Family Matters

In the premiere episode of How It Started, How It Ended, Angela and Bobby revisit the first and final episodes of Family Matters to answer one question: Did the series stick the landing?

They begin by exploring the show's origins as a spin-off of Perfect Strangers and ABC's effort to recreate the success of The Cosby Show during the TGIF era. Looking at the pilot, they discuss how Family Matters was originally conceived as a warm, multi-generational family sitcom centered on the Winslow family and the everyday challenges of living under one roof.

The conversation then turns to one of television's most unexpected pivots: the arrival of Steve Urkel. Originally intended as a one-time guest character, Urkel became a pop culture phenomenon who transformed the series from a grounded family comedy into something far more outrageous.

After watching the two-part series finale, Angela and Bobby debate whether that dramatic evolution helped or hurt the show. They discuss everything from space travel and artificial gravity to missing cast members, changing networks, and whether the finale provided enough emotional closure.

Verdict: Bobby says Family Matters mostly sticks the landing, while Angela isn't convinced the series ever truly landed at all.

In this episode

• How Family Matters spun off from Perfect Strangers
• ABC's search for another family sitcom after The Cosby Show
• The original vision for the Winslow family
• Why Steve Urkel was only supposed to appear once
• How Urkel became the center of the series
• The surprising changes between the pilot and the finale
• What happened to several original cast members
• Whether the finale delivered a satisfying ending

Shows and people mentioned

• Family Matters
• Perfect Strangers
• The Cosby Show
• Jaleel White
• Jo Marie Payton
• Reginald VelJohnson
• Telma Hopkins
• Rosetta LeNoire
• Darius McCrary
• Die Hard
• Louis Armstrong
• TGIF

If you enjoy the show, follow How It Started, How It Ended wherever you get your podcasts, and follow us on YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok for more conversations about the TV shows that got us hooked—and whether they delivered the ending they deserved.

Transcript

Bobby 0:10

Every TV show begins with so much promise, but how many actually fulfill it by the finale? I'm Bobby Meadows.

Angela 0:17

And I'm Angela Johnson Meadows. We're the couple that watches TV together. And this is how it started.

Bobby 0:24

How it ended, where we revisit the first and last episodes of some classic TV shows and answer one question. Did they stick the landing?

Angela 0:32

So join us on the couch as we take a deeper look at the classic sitcom Family Matters.

Bobby 0:42

So it's in 1989, Angela. Did you watch Family Matters?

Angela 0:47

I did. I watched probably the first few seasons. That was a period of time where I was really clamoring to see black people on television, and so there was another show, and it didn't hurt that I thought Darius McCrary was kind of cute.

Bobby 1:04

Hey now.

Angela 1:05

So yeah, I watched it. What about you?

Bobby 1:08

I never saw it. I never saw it, and that was one of the reasons why I was interested in the show, picking it. Uh, you know, we've talked about this before, but I didn't watch a lot of TV for a lot of years. I watched a few shows, but I probably missed out on a bunch that people would probably consider classics. I knew a lot about Family Matters. The show was in the zeitgeist for one reason we'll get to later. Um, but yeah, I never saw it, but now we have, and I'm excited to see it. So, you know, let's set the scene. You know, it was 1989. The number one show on television was the Cosby Show. And for listeners who don't know, the Cosby Show centered on the daily lives of the Huxtables, an affluent African-American family, and that was something that you rarely saw or even today see on television.

Angela 1:56

But during the 80s, ABC hadn't had much success capturing the Cosby Show magic. But they did have a powerhouse lineup of their own with their family-oriented TGIF Friday night lineup. And they wanted more of this. So they went back to the people who produced Perfect Strangers, producers William Binkley and Michael Warren, and they said, "Can you give us another hit for Fridays?" Instead of creating something brand new, they made a really smart choice. They looked at a character audiences already loved. Harriet Winslow. Harriet was an elevator operator in the building where Perfect Strangers' main characters, Larry and Balki, worked. Portrayed by actress Jo Marie Payton, Harriet was the voice of reason against Balki's chaotic optimism and Larry's neurotic ambition. It really sounds like what ABC wanted was to take another shot at producing something that was Cosby-ish. And Family Matters was. You've got Harriet, the no-nonsense mom, her husband Carl Winslow, played by Reginald Vel Johnson. He was most well known for playing a big city cop in Diehard.

Bobby 3:06

And then you had the kids, Eddie, Laura, Judy, and Aunt Rachel, played by Telma Hopkins, and Mother Winslow, portrayed by Rosetta LeNoire. The show begins as a grounded family sitcom where heartfelt talks, accompanied by a few notes on the piano, can make any problem disappear in a few minutes. And I think that's a good jumping-off point to talk about how it started.

Bobby 3:41

That's What a Wonderful World by Louis Armstrong, which is not the theme song you and I heard when we watched this show just a few minutes ago. Very quickly, this theme song was switched to As Days Go By, which listeners are much more familiar with and kicks off all the shows, even in syndication now. So the pilot episode, The Mama Who Came to Dinner, it aired September 22, 1989. And in the episode, the Winslows prepare for the arrival of Carl's mother, Mother Winslow. Her arrival causes turmoil. Carl doesn't seem to actually want her to live with them, and then well, even though Harriet's actually okay with it, when Mother Winslow arrives, she begins criticizing Carl's weight, Harriet's cooking, and undermines their parenting. Angela, what did you think of the pilot?

Angela 4:32

As a pilot, I thought the show was pretty solid. There was the right balance of humor and poignancy. Harriet and Carl have a great couple dynamic, and the kids were Cosby Show level cute. What did you think?

Bobby 4:46

Um to that point. I definitely thought that Laura sounded just like Vanessa Huxtable. But at the same time, I I was surprised. I Carl was really pouty, which I was not expecting at all. I thought he was just again, I never saw the show, but I assumed he was in that same line of Cliff Huxtable or James Evans, the strong dad, and perhaps that's what he may maybe he evolves into that. But you know, he's he's complaining about his mother like he's a little boy. Um when she sits in his favorite chair, he pouts about that too. I couldn't help but wonder why he agreed to her joining the household. And you know, it's funny, one of the reviews I read about the pilot said his performance was a great delight. I guess I missed something. Um, and also, you know, Mother Winslow comes in, and the nagging, over-controlling mom is a sitcom trope that I could have done without. But that is pretty much the majority of the plot, the family adjusting to Mother Winslow moving in.

Angela 5:48

Yeah, I was really surprised that Carl didn't feel like he could stand up to his mother. And like as you said, he was like acting like a little boy. There is also some ambiguity around Telma Hopkins' character, Rachel. She picks up Carl's mother from the airport, but it's not clear how she's related to Mother Winslow or to Carl or Harriet. In later episodes, it's revealed that she's actually Harriet's younger sister. And I, you know, I was wondering if that that could certainly have been a relationship that was something else that they hadn't quite worked through in the pilot. Um, and maybe it became more established later on, hard to say, since we did not watch any more of the show. And the pilot did have some funny lines. I admit I laughed when Harriet asked Mother Winslow to leave the kitchen. She said, "I got one nerve left and you're leaning on it." But you know, speaking of Rachel, uh, she was she actually has a quiet scene with Laura that I felt kind of boiled down what the creators were going for. Laura asked Rachel if Carl is going to throw grandma out of the house. And Rachel explains that Carl had, as you said, had invited her to live with the family after her husband died, and that everyone had to make adjustments. And I thought, as I when I when that scene occurred, I thought that's probably this show's promise. That it's going to draw humor from the adjustments and conflicts of having multiple generations living close together or even under one roof. And it probably would have gone that way, except for a change that occurred in episode 12, Laura's First Date. Carl arranges for a boy to take Laura to a party, and in walks Steven Urkel. He's wearing oversized glasses and high-waisted pants with suspenders and speaks with a nasally voice. He's supposed to be a one-off character, but Jaleel White, who played Urkel, has talked about how during shooting breaks, a group of what he called frat boys in the audience began chanting his name. It was a sign that his character was much more popular than the producers had anticipated.

Bobby 7:51

And then in the very next episode on January 5, 1990, Man's Best Friend. Naturally, he makes a mess of everything, trash is everywhere, and then he says, "Did I do that?" Who among us hasn't said that? Did I do that? But you know what's what I find interesting is in that clip, he says it as if it's just a line. He doesn't say it like it's a catchphrase yet. He says it like, Did I actually do that?

Angela 8:30

The ratings jump, and suddenly ABC says that every script has to include Urkel. What started as a family sitcom quickly became the Urkel Show.

Bobby 8:40

And you know, it just is we've been talking to this, I can I can imagine there are listeners out there telling us, hey, you're wrong. Urkel appeared way earlier than the 12th episode. And they're kind of right, actually. The character was so popular that when Family Matters went into syndication, the producers inserted an Urkel scene into episode four. So he actually appears much earlier.

Angela 9:02

Interesting. I didn't know that.

Bobby 9:05

Hey, there you go.

Angela 9:06

Or at least didn't remember it.

Bobby 9:08

And the pilot doesn't give any hint that any of these changes are coming. But as we discussed, they dominate the next uh they dominate the next nine seasons through the finale. Did you stick with Family Matters through the ending?

Angela 9:22

I don't think so. I don't remember when I stopped watching, but I know that that would have been a time where I transitioned from being a teenager to a young adult and wasn't watching the same kind of thing.

Bobby 9:35

I've read that the finale is a pretty wild ride, so when we come back, we'll take a look at how it ended.

Speaker 1 9:50

It's a rare condition...

Bobby 9:59

So, Angela, we just watched the finale. How did it end?

Angela 10:04

Well, the finale actually was a two-parter. It was two episodes. Um, one of the storylines focuses on Urkel, of course. He invents an artificial gravity machine, and because of that, he's invited to become the first teenager to fly into outer space. He ends up piloting the space shuttle, doing a spacewalk, getting stranded in space, and modifying another machine so it propels him back to the ship. During this time, he and Laura are engaged, but postpone their wedding so Urkle can go into space. But when things go awry, she's worried about him. Another storyline is about Eddie, who's just become a cop, like his dad. Harriet is so worried about him that she goes behind his back and has him moved from street patrol to traffic cop. Eddie is in what Harriet believes to be a safer role, but he actually gets shot anyway. He's saved by a bulletproof vest that Carl has passed down to him. One heartfelt talk and a few musical notes later, and Eddie's not mad at his mom anymore. What did you think about the finale?

Bobby 11:10

I thought it was ridiculous. But I don't know if that's a bad thing. Considering, you know, you and I we scrolled through Hulu and looked at all the storylines, and considering what we read, I would have to imagine that this is what faithful viewers expected.

Angela 11:29

Did anything surprise you?

Bobby 11:31

Yes. Yes. I I I had no idea that Urkel still spoke with that high voice. I he's obviously Jaleel White has aged. He's, you know, he's a grown man, kind of by this point. And so I had no idea that Urkel still spoke like that. Interesting, you know, Jaleel played at least two other characters on this show. One of them was his cousin Myrtle, and the other, the very dapper, suave Stefan Urquelle. And one of the reasons Jaleel plays Stefan was because as he got older, it got harder and harder for him to speak in that falsetto. And in the finale, you can really hear him pushing his vocal cords. He almost sounds out of breath when he's talking. You know, the other thing that really surprised me was that Urkel and Laura were engaged. From what I picked up through through the zeitgeist on Family Matters through the years, I thought Laura didn't like Urkel. I have no idea whether that was true or not, but it just really shows how much it changed.

Angela 12:30

And not just in this episode, ABC dropped Family Matters after its eighth season. CBS picked up the ninth season, but they didn't get the same traction that the show enjoyed on ABC. The show was no longer on its familiar TGIF home, and production costs were rising, and the cast members were moving on. Due to Rosetta LeNoire's health and scheduling issues, Mother Winslow's character was phased out. She only made one appearance in the season nine. Telma Hopkins, who played Aunt Rachel, didn't come back at all for the ninth season. Neither did Bryton James, who began playing Richie when they aged up the character at the beginning of season two. Judy, the youngest daughter, is also missing. Valerie Jones played her in the pilot, but she was replaced by Jamie Foxworth in the second episode. Jamie had a four-season run on the show and then famously walked upstairs and was never seen again. Jo Marie Payton left the show midway through season nine to pursue other creative opportunities. Judy Ann Elder stepped in to play Harriet for the rest of that season. You might have to turn in your black card for that opinion.

Bobby 13:47

I I have no ties to either one. I've never seen this show before. But you know, it it watching the finale, I mean, it definitely it didn't it doesn't seem like the same show as the pilot, which certainly probably could be expected after nine years, especially when you're dealing with kids that grow up and go through different issues. You know, one exception is that Carl, of course, is still a cop, but Urkel had become the absolute center of gravity all throughout the finale. It's like anytime the camera is on him, he's just mugging for the camera at every opportunity. And you know, I will I'll say though, you know, one of the things that surprised me was that the show is it's still warm, it's still family, you know, it's just a different type of family. And I will say, uh, you know, at the end, Urkel lands safely, and he comes to the house, and he and Laura kiss, and I felt kind of nice, it was kind of nice. So, you know, while the show it completely pivoted away from its original concept, but it never lost its heart, I guess. Which is which is a nice thing to see. I'll ask you this. Do you wish you had watched this show all the way through?

Angela 15:05

I can honestly say I don't feel like I have missed anything by not watching the entire series. I think I would have been really disappointed with where the show went. I t may be an unpopular opinion, but I was not an Urkel fan. Urkel e irked me.

Angela 15:29

Oh, well done. Well done. So yeah, and I probably checked out at a point where Laura still did not like Urkel, so like you, I was very surprised to see that they had ended up together. But yeah, I I don't think I missed anything by not seeing the full full series. What about you? Do you wish you had seen the whole thing? Or watched it at all?

Bobby 15:54

No. I mean, I like absurdity, I really do. It's probably it's up there with TV capers and the end of the world shows. And I mean, you know, Urkel might have made me laugh a few times, but overall, I think I'm good. I think I'm good where I am. So let's get to it. Does Family Matters stick the landing?

Angela 16:18

That is the ultimate question. For me, the the finale didn't feel like a series finale. Um there wasn't a lot of closure for reasons that we've already explained. It's hard for me to judge whether it stuck the landing because it doesn't feel like there was a landing. For those who watched the show through the entire nine seasons, I'm sure the show ended where they thought the journey was headed. But um I think for me the the jury's still out. What about you?

Bobby 16:48

I think it kind of stuck the landing. It didn't fulfill the promise it made in the pilot with the multi-generational conflicts, at least that we saw, because I it seems like it, as we said, it turned into the Urkel Show, and it seemed like Urkel and Carl had like and again, this is just from me, you know, seeing it from the outside. It seemed like Urkel and Carl had different adventures and things like that, or maybe he was always throwing Urkel out of the house, or something like that. So yeah, it didn't fulfill that promise, but it did become something that, you know, it's it's true, it was popular. So it became something that audiences genuinely love, or that its audience genuinely loved. So yeah, I think it kind of sticks the landing.

Bobby 17:35

Well, that is it for Family Matters. So thank you for hanging out with us. Again, I'm Bobby Meadows.

Angela 17:42

And I'm Angela Johnson Meadows.

Bobby 17:45

Join us next time, back on the couch, for How It Started, How It Ended.

Angela 17:49

Because endings matter, especially to the people who stuck around.

Bobby 17:55

How It Started, How It Ended is produced by Bobby Meadows and Angela Johnson Meadows for Ain't We Cute Media. You can find How It Started, How It Ended wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts. And you can follow us on TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram at How It Started underscore How It Ended.