Family Matters is an American sitcom revolving around the Winslow family, a middle-class African-American family living in Chicago. The series ran for nine seasons (eight of which were broadcast on ABC, one on CBS) and is a spin-off of Perfect Strangers. The series features a total of 12 main characters, some of which have been portrayed by multiple actors.
Casting Jo Marie Payton originally appeared on Perfect Strangers in 1987 in the recurring role of Harriette Winslow, the elevator operator for the Chicago Chronicle. Reginald VelJohnson later made one appearance on Perfect Strangers in the 1989 episode "Crimebusters" as Carl Winslow, policeman and husband of Harriette Winslow. Due to the large popularity of Payton's character with audiences, the character was spun off to its own show, Family Matters."'Family Matters.' TV's longest-running Black show." Jet. 1997. (September 28, 2010). While Payton, VelJohnson, and Telma Hopkins (as Harriette's widowed sister Rachel) were initially the stars of the show, centered around the Winslow family, Jaleel White was introduced as nerdy neighbor, Steve Urkel, during the middle of the first season in the episode "Laura's First Date." Urkel, the lovesick pursuer of Laura Winslow (portrayed by Kellie Shanygne Williams), quickly became a popular breakout character with audiences.
Shortly after the introduction of White as Steve Urkel, Shawn Harrison was cast in the role of Waldo Faldo, initially as the sidekick to a bully portrayed by Larenz Tate who terrorized everyone, and Urkel. When Tate and Harrison were offered the chance to return to the show on a recurring basis, only Harrison took up the offer. As a result, his character was rewritten to be the best friend of Eddie Winslow (portrayed by Darius McCrary). Harrison eventually joined the main cast in the 1992–1993 season. Soon after, Michelle Thomas was cast in the role of Myra Monkhouse, love interest and later girlfriend of Steve Urkel. Thomas was initially only scheduled to appear occasionally but became a permanent member of the main cast in the 1994–1995 season. In the 1996–1997 season, Orlando Brown was added to the cast as Jerry Jamal "3J" Jameson, a troubled youth mentored by Urkel, who later becomes the foster child of the Winslows.
Main characters The series featured 12 main characters, whose actors appeared during the opening credits.
Carl Winslow
The character Carlton "Carl" Otis Winslow, who originally appeared in the Perfect Strangers episode "Crimebusters" alongside his wife, Harriette, is the son of Estelle Winslow and the late Samuel Winslow, brother-in-law of Rachel Crawford, father of Eddie, Laura, and Judy Winslow, uncle of Richie Crawford and adoptive father of "3J" Jameson. He is a short-tempered, miserly man, but still has a kind and humble nature. In the Season 1 episode "The Mama Who Came to Dinner", Carl mentions having three brothers: Frank (who later appeared in the season 8 episode, "The Brother Who Came to Dinner"), Walter and Calvin; in another episode from that same season, "The Party", he mentions another brother named Darryl. His initials spell "COW" and he is often teased because of this. He holds his position as "King of the Castle" (a self-proclaimed "Big Kahuna") very seriously; however, he is typically quick to admit defeat to Harriette when involved in typical marital disputes.
Carl is constantly annoyed, irritated, and bothered by his pesky neighbor, Steve Urkel, who has great respect for Carl and affectionately calls him "Big Guy." Although Steve is relentlessly annoying and has cost the Winslow family large amounts of time and money with his own clumsiness, he has shown he is more mature than Eddie in accepting responsibility. Carl is often present to back Steve up and help him out in times of distress. Although he continues to be exasperated and irritated by Steve's antics, over the progression of the show, Carl develops a fondness for Steve that surprises even him.
Carl is an officer for the Chicago Police Department. He takes his job seriously and it is often suggested that he is very good at what he does, despite working with several incompetent bosses. In the episode "Good Cop, Bad Cop", it was revealed that Carl's own experience with racial discrimination as a Black person motivated him to become a police officer in order to make a difference in his community, sacrificing his ambition to pursue higher education. He inevitably makes enemies in criminals in the city, but most are incompetent and always fail in their revenge against him. Fitting into the cop stereotype, he has an avid love for doughnuts and other junk food. This plays into the fact that he is overweight and in several stories throughout the series, Carl's physical health plays a role (for example, in the Season 4 episode "Driving Carl Crazy", he is revealed to have high blood pressure, exacerbated by avoiding a healthy diet. Despite the stress of his job, he neither abuses alcohol or tobacco to cope with them; he depends instead on his family for comfort and support. Carl starts the series as a police sergeant; he is later promoted to lieutenant in Season 5's "That's What Friends Are For", and eventually captain in Season 9's "Who's Afraid of the Big Black Book?".
Carl is also the only character to appear in every single episode of the series.
Harriette Winslow
Harriette Baines Winslow is Carl's wife in the series, Rachel's older sister, the mother of Eddie, Laura and Judy, Richie's aunt, 3J's adoptive mother and the daughter of Jimmy and Darlene Baines. Harriette is a fairly conservative and strong-willed woman. She holds her role in society as a mother and working woman with high regard. Harriette is very reluctant to tell people what they want to hear, as she is very frank and upfront about her feelings. She first appeared in Perfect Strangers as an elevator operator for the Chicago Chronicle, before being laid off and later rehired as Director of Security in the season one episode "Two-Income Family" and then fired from the Chronicle in the Season 5 episode "A Matter of Principle" for refusing to reduce her security staff during a budget crisis. She was later employed by Ferguson's Department Store, beginning with the Season 6 episode "The Looney Bin", initially as a service clerk, then later promoted to Head of Sales in the season nine episode "Out With the Old". Previously, Harriette was enrolled in the police academy to become a police officer, where she met Carl, and graduated. However, Harriette did not join the police force after she and Carl got married, and instead uses her police skills at her security job and on neighborhood watch.
As the voice of reason, she is quite competent at mediating conflicts in her family, often pointing out faults to everyone, but this also makes her very reluctant to take sides. For example, she is usually supportive of her husband, Carl, but during his feuds with another character, she rarely takes his side. Instead, she would criticize both him and the other person, hoping to reconcile them with each other. This especially makes it difficult for Carl to discipline their rebellious son, Eddie, who rarely learns from his mistakes. Conversely, she is especially strict towards her daughter, Laura, despite her being far more responsible, obedient and trustworthy.
Her reasoning, however self-righteous, is motivated by her love for her family and her hopes that all sides can reconcile with each other. Only on one occasion was she forced to side exclusively with Carl which was during his feud with their second neighbor, Nick Neidermeyer, because her first attempt to reprimand both of them failed, with Neidermeyer still unrepentant and mocking Carl's obedience to his wife.
Eddie Winslow Played by Darius McCrary.
Edward James Arthur Winslow is a casual NBA, NFL fan and jock. He is the oldest child of Carl and Harriette Winslow and their only son until they adopt 3J in season eight. During the early years of the series, he was a high school student with stereotypical traits of a high school slacker. He had mediocre grades, irresponsible behavior and was always pursuing beautiful girls.
In the first season, he appeared good-intentioned and responsible, despite being academically challenged. In the pilot episode, he approached his father to make an exception and let him stay out past curfew and confessed to his father that his straight-A report card was a classmate's prank once he found out. As the series progressed, Eddie gradually became more rebellious, making many poor choices that landed him in trouble. Eddie frequently had a stormy relationship with his father, especially concerning Carl's strict rules but also because of Eddie's immature attitude and penchant for breaking rules. Being a rebel and hedonist, his viewpoint of adulthood is very childish, believing that all adults are free from rules, authority and punishment. He despises being treated like a kid and demands to be treated like an adult but at the same time, he scarcely acts like an adult and fiercely avoids adult responsibilities as often as possible.
It was shown a few times that Eddie was prone to gambling, getting into trouble but refusing to go to Carl for help, getting him into more trouble than not, such as dealing with a pool hustler in season 2's "Fast Eddie Winslow". When getting into trouble or debt, Eddie would often try to solve the problem himself, refusing to confess to his father at the risk of being punished, which would likely land him into trouble with his father anyway. Once, after damaging the family car in the Season 2 episode, "Busted", he was caught illegally gambling at an underground casino, hoping to win money and pay for repairs without telling his parents. In the season 3 episode, "Jailhouse Blues", after getting caught joyriding in a stolen car with his delinquent cousin, he attempted to sweet talk himself out of punishment, which only got him punished for the remainder of the year. In the season five episode "Money Out the Window", after getting into gambling debt once again, he attempts to sell Carl's rare stamp, hoping to buy it back before being caught by his father. Once more, after getting scammed in season 7 episode "Scammed", he lied to his father to borrow money to pay an illegally overpriced bar tab. However, on a few occasions, he has shown he was willing to go to his father for help, such as when he was sold a stolen stereo system in season 4's "Hot Stuff" and got racially profiled by two white cops (an unapologetic racist senior officer and his obedient rookie partner) when cited for a traffic violation that he did not commit in season 5's "Good Cop, Bad Cop".
Eddie, like his father and sister, is often constantly irritated, annoyed and harassed by their neighbor, Steve Urkel.
During the first two seasons, he was friends with classmate Rodney Beckett. From the third season onwards, Eddie's best friends were Waldo Faldo and Steve Urkel. He also on occasion, would hang out with "Weasel". Initially, his relationship with Steve – who considered Eddie his "best bud" and often affectionately called him "Eddo" – was little more than out of pity (because Steve was an unpopular nerd). Eddie remained loyal to Steve and he eventually accepted him as a true friend.