Family Matters was supposed to center around Harriet

[Eastside Get The Money]

I grew up on Family Matters (rewatched during quarantine it’s lowkey wack ) but I had no idea the show was a spin-off of Perfect Strangers

 

[DatNkkaCutty]

Bet she was BIG mad, when Urkel (Jaleel White) stole all the spotlight.


He recently said, none of them were feelin him, when he started blowing up, initially.

 

[Dafunkdoc_Unlimited]

'Good Times', 'The Jeffersons' & 'The Facts of Life' were also spin-offs.​

 

[get these nets]

'Good Times', 'The Jeffersons' & 'The Facts of Life' were also spin-offs.​

Urkel becoming the star of a spinoff show based on the mother character, mirrors what happened with JJ and Florida Evans.

 

[Fresh Prince of Evil]

I always knew that but it’s funny how they replaced the actress in the last season

 

[Kiyoshi-Dono]

Get ready for the think pieces

 

[patscorpio]

Bet she was BIG mad, when Urkel (Jaleel White) stole all the spotlight.


He recently said, none of them were feelin him, when he started blowing up, initially.

It's a catch 22..before he came on it was about to be cancelled..now every character on that show is pretty much immortalized or typecasted and enjoyed prolonged success

 

[MJ Truth]

Yeah, Urkel didn’t even appear until maybe halfway through the first season if I remember correctly. This was by far my favorite show as a kid even though I think the shyt is too ridiculous as an adult looking back on it.

 

[Tribal Outkast]

The show was on it’s deathbed before Urkel came in. Like it was literally going to be cancelled. I watched it with the wife recently and she was wondering where Urkel was and I told her he didn’t show up til later in the season. She skipped ahead lol. The show was cool at first but it seemed like they were trying to be Cosby Show Jr. I don’t like the show nearly as much as I used to but Urkel saved the show and he took it over. It is what it is He made everybody better.

 

[get these nets]

Urkel is the reason everybody on that show has money today.

Except for Aunt Rachel.......she stayed appearing on sitcoms before and after Family Matters.

 

[Waldo Geraldo Faldo]

'Good Times', 'The Jeffersons' & 'The Facts of Life' were also spin-offs.​

Empty Nest was a spin-off of Golden Girls too.

 

[patscorpio]

 

[Ziggiy]

Thought this was common knowledge by now…


The actress who played Harriet had a bit of resentment towards Jaleel White because he blew the ENTIRE way up as Urkel and he was only supposed to be in ONE episode but the episode he was in tested off the charts and they basically rewrote the scripts going forward to make him the star.


That first season and all subsequent seasons that followed are like night and day.


Another fun fact is that Jaleel White was SUPER close to actually playing Rudy on the Cosby Show. Jaleel’s manager was telling his mother she needed to start buying a house in New York and at the last minute Cosby decided he wanted the series to mirror his real life family so they chose a girl.


Q&A: Jaleel White on His 31-Year Career

 

[Peter Popoff]

I always knew that but it’s funny how they replaced the actress in the last season

For like an episode or 2 and it was kinda off.

 

[The G.O.D II]

Bet she was BIG mad, when Urkel (Jaleel White) stole all the spotlight.


He recently said, none of them were feelin him, when he started blowing up, initially.

I bet they were feeling those checks and syndicate residuals tho as opposed to cancellation after one season