History Series / FamilyMatters

It's notable in being the most successful sitcom aside from ''TheCosbyShow'' to focus on African American characters, as well as not make race an overwhelming topic. It's also like the one millionth time Reginald [=VelJohnson=] was [[TypeCasting cast as a policeman]], after ''Film/DieHard'', ''Turner and Hooch'' and ''{{Ghostbusters}}''.

** Lots of minor characters such as Carl's boss Murtaugh, Rodney (Eddie's best friend in the first two seasons), AlphaBitch Cassie Lynn, many of Laura's love interests and Neitermeyer, the annoying neighbour from the later seasons.

* JerkAss: Most of the Winslow family (except Harriette, Grandma Winslow, and Richie) act like this toward Steve in every episode, [[AesopAmnesia regardless of how he helped them out in the previous episode.]]

* {{Flanderization}}: Of Urkel, and really the entire show.
** Actually Urkel got most of the character development on the show, going from a one-note character (nerd in love with Laura) To a much more assertive and confident young man who managed to improve upon himself as time went on. The rest of the show ''was'' Flanderized to be centered around him though.
** His skills at science ''were'' Flanderized, however, with him going from a bright but mundane high-school nerd to a full MadScientist who can wrap the laws of physics around his little finger.
* FreudianExcuse: Urkel's attachment to the Winslows (especially Carl) stems from his parents rather frigid treatment of their own son, eventually all but abandoning him for an extended research project. The Winslows act as a stable surrogate family for him.
* FullHouseMusic: While Family ''Matters'' did not employ this trope as often as the [[FullHouse respective]] TropeNamer, it should be noted that the two shows share a production company, as well several staff members.

* GameShowAppearance: When Carl and Urkel have a quarrel that can't be resolved by normal means, they take their case to...''AmericanGladiators!''

* GeniusDitz: Waldo is revealed to be a prodigy when it comes to cooking.
** And tap dancing.

* GenreShift: Steve Urkel's inventions were often so amazing, and began appearing with so much frequency, that the show could have quite reasonably been considered a sci-fi/comedy rather than a simple DomCom during the last few seasons.

* [[IAmNotSpock I Am Not Urkel]]: This series pretty much killed any shot at Jaleel being taken seriously as an actor, outside voicework.

* ILetGwenStacyDie: The Season 2 episode "I Should Have Done Something," where Carl blames himself for a hostage situation gone tragically wrong, even though he and fellow officers followed procedure to the letter. (What had happened was that a drug-crazed man robbed a convenience store and took an elderly man hostage, but just as it appears Carl has successfully negotiated with the suspect to free his hostage, the young man shoots the hostage in the head, killing him instantly.) Carl finally gets closure when he meets with the hostage's widow at a cemetery, and learns that no one – except for the robber – is responsible.

* JerkAss: Most of the Winslow Family (Except Harriette, Grandma Winslow, and Richie) act like this toward Urkel in every episode, [[AesopAmnesia regardless of how he helped them out in the previous episode.]]
** Urkel even acts like this sometimes. During the episode "Hell Toupee", Urkel outright tells Myra that "As soon as I get a feeling that Laura wants me, I'm done with you."

* TheKlutz: Urkel.

* LongRunners: 9 seasons, [[BrokenBase for better or worse]], ''definitely'' due to Urkel.
* LostWeddingRing: Down the master bathroom sink. The entire plot is, ForWantOfANail, A RecycledScript from ''FullHouse''.
* LovesMyAlterEgo: Laura Winslow loved and fawned over Stefan Urquelle, and was visibly disappointed when Steve returned.

* MundaneFantastic: Urkel's sci-fi inventions in the otherwise realistic setting of ''Family Matters''.
* MusclesAreMeaningless: Not intentional, but Jaleel White became a well built, athletic adult later in the shows run. Steve was supposed to be toothpick-thin with almost no masculine strength, so it wasn't always convincing.
** This is pretty much the reason why the BruceLeeClone episodes were written, Jaleel White was an athletic and well-built young man (and huge Bruce Lee fan).
* NWordPrivileges: The Season 2 episode "Fight the Good Fight." Laura and Urkel petition the school to begin a Black History Month at Vanderbilt High, but things get ugly when a group of racist students threaten the two; things come to a head -- and the trope kicks in -- when Laura discovers that her locker is spray-painted with the word "nigger." The original episode was intact in terrestrial syndication prints and ABC Family, but in [=TVLand=]/[=NickAtNite=] airings the scene quickly fades to a commercial before Laura discovers the offending word.

* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Seen in virtually every episode, especially the early Urkel years, thanks to the nerd's never-ending clumsiness. The Winslows' never-ending exasperation with Urkel breaking things was expanded on in several episodes, most notably "Words Hurt" (Urkel is so traumatized by Carl's rant over a busted ship-in-a-bottle that he repeatedly raps Carl over the head with a rolled-up newspaper, in such a state of shock that he refuses to explain to a concerned Harriet; a hypnotist gets to the truth) and "What's Up Doc?" (a flashback-filled episode featuring numerous "How Urkel Breaks Things" incidents; Harriet again rides to the nerd's rescue).
* OrwellianEditor: Even though Urkel was first introduced in episode 12, the show's producers filmed new teasers for episodes 4, 7, 8, and 10 with him in them, in order to create the illusion that he was a part of the show from the very beginning; these new episodes are what air in syndication. The first season DVD restored the original teasers in three out of four cases; the fourth (for episode 4, "Rachel's First Date") appears [[MissingEpisode to be lost to history]].
* TheOtherDarrin: Jo Marie Payton, the ''original'' star of the show, left halfway through the show's final season and the role of Harriet was recast with Judyann Elder. Much less dramatically, the actor playing Richie was originally a pair of twins, since he was a baby during the first season. The character went through SoapOperaRapidAgingSyndrome after this and he was recast with four-year-old Bryton [=McClure=].
* OutOfFocus: Harriet Winslow, the character ''for whom the series was developed in the first place'', was [[SpotlightStealingSquad eclipsed so completely by Steve Urkel's shadow]] that actress Jo Marie Payton eventually quit the show in disgust, as noted above.

* PromotionToOpeningTitles: Urkel (well duh), Waldo, Myra and 3J, but surprisingly not Maxine.

** Some of these examples are more ChuckCunninghamSyndrome-ish
* ProudToBeAGeek: Urkel.

* RidiculouslyHumanRobot: Urkel creates Urkelbot, which soon develops a mind of its own and wants Laura for itself. After that situation, he later become a ''Robocop''.

* ScrewedByTheNetwork: After ratings dropped during the sixth, seventh and eighth seasons, ABC was almost ready to cancel the series, before CBS silently picked it up for one last season. Ratings during the final season were so bad that CBS didn't even air the final seven (six, if you count the two-part finale as a single episode) episodes until the mid-Summer of 1998! And the series finale (Lost In Space Parts 1 and 2) was given little promotion or hype.
** Family Matters is also an example of an ''actor/actress'' being screwed by the network. Jaimee Foxworth was given very little screen time and, after Season 4, her character was inexplicably written off the show. It was later revealed that this was due to Foxworth demanding more money and a bigger role in the series, which the producers would have none of. [[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/CrushedChildhoodMemories We all know what happened to her afterwards...]]
* SexierAlterEgo - Steve Urkel had a machine that turned him into a sexier version of himself who was smooth and a ladies man without a hint of nerdiness.

** Urkel has a pen pal by the name of [[BoyMeetsWorld Cory Matthews]]. (This is not a {{Crossover}}, as the two never meet on-screen.)
* ShowStopper: Urkel.

* ThereIsOnlyOneBed: Involving Urkel and Laura in a hotel. During the whole ordeal, Urkel takes crap from Laura until he finally snaps and unloads on her.

* TheBully: Really, 90% of the show's incidental characters are this - or, at least, those who are related to Eddie, Urkel and Laura. By the time all three characters were in college, this made almost no sense.

** The first, back in the Urkel-light days, was Eddie's friend Rodney.
* TooDumbToLive: Sometimes you have to wonder just how Waldo made to high school ...

* WolverinePublicity: '''Urkel'''. The ubiquity was and still is amazing.

* YouFailLogicForever: In one episode, Urkel joins the Winslow's family's church. He reports that [[HollywoodAtheist his father]] doesn't approve, because "You can't see or feel God." Urkel supposedly counters with: "I can't see or feel an atom, but I know it's there." Estelle tells him that's what it means to have faith. (Despite the fact an atom is visible under certain microscopes.)

One of the quintessential sitcoms of TheNineties. Started as a spin-off of ''PerfectStrangers'' with background character Harriet Winslow and her husband Carl, a policeman. The show is about their picturesque family living on a working-class income. Carl's mother Estelle moved in with them in the first episode, and that is essentially how the show began.

Mid-way through the first season, the annoying neighbor and HollywoodNerd Steve Urkel was introduced, intended as a one-shot character revolving around Carl finding a tame guy to take his daughter Laura to a dance. Actor Jaleel White hit the role so enthusiastically that some college students in the studio audience started chanting "Urkel" repeatedly. This was a pleasant surprise to the producers, who quickly signed up White to return as a regular.

His wackiness and prominence got to the point where Steve was the go-to example of an ExtravertedNerd. As it went on, Urkel [[SpotlightStealingSquad came to dominate the show]], and more and more episodes revolved around him and his wacky sci-fi inventions.

It's notable in being the most successful sitcom aside from ''TheCosbyShow'' to focus on African-American characters, as well as not make race an overwhelming topic. It's also like the one millionth time Reginald [=VelJohnson=] was [[TypeCasting cast as a policeman]], after ''Film/DieHard'', ''Turner and Hooch'' and ''{{Ghostbusters}}''.

* ActingForTwo: Jaleel White played Steve Urkel, Myrtle Urkel, and [[ItIsPronouncedTroPay Stefan Urquelle]] (when Steve accidently clones himself and have one be permanently Stefan). He even got to be a one-off criminal cousin. All of that, in addition to the transformation chamber, was to allow Jaleel White some opportunity to not keep up the squeaky Steve voice, which got harder and harder as he grew up.

** Many of the earlier episodes would have at least one character learning to be nicer to Urkel (particuarly after he would stick up for them or, in the case of Laura, expose a potential boyfriend with an unsavory agenda), then promptly forget it the very next episode. This was downplayed and eventually forgotten by the later seasons.
** During the series' early years, Eddie was especially prone to this. He threatened to move out at least twice (and did so on one of those occassions) after conflicting with Carl over house rules; and at least twice got into trouble for getting into minor accidents ... without having a valid driver's license (both times to raise his value to girlfriend, Jolene). At least three other times, he got into trouble for gambling ... one time landing himself and Urkel in jail (when the police busted an illegal casino) and at least twice when he ran into people who threatened to beat him (or Urkel, or them both) to death if they didn't pay their debts.

* AnnoyingLaugh: Urkel's snorting laugh he always did. "Ah heh-heh-heh *snort**snort*!"
* AxCrazy: Myra in the final season
* BackForTheFinale: Jo Marie Payton, the original Harriet, did appear in the last episode, as one of the NASA staff monitoring Steve's space expedition.

* BadassFamily: The Winslows, Urkel and 3J included. Carl, who has taken down crooks and has verbally defended his family (and Urkel) several times and helped to diffuse a bomb. This is understandable because he's a cop. But then there's Urkel, Ritchie and 3J (as [[BruceLeeClone Bruce Lee Clones]]) defeating a street gang, Estelle judo throwing a crook, Rachel tightrope walking on a clothesline several stories in the air (in heels!) to save a drunk Urkel from plummeting to his death and Harriet [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech telling off her boss]].

** Toning down the voice and not breaking shit all the time didn't hurt either.

* BrokenAesop: Urkel changes from a BeYourself paragon to a TransformationRay abuser.

* CannotStandThemCannotLiveWithoutThem: Anytime Urkel focuses his attention on another girl Laura shows shades of this to various degrees. [[spoiler: She eventually falls in love with and agrees to marry him.]]

** And in the Bruce Lee episodes Jaleel gets to show off his magnificent upper body and his love of Kung-Fu. And his accordion playing, which is actually quite good. ''And'' Urkel was made into a basketball prodigy despite having no athletic talent anywhere else.
** Reginald Vel Johnson's singing and dancing
** Telma Hopkins in the earlier shows

* CastTheExpert: Invoked in-universe. In "A Ham Is Born", Carl Winslow moonlights as a security guard at a movie studio where a police drama is being filmed. The movie director is annoyed at Carl's opinion of a film scene until Carl mentions his 20-year experience as a Chicago police officer. After Carl demonstrates the actual procedure for arresting criminals, the impressed director decides to cast Carl Winslow as the new leading protagonist of the film. Ultimately, Carl quits his career as a film star because he, as a married man, refuses to kiss the leading actress, even if it was only part of the movie storyline.

* CatFight: Narrowly averted by Urkel jumping in between Myra and Laura fighting over him.

* CharacterizationMarchesOn: Waldo was originally a crony of one of Eddie's classmates, Willie, who was the school bully. One of his earliest appearance was the first "Do The Urkel" dance and he was the one handing out alcohol from his trench coat. He wasn't exactly the honest and [[DumbIsGood innocent]] person he was later known for, but there were traces of it. He was reimagined as one of both Eddie and Steve's best friends (with Willie rarely seen again), getting a title credit and starts dating Laura's friend Maxine.
** FridgeBrilliance: He and Willie were arrested for illegally serving beer at a party (which nearly got Urkel killed). Waldo (dumb as he was) was most likely smart enough to distance himself from Willie afterwards.
* ChemistryCanDoAnything: is seen with Steve's transmogrification device.
* ChuckCunninghamSyndrome: Judy Winslow. She went to her bedroom to play with her NES and was never seen again. Eddie's pal Rodney also abruptly stopped appearing.
** Well, some NES games can [[NintendoHard take a long time to beat]].

* ClingyJealousGirl: Myra and Myrtle

* CockFight: Richie vs 3J in a Valentine's Day Episode. [[spoiler: Richie wins.]]
* ContestWinnerCameo: The four children picked to be Steve and Laura's children for one of Carl Winslow's nightmares.

* CousinOliver: 3J
* CoversAlwaysLie: The [[http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51zF5kdUofL._SL500_AA300_.jpg DVD cover for Season 1]]. Certainly, Urkel [[SpotlightStealingSquad overshadowing everyone else]] is accurate of the series as a whole, but not of season 1: He only has a prominent role in a handful of episodes, and was shoe-horned into a few new teasers shot for syndication to create the illusion that [[OrwellianEditor he was always a part of the show]]. About half the episodes in the set are entirely Urkel-free.
* CPRCleanPrettyReliable: In one episode, Carl got electrocuted, leading to him being saved by Urkel. Textbook Hollywood CPR ensues, but he doesn't forget a mouth barrier.
* CrossOver: An episode of FullHouse dealt with one of DJ's friends complaining that her irritating cousin from Chicago was coming to San Francisco to visit: that cousin turned out to be none other than Steve Urkel, who proceeds to wreak as much havoc in the Tanner household as he usually does with the Winslows.
** Likewise in StepByStep, where he arrives to help Mark with a science project. Somewhat more justified than the above example, as Chicago is only a jetpack ride away from Wisconsin.
* DanceSensation: "Do The Urkel".

* DeadpanSnarker: Everyone takes turns at this, but actually Urkel managed to outdo them all.

* DenserAndWackier: Until Urkel turned science into magic, this was just a mundane sitcom.
* DepartmentOfChildDisservices: 3J doesn't have much stability in his life until mentored by Steve and fostered by the Winslows. Lampshaded repeatedly in "3J In The House."
* DerailingLoveInterests: Poor Myra had always been crazy, especially where Steve was concerned. But during the breakup arc in the last season she went off the deep end: she broke up with Steve, but it was a ploy to get him to beg her to take him back. Then, when he refused to continue the relationship, she ''sued him for 'Alienation of Affection' and even got Johnnie Cochrane as her lawyer''. Oh, ''and'' she installed a spy cam in his glasses so she could watch him through a monitor in her bedroom!
* DidNotDoTheResearch: In "Body Damage", Rachel points out that the car is a 1936 Ford. Carl adds that it was driven by Eliot Ness. For those playing along at home, Eliot Ness was a Prohibition agent in Chicago. Illinois ratified the 21st Amendment (the one that nulled Prohibition) in 1933. By 1936, he was an alcohol tax agent (he was looking for moonshiners who didn't have liquor licenses) in Cleveland.

* DitzyGenius: Steven Q. Urkel

* DoggedNiceGuy: Urkel.

* DropInCharacter: Urkel.

** During the final season (or maybe the second-to-last season?) there was an episode that REALLY highlighted how much the show had changed. It involved a time machine sending the characters back in time to a pirate ship in the 1700's. Words cannot describe how surreal it felt watching Carl, Laura, and Maxine fighting a group of pirates.
*** Carl hilariously [[LampshadeHanging acknowledges]] this in the first (of two) time-machine episodes, going through a litany of Urkel's previous inventions and concluding that a time machine is "no big deal" at this point. In the same episode, when asked where he got the plutonium to make his time-machine's [[ItRunsOnNonsensoleum nuclear batteries]], Urkel casually replies, "Radio Shack." Carl is unfazed.

* ExtravertedNerd: Steve Urkel, who eventually became an example of a CreatorsPet. Also the former TropeNamer.

* ActingForTwo: Jaleel White played Steve Urkel, Myrtle Urkel, and Stefan Urquelle (when Steve accidently clones himself and have one be permanently Stefan). He even got to be a one-off criminal cousin. All of that, in addition to the transformation chamber, was to allow Jaleel White some opportunity to not keep up the squeaky Steve voice, which got harder and harder as he grew up.

The Winslow family members came to be defined by their relationship with Steve: the oldest son Eddie was his best friend, Laura was his unrequited love interest, Estelle always recognized his good heart, Harriette [[BreadEggsMilkSquick kept Carl from killing him]]. In fact, the youngest daughter, [[ChuckCunninghamSyndrome Judy Winslow, was phased out to a life of porn]] because she didn't have much interaction with him.

The Winslow family members came to be defined by their relationship with Steve: the oldest son Eddie was his best friend, Laura was his unrequited love interest, Estelle always recognized his good heart, Harriette kept Carl from killing him. In fact, the youngest daughter, [[ChuckCunninghamSyndrome Judy Winslow, was phased out to a life of porn]] because she didn't have much interaction with him.

* IKilledGwenStacy: The Season 2 episode "I Should Have Done Something," where Carl blames himself for a hostage situation gone tragically wrong, even though he and fellow officers followed procedure to the letter. (What had happened was that a drug-crazed man robbed a convenience store and took an elderly man hostage, but just as it appears Carl has successfully negotiated with the suspect to free his hostage, the young man shoots the hostage in the head, killing him instantly.) Carl finally gets closure when he meets with the hostage's widow at a cemetery, and learns that no one – except for the robber – is responsible.

* [[NiceJobBreakingItHero]]: Seen in virtually every episode, especially the early Urkel years, thanks to the nerd's never-ending clumsiness. The Winslows' never-ending exasperation with Urkel breaking things was expanded on in several episodes, most notably "Words Hurt" (Urkel is so traumatized by Carl's rant over a busted ship-in-a-bottle that he repeatedly raps Carl over the head with a rolled-up newspaper, in such a state of shock that he refuses to explain to a concerned Harriet; a hypnotist gets to the truth) and "What's Up Doc?" (a flashback-filled episode featuring numerous "How Urkel Breaks Things" incidents; Harriet again rides to the nerd's rescue).

* RunningGag: The over-the-top FoodFight{{s}}.

* VignetteEpisode: Steve hosts a Valentine's Day episode that is split into stories about [[ToyShip First Love]], True Love, and Lasting Love.

* [[spoiler: AllJustADream]]: In one episode, Laura partners up with Steve for a science project, hoping to get an easy "A". [[spoiler: She falls asleep on the couch at one point and dreams that [[NightmareFuel he accidentally nukes Chicago]], complete with a mushroom cloud echoing ''"DID I DO THAT?"'']]

** In one episode, Eddie even refuses to introduce his male friends (other than Steve) to Gretta because "they're all players."

* [[NiceJobBreakingItHeroLiveActionTV Nice Job Breaking It, Hero]]: Seen in virtually every episode, especially the early Urkel years, thanks to the nerd's never-ending clumsiness. The Winslows' never-ending exasperation with Urkel breaking things was expanded on in several episodes, most notably "Words Hurt" (Urkel is so traumatized by Carl's rant over a busted ship-in-a-bottle that he repeatedly raps Carl over the head with a rolled-up newspaper, in such a state of shock that he refuses to explain to a concerned Harriet; a hypnotist gets to the truth) and "What's Up Doc?" (a flashback-filled episode featuring numerous "How Urkel Breaks Things" incidents; Harriet again rides to the nerd's rescue).

* [[NiceJobBreakingItHero:|LiveActionTV]]: Seen in virtually every episode, especially the early Urkel years, thanks to the nerd's never-ending clumsiness. The Winslows' never-ending exasperation with Urkel breaking things was expanded on in several episodes, most notably "Words Hurt" (Urkel is so traumatized by Carl's rant over a busted ship-in-a-bottle that he repeatedly raps Carl over the head with a rolled-up newspaper, in such a state of shock that he refuses to explain to a concerned Harriet; a hypnotist gets to the truth) and "What's Up Doc?" (a flashback-filled episode featuring numerous "How Urkel Breaks Things" incidents; Harriet again rides to the nerd's rescue).

* NiceJobBreakingItHero:LiveActionTV: Seen in virtually every episode, especially the early Urkel years, thanks to the nerd's never-ending clumsiness. The Winslows' never-ending exasperation with Urkel breaking things was expanded on in several episodes, most notably "Words Hurt" (Urkel is so traumatized by Carl's rant over a busted ship-in-a-bottle that he repeatedly raps Carl over the head with a rolled-up newspaper, in such a state of shock that he refuses to explain to a concerned Harriet; a hypnotist gets to the truth) and "What's Up Doc?" (a flashback-filled episode featuring numerous "How Urkel Breaks Things" incidents; Harriet again rides to the nerd's rescue).

* ChemistryCanDoAnything is seen with Steve's transmogrification device.

*** "Wearing you DOOOOOOWWWWWWNNNNNN!"

* RobotGirl: Laurabot was built after Urkelbot was shutdown and reprogrammed.

* CuckooCloudLander: Waldo, at his best.

One of the quintessential sitcoms of TheNineties. Started as a spin-off of ''PerfectStrangers'' with background character Harriet Winslow and her husband Carl, a policeman. The show is about their picturesque family living on a working-class income. Carl's mother Estelle moved in with them in the first episode and that is essentially how the show began.

* BackForTheFinale: Jo Marie Payton, the original Harriet, did appear in the last episode. But it was as one of the NASA staff monitoring Steve's space expedition.