Why This Pivotal ‘Family Matters’ Character Was Recast in Its Final Season

Family Matters was the longest running series on ABC’s Friday Night TGIF block. For nine seasons, the wacky stories of the Winslow family and their pesky next door neighbor, Steve Urkel (Jaleel White), made Family Matters one of the highest rated shows of the 90s. The series was not without its hard times, from a cast frustrated by Urkel’s dominance over the plots, to one of the characters being completely written out as if she never existed. By the end of Season 8, the show was falling on hard times, as it was bought by CBS, along with Step by Step, in a failed attempt by the network to create their own TGIF-like lineup.

Season 9 would be the last for Family Matters, but not all of its cast would make it quite to the end. During the last season, Jo Marie Payton, who had played the Winslow matriarch, Harriette, going back to day one, and even before, when the character first appeared in Perfect Strangers, suddenly disappeared. This wasn’t like Judy Winslow (Jaimee Foxworth), who just vanished to never be spoken of again. Rather, just as oddly, Payton, after almost a decade, was recast, with another actress,Judyann Elder, playing Harriette for the final nine episodes. So, why did Payton leave when the series was already so close to the end?

‘Family Matters’ Only Exists Because of Harriette Winslow

One of TGIF’s earliest series was Perfect Strangers, an Odd Couple-like show about a bizarre fish-out-of water European man named Balki Bartokomous (Bronson Pinchot) and his typical American cousin Larry Appleton (Mark Linn-Baker). The pair work at a newspaper called The Chicago Chronicle. It was at this newspaper that Balki interacted with an elevator operator named Harriette Winslow. Played by Payton, Harriette was one of the most loved parts of the show. Her husband, Carl (Reginald VelJohnson), appeared on the series from time to time as well. Harriette was so liked that in 1989, a spinoff with Harriette and Carl was ordered called Family Matters.

Family Matters followed the Winslow family in their home life. There was son Eddie (Darius McCrary) and daughter Laura (Kellie Shanygne Williams), and for the first four seasons, a youngest daughter named Judy, along with a few other family members who lived with them as well. It was a light and easy wholesome show with a loving family. Every episode, something small would happen, like the kids having trouble with school, or a bigger issue, like Harriette losing her job. No matter what happened though, the family got through it together, coming together, talking it out, learning a lesson, and then ending the episode with a hug as the audience clapped.

Much of that resolution came from Harriette. She was always there as the strong wife and mother to make it all better. She didn’t have awkward quirks or act mean or have a catchphrase. She was a person. The routine worked well for everyone involved, and then halfway through Season 1, a new character named Steve Urkel was introduced in what was supposed to be a small role. The show would never be the same.

Jo Marie Payton Was Frustrated by Several Behind-the-Scenes Moments

Family Matters may have grown in popularity after Steve Urkel became the focal point, but the cast wasn’t happy to see the attention turned from what the show was supposed to be to something else. On E! True Hollywood Story, Payton talked about handling the news that Steve Urkel would be the star of the show:

“And we said ‘Okay.’ We weren’t happy about it. I think along the way it got to be a little resentful but it was just an adjustment that we had to make.”

Though the cast mostly got along and accepted the new direction, it wasn’t the end of the drama. Urkel so overtook every corner of the show, that after Season 4, the bizarre and controversial decision was made to eliminate the youngest daughter, Judy Winslow. She wasn’t killed off or recast or sent away to boarding school for the next five years. Nope, she just disappeared as if she never existed, never to be talked about again. It infuriated Payton, who talked about her reaction to show runners with People:
“I said, You guys need to tell me something that is not only creative, but also politically correct to straighten out this situation because there’s nowhere in the world a family … You gave me three kids, you took away my baby. If you had taken away my oldest child, we could have always come up with [various excuses in the episodes] that she was at the mall or with her friends. You took away my baby, and when I asked you, ‘Why did you take away my baby girl?,’ you said, ‘Nobody would notice.’ I said, ‘You know what, when we’re walking down the street, nobody’s gonna notice you because they’re not going to ask you , they’re going to ask me what happened to Judy.'”