Do you think Steve Urkel RUINED Family Matters?

[TMC]

Originally Posted by GCW

I agree that without Urkel it may have lasted a few seasons but it would not have been as popular and memorable. Again I am not disputing that Urkel helped the show alot. I just did not like how they did the later seasons thats all, and like you said it ran too long. The first season was slow but alot of other shows have weak first seasons anyway because they are trying to develop the characters and see what works and what doesn't.

It's addressed in Vice TV's Dark Side of Comedy episode on Family Matters by Kim Coles of Living Single and Jaleel White himself. The writing rooms on sitcoms in those days, were predominately white. But sometime, especially post The Cosby Show, they found themselves writing for black sitcoms like Family Matters. Writing for the Steve Urkel character became a relief for them because his weirdness or eccentricities or whatever you want to call them, was easier to make comedy out of without necessarily worrying about race. Darius McCrary was also interviewed on Dark Side of Comedy and he admitted that he knew from the jump that Family Matters was for all intent and purposes, a "white show" (in that the producers and writers were for the most part, white) that just so happened to star black people.

[TMC]

Originally Posted by TVLegend

Urkel DID ruin Family Matters. It was okay when we got a little dose of him here and there throughout every episode, but when we saw more Urkel than family, that was not a good thing, AT ALL. There was no reason for Stefan Urquelle, Jaleel White in a dress, high heels, earrings, lipstick, a wig, and a full face of makeup, and the rest of Steve’s kin folk. After Season 5, we should have seen less and less of Urkel instead of more and more.



Yes, he did save the show, but he also turned around and destroyed it in the same breath.

On the recent Dark Side of Comedy episode on Family Matters, Darius McCrary was upfront with the fact that Jaleel White was carrying the show while his character and the others were basically there to be straight-men. Jaleel in Darius' words, was Michael Jordan while the rest of the cast were the rest of the Chicago Bulls.

Like I said before, Jaleel himself said that Steve Urkel was a very easy character to write.

[TMC]

Why the Cast of ‘Family Matters’ Didn’t Like Steve Urkel

For 'Family Matters,' the introduction of Steve Urkel was both the best and worst thing that could've happened to the show.

[Superswiper]

Like others have said, Steve didn't ruin the show. The overexposure of the character did. If you look at Seasons 2-4, Steve and the Winslows got roughly an equal amount of focus, and that's how it should have stayed.

I recently read an article stating that Jaleel White was like Michael Jordan, while the rest of the cast were like the rest of the Chicago Bulls, and that's actually a really good analogy.

[Furienna]

Originally Posted by Superswiper

Like others have said, Steve didn't ruin the show. The overexposure of the character did. If you look at Seasons 2-4, Steve and the Winslows got roughly an equal amount of focus, and that's how it should have stayed.

I recently read an article stating that Jaleel White was like Michael Jordan, while the rest of the cast were like the rest of the Chicago Bulls, and that's actually a really good analogy.

No, because the Winslows were always around and had plotlines that had nothing to do with Steve.
Even in the last season where I didn't like Steve anymore, that was true.

[Sonny Carson]

Originally Posted by TMC

The problem with Urkel was that his goofy nerd character was really only funny in small doses. He's one of those "a little of him goes a long way" sitcom characters. But the producers and writers felt that they had to run his schtick into the ground.

Still without him the show is canceled after Season 1. ABC had cancelled three shows with black casts during 88-90(Robert Guillaume Show, Homeroom, and New Attitude). Without Jaleel Family Matters would have made 4!

[Furienna]

Originally Posted by Sonny Carson

Still without him the show is canceled after Season 1. ABC had cancelled three shows with black casts during 88-90(Robert Guillaume Show, Homeroom, and New Attitude). Without Jaleel Family Matters would have made 4!

Indeed, nothing about the show made it stand out until Steve arrived.