At the height of ABC’s TGIF lineup, millions of young people tuned in weekly to watch the latest adventures of their favorite family-friendly television characters. In the years since then, many of those former viewers have noticed things they used to ignore about their favorite TGIF shows but they still hold those series close to their hearts.
Thanks to the affection that people have for TGIF shows like Family Matters, many of them want to know what happened to the show’s stars after it was canceled. As it turns out, one of Family Matters’ stars was accused of a serious crime. On top of that, it has been revealed that some unfortunate things went on behind the scenes of Family Matters including something that led to one of the series’ stars feeling “very hurt”.
Why Family Matters Became A Completely Different Show
Throughout television history, there have been many shows that over time went through a huge change. When looking back at Family Matters’ legacy, it is clear the show belongs in that category. After all, even though some people would argue that Family Matters is better than any sitcom that is on the air now, the show got away from its original concept.
Originally focused on a blue-collar family, Family Matters started out as a sitcom that was easy for a lot of people to relate to. However, once the character Steve Urkel premiered and became a sensation, Family Matters began to focus on the Winslow family’s over-the-top nerdy neighbor more and more. In fact, one of the things that people remember most about Family Matters is the infamous Urkel Dance scene.
As a result of Family Matters transitioning from being a family show to one about Steve Urkel, the show became more and more cartoonish. For example, by the time Family Matters ended, Steve Urkel was cloned so his suave alter-ego Stefan Urquelle could have his own body. Amazingly enough, that is only one of the many fantastical storylines that eventually became a part of Family Matters’ legacy.
Why This Family Matters Star Was “Very Hurt” By The Show
Since Family Matters was all about the Winslow family when the show began, it makes sense that the series’ producers made sure that Carl and Harriette had several kids. From the start, it was clear that the show focused on Laura and Eddie more than Judy but the youngest Winslow child still was a major part of the show’s storylines initially.
After Steve Urkel took center stage, Judy Winslow became less and less important to the show’s storylines. Still, Judy actor Jaimee Foxworth remained one of Family Matters’ stars up until partway through the show’s fourth season. Then, after the character was seen in the season four episode “Mama’s Wedding”, Judy was never seen on screen again. If that wasn’t weird enough, Family Matters’ producers didn’t even come up with a storyline reason why Judy disappeared. Instead, everyone just acted like Judy never existed in the first place.
As weird as it was for longtime Family Matters fans to see Judy Winslow disappear out of nowhere, it always seemed like the show’s cast took the characters’ absence in stride. After all, Family Matters stayed on the air for another five seasons after Judy’s last appearance. As it turns out, at least two Family Matters stars were deeply bothered by Judy being written out of the show.
Of course, it should go without saying that Judy Winslow’s actor Jaimee Foxworth was disappointed that the character was written out of the show since it meant she was fired. As it turns out, the actor who played Judy’s mother onscreen also was extremely upset by the decision to remove her character’s youngest daughter from the show.