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Family Matters
Family Matters is an American sitcom series which originated on ABC from September 22, 1989
to May 9, 1997, before moving to CBS from September 19, 1997 to July 17, 1998.
A spin-off of Perfect Strangers, the series revolves around the Winslow family,
a middle-class African American family living in Chicago, Illinois. Midway through the first season,
the show introduced the Winslows' nerdy neighbor Steve Urkel,
who quickly became its breakout character and eventually the show's main character. Having run
for nine seasons, Family Matters became the second longest-running non-animated US sitcom
with a predominantly African American cast, behind only The Jeffersons. Having aired 215 episodes,
Family Matters is ranked third, behind only Tyler Perry's House of Payne, and The Jeffersons.
History
The series originally focused on the character of police officer Carl Winslow
and his family: wife Harriette, son Eddie, elder daughter Laura, and younger daughter Judy.
In the pilot episode, "The Mama Who Came to Dinner," the family had also opened their home
to Carl's street-wise mother, Estelle, usually known as "Mother Winslow." Prior
to the start of the series, Harriette's sister, Rachel Crawford and her infant son, Richie,
had moved into the Winslow household after the death of Rachel's husband.
The Winslows' nerdy teenage next-door neighbor, Steve Urkel,
was introduced midway through the first season in the episode "Laura's First Date"
and quickly became the focus of the show. The popular sitcom was a mainstay of ABC's TGIF lineup
from 1989 until 1997, at which point it became part of the CBS Block Party lineup
for its final season. Family Matters was produced by Bickley-Warren Productions
and Miller-Boyett Productions, in association with Lorimar Television and later Warner Bros.
Television. As the show progressed, episodes began to center increasingly on Steve Urkel,
and other original characters also played by White, including Steve's suave alter-ego,
Stefan Urquelle, and his female cousin, Myrtle Urkel.
Network change
In early 1997, CBS picked up Family Matters and Step by Step in a $40 million deal
to acquire the rights to the programs from ABC. ABC then promised
to pay Miller-Boyett Productions $1.5 million per episode for a ninth
and tenth season of Family Matters. However, tensions had risen between Miller-Boyett Productions
and ABC's corporate parent, The Walt Disney Company.
Miller-Boyett thought that it would not be a big player on ABC after the network's recent purchase
by Disney. In turn, Miller-Boyett Productions agreed to a $40 million offer from CBS
for a 22-episode season for both Family Matters and Step By Step.
CBS scheduled Family Matters along
with Step By Step as a part of its new Friday lineup branded as the CBS Block Party
and scheduled the family-oriented block against ABC's TGIF lineup, where the two series originated.
Near the end of the ninth season, the cast was informed that a tenth and final season was planned,
so scripts and plot synopses were written for the show. Ultimately, due to poor ratings,
CBS cancelled Family Matters after one season, along with the rest of the "Block Party" lineup.
CBS also pulled the show from its regular schedule in the winter. As a result,
the series finale was broadcast with little fanfare during "burn off" summer TV time in 1998.
Theme song and opening credits
The show's original theme was Louis Armstrong's "What a Wonderful World";
it was scrapped after the fifth episode of season one,
though it was heard only in the pilot episode in syndicated reruns. The second theme,
"As Days Go By," written by Jesse Frederick, Bennett Salvay and Scott Roeme and performed
by Frederick, was the theme for the majority of the series until 1995;
it was last used in the season seven episode "Fa La La La Laagghh," the only episode
during the final three seasons to feature it. A longer version of "As Days Go By" was used
during the first three seasons, though in syndicated reruns the short version is heard.
 [^]  The opening sequence begins with a shot of the Chicago Lakefront,
then a shot of the Winslow home. In the opening titles,
the main characters were shown around the Winslow home. The opening credits
during the first three seasons feature a scene showing the Winslow family riding their bicycles
across the Irv Kupcinet Bridge over the Chicago River; an allusion
to parent series Perfect Strangers, which featured a scene of Balki and Larry,
riding a tour boat underneath the same bridge, shot from the same angle, in its own opening credits
from seasons 3–8 of that series. Clips of episodes were shown after the bike scene
and before the house shot in the season one through three versions. The house shown
at the beginning and the end of the opening credits is located
at 1516 West Wrightwood Avenue in Chicago. The closing shot at the end of the credits
with the Winslow family at the piano, in which the shot pans outside the house
and the camera zooms out showing neighborhoods
and the northside Chicago skyline in the background, was originally used in the pilot episode
"The Mama Who Came to Dinner". The role of Richie as a baby was credited as being played by
"Joseph [and] Julius Wright" in season 1, with Julius' name made
to appear as Joseph's middle name in the titles—the duo was credited this way,
because the show's producers did not want audiences to know that Richie was then played
by twins—the role of Richie as a baby was played by two children,
because California state law regulates the number of work hours for a young child,
therefore it is common for the role of one baby in a television or film production to be played
by twins. In season five, after Hopkins left the show, White was given special billing in response
to the popularity he earned as Steve Urkel. Appearing last in the credits, he was credited as
"and Jaleel White as Steve Urkel," starting in the sixth season. In season seven,
the opening theme song and credit sequence were dropped entirely—though it was brought back
for one episode: "Fa La La La Laagghh,"
the eleventh episode of that same season—for all other episodes during seasons 7–9,
the names of the show's main cast members, as well as co-executive producers
and executive producers were shown during each episode's teaser scene.
Syndication
In September 1993, Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution began distributing Family Matters
for broadcast in off-network syndication; most television stations stopped carrying the show
by around 2002, though some stations in larger markets such as WTOG in Tampa, Florida continued
to air Family Matters until as recently as 2005. In 1995,
reruns of the series began airing on TBS Superstation, where it ran until 2003. From 1997 to 2003,
reruns of the series aired on WGN America. In 2003, ABC Family picked up the series and aired it
for five years until February 29, 2008. From 2004 to 2006, UPN aired the show for 2 years.
BET aired reruns briefly in December 2009
and began airing the series on a regular basis on March 1, 2013.
MTV2 also began airing reruns on September 7, 2013. The show aired on Nick at Nite from June 29,
2008 to December 31, 2012. ABC Family and Nick at Nite airings cut the tag scenes
at the end of all episodes, despite the fact that many episodes during the series have tag scenes
during the closing credits. In 2015, the series now airs on a Viacom owned cable network Centric.
In Canada, the series also aired on CTV and CBC for reruns. As of September 29,
2017 the entire series is available to watch via streaming service Hulu.
DVD releases
Warner Home Video has released the first four seasons of Family Matters on DVD in Region 1 while
the remaining five seasons were released by the Warner Archive Collection. On February 4, 2014,
Warner Home Video released season 4 on DVD, but consumers complained
when it was found that the season 4 set contained syndication edits rather
than the original broadcast masters. Warner Bros. responded to the complaints,
offered a replacement program to receive corrected discs and reissuing the set
with corrected broadcast copies on April 4. All episodes are the original broadcast form, except
for the episode "Number One With a Bullet", disc 1, episode 6. The entire series is also available
for digital download on Amazon.com and the iTunes Store, all, but season 6 remastered in both SD
and HD.
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