Everyone knows the show... Family Matters. But how did it all begin? Where did Urkel come from? Why did they move to CBS? Here is the best I can give you with my own synopsis of Family Matters.

The first time the complete Winslow family ever appeared on television with their own series, Family Matters, was September 22, 1989. One Winslow family member was already well-known before this momentous date, however. It was Harriette Winslow (JoMarie Payton). She was the elevator operator of the hit series, Perfect Strangers, and Family Matters was the spin-off of that series. In the first episode, America was introduced to what Harriette had to put up with when she came home from work. It included her husband, Carl (Reginald VelJohnson), a cop with a shape and brain like Fred Flintstone, always thinking he is right because he is the man of the house, and later always seeing his mistakes. Then there were Carl and Harriette's three children. The eldest, Eddie (Darius McCrary), was not much of a brain, but was definitely a hit with the ladies... or so he thought. The middle child was Laura (Kellie Shanygne Williams), who had the smarts, but also had some sass, and was always the one thinking of how to make some fast cash. Being the butt of Laura's jokes and the work behind her scams was the youngest Winslow child, Judy (Jaimee Foxworth, Valerie Jones in pilot). One could always see Judy with her mouth poked out for being unnoticed by the rest of her wild family. Then there was Harriette's sister, Rachel (Telma Hopkins), an aspiring author and know-it-all. Her husband passed away, so she moved in with the Winslows with her baby son, Richie (Bryton McClure, Joseph Julius Wright as a baby). If that were not enough to drive Carl and Harriette up the wall, in came Carl's mother, Estelle Winslow (Rosetta LeNoire). The first episode revolved around her moving in with the family, and of course, causing a ruckus. But the first episode went well, as Carl quoted that no one is moving out and no one else is moving in.

At least, that's what he thought. The series was doing well in the T.G.I.F. slot, surrounding by such already popular shows like Full House and Perfect Strangers. But it was about to move to new heights in its 13th episode, "Laura's First Date." It is in this episode that we first meet Steven Q. Urkel (Jaleel White), a small, skinny, spectacled nerd with a huge crush on Laura. Steve Urkel was only supposed to be an one-episode character, but the audience loved him like crazy and chanted "Urkel! Urkel! Urkel!" at the end of taping. A star was born. Since the crowd loved Urkel so much, Jaleel was brought back as the character for the rest of the first season. He mostly popped up at the beginning and the end of the show, leaving the middle room for the Winslow family's hilarious plots and situations.

But in the second season, Steve Urkel became a regular Family Matters character, and the character started getting into crazy plots of his own. There was still Winslow situations, but either Urkel would be a part of them or would have a subplot. It may not have been noticed when he first appeared on the series, but once he started helping Carl arrest gangbangers, showing Laura he has true feelings, spending Christmas with the Winslows, and even having a cousin Myrtle Urkel (also played by Jaleel White) show up, it was becoming obvious that the series was becoming less about the Winslows, and more about Urkel.

The third season brought another recurring character to the regular cast, Waldo Faldo (Shawn Harrison). A classic "dumb" character, Waldo was originally a bully that hung around with Urkel's nemesis, Willie (Larenz Tate). But when Larenz got a regular job on The Royal Family, a funny series unfortunately canceled due to the death of its star, Redd Foxx, Waldo then became a friend of Eddie, who has now matured a little and no longer played a dumb character. But it was still Urkel stealing the show. By now, every episode revolved around him, especially him and Carl, making a 90s African-American version of Abbott & Costello (You guess which is which). Jaleel White has even taken his nerdy character into cross-over episodes of Full House and Step By Step.

The fourth season brought more Urkel.. of course.. but it introduced a new character to the series that would eventually become a regular. Steve was anxious to get rid of Laura's boyfriend, Ted Curran (Patrick J. Dancy), so in one of the later episodes of the season, Laura and Ted hook Urkel up with Ted's cousin, Myra Monkhouse (the late Michelle Thomas). The show soon found itself with two quirky characters who eventually became an item.

By the fifth season, with Myra a regular character and eventually becoming Steve's steady, the show no longer could play on the concept of Steve chasing Laura. Therefore, the series began to focus more on Steve's other attributes, such as driving Carl crazy. It also began to focus more on Steve's love of inventing. By the fifth season, Urkel has already made a robot of himself, a jet pack, a rocket, and other nifty gadgets that usually blow up in the Winslows' faces, but he made something during this season that changed Jaleel White's image... a little bit, an Urkel alter-ego. This season brings us Stefan Urquelle (also played by Jaleel White), the smooth, charismatic charmer that everyone, but Myra, loved much more than Steve. The first time he appeared, he had an ego problem, but in the season finalé, he was cured, but Urkel had a hard time keeping Stefan around for a long time.

Speaking of disappearances, the fifth season brought about one of the biggest questions in Family Matters history... the character of Judy. Judy, getting older and receiving less and less parts because of Urkel and Richie, was taken out of the series on the fifth season. But unlike most television series, there was no explanation of Judy. No episode revolved around why she left, and the series even began mentioning in its dialogue that Carl and Harriette had two, not three, children. With the show revolving around Urkel, I guess they thought the fans would not notice Judy was gone, but out of the many e-mails I get about this site, the main question I am always asked is "What happened to Judy?" And let's not forget Rachel, who also left the series. Telma Hopkins got a part in another sitcom, Getting By, which did not last long on ABC or NBC.

By the time the sixth season airs, the concept of Family Matters had definitely changed. It has went from the typical Cosby Show-like family sitcom, to a silly, yet funny, life and times a crazy teen inventor and the neighbors he annoyed. Wackiness ensues in the sixth and seventh seasons including Carl becoming an "Urkel," the family going to Disney World and the occasional thought provoking episode about guns and cancer. Eddie also tries to move out of the Winslow household, getting a place with Waldo and Urkel, but when the place collapses, thanks to Urkel and some big termites, Eddie returns home with a surprise... Steve. His family is moving to Russia, and rather than go with them, he moves in with the Winslows.

Now Family Matters does not have to stretch far with wondering when to bring Urkel into the show now that he is actually in the Winslow household. More wackiness ensues including Urkel and Laura seeing each other naked, Laura fighting off Myra, who doesn't trust her around Steve, and more appearances by Myrtle Urkel and Stefan Urquelle, including the season finalé, when Urkel clones himself and makes one of the clones a permanent Stefan.

Okay, making a clone could have a but much, but with Family Matters now becoming more cartoonish and fantasy, it was destined for something like this to happen. And more things happen in the eighth season, such as a three-part episode in Paris, a new character, 3J (Orlando Brown), a foster child that becomes adopted by the Winslows, and even more appearances by Stefan, now a regular character, Myrtle, and even Bruce Lee Urkel. But after eight years, the popularity was slipping a little in Family Matters, and ABC had decided not to bring them back for a ninth season.

But Family Matters was saved. CBS decided to compete against ABC for the Friday night family slot, so it picked up Family Matters and Step By Step from ABC, as well as two new family series of their own. Family Matters was paid for a full season and CBS was determined that Urkel on their network would help their viewing in the young demographic. Family Matters changed more in the ninth season than in any other season. On a new network, Urkel was finally given the chance to grow up a little and change his image. Laura started liking him after this, and this made Myra furious. After her crazy games and spying, trying to keep the "old" Urkel, Myra and Urkel soon broke up, and Steve pursued Laura and succeeded. Meanwhile, Eddie ditched college and became a cop like Carl. He also continued to fight off Myrtle's advances, including when she(?) also tried to change her image, but finally realizing Eddie just was not worth it. And Harriette changed altogether. Towards the middle of the season, JoMarie Payton decided she was not being able to display her full talents as Harriette Winslow, so she left the series to pursue other interests. She was replaced by Judyann Elder. Except for a new Harriette, the growth of Urkel and the new storylines of the other characters made Family Matters finally start maturing from its silly seasons before it. The ninth season also aired the 200th episode (a crazy Halloween sequel of Steve's evil puppet, Stevil), and became the 2nd longest-running African-American series of all-time, under The Jeffersons.

But as the episodes got better, viewing got worse. Not many Urkel fans knew that the series had moved to CBS. ABC certainly did not advertise it, and since CBS caters to the older crowd, it had problems with advertising. CBS's Saturday morning was one of the worst that year and the WB were picking up the teen bracket, thereby making Family Matters' target audience, the 2-11, teen, and young adult crowds, unwatched and unknown to the masses. Only the true blue fans knew and checked out the series, but most people were really not feeling the series any more, and thought it was past its run. Some of the cast members, including Jaleel White himself, felt the same. And with the low ratings, Family Matters was not to return for a tenth season. While I, too, believed that Family Matters was past its prime, the sad part about it is that it did not get a classy send-off like Seinfeld and Murphy Brown, who ended its run the same year. It did not get a "true" series ending. Instead, the 2-part season finalé, of Urkel going into space, was the series end. But by the heartfelt performances, it did not have the plot, but the feeling, of being an ending, almost like the cast already knew this was it.

Whether the world wants to admit it or not, Family Matters will definitely be a part of TV history. Urkel will join Fonzie and George Jefferson as characters who become so big, they either take over the show or get their own. And the Winslow family, no matter how much they decreased by the end of the show, will still be remembered as a loving family that taught morals and values, and still had some fun. It will also be known as a series with an African-American cast that was not stereotyped. True, Urkel was clumsy, but he was smart, as to was Laura, and the family made accomplishments, and did not need TV black stereotypes to keep them popular with the masses. It is a series that will be missed.