Family Matters
Genre	Family sitcom
Created by	William Bickley Michael Warren
Developed by	Thomas L. Miller Robert L. Boyett
Starring	Reginald VelJohnson Jo Marie Payton Rosetta LeNoire Darius McCrary Kellie Shanygne Williams Valerie Jones Joseph and Julius Wright Telma Hopkins Jaimee Foxworth Bryton McClure Jaleel White Shawn Harrison Michelle Thomas Orlando Brown Judyann Elder
Theme music composer	Jesse Frederick, Bennett Salvay and Scott Roeme (first five episodes only:Bob Thiele,George David Weiss and George Douglas)
Opening theme	"As Days Go By," performed by Jesse Frederick (originally in first five episodes only: "What a Wonderful World" byLouis Armstrong) (originally in season 7, episode 8, Talk's Cheap: "A Hard Day's Night" byThe Beatles)
Ending theme	Instrumental theme, composed by Jesse Frederick and Bennett Salvay(seasons 1–4) Gary Boren(seasons 5–9)
Composers	Jesse Frederick Bennett Salvay(both; seasons 1-2) Gary Boren(seasons 3–5 and 8-9) Steven Chesne(seasons 4–7 and 9)
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	9
No. of episodes	215(list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers	Thomas L. Miller Robert L. Boyett William Bickley Michael Warren(seasons 2–9) David W. Duclon(seasons 3–9)
Producers	Kelly Sandefur Fred Fox Jr. Jim Geoghan Gary Menteer Stephen Langford Sara V. Finney Vida Spears Rebecca Falk Robert Blair Paula A. Roth James O'Keefe
Production locations	Lorimar Studios Culver City, California (1989–1991) Sony Pictures Studios Culver City, California (1991–1993) Warner Bros. Studios Burbank, California (1993–1998)
Camera setup	Film;Multi-camera[1]
Running time	24 minutes
Production companies	Miller-Boyett Productions Bickley-Warren Productions (1991–1998) (seasons 3–9) Lorimar Television (1989–1993) (seasons 1–4) Warner Bros. Television (1993–1998) (seasons 5–9)
Original release
Network	ABC
Release	September 22, 1989 (1989-09-22) – May 9, 1997 (1997-05-09)
Network	CBS
Release	September 19, 1997 (1997-09-19) – July 17, 1998 (1998-07-17)
Related
Perfect Strangers Step by Step Full House

Family Matters is an American televisionsitcom that originally aired onABC for eight seasons from September 22, 1989, to May 9, 1997, then moved toCBS for its ninth and final season from September 19, 1997, to July 17, 1998. Aspin-off ofPerfect Strangers, the series was created by William Bickley and Michael Warren, and revolves around the Winslow family, aBlack middle class family living inChicago, Illinois.^[2] Midway through the first season, the show introduced the Winslows' nerdy neighborSteve Urkel (Jaleel White), originally as a one-time appearance. However, he quickly became the show'sbreakout character (and eventually the main character), joining the main cast.^[3]

Running for 215 episodes over nine seasons,Family Matters is the third-longest-running live action American sitcom with a predominantly African-American cast, behindThe Jeffersons with 253 episodes over 11 seasons andTyler Perry's House of Payne with 355 episodes as of 2023.Family Matters was the last live-action scripted primetime show that debuted in the 1980s to end its run; the only scripted shows that started in the 1980s and have lasted longer in continuous production isThe Simpsons andThe Bold and the Beautiful.^[a]

The series was a spinoff from the ABC sitcomPerfect Strangers; both shows aired Friday nights as part of the network's family-oriented "TGIF" lineup.Jo Marie Payton played Harriette Winslow, the elevator operator at a newspaper whereLarry Appleton andBalki Bartokomous also worked.Reginald VelJohnson, who was coming off of growing fame from his role inDie Hard, made an appearance on the show as Harriette's husband Carl Winslow, a Chicago police officer. ABC and the producers loved the character Harriette for her great morale and quick-witted humor and decided to create a show that would focus on her and her family, husband Carl, son Eddie, elder daughter Laura, and younger daughter Judy (who appeared until the character wasretconned after season four as having not existed).^[4]

In thepilot episode, "The Mama Who Came to Dinner", the family had also opened their home to Carl's street-wise mother, Estelle (Rosetta LeNoire), 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 (Jaleel White), was introduced early in the first season, given a significant role midway through the season in the episode "Laura’s First Date", and quickly became the focus of the show.^[5]

The popular sitcom was a mainstay of ABC's TGIF lineup from 1989 until 1997, at which point it became part of theCBS Block Party lineup for its final season.Family Matters was produced by Bickley-Warren Productions (1991–1998) andMiller-Boyett Productions, in association withLorimar Television (1989–1993) and laterWarner Bros. Television (1993–1998). 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 (who is similar toJaleel White's real-life self), and his female cousin, Myrtle Urkel.

In early 1997, CBS picked upFamily Matters andStep by Step in a $40 million deal to acquire the rights to the programs from ABC.^[6] ABC then promised to pay Miller-Boyett Productions $1.5 million per episode for a ninth and tenth season ofFamily Matters. However, tensions had risen between Miller-Boyett Productions and ABC's corporate parent,The Walt Disney Company (which had bought ABC in 1996 as part of its merger with ABC's then-parentCapital Cities/ABC Inc.). Miller-Boyett thought that it would not be a big player on ABC after ABC's recent purchase by Disney.^[7]

Miller-Boyett Productions agreed to a $40 million offer from CBS for a 22-episode season for bothFamily Matters andStep By Step. CBS scheduledFamily Matters along withMeego andStep By Step as a part of its new Friday lineup, branded as theCBS Block Party. The network scheduled the family-oriented block against ABC'sTGIF lineup, where the two series originated. Jo Marie Payton's contract had just expired and she was reluctant to continue, feeling the show hadjumped the shark years prior. She agreed to stay to keep continuity^[7] but left midseason shortly after nearly getting into a physical altercation with White in what would be her last regular episode; in that episode, White (playing a gangster instead of his usual Urkel) was attempting to insert material that violatedBroadcast Standards and Practices. The resulting dispute between White and Payton escalated to the point where Darius McCrary had to separate the two.^[8] Payton would appear in only one more episode after that—a Christmas episode that also brought back several former characters from the ABC run who had been written out on CBS—beforeJudyann Elder took over as Harriette for the remainder of the season.

WhileFamily Matters continued to lose viewership compared to previous years, it was initially a modest success on CBS, beating the show that replaced it,You Wish.Meego, however, was a ratings failure and was canceled after six weeks. After the holiday special season, CBS replacedMeego withKids Say the Darndest Things, and with that show's child-centered focus, it was placed inFamily Matters' 8/7c time slot.Family Matters was pushed an hour later and paired withStep by Step. The ratings forFamily Matters fell even further in this later slot, and the entire block except forKids Say the Darndest Things was canceled in spring 1998, with the remaining episodesburned off in the summer. The show sporadically aired in 1998, leaving a 5 month gap from January to June.

Family Matters was created by William Bickley and Michael Warren (who also wrote for, and were producers of, parent seriesPerfect Strangers) and developed byThomas L. Miller and Robert L. Boyett (who also served as executive producers onPerfect Strangers); all four also served as executive producers of the series.^[10] The series was produced by Miller-Boyett Productions, in association withLorimar Television, which co-produced the show until 1993, whenWarner Bros. Television absorbed Lorimar (a sister company under the co-ownership ofTime Warner).

Starting with season three, the series was also produced by Bickley-Warren Productions. The series was filmed in front of a live studio audience; the Lorimar-produced episodes were shot at Lorimar Studios (laterSony Pictures Studios) inCulver City, California, while the Warner Bros.-produced episodes were filmed atWarner Bros. Studios in nearbyBurbank.

The show's original theme wasLouis Armstrong's "What a Wonderful World"; it was scrapped after the fifth episode of season one ("Straight A's"), though it was heard only in the pilot episode in syndicated reruns. The second theme, "As Days Go By", written byJesse Frederick, Bennett Salvay and Scott Roeme and performed by Frederick, was the theme for the majority of the series until 1995. The sixth season's opening credits was last used in the season seven episodes "Talk's Cheap" and "Fa La La La Laagghh", the only two episodes during the final three seasons to feature the theme song (this was heard in season one episodes inABC Family andsyndicated airings). A longer version of "As Days Go By" was used during the first three seasons, though in syndicated reruns the short version is heard (in ABC Family airings, the long theme was used for all of the episodes during the first three seasons).

Family Matters is set in the samefictional universe as several otherTV shows related to ABC'sTGIF orCBS'sBlock Party. BeforeFamily Matters, Harriette Winslow was originally the elevator operator at theChicago Chronicle newspaper office in the third and fourth seasons ofPerfect Strangers.Family Matters was a spin-off series given to this character in 1989. Characters fromFamily Matters appeared on other shows, includingFull House,Boy Meets World,Step by Step andMeego.

In September 1993,Warner Bros. Television Distribution began distributingFamily Matters for broadcast in off-network syndication; most television stations stopped carrying the show by around 2002, though some stations in larger markets such asWTOG inTampa,Florida continued to airFamily Matters until as recently as 2005 and New York'sWPIX as 2006. In 1995, reruns of the series began airing onTBS Superstation, where it ran until 2003. TBS would air two episodes of Family Matters each weekday afternoon from October 1995 to September 1999. From 1999 to 2003, TBS only aired the series once per weekday typically playing in the early mornings. The series returned to TBS in 2020.

From 1997 to 2003, reruns of the series aired onWGN 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; the series returned to BET in mid-February 2023.MTV2 also began airing reruns on September 7, 2013. The show aired onNick 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. The series also aired onTV One from 2019 to 2023. In Canada, the series also aired onCTV,CBC and currently airs onFamily Channel.

On September 29, 2017,Family Matters became available for streaming onHulu.^[11] In the UK it aired onSky One whilstPerfect Strangers aired onBBC One.

Reruns of the series aired onCartoon Network's ACME Night block in 2021.

TruTV began airing reruns in 2023 as part of their "Comfort Food" block.^[12]

On October 1, 2021,Family Matters began streaming onHBO Max after its streaming rights expired fromHulu, but has since returned to the Hulu platform. The series was removed on HBO Max in September 2025.^[13]

In France, it aired asLa Vie de famille (Family Life) as part of the showClub Dorothée on January 1, 1995, and onRTL9 (from August 28, 1995),France 2 &M6 (from June 1, 2000).

In Germany, it premiered asAlle unter einem Dach (All under one roof) on ProSieben between September 4, 1995 and December 8, 1998.

In Italy, it aired asOtto sotto un tetto (Eight under one roof) onCanale 5,Italia 1 in 1992, with subsequent airings onFox Retro &Sky Atlantic.

In Croatia, the show aired asPod istim krovom (Under the Same Roof) starting in September 2005 onRTL, and later on its sister channelsRTL 2 andRTL Kockica.^[14]

In Spain it was known as "Cosas de Casa" (Home Things), broadcast on Antena 3 during the 90s, and is one of the most remembered dubbings.When Jaleel White participated in the program "Sorpresa Sorpresa" (Surprise Surprise) he praised Pilar Coronado for her way of giving voice to Urkel.

In Israel it was calledאריזה משפחתית (Family Packaging) onArutz HaYeladim.

Warner Home Video has released the first four seasons ofFamily Matters on DVD in Region 1^[15][16][17] while the remaining five seasons were released by theWarner Archive Collection.^{[18][19][20][21][22]} 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, 2014. 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 onAmazon.com and theiTunes Store, all but season 6 remastered in both SD and HD.^[23]

A Complete Series DVD boxset was released on September 26, 2023

On September 1, 2021, it was announced an animated Christmas filmUrkel Saves Santa: The Movie! (originallyDid I Do That to the Holidays? A Steve Urkel Story) was planned to air onCartoon Network as part of the block ACME Night in 2022.^[25][26] It was set to be released onHBO Max. However, on August 22, 2022, it was announced the film would not be moving forward on HBO Max and would be shopped elsewhere as a result of theWarner Bros. Discovery merger.^[27][28] Warner Bros. Discovery instead released the film on digital on November 21, 2023.^[29]

Cast

• Kellie Shanygne Williams as Kelis
• JoMarie Payton as Grandma Henrietta
• Stephen Fisher as Alternis
• Randy Vince as Aiden Kingsley
• Cheyenne Cummings as Emily Kingsley
• Chase X. Drewery as Brandon Vaughn
• Melan Perez as Tessia Vaughn
• Xavier Alvarado as Joseph Kingsley
• Julius Terry as Jaxx
• Hanna Belle Jackson as Hailey
• Mark McKinnon as Curtis
• Tamieka Chavis as Aunt Tracie

In 2022, a Christmas-themed movie titledA Family Matters Christmas was made and released direct-to-video on November 8, 2022. The plot focuses on ablended family in which the childrenswitch bodies and learn about the others, and must work together to switch back. Jo Marie Payton and Kellie Shanygne Williams appear^[30] briefly. However, they play entirely new characters and the movie has no connection to the actualFamily Matters show.

• Family Matters atIMDb
• Family Matters atepguides.com
• Family MattersArchived February 25, 2009, at theWayback Machine atNick at Nite

• Family Matters
• 1989 American television series debuts
• 1998 American television series endings
• 1980s American black sitcoms
• 1990s American black sitcoms
• 1980s American multi-camera sitcoms
• 1990s American multi-camera sitcoms
• American television spinoffs
• American English-language television shows
• Television shows filmed in Los Angeles
• Television shows filmed in California
• Fictional portrayals of the Chicago Police Department
• American television series about families
• Television series about genetic engineering
• Television series by Lorimar Television
• Television series by Warner Bros. Television Studios
• Television shows set in Chicago
• TGIF (TV programming block)
• Television series about siblings
• American Broadcasting Company sitcoms
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