How and why did Family Matters go off the rails so badly

[TMC]

I immediately thought of this after reading about JoMarie Payton's recent claims of Jaleel White wanting to physically fight her on the set of Family Matters.

Some of the comments about the matter puts things into perfect perspective about how badly Family Matters changed once the Urkel character took over. For the first few seasons (more specifically, prior to Season 5), it was a universally relatable show about a working class black family. It was basically, like a more blue collar/working class version of The Cosby Show. And, then they turned the show into slapstick and an over the top sci-fi live-action cartoon when the Urkel character caught on.

Oddly, this whole dynamic of Family Matters seems like what happened to Good Times about a decade and a half prior. Esther Rolle and John Amos signed on to be in this quasi serious drama about a black family in the ghetto. And then this comedian with a catch phrase (Jimmie Walker) becomes star of the show and now the show is about his antics and shenanigans.

And going back to Family Matters, eventually, the Winslow family and other characters just became props and took a backseat to Urkel or left the show all together. And eventually it wasn't even just focused on Steve Urkel anymore, it also became all about his alter ego Stefan. The bottom-line is that everything about the show (all the characters, storylines, and plots) became so tightly centered around his character.

Think about it this way, how do we go from talking about Mother Winslow's quilt and talking about gun violence in Chicago to Carl and Steve shrinking themselves and laying under a piece of cheese in a sandwich?

[Furienna]

Firstly, it is clear that the change was gradual over the seasons.
Steve started out with making smaller more realistic inventions already early on.
And it evolved from jet-packs and lie detectors to transformation chambers and shrinking machines.
But I must say that you're wrong about him completely taking over the show.
Most of the episodes had two storylines, out of which one wasn't about Jaleel's characters.
So the Winslows always had room to shine as well.
But for I don't know what reason, people don't remember that when complaining about the "Urkel-mania".
Even during the last season, there were storylines about things like 3J being adopted and Eddy becoming a cop.
So I don't think that saying that it was all about slapsticks and sci-fi elements is fair.
However, I will agree that Stephan and Myrthle were overused in the later seasons of the show.
My big issue with how this show evolved though is that they had Steve dump Myra for Laura.
I don't believe that I will ever forgive whoever thought that that was a good idea.
The rest of the things that people complain about are nothing to me compared to that folly.
But in retrospect, firing Judy and pretending like she had never existed was a stupid thing to do as well.
However, they had no idea that people would still talk about the character who "nobody" cared about thirty years later...

[TMC]

Originally Posted by Furienna

Firstly, it is clear that the change was gradual over the seasons.
Steve started out with making smaller more realistic inventions already early on.
And it evolved from jet-packs and lie detectors to transformation chambers and shrinking machines.
But I must say that you're wrong about him completely taking over the show.
Most of the episodes had two storylines, out of which one wasn't about Jaleel's characters.
So the Winslows always had room to shine as well.
But for I don't know what reason, people don't remember that when complaining about the "Urkel-mania".
Even during the last season, there were storylines about things like 3J being adopted and Eddy becoming a cop.
So I don't think that saying that it was all about slapsticks and sci-fi elements is fair.
However, I will agree that Stephan and Myrthle were overused in the later seasons of the show.
My big issue with how this show evolved though is that they had Steve dump Myra for Laura.
I don't believe that I will ever forgive whoever thought that that was a good idea.
The rest of the things that people complain about are nothing to me compared to that folly.
But in retrospect, firing Judy and pretending like she had never existed was a stupid thing to do as well.
However, they had no idea that people would still talk about the character who "nobody" cared about thirty years later...

I dug up an old thread about Family Matters, and I'm reminded that there came a point for (for better or worse), that the show became less of a sitcom and more of a straight-up science-fiction show. Of course, Urkel had his wacky inventions in the earlier seasons such as a jet pack (and it served as a great opportunity to cross over into Step by Step). But then you have him using a porta-potty looking device to turn himself into a new person every other week, that's really stretching things credibility-wise. And it's quite obvious that writing got so weird because the focus purely on the Urkel character limited the potential diversity of the storylines.

[Furienna]

Well, it is not true that Steve turned himself into a different person every week.
Say what you want about how the show evolved, but it had more variety than that.
And again, most of the episodes had a plot-line about other characters even in the last season.
As much as Jaleel White became the star, it was never just about his characters.

[Lorimar Television]

Originally Posted by Furienna

Well, it is not true that Steve turned himself into a different person every week.
Say what you want about how the show evolved, but it had more variety than that.
And again, most of the episodes had a plot-line about other characters even in the last season.
As much as Jaleel White became the star, it was never just about his characters.

I’d say only season 8 was a nonstop Ep after Ep of unreleastic inventions from teleporting to france, Bruce juice, eddie being a nerd, going back in time to pirates, etc

[Furienna]

Originally Posted by Lorimar Television

I’d say only season 8 was a nonstop Ep after Ep of unreleastic inventions from teleporting to france, Bruce juice, eddie being a nerd, going back in time to pirates, etc

Okay, that was probably the season I ended up watching the least.

[Lorimar Television]

Originally Posted by Furienna

Okay, that was probably the season I ended up watching the least.

Same it was a lot of weird stuff

[TMC]

Originally Posted by Lorimar Television

I’d say only season 8 was a nonstop Ep after Ep of unreleastic inventions from teleporting to france, Bruce juice, eddie being a nerd, going back in time to pirates, etc

Again, I'm immediately reminded of the recent Dark Side of Comedy episode on Vice TV about Family Matters. The show's big undoing if you will, was the increasing focus on outlandish plots. Jaimee Foxworth (Judy) said that the show became corny, especially after about the fifth season or so. Like they showed a clip from an episode in which Carl and Steve are shrunken (a la Honey, I Shrunk the Kids) in the Winslow's kitchen.

I genuinely want to believe that the writers and producers were using drugs at that point, like that Key and Peele sketch liked to suggest. I think that even Jaleel White was embarrassed and uncomfortable with some of the stuff that they had him do on the show like dressing in drag.

[Lorimar Television]

Originally Posted by TMC

Again, I'm immediately reminded of the recent Dark Side of Comedy episode on Vice TV about Family Matters. The show's big undoing if you will, was the increasing focus on outlandish plots. Jaimee Foxworth (Judy) said that the show became corny, especially after about the fifth season or so. Like they showed a clip from an episode in which Carl and Steve are shrunken (a la Honey, I Shrunk the Kids) in the Winslow's kitchen.

I genuinely want to believe that the writers and producers were using drugs at that point, like that Key and Peele sketch liked to suggest. I think that even Jaleel White was embarrassed and uncomfortable with some of the stuff that they had him do on the show like dressing in drag.

Yeah I don’t care for the show after season 5. I think season 7 or so is when it truly went off the rails but s5 was the start