Some things from your youth are remembered fondly because of the good times they’re associated with. It’s difficult not to romanticize the experience of eating pizza and guzzling soda in anticipation of TGIF, the famed block of family-friendly Friday night television on ABC, until you reach the painful realization that you were more in love with the moment than anything else. Perhaps if you revisit some of the shows you loved as a kid now, you’ll discover that they haven’t aged as well. With that said, Family Matters, which turned 25 this year, is a very overrated television show.
This is the moment that changed the show forever, and for worse. Audiences couldn’t get enough of the archetypal nerd with huge glasses, suspenders, uncomfortably-high pants, nasal voice, and steam of infuriating catchphrases.
Conceived by William Bickley and Michael Warren, the Perfect Strangers spinoff made its debut on ABC during the fall of 1989. Both had the shared experience of working on The Partridge Family and Happy Days, and set out to create a wholesome, entertaining show about an extended African-American family living in Chicago. Carl Winslow (Reginald VelJohnson) was a stressed-out, yet loving husband and father to wife Harriette (Jo Marie Payton), and children Eddie (Darius McCray), Laura (Kellie Shanygne Williams), and Judy (Jaimee Foxworth). Carl’s mother, Estelle (Rosetta LeNoire), always managed to drop some episode-saving insight that made you want to hug the shit out of your own grandmother. Harriette’s sister Rachel (Telma Hopkins) and her son Richie (Joseph and Julius Wright in his younger days; Bryton James in his older ones) also resided in a very full house. The Winslow family was the center Family Matters—until their annoying neighbor materialized.
About halfway through the show’s first season, the character of Steve Urkel (Jaleel White) was introduced. This is the moment that changed the show forever, and for worse. Audiences couldn’t get enough of the archetypal nerd with huge glasses, suspenders, uncomfortably-high pants, nasally voice, and steam of infuriating catchphrases. Urkel forced his way into the Winslow family, much to the chagrin of Carl (who he irritated to no end) and Laura (who didn’t reciprocate his affection). What went relatively overlooked was how fucked up his own home life was, as the Winslows actually seemed to enjoy his presence more than his own largely unseen family. His antics made the character (and, therefore, the show) popular, and showrunners responded by making him the show’s focal point. The Los Angeles Times explored this revelation in 1991:
"Family Matters" is the most popular show in its 8:30 p.m. time period, regularly snaring 25% of the available TV viewers. And last week, among a blitz of holiday specials, the show ranked 5th among prime time programs, cracking the Top Five for the first time.
Who can take credit for the Urkel Effect? The producers sheepishly admit that the most successful element of their hit recipe resulted from dumb luck.
This, however, hindered Family Matters severely, as it relied heavily on the preposterousness associated with Urkel for laughs.
The gloss of nostalgia occasionally makes moments from the past seem like they hold more weight than they actually do.
It’s very believable that Urkel was mentally gifted, but the notion of him altering his DNA to transform into the suave Stefan Urquelle was too far-fetched. Fuck suspension of disbelief, the idea that Laura would be suddenly be smitten with Steve because he took a serum that essentially just turned him into Jaleel White is just ridiculous. Equally laughable was the plot to clone Steve and transform one of the clones into a permanent Stefan so that his girlfriend, Myra Monkhouse (Michelle Thomas), and Laura could both be happy with the DNA-sharing polar opposites they desired. Granted this was a sitcom targeting an audience that wasn’t likely to spot-check the plot for holes and other assorted foolishness, but the fact that Steve would have Myra—who was very into him—yet still pine for Laura and her unattractive attitude is pretty ludicrous. Family Matters was inconsistent like that for sake of very cheap laughs.
Perhaps the show’s most glaring flaw is the way the youngest Winslow daughter, Judy, was written out without any explanation. Actress Jaimee Foxworth made her last appearance on Family Matters during its fourth season. After that, she just vanished in TV’s Bermuda Triangle without any reason or clarification, as the fictional universe that Bickley and Warren created continued to spin without any mention of her. It’s as if Steve replaced her as the third Winslow child. In fact, more has been said about Foxworth’s descent into porn, drugs, alcohol, and resulting appearance on Celebrity Rehab than Judy’s unaddressed departure. It’s hard to respect a show with such a gaping hole.
For all of its very obvious shortcomings, that only become more apparent as the show becomes more outdated, there were amusing moments on Family Matters. In one episode from the show’s third season, Vanderbilt High School’s basketball team is down to four players, and the coach is forced to put Steve, the manager, into the game rather than forfeit and lose his job. Everyone in the gym was shocked by Steve’s ability, all the way down to the between the legs scissor-dribble that Michael Jordan executed while scoring 63 points against the Boston Celtics in the 1986 NBA playoffs. Steve and Eddie eventually led the Muskrats to victory.
The fifth-season episode where Stefan makes his debut, charming Laura in a Color Me Badd-esque white suit, is entertaining only because the soundtrack of Babyface’s "For the Cool in You" enhances his ripe swag. Later in the season, Laura dreams about having Shai perform "Baby I’m Yours" for her, only to have the dream rapidly turn into a nightmare when a multitude of Steves replace the group. The crossovers with other TGIF shows were kind of cool—back then. The reason moments like this are so well-remembered is due to the sentimental power of reminiscence.
The gloss of nostalgia occasionally makes moments from the past seem like they hold more weight than they actually do. So many ‘80s babies associate Family Matters with warm memories from their childhoods, a simpler time when we looked forward to Friday nights for completely different reasons than we do now. Watch it now, from the episodes where the ratings took off, to its sad end on CBS in 1998 after a season where Payton abandoned her role as Harriette midway through. Some of it is flat-out unwatchable. Shows like Martin (which, granted, dealt with adult themes) get better as you get older; Family Matters got worse.
Family Matters is part of a praised cluster of programming that a generation grew up on. Now that we’re grown, it’s nowhere near as compelling.
Julian Kimble just calls it as he sees it. Follow him on Twitter here.
