episode, but also put equal emphasis on Steve and the Winslows, featured a comic storyline, and incorporated an outlandish plot centered around Urkel and his inventions: Steve goes into outer space with a pair of NASA astronauts to test one of his inventions, and Harriette, attempting to protect a newly deputized Eddie, arranges for him to be given a beat reading parking meters--which puts him in the middle of a shoot-out.

Nielsen Ratings

1990-1991 Season: #15
1991-1992 Season: #27
1993-1994 Season: #30

Characters

:''Main article: List of Family Matters characters''

★ 'Carl Winslow' - Played by Reginald VelJohnson (1989-1998)

★ 'Harriette Winslow' - Played by Jo Marie Payton (1989-1997) and Judyann Elder in 1998

★ 'Eddie Winslow' - Played by Darius McCrary (1989-1998)

★ 'Laura Winslow' - Played by Kellie Shanygne Williams (1989-1998)

★ 'Judy Winslow' - Played by Jaimee Foxworth (1989-1993)

★ 'Estelle Winslow' - Played by Rosetta LeNoire (1989-1997)

★ 'Steve Urkel' - Played by Jaleel White (1989-1998)

★ 'Rachel Crawford' - Played by Telma Hopkins (1989-1993, 1994-1997)

★ 'Richie Crawford' - Played by Joseph and Julius Wright (1989-1990); and Bryton McClure (1990-1997)

★ '3J' - Played by Orlando Brown (1996-1998)

★ 'Myra Monkhouse' - Played by Michelle Thomas (1993-1998)

★ 'Waldo Faldo' - Played by Shawn Harrison (1990-1996)

★ 'Maxine' - Played by Cherie Johnson (1990-1998)

References in popular culture

★ In the ''South Park'' episode "Chickenpox", Cartman has a Steve Urkel sleeping bag.

★ In the ''American Dad!'' episode "Stan of Arabia", a man showing Hayley around in a Saudi Arabian restaurant wears a shirt that has a picture of Steve Urkel, and under the picture is the word "Urkel".

★ In "The Springfield Files" episode of ''The Simpsons'', Homer compares an alien he encounters to Steve Urkel.

★ In another episode of ''The Simpsons'', Marge is seen trying to purchase a box of ''Urkel O's''.

★ In an ''Married...with Children'' episode, Al Bundy states: "Hey, Family Matters is on! I love this Urkel guy. Everything you need to know about life, you can learn from him."

Trivia

★ The house depicted in the opening and closing credits, as well as scenes that take place in the Winslows' home, is located at 1516 Wrightwood Avenue in Chicago, Illinois.

★ The closing shot in the end credits comes from the pilot episode "The Mama Who Came to Dinner" when the family is at the piano.

★ ''Family Matters'' is set in the same TV universe as four other tv series: ''Perfect Strangers'', ''Full House'', ''Step by Step'', and ''Hangin' With Mr. Cooper''.

★ Two cast members of Family Matters had and has roles on the soap opera ''The Young and the Restless'', Michelle Thomas and Bryton McClure.

★ During the series' nine-year run, the cast was predominantly changed. The only cast members to appear in every single episode were: Reginald VelJohnson, Darius McCrary, and Kellie Shanygne Williams.

See also

★ List of Family Matters episodes

★ List of Family Matters characters

External links

★ UrkelNet - a large fan site for Family Matters

★ Short Episode Guide for Family Matters

★ Family Matters - tvguide.com

★ The house location where the Winslows lived

★ ''Family Matters'' on IMDB.com

★ ''Family Matters'' on TV.com