When Family Matters first debuted on ABC in 1989 as part of their Friday night TGIF lineup, it was a far different series from the show it would become. It started as a spinoff to another TGIF series, Perfect Strangers, giving viewers a wholesome look at the Winslow family. It was a cute and funny enough series, but it quickly changed with the introduction of a character named Steve Urkel (Jaleel White), whose presence instantly changed the show. In no time, he became the star. While it helped Family Matters grow its audience, the overindulgence of Steve Urkel and the young actor playing him caused some hard feelings with the rest of the cast.
‘Family Matters’ Was a Spin-Off of ‘Perfect Strangers’
Harriette Winslow was a supporting character on Perfect Strangers. Played by Jo Marie Payton, Harriette was an elevator operator at The Chicago Chronicle newspaper where Balki Bartokomous and Larry Appleton (Bronson Pinchot and Mark Linn-Baker) worked. She was only on the series through Seasons 3 and 4, but audiences, and most importantly, producers, loved her character. At times her husband, Carl (Reginald VelJohnson), would appear as well. While he didn’t do a lot during his appearances, he did it at the right time, for the late 80s saw VelJohnson’s popularity rise thanks to his role in Die Hard. It was then decided that Harriette and Carl should have a show of their own.
Family Matters premiered in the fall of 1989. It was your traditional wholesome, non-threatening, a bit sappy, 80s sitcom. Carl was a Chicago cop. Harriette still worked at The Chicago Chronicle, but she would be fired from her elevator operator job very early in the first season. While the series would follow husband and wife at work sometimes, it was the matters of the family that the show revolved around, specifically their home life. Carl and Harriette had two teenaged kids, a son named Eddie (Darius McCrary) and a daughter named Laura (Kellie Shanygne Williams). There was also a younger daughter named Judy (Jaimee Foxworth) who strangely disappeared as if she never existed in Season 4. The family included Carl’s mom, Estelle (Rosetta LeNoire), and Harriette’s younger widowed sister, Rachel (Telma Hopkins), and her young son, Richie (Bryton McClure).
All of these people lived under one roof of your traditional sitcom house setup. Family Matters, with its all Black cast, was refreshing to see, not just because it was a rarity, but for how the characters were portrayed. While non-white characters weren’t uncommon in the 1980s, they were usually the token friend, the sidekick, the comic relief, or fell into uncomfortable stereotypes. The Winslows weren’t the only Black family on TV, obviously. The Cosby Show was the biggest sitcom on TV at the time. But Family Matters was simpler. While The Cosby Show had no problem discussing race, Family Matters, though not afraid to bring it up every now and then, didn’t address it a lot. It aimed to just show us a family who happened to be Black and could do anything a white family could do, while having the same problems as well. That simpleness gave us episodes where Eddie might lie about his grades or Rachel upsets the family by writing a story about them. There’d be drama and conflict, but at the end of the half hour, after a heart-to-heart talk, music swelling in the background and the in-studio audience clapping, the family would come together.
Steve Urkel Becomes the Star of ‘Family Matters’
Carl and Harriette were the leads of Family Matters, but there was no true single star. It was an ensemble where everyone got a chance to shine. Then came the 12th episode of Season 1, “Laura’s First Date.” In this episode, as the title states, Laura goes on her first date. The boy taking her out is named Steve Urkel, the stereotypical nerd with an annoying personality and nasally voice. Laura is not into him, but Urkel is immediately in awe. Audiences were too. Urkel was hilarious with his huge glasses, high energy, weird laugh, and suspenders. Whenever he appeared on-screen, he stole whatever scene he was in. By Season 2, he was part of the main cast.
Family Matters quickly became not about matters of the family but matters of Steve Urkel, with him constantly bursting in to the family home uninvited, obsessing over Laura and frustrating Carl, while doing pratfalls and throwing out catchphrases like “Did I do that?” He was funny, but he also at times came off as a caricature rather than a real person. From Season 2 until the end of the series, this sweetly sentimental show about a family became all about Steve Urkel’s antics and the Winslows’ reaction to them. Much of the cast didn’t like it. What had been their show had been taken from them and given to some kid out of nowhere.
