willhaskew This show started out like most any other TGIF sitcom. A black family, the Winslows, in Chicago go about their daily lives while dealing with family issues. The father, Carl, is a uniformed police officer with a liking for sweets, a temper, and weird habit of often being paired up with Steve Urkel despite not liking him. His wife, Harriet, is the new black matriarch archetype, no nonsense, sassy, disciplined, and yet supportive and loving. Her son Eddie, the oldest child, is shown to be stupid at first but the writers made him a popular athletic kid with a heart of gold instead. Laura, the oldest daughter and middle child, was pretty, popular and smart. She got the most sitcom attention aside from Urkel. There was an Aunt Rachel, a cousin Richie, a grandmother and a third child Judy, but so little attention is paid to them they're hardly worth mentioning. Steve Urkel, the next door neighbor, is a super nerd who is in love with Laura, and thus by TGIF sitcom rules unable to be boyfriend material. His nerdiness is so great that he invents time machines, a robot duplicate, and a chemical process that can literally re-create someone from scratch by rewriting their DNA (think The Nutty Professor). Thus Urkel becomes Stefan Urkel (a romantic counterpart that under sitcom rules is Laura Winslow boyfriend material), Bruce Lee Urkel and probably some other characters I can't remember. Urkel has one girlfriend, Myra, who seems to genuinely like him for his intelligence and nerdy personality but he inexplicably rejects her in pursuit of Laura. Urkel is the main focus of the show throughout most of it's run. At some point the aunt and youngest daughter were written out of the show with Richie becoming the youngest son by default and a young street kid name 3J (cousin Oliver syndrome anyone?) was adopted by the Winslows. Richie was also age progressed from an infant to about 5 years-old in his second season.

ComedyFan2010 I must say I enjoyed the show. It is very predictable and has many clichés, but to me it just gives a sweet nostalgia of the past television. While I am happy with the shows we have now, the past is sometimes great to watch again, and Family Matters is a good choice. It is a good sweet show that could be enjoyed by adults and by kids. It is a typical family show where at the end the characters teach us a moral lesson with their incident. Some of them were not my taste, but for the most time I found it tolerable.I know everyone says it became the "Urkel Show". But I just don't see it. I think people just associate it with the whole pop culture boom relating Urkel that happened in those days, I missed it, I didn't live in North America back then. But when it comes to the show, the rest of the characters still played an important role. Except for the ones who disappeared, which would be Judy, Rachel and Estelle. I didn't care much for the first two (and I wouldn't mind if Rachel would have taken her kid with her), but I do wish there would still be more Estelle. Loved her character. An older woman with more energy and adventure personality than anyone younger.My favorite character was Carl. He did bug me a few times, mainly at the end, but for the most I loved him. I would also say that this is due to the fact that Reginald VelJohnson is a brilliant actor. I absolutely loved his comedic talent as well as his performance in serious moments. I really want to see more of him now.Jaleel White was a good actor as well. Just seeing how he created that icon that Urkel was as well as him performing all the Urkel alter egos who were very diverse.The rest of the actors did a good job as well. This also goes for the secondary characters such as Waldo or Carl's bosses.I think the show slightly overran its time. I didn't mind the unrealistic plots with Steve's inventions as long as it was funny, but the problem is that I didn't find Stefan too funny and there was too much of him. Also the show started repeating similar plot lines, which was killing the fun.I did like though how they wrapped it up. At first I wasn't sure I want Urkel end up with Laura. yes, one would want his character to get what he always wanted, but Laura always rejected who he is. But they made it well by making Laura accept his hobbies such as polka and even get fun with it herself.

shawn_cool_great Family Matters is quality television that can be enjoyed by the whole family. It's funny, warm, and can be appreciated by all. This is a show where you can laugh and learn important lessons about life and not have jokes about sex, drugs, and violence. It's just so shameful that shows like this are very scarce these days. Another nice thing about this show is that it's able to be a good wholesome programming without being sappy or annoying like other shows, e.g. (Full House). The glue that really held this show together was Steve Urkel. Urkel is one of the most beloved television characters of the 1990's. Urkel is truly one of the funniest television characters in television history. Family Matters is a show that can be loved and treasured by all. However, I will admit that in the later seasons the show went downhill, becoming more like a science fiction show.

lilxi77 Watching Family Matters through 1-4 seasons, I always wonder why Judy was never a hi-light to any episodes. It was very rare that she got into something like Laura, Eddie and even Richie. Example, the episode when Laura fell for this treatment that turned out to be a scam and had Harriette, Rachel and Estelle fall for it. And the treatment made them bald. Judy should of sneaked around and used some of the treatment and wined up being bald like them. And what was tacky bout the show, Judy got booted off with no explanation, and no one talked about her in the series like she never existed. Through 1-4 seasons, Cart & Harriette have three children. Then starting from the 5 season, they have two children out in the blues. The producers should had arranged episodes at the ending of the 4 season that Judy were going away to private school or something. Then in the last season, she returns. And the show should had a special ending. The 10 season shouldn't of never got canceled (thanks to CBS). And my question is, for a long time dealing with the character Steve Urkel, why JoMarie decided to leave sudden? I wasn't use to the Harriette #2, no offense toward Judyann Elder. The show wasn't all about Steve, but what the show would of been like without the character? And the other actors seem like they were getting the pleasure out of Steve. "Quote" Steve was like a loner, he really didn't had no family. The Winslows was like Steve second family. It would of been good that Rachel was officially back into the series with a steady boyfriend. The scenes that Carl & Harriette done, Rachel & her boyfriend could of performed those scenes instead. And the original Harriette were arranged to be away taking care of her father due to his illness (Harriette & Rachel father paid them a visit in one of the episodes in the 2 season). Then Harriette pays the household a visit in a few episodes and Carl be arranged to sometimes visit Harriette and spend the nights over. Just like what was though, they didn't had to arrange to have Harriette dying out or Carl & Hariette get a divorce. In both of those cases, the sitcom would of been a very sad ending.