Line #39 Headscratchers/FamilyMatters


1	{{Headscratchers}} for ''Series/FamilyMatters''.
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3	* Why does Steve even like Laura? She's very obviously not interested in him, has nothing common with him, is mean to him all the time, is not very attractive, and does not seem as smart as him. Myra, on the other hand, is prettier (at least in my opinion), more cheerful, definitely likes him, shares many of his interests especially the geeky ones, and is a scientific genius. I have no idea why he picked Laura over Myra and made sure that when he was going out with Myra, she knew he didn't love her and just wanted Laura.
4	** No accounting for taste, I suppose. Also, this troper always found Myra a little creepy. I can't put my finger on why exactly but she always seemed to be just on the verge of becoming a freaky stalker.
5	** "She always seemed to be just on the verge of becoming a freaky stalker"....which she DID in later seasons.
6	** Steve mentioned meeting her in kindergarten and she got him to eat his Play-Doh or something and probably never got over his childhood crush. His love was equal parts a matter of his own personal deifying of the object of his love as it was appreciating her for her actual qualities.
7	*** Yeah, seems like a FirstGirlWins situation (if you can call Steve Urkel's undying affection winning).
8	** While Laura doesn't want to date him (initially) and is peeved by his constant loving behavior, she is willing to tolerate him and be his friend. Given the reaction of most of their classmates and his own parents, she seems to be one of a very small handful of people in his life that do (most of those being the entire Winslow clan themselves).
9	** At least by the last couple seasons Laura actually DID end up appreciating Steve for who he is. During the show's final season [[spoiler: she finally chooses Steve over Stephan, and the show ends with Laura and Steve engaged.]]
10	*** You also have to see that the two characters evolved over the span of the series. They started in middle/high school and went through to early adulthood. Laura didn't like Steve because he wasn't a cool kid. But, he was fine when he became Stephan since that was Steve without being a nerd; this was also the reason she ended up not liking Stephan when he first as introduced since he was more concerned about making out with Laura while her dad was in the hospital. Over time, all the forced situations showed Laura the kind of guy Steve truly was, and he slowly became more assertive and relaxed around her. A good example of this is when Steve takes Laura to the polka festival. She ends up having a good time and sees Steve through the eyes of people that accepted him without prejudice.
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12	* Does the title mean "Matters of the Family" or "Family does Matter"?
13	** [[MultipleReferencePun Quite possibly both.]]
14	** Neither. The title of the show is "[[IconicCharacterForgottenTitle Urkel]]". But it probably meant the former when they came up with it.
15	* Correct me if I'm wrong on my question, since I haven't seen the show in ages, but I'm still curious. What exactly did Steve like about Laura in the early seasons of the show? She seemed rather [[DeadpanSnarker cynical and sarcastic]], [[WhatDoesHeSeeInHer not somebody I would go out with]]. Or was that just a case of EarlyInstallmentWeirdness, since [[CharacterizationMarchesOn Laura did eventually mellow out as the show went on]]?
16	** It's similar to Screech's infatuation with Lisa in Series/SavedByTheBell (though Lisa was nowhere nears as sarcastic). Basically a case of nerdy UnrequitedLove, with Steve being either too naive to realize that Laura wants nothing to do with him or feeling that she's simply playing hard to get. Nerdy guys trying to hook up with good-looking girls who treat them like dirt is a pretty standard Sitcom trope.
17	*** Not to mention Laura was pretty much only cynical and snarky in response to annoyance; when nobody's getting on her nerves, she's usually very sweet and understanding. Since over half the time we see her, she's being pestered by Steve or Eddie, it's natural to see her as a nastier person than she really is.
18	** She's pretty and near by. He probably saw her in the backyard from his room when he was young so it makes sense that she made an impression on him.
19	* If the Winslows didn't like Steve coming by their house all the time than why don't they just lock the doors? I mean every time Steve makes an entrance, the doors look like they're unlocked.
20	** It's a sitcom. EVERY door in a sitcom is unlocked.
21	** Although in one instance in an episode from season 1 he said he had his own key made.
22	** And there have been times they have locked the door. He either just goes around to another door or some zany occurrence results in him crashing through a window or wall. Or the roof in the case of the crossover with Step By Step.
23	** It's obvious the Winslows don't dislike Steve as much as it seems. They used to really dislike him, but he's grown on them. So they make a show of acting like they still don't like him, but leave the door open most of the time because he is actually welcome.
24	** Don't forget that Grandma Winslow adores the kid. Leaving the door unlocked may be to appease her and not be shamed for being mean to a good boy that cares about their family.
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26	* Why doesn't a genius like Steve know that people who sell star names are scam artists and the bought personal names aren't recognized by any nation or scientific body?
27	** He's book smart, not street smart.
28	** Only the person that you bought it for doesn't have to know. It's a romantic gesture; the intent is what makes it special.
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30	* I know Steve is a nice guy, but some of the crazy things he pulled on the show can land a guy in jail. It's like the show is telling kids that if the girl you love doesn't love you back, just keep harassing her and she will develop feelings for you one day. Did I mention the girl has a father who is a COP?
31	** It's not like she didn't want to see him at all. She was fine with having him as a friend. She even appreciated him for everything that he would do for her. She just didn't want him as a boyfriend.
32	** Well to be fair, Urkel was just an annoying kid that didn't know any better and the Winslows are nice enough not to take serious action besides kicking him out of the house. By the time he got old enough that his actions would be considered creepy and harassment, he was already a friend of the family and Laura didn't mind him as much. It would have been a totally different story had Urkel appeared when he was older and started his clingy behavior to Laura acting like she did in season 1.
33	** Urkel is also rather helpful to the entire family over the course of the series. He helps tutor Eddie and Laura, defends them against people who would do them wrong, has saved Carl's life on a few occasion, saved Rachel's restaurant, etc... I think the family has come to realize that Steve, despite his foibles, is simply a desperately lonely kid who is neglected by his own family and has latched onto theirs.
34	** Sitcom or not just HOW did the Winslows afford to constantly rebuild the house after Urkel would wreck huge portions of it every other week? It got to the point where he couldn't even come in and say 'hidey ho Winslows' without wrecking something.
35	*** A later season episode shows that Carl has made very frequent, very large claims on his homeowner's insurance policy and now has to go in and defend himself against the company dropping him from their coverage.
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37	* What happens to Stephan when he turns back into Steve? Does he remain inside Steve's mind (being able to see what Steve sees), or does he disappear out of existence until Steve brings him back? Either way you look at it, it is Fridge Horror.
38	** Stefan, at least the original, is just Steve under the influence of his "cool genes". As seen in season 6 two-parter "To Be or Not To Be", while fixing the transformation chamber, Stefan laments that "I may be cooler now, but I'm not as smart as I used to be", referring to Steve as himself. The whole lesson of the episode was Steve (as Stefan) realizing that he should be proud of who he is (Steve) and he shouldn't have to change himself to be like other people, thanks to the Carl Urkel mishap. The Steve/Stefan situation starts to get murky when Urkel clones himself in later seasons and turned the clone into a permanent Stefan, who is technically not the same Stefan that the real Steve turned into. Nevertheless, you can assume that the Steve clone and his Stefan counterpart share the same memories and experiences just like the original, though if the Steve clone is supposed to be a perfect copy, Stefan would have recognized his cousin OGD. The permanent Stefan also seemed less intelligent than the original Stefan, who retained Urkel's intelligence albeit to a slower degree, having trouble deciphering Laura's biology book when he was posing as Steve.
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40	* I read somewhere online that if the series had continued, Stephen and Myra would have hooked up and got married. Is this true? Those two don't seem to have anything in common. I can't imagine Stephen wanting to be with a woman with a child-like personality, or Myra wanting to date him.
41	** You are incorrect. Another season would have seen Steve and LAURA get married, as they ended the series engaged. Even if Myra had been the one to win Steve's heart, her actress dying of cancer would have put the kibosh on that.
42	** It's safe to assume that "Stephen" refers to Stefan in this case. This appears to be a rumor at most, but legitimate or not, it's probably best not to ponder on it too much given the circumstances we have now (Michelle Thomas sadly passed mere months after the show ended, so a storyline like this never would've been possible even if they did reach a tenth season).
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44	* The Disney World episodes: how did Stefan manage to organize an elaborate proposal with fireworks, cast members, musicians, a horse-drawn carriage and an enormous crowd of people, ''within a day or two?!''
45	** A few days does seem short, but Disney does have entire crews of people who arrange these sorts of things fairly frequently. They have the actors, the fireworks, the carriage, and lots of people who would wander over to watch.
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47	* In the episode “Bugged”, Nick says that he can’t fire Harriette, since he’s being transferred to another department. Actually, he COULD still get her fired (or, at least, reprimanded) by filing a complaint to either her new boss or to HR. Also, wasn’t Mr. Waxman actually her boss? And why was there no awkwardness when Nick moved next door to the Winslows?
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49	* "A Pirate's Life for Me" has the characters [[TimeTravelEpisode time traveling to the 1700's]]. They fight pirates, Steve accidentally kills a seagull and drops his time travel device into the ocean, and at the end, the captain goes overboard. How did none of these actions cause a [[ButterflyOfDoom Butterfly Effect]], especially after the previous TimeTravelEpisode made a big deal out of altering time?
50	** There seems to be two likely scenarios:
51	*** 1. The pirate crew was killed before they were ever able to reach shore and therefore had no effect on the timeline.
52	*** 2. In this travel, it was not just back in time, but another reality or dimension. This does have precedent, as Steve has traveled to both ''Series/FullHouse'' and ''Series/StepByStep''. But ''Full House'' is explicitly a TV show in the ''Step by Step'' universe, as several characters have mentioned it and John Stamos, in an appearance as himself, asked if they family watched the show.
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54	* Why didn't Steve ever get detention for outright disrespecting his teachers on the show? If I ever called my teacher 'Miss Grabby-Pen' right in front of her, I would be lucky if I was able to come back to school the next day! Steve IS super-smart, but that doesn't give him the right to call his math teacher by her first name or be outright rude to the others, or to talk to them like he was a fellow teacher and not one of their students! Why wasn't he ever punished for that?!
55	** The kids go to school in Chicago in the late 80's and early 90's. I would think the teachers have far more to worry about than a nerdy guy talking back on occasion, especially since he is generally a teacher's pet and probably good overall for the school.
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57	* Why wasn't the Vice-Principal reprimended for the way he treated Steve?! True, Steve could be downright rude, but that does not give him the right to call Steve a 'Nerd' to his face or try to bribe him to not go to the prom! Not even Ms. Stuben did that to him, and he seemed to annoy her the most. Why didn't Steve or anyone else report him?

Context Headscratchers / FamilyMatters