When the show started to take a downward spiral........ - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

Rob · 06-19-2001, 10:37 PM

Originally, Family Matters was really about unrequited love (and I for one, cheered Steve on.) It was also about, as the name implies, family- and how important it is for relatives to stick together. Later, it just became silly, with stupid sci-fi plots. Shrink rays? Robots? Transformation machines? I thought was series was supposed to be about people and relationships. It just became pathetic to me.

------------------

TMC · 06-24-2001, 04:17 PM

I'll admit, regardless of how corny and by the numbers Family Matters may have been, I sort of grew up with this show during the days that it was on ABC's TGIF. I was just about thinking the same thing when it comes to the plots as they progressed. Some may say that the show "Jumped the Shark" when Judy, the youngest Winslow kid suddenly disappeared without an explaination.

But I would say that things really started to go down-hill when a stronger emphasis on sci-fi themes (especially centering on Urkel and his gadgets/inventions) was getting more and more in our faces. From that point, Family Matters got more and more contrived and shameless as episodes got more campy. It was as if the initial focus was so lost at that point, that the humor was getting even more forced and unnatural than before.

a NaNcY FaNaTiC · 09-04-2001, 10:22 PM

I totally agree. The show was really good until every episode began with one of Steve's (dumb) experiments. I stopped watching it for about the last season cuz it got way too unrealistic and cheesy.

RWCTV · 09-26-2001, 09:52 AM

Alright, you people are my kind of people!!!!-lol. I completely agree with everyone else. I liked the 1st 6 seasons the best. The thing that started the Sci-Fi trend in the series was when that machine was made into Stephan Urquel. That started the whole thing. Perfect Strangers, it's mother series never did anything that stupid. Maybe they wanted it to go downhill. Maybe they wanted to give it a slow death. What do you think?

Truth · 09-26-2001, 03:59 PM

maybe they realized that when they did the Sci-Fi Shows, That they still got good ratings! :-)

a NaNcY FaNaTiC · 10-02-2001, 08:22 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by JWillhight:
maybe they realized that when they did the Sci-Fi Shows, That they still got good ratings! :-)

I can't believe that people were still tuning in! Maybe they were sympathetic viewers? j/k.

Anyway, I LOVE sci-fi but not when a non-sci-fi show turns to sci-fi like Family Matters did.

hch · 06-05-2002, 09:50 AM

Here's what I think. I don;t think that the Sci-Fi jazz really bogged down "Family Matters", I think that Steve's inventions and stuff gave the show a comic relief moment. You had the serious stuff on one hand, and you had the comedy and lighter moments on the other hand. I think "Family Matters" just wanted to be the unforgettable show with all of its sight gags and everything. I don't think the show was tarnished at all, I think it was enhanced.

moses · 06-19-2002, 09:54 AM

When Steve Urkel started getting clumsier and clumsier with every episode. Noone can be that treacherous around everything. I'll never forget one of the later episodes when he and Myra started dating and he demolished her backyard. It was pointless. I had to stop watching it for a while.
Because as Jaleel White got older and began to develop muscles, his extreme, extreme clumsiness began to befuddle me.

bus_stop · 06-23-2002, 03:07 PM

Im sure some of you have seen the site
http://www.jumptheshark.com anyway on this site it has what people conisder the downhilll point for lots of shows.

Family Matters was unique in the fact that it did almost everything to stay on the air eventhough everything around it was changing. My personal opinion is that it started to go down hill when Steve started to become Stephan more and more often.

Superbatboy · 06-23-2002, 11:31 PM

I wonder if it's any coincidence that the ratings started to tank after the 5th season. Which also happens to be about the time when Stephan was appearing more and more. And silly thing like Steve and Carl getting shrunken by his transformation chamber...and then blowing up the cat to 20 feet tall.

FOLrocks1 · 06-27-2002, 06:43 PM

Yeah. It did start to get very corney when these things started to happen. I guess the writers ran out of ideas....

GCW · 01-07-2005, 02:08 PM

Season 7 and on was when things started to go very wrong. At that time Steve moved in and he started inventing more and more outlandish things: the cloning machine which led to Stefan becoming his own person the teleporter, the time travel band and he was using that chamber like every other episode turning into Bruce Lee along with Carl, it just went on and on and it became just too unbelievable. Also Mother Winslow and Richie were hardly seen, Harriette was a background, Rachel was gone, they adopted 3J. They should have pulled the plug after the 6th season.

sdballer101 · 02-21-2005, 08:13 PM

the last season was nice i think. it finally started the long overdue realtionship of laura- steve that everyone had been wanting to see. it was BS how long it took, but everyone knew it would happen eventually.
some of the seasons were pointless, such as 6 and 7, 8 was a good season i think, but the fake stuff certainly made it worse. like with steve going in space, making robots, etc.

and why do people always complain about judy being gone forever? she was never a big character, she was pointless in my opinon, she brought nothing to the show all she would do is say stupid pointless comments , some were funny yes, but most were just corny and dumb.

she should have never been on the show anyways, but since they did she should of been gave an explanation why she just was gone. possibly she got in trouble and had to move somewhere away. i dunno.

hughpuppies · 02-22-2005, 01:01 AM

I agree with the making all the inventions, like a robot of himself, cloning himself, making him into stephan, famous people like Bruce Lee, Elvis Presley, teleport, using gagits that got him into his own science lab at high schooland college, and a research centers.

I also think it when down hill when they had Steve himself(yes he was a writer on the show) had him play not only Steve Urkle, Stephan, Murtle, and his bad cousin from Detriot, that stayed with the Winslows while Steve was trainning to go into space, also the fact that Jo Marie Payton was forced off the show since no one listend to her ideas and she even in fact said one time in an interview that the show became a self centered show for Jaleel White whit all his inventions and all the characters he played while everyone else took a back seat or was not even shown.

Also the fact that Rachael, Richie, and Mother Winslow, and Judy disapeared.

Also it centered around the last couple of seasons about Steve trying to get Laura.

The first 5 season were good up until season 6 where Steve made himself inot Stephan.

sdballer101 · 02-22-2005, 01:38 AM

i actually liked the last season. this might be because im watching it now on UPN, or because its the first time in along overdue time steve finally got close to laura and they both liked each other. also because its the most recent ones, and you can see what they look like recently, not 15 years ago.

EDIT: By the way does anyone realize that the guy that started this thread, probably never uses the site anymore, and posted this almost 4 years ago??

06-19-2001, 10:37 PM	#1
Rob Member Frequent Poster Join Date: Jun 06, 2001 Location: Levittown, N.Y. United States Posts: 197	When the show started to take a downward spiral........ Originally, Family Matters was really about unrequited love (and I for one, cheered Steve on.) It was also about, as the name implies, family- and how important it is for relatives to stick together. Later, it just became silly, with stupid sci-fi plots. Shrink rays? Robots? Transformation machines? I thought was series was supposed to be about people and relationships. It just became pathetic to me. ------------------

06-05-2002, 09:50 AM	#7
hch Member Forum Regular Join Date: Jun 07, 2001 Location: Montross, VA 22520 Posts: 983	The Sci-fi Stuff Here's what I think. I don;t think that the Sci-Fi jazz really bogged down "Family Matters", I think that Steve's inventions and stuff gave the show a comic relief moment. You had the serious stuff on one hand, and you had the comedy and lighter moments on the other hand. I think "Family Matters" just wanted to be the unforgettable show with all of its sight gags and everything. I don't think the show was tarnished at all, I think it was enhanced.

06-19-2002, 09:54 AM	#8
moses Member Occasional Poster Join Date: Jun 18, 2002 Location: Ohio Posts: 7	when "Family Matters" began to go downhill... When Steve Urkel started getting clumsier and clumsier with every episode. Noone can be that treacherous around everything. I'll never forget one of the later episodes when he and Myra started dating and he demolished her backyard. It was pointless. I had to stop watching it for a while. Because as Jaleel White got older and began to develop muscles, his extreme, extreme clumsiness began to befuddle me.
	__________________ "Please don't kill me freaky Jason!"-Martin in "Nothing to Lose"

06-23-2002, 03:07 PM	#9
bus_stop Member Occasional Poster Join Date: Jan 20, 2002 Location: New Mexico Posts: 75	Downhill Im sure some of you have seen the site http://www.jumptheshark.com anyway on this site it has what people conisder the downhilll point for lots of shows. Family Matters was unique in the fact that it did almost everything to stay on the air eventhough everything around it was changing. My personal opinion is that it started to go down hill when Steve started to become Stephan more and more often.

06-23-2002, 11:31 PM	#10
Superbatboy The Brandon Show Forum Regular Join Date: Feb 25, 2002 Location: California..USA Posts: 793	I wonder if it's any coincidence that the ratings started to tank after the 5th season. Which also happens to be about the time when Stephan was appearing more and more. And silly thing like Steve and Carl getting shrunken by his transformation chamber...and then blowing up the cat to 20 feet tall.
	__________________ "Marion, stop cackling I've been waiting 10 years for you to lay that egg"

06-24-2001, 04:17 PM	#2
TMC Member Forum Idol Join Date: Jan 09, 2001 Posts: 125,742	I'll admit, regardless of how corny and by the numbers Family Matters may have been, I sort of grew up with this show during the days that it was on ABC's TGIF. I was just about thinking the same thing when it comes to the plots as they progressed. Some may say that the show "Jumped the Shark" when Judy, the youngest Winslow kid suddenly disappeared without an explaination. But I would say that things really started to go down-hill when a stronger emphasis on sci-fi themes (especially centering on Urkel and his gadgets/inventions) was getting more and more in our faces. From that point, Family Matters got more and more contrived and shameless as episodes got more campy. It was as if the initial focus was so lost at that point, that the humor was getting even more forced and unnatural than before.

09-04-2001, 10:22 PM	#3
a NaNcY FaNaTiC Member Forum Regular Join Date: Aug 23, 2001 Location: Southern California Posts: 563	I totally agree. The show was really good until every episode began with one of Steve's (dumb) experiments. I stopped watching it for about the last season cuz it got way too unrealistic and cheesy.

09-26-2001, 09:52 AM	#4
RWCTV Making Sense Senior Member Join Date: Sep 21, 2001 Location: Lockport, IL USA Posts: 1,138	Alright, you people are my kind of people!!!!-lol. I completely agree with everyone else. I liked the 1st 6 seasons the best. The thing that started the Sci-Fi trend in the series was when that machine was made into Stephan Urquel. That started the whole thing. Perfect Strangers, it's mother series never did anything that stupid. Maybe they wanted it to go downhill. Maybe they wanted to give it a slow death. What do you think?

09-26-2001, 03:59 PM	#5
Truth •°·Alien Believer·°• Forum 3000 Club Member Join Date: May 15, 2001 Posts: 3,463	maybe they realized that when they did the Sci-Fi Shows, That they still got good ratings! :-)

06-27-2002, 06:43 PM	#11
FOLrocks1 My favorite ladies! Forum 4000 Club Member Join Date: Mar 09, 2001 Location: Ohio Posts: 4,103	Yeah. It did start to get very corney when these things started to happen. I guess the writers ran out of ideas....
	__________________ THE GOLDEN GIRLS! Sophia: (to Blanche) Fasten your seatbelt, slut puppie. This ain't gunna be no cakewalk. Blanche: I don't really mind Clayton being homosexual, I just don't like him dating men. Dorothy: You really haven't grasped the concept of this gay thing yet, have you? Blanche: There must be homosexuals who date women. Sophia: Yeah, they're called lesbians. JACOB

01-07-2005, 02:08 PM	#12
GCW Member Forum Regular Join Date: Apr 14, 2004 Posts: 708	Season 7 and on was when things started to go very wrong. At that time Steve moved in and he started inventing more and more outlandish things: the cloning machine which led to Stefan becoming his own person the teleporter, the time travel band and he was using that chamber like every other episode turning into Bruce Lee along with Carl, it just went on and on and it became just too unbelievable. Also Mother Winslow and Richie were hardly seen, Harriette was a background, Rachel was gone, they adopted 3J. They should have pulled the plug after the 6th season.

02-21-2005, 08:13 PM	#13
sdballer101 DO THE URKEL Occasional Poster Join Date: Feb 21, 2005 Location: california Posts: 14	the last season was nice i think. it finally started the long overdue realtionship of laura- steve that everyone had been wanting to see. it was BS how long it took, but everyone knew it would happen eventually. some of the seasons were pointless, such as 6 and 7, 8 was a good season i think, but the fake stuff certainly made it worse. like with steve going in space, making robots, etc. and why do people always complain about judy being gone forever? she was never a big character, she was pointless in my opinon, she brought nothing to the show all she would do is say stupid pointless comments , some were funny yes, but most were just corny and dumb. she should have never been on the show anyways, but since they did she should of been gave an explanation why she just was gone. possibly she got in trouble and had to move somewhere away. i dunno.

02-22-2005, 01:01 AM	#14
hughpuppies Melanie Bernhardt Forum Regular Join Date: Jan 13, 2004 Location: wished I was with the lady in the above picture Posts: 705	I agree with the making all the inventions, like a robot of himself, cloning himself, making him into stephan, famous people like Bruce Lee, Elvis Presley, teleport, using gagits that got him into his own science lab at high schooland college, and a research centers. I also think it when down hill when they had Steve himself(yes he was a writer on the show) had him play not only Steve Urkle, Stephan, Murtle, and his bad cousin from Detriot, that stayed with the Winslows while Steve was trainning to go into space, also the fact that Jo Marie Payton was forced off the show since no one listend to her ideas and she even in fact said one time in an interview that the show became a self centered show for Jaleel White whit all his inventions and all the characters he played while everyone else took a back seat or was not even shown. Also the fact that Rachael, Richie, and Mother Winslow, and Judy disapeared. Also it centered around the last couple of seasons about Steve trying to get Laura. The first 5 season were good up until season 6 where Steve made himself inot Stephan.
	__________________ I hope to one day meet Melanie Bernhardt who played Kathy Gordon in 4 Different Strokes episodes.(girl in the wheel chair)

02-22-2005, 01:38 AM	#15
sdballer101 DO THE URKEL Occasional Poster Join Date: Feb 21, 2005 Location: california Posts: 14	i actually liked the last season. this might be because im watching it now on UPN, or because its the first time in along overdue time steve finally got close to laura and they both liked each other. also because its the most recent ones, and you can see what they look like recently, not 15 years ago. EDIT: By the way does anyone realize that the guy that started this thread, probably never uses the site anymore, and posted this almost 4 years ago??