Family Matters

1989

Seasons & Episodes

  • 9
  • 8
  • 7
  • 6
  • 5
  • 4
  • 3
  • 2
  • 1
6.6| TV-G| en| More Info
Released: 22 September 1989 Ended
Producted By: Lorimar Television
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Info

A long-running dramedy centering on the Winslow family, a middle-class African American family living in Chicago, and their pesky next-door neighbor, ultra-nerd Steve Urkel. A spin-off of Perfect Strangers.

Genre

Comedy, Family

Watch Online

Family Matters (1989) is now streaming with subscription on HULU

Director

Production Companies

Lorimar Television

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Family Matters Audience Reviews

Ameriatch One of the best films i have seen
SoftInloveRox Horrible, fascist and poorly acted
Cleveronix A different way of telling a story
Scotty Burke It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review
burdnina I enjoyed watching each and every episode of Family Matters. Each character played out their role so fabulously, that even words cannot describe it. Be it Steve Urkel, Carl, Laura or Waldo Faldo, the chemistry was unreal between these characters. It made you feel that you were a part of their family. I truly enjoyed watching this Sitcom and I hope they make more TV Shows like this in the future!!!
willhaskew This show started out like most any other TGIF sitcom. A black family, the Winslows, in Chicago go about their daily lives while dealing with family issues. The father, Carl, is a uniformed police officer with a liking for sweets, a temper, and weird habit of often being paired up with Steve Urkel despite not liking him. His wife, Harriet, is the new black matriarch archetype, no nonsense, sassy, disciplined, and yet supportive and loving. Her son Eddie, the oldest child, is shown to be stupid at first but the writers made him a popular athletic kid with a heart of gold instead. Laura, the oldest daughter and middle child, was pretty, popular and smart. She got the most sitcom attention aside from Urkel. There was an Aunt Rachel, a cousin Richie, a grandmother and a third child Judy, but so little attention is paid to them they're hardly worth mentioning. Steve Urkel, the next door neighbor, is a super nerd who is in love with Laura, and thus by TGIF sitcom rules unable to be boyfriend material. His nerdiness is so great that he invents time machines, a robot duplicate, and a chemical process that can literally re-create someone from scratch by rewriting their DNA (think The Nutty Professor). Thus Urkel becomes Stefan Urkel (a romantic counterpart that under sitcom rules is Laura Winslow boyfriend material), Bruce Lee Urkel and probably some other characters I can't remember. Urkel has one girlfriend, Myra, who seems to genuinely like him for his intelligence and nerdy personality but he inexplicably rejects her in pursuit of Laura. Urkel is the main focus of the show throughout most of it's run. At some point the aunt and youngest daughter were written out of the show with Richie becoming the youngest son by default and a young street kid name 3J (cousin Oliver syndrome anyone?) was adopted by the Winslows. Richie was also age progressed from an infant to about 5 years-old in his second season.
gascichx5 Yes, Urkel is one of the most well known characters in the history of television, but this show is terrible. It's not funny, it's not clever, it's full of clichés and every episodes has a dumb moral value being taught, as if they haven't been taught a zillion times before. All the characters are lame, including Urkel. And when he invents a machine that makes himself a completely different and 'cool' version of himself...I shake my head in disbelief and shame. The episode themes and plots are tired and worn out, and to be honest, quite contrived at times. This show is an abomination of sitcoms everywhere, and quite possibly one of the worst I have ever seen. I don't recommend watching it.
gangstahippie Rated TV-G Quebec Rating:G Canadian Home Video Rating:G Canadian TV Rating:GI did not see Family Matters during its initial run because I was a little kid.But when the show started playing in syndication on channels such as TBS back in 2002, I started watching it.Family Matters is good for the whole family.Its a very funny show with uplifting messages.While most of the series is funny,some of it is dramatic as well.Its too bad this has not been released on DVD yet! The show is basically about the misadventures of the Windslow family and their nerdy next door neighbor Steve Urkel.Family Matters is a great show that they should put on DVD.