Why did JoMarie Payton leave Family Matters when there was only 8 episodes left.

JoMarie Payton noble left family matters because she felt that she was no longer really playing harriet the way she always had. at the time she left,nobody knew family matters would be canceled 8 episodes later.

would they have cancelled it if she would of stayed?

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probably

Yeah, they thought there was going to be a 10th season. But it didn't happen.

Wow, I didn't know she left the show! I never saw the last episodes, but she couldn't have seen that coming! How did they write her out? Didn't she play the mother?

Andrea

I've never seen the 9th season either, but as I've understood it, JoMarie was getting tired of how they focused on Steve and neglected the Winslows. She asked for permission to write some family-centred plots, but they wouldn't let her. So she just left in the middle of the 9th season. If they only had known that this was to be the last season, they probably would have just pretended, that Harriette was around, but we didn't get to see her. But since they thought the show would get a 10th season, they ended up hiring another actress, JudyAnn Elder, to play Harriette for the rest of the season.

she did have a non speaking roll in the series finale as an employee at NASA, watching steve trying to get back to earth after the astronauts got knocked out by a satellite and steve having to do a space walk

At least she stayed almost the whole series.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3097/2868141151_1f2086a994_b.jpg

What I don't understand is how they casted Judy Ann Elder has Harriet. She could not play that role like Joe Marie could. They should have casted her as an aunt sitting in for Harriet.

I guess they just rather replaced Harriette than wrote her out of the show.

i think this like the 100th why did original harriate leave thread lol think people would get it the first time lol but it all good

Haha, you're right.

and to think this was her spinoff. She was on Perfect Strangers and they made Family Matters based around the winslows.

and to think this was her spinoff. She was on Perfect Strangers and they made Family Matters based around the winslows.

You mean it was supposed to be based on the winslows, it was based on Urkel

Does anyone remember Jo Marie's gig as the voice of the grandma in The Proud Family? She was hilarious!! :lol:

Of course, if Frank Dungan and Jeff Stein were running the show, they would have listened to Ms. Payton's ideas, given that they emphasized quality over quantity, as seen with their work on Mr. Belvedere.

Yeah, they should have at least listened to her.

Yeah.

http://www.lipstickalley.com/showthread.php/922555-Jo-Marie-Payton-talks-FAMILY-MATTERS

Going back to the end of the seventh season of Family Matters, the show switched from ABC to CBS. Do you remember why that happened?
Well, you know, I think it probably was because the show was kind of running out of air, what they call “jumping the shark,” you know what I mean?
I know that prior to that, a year prior to that, I didn’t want to do it anymore. I had been offered an opportunity to do the Mahalia Jackson story and I wanted to do something else. And I think, like, four, three, four years prior to that I would go into ABC with my agent every year and we would ask for just another project, something else to do. Like, Bob Sagat was doing America’s Funniest Home Videos. I just wanted something else to do, just to energize me a little bit more, on the creative side. And so I wanted to leave before that and so at the end of the eighth season, which was my last contracted year — I think I might have had one of the longest contracts there — my contract was up.

So I was like a free agent and so when they went to CBS and all, they asked me to come back. And I really didn’t want to come back. I had just done my jazz album and all. And we agreed that I would come back just to kick off the move to CBS and that’s how that whole deal went. I was to do half of a season, eight of the episodes. And I had an option out and I exercised my option. I did.

As a matter of fact, I had long talk with [co-creator] Bob Boyett prior to my leaving, and he asked me, “When you said you really were ready to go, you were ready to go, weren’t you?” And I said, “Yeah, but they weren’t ready to let go, you know.” And so, I know there were a few people that were a little bit upset that I wanted to go, but I was just ready to leave. I was ready to go before then, but, I actually remember having one of the people that were working there, one of the production people, saying “Jo, if you leave then you know things are going to go crazy.” And, “Yeah, I have a daughter in college” you know, and this and that. And so I stayed an extra two years.

I felt stifled and like I said, if I had been able to do other projects… There was one time that they agreed to let me do another project and then the project got delayed and then when it was time to do it they said, “No, you can’t do it.” So, I just needed something extra to do, you know. How I explained it is, “A baker that loves to bake doesn’t want to stop baking. They just don’t always want to make chocolate cake or chocolate cookies. They want to try to do something else. Bake some bagels, do something else.” I never wanted to stop acting. I’ve been acting since I was six years old. It’s just that I was tired of doing that project, you know what I’m saying, I wanted to do something else.

I think the reason why some people have thought there was a problem was because you left mid-season, which was unusual.
Yes, yes. There were some things being said, and like I said, just ignore it because you know it’s not true. But it did hurt, because it made me look like this scandlous person, that was jealous of this kid [Jaleel]. I’m a very truthful person, and I shoot straight from the hip, just like my character, you know? I would be the first person in the world to apologize to someone if I thought I hurt their feelings or I said something that was untrue. But by the same token, you know, you just get to a point where sometimes you gotta say “Okay, alright, let’s back this up now.”

she did have a non speaking roll in the series finale as an employee at NASA, watching steve trying to get back to earth after the astronauts got knocked out by a satellite and steve having to do a space walk
Huh who, Jo Marie or the other actress?

I've always liked her and respected her as an actress---she's a very classy lady. I've always respected her decision to leave the show but I do wish she had stayed until the end of the series. Once she left, the show just wasn't the same. It was a shell.

Her frustration in the situation seemed to show in her acting in the later seasons. She just seemed tired of doing the show.

I believe that she also started feeling that her character got less and less to do?

I could understand how frustrated she was in the later seasons. It seemed like in every episode in the later seasons, there would either be a subplot in which she and Carl would argue over something and then make up in the end or she would just stand there with everyone else and react to Urkel's hijinks.

She is very classy though, and I admire her decision to stay with the show as long as she did.

Her frustration in the situation seemed to show in her acting in the later seasons. She just seemed tired of doing the show.

Didn't Jaleel White get tired of being Urkel at that point as well despite being the star?

she did have a non speaking roll in the series finale as an employee at NASA, watching steve trying to get back to earth after the astronauts got knocked out by a satellite and steve having to do a space walk

That's not true...

http://tvseriesfinale.com/tv-show/family-matters-jomarie-payton-reunion-16893/

You told me that you watched the last episode of Family Matters for the first time on our site.

I really did. And as a matter of fact I know Judyann Elder that played the Harriet role after me. I did a play with her years ago. I know Judy, and her husband too. I did enjoy the episode and I was looking for me in it because [places online] state that I had a cameo. I said, “I didn’t have a cameo in that. In those two shows.” You know. Because I was gone when they did the last two episodes. That was kind of one of the main reasons I watched it. I said “Let me see where I am.” You know. But I (laughs) I didn’t see me!

That was my next question actually. I’ve read that rumor and seen the episode and I said, “She’s not in that!”

No. (laughs) No I wasn’t. And believe me, I looked real hard too because I said, “Well if I’m there, I think they owe me a check.” You know? (laughs). And I, I didn’t see me. And I said “Well.” And I looked, I looked real carefully and I said “No, I wasn’t there.” And then I looked at IMDB, they had it there, but they said “uncredited”. And I’m saying “I know I wasn’t.” I was gone like, seven shows before that (laughs). I think they did six or seven shows and that’s when they pulled it. And I’m done and gone by that time. I’m just singing in the studio. I’m singing my jazz.

Well, it sounds like they should remove that credit at IMDB then. :lol:

The lady who took over the role of Harriet was OK, but to me, she couldn't deliver the lines the way that Jo Marie could.

God bless you and both of them always!!! :) :) :)

Holly