Stonebraker's favorite Episodes of Family Matters

From its catchy theme song to its identifiable characters, "Family Matters" was a television show that many of us that experienced late 1980's through mid 1990's television thoroughly enjoyed.   While the show seemed to get campier and campier as time went on,  giving up the ambition of telling an actual meaningful story, to instead just be a 1/2 hour full of cheap laughs, it wasn't always that way. Matter of fact, "Family Matters" in its first 5 seasons was much more than just a plate full of senseless comedy and slapstick humor.  It at one time was a show that told compelling and moving stories.  Sure, it made us laugh, but the laughter was used as comic relief as the show also made us think, made us cry and made us above anything else feel.    The Show often gets a bad wrap as being campy and corny, but anyone who says that about it has to be focusing solely on seasons six and after   The first five seasons most certainly weren't.

All of my favorite episodes of "Family Matters" come from the first five seasons and while I do enjoy some episodes listed here a bit more than I do the others,  I give no chronological order to this list.     They're simply my favorite episodes of what I consider to be one of the best mainstream shows that the late 80's through the mid 90's had to offer.

"Citizen's Court"

 In this episode,  Steve has a pet bug that Carl steps on and squishes to death.  Heartbroken, Steve expects an apology, but instead Carl nonchalantly shrugs it off as if it were no big deal.   This upsets Steve and they end up going to court as the bug was worth a couple hundred dollars. Still rather apathetic to the issue, Carl believes that it was "Just a stupid bug" and that Steve's issue is about the money that he invested into the bug.  At the end of the episode Carl comes to realize that Steve's actual problem with Carl was his apathy and his inability to understand that while the bug maybe meant nothing to him, that it meant something to Carl.   I identify with this episode a lot because I've had a few "bugs" in my life to say the least.   I have had things in life that I cared a lot about that meant virtually nothing to anyone else, so they have a hard time understanding what they mean to me.   I remember once in an interview,  my idol, John Hughes saying that the main problem adults had in relating to kids was not realizing that while issues may seem irrelevant and unimportant to them, it doesn't mean that they aren't important and relevant to the kids.  

"Finding the Words"

 In this episode,  a strange man comes to visit the Winslow household who at first identifies himself as just a friendly stranger.  As the episode concludes, you find out that the man is actually Harriet and Rachel's father.   Late 80's television really began to explore the elements of broken homes and stopped treating the scenario as if most everyone came from a loving home and you were really an outcast if you didn't.   It began to explore the fact that a lot of people have something dark in their past, and just because you do, it doesn't necessarily make you bad person.  For some of us, when we are little, we have this utopian idea of a world full of love and people that care about us.  Making the transition to realize that the world isn't all sunshine and rainbows and that it can actually be a very cold and cruel place at times, isn't an easy one to make.  It helps to have illustrations along the way.   This episode for me, was one of them.

"Good Cop, Bad Cop"

 

 

 

 Racism is always a touchy and scary subject to tackle, and while "Family Matters" tackled the subject on a few different occasions throughout its run, it never did so better than it did in this episode.   What I love about this episode, is that it tackles racism from all sides.   When Eddie first tells his father that he was arrested and humiliated because he was black,  Carl dismisses it simply as Eddie being a kid who did something wrong and pulling the race card to get out of trouble.   For the show to address the fact that there are minorities that have and continue to do this was an extremely ballsy move.   From there Carl discovers that Eddie wasn't be fictitious and that he really was treated in a racist manner.    From there Carl confronts the racist cop and stands racism right in the face.   It is the best acting I've ever seen Reginald VelJohnson do.  

"Hell Toupee"

 Sometimes in life we have to take a step back and realize that there are things that are out of our control and things that we can't change.  In this episode Carl is upset that he has gone bald and really wants to have his hair back.  He goes through a multitude of different toupees, until he finally realizes that he is bald, there is nothing he can do about it and he might as well embrace it.    I think we've all had to do that a time or two in our life.  I know that I had to. 

"It's a Mad, Mad, Mad House"

 Eddie brought a dirty picture to school and when he is caught with it, he knows that his teacher will tell his parents.  Thinking quick on his feet, Eddie explains to his teacher that he has a rough home life and that he is simply acting out as a result of it.  Buying his story,  the teacher actually comes to visit the Winslow house and all Hell breaks loose in an hilarious giant misunderstanding.   Carl is going under cover trying to bust a drug distributor, so he is dressed as a gang member as he ask his wife, "Harriet, do I look good to go out and sell drugs".   The teacher, now totally convinced that Eddie's home life is even worse than he made it out to be, tries to get Eddie removed from the home.   After calming her down and explaining to her the actuality of the situation, Eddie ends up in a lot more trouble, than he initially would have been.    Although the episode tells the story in a very comedic fashion, it still gets the point across.  Lying is a lot like using a credit card when you know you don't have the money to pay for something.   You may not have to pay for it now, but you will have to pay a lot more for it later. 

"It's beginning to Look a lot Like Urkle"

 Laura is sick of Steve and just can't seem to understand why he has to be the way he is.   She wonders why he can't just be cool and thinks nothing of treating him poorly for his nerdy ways.   Through a series of events, she finds out what it's like to be him and how it isn't fun to get made fun of all the time.  Sure the episode is the old cliche story of, "Walking in someone else's shoes" but it tells the story from an interesting perspective and really makes the audience see that sometimes people are the way they are whether they want to be or not.   It was also I'll add, how the original idea for Stefan Urkel came about.

"Laura's First Date"

How can you not love this episode?  It may not have any great moral to walk away with, but what it lacks in a fable, it makes up for historical significance.  This was our first introduction to Steve Urkle and it was supposed to be our only introduction.   Audience members responded so well to the character, that television producers decided to bring him back.   They never stopped deciding to bring him back. 

"Life of the Party"

 This episode helps to illustrate why I have a bit of a bitter attitude sometimes towards alcohol.  It's not that I dislike alcohol itself, I actually like the stuff.   While I don't worship it as a God, like so many other Americans seem to weekend in and weekend out,  I do enjoy a good glass of it every now and then.   My biff is not with alcohol itself, but more so with our society's stance on alcohol.  I just sometimes get very flustered and frustrated with how forgivable alcohol is in comparison to other elements that are either equally as bad as it is or not as bad.   Someone gets caught taking steroids to make themselves more muscular and the world goes ape shit.  Someone gets caught smoking some weed and suddenly they might as well move to Colorado because they won't get a job anywhere else.   Get plastered week after week, and no one bats an eye.   Get drunk behind the wheel of a car, punishments are getting more and more fierce, but they're still a slap on the wrist compared to getting caught with a joint in your hand.    I just don't like the hypocrisy of it and I'm not afraid to say that.   In this episode Steve gets drunk off of spiked punch and nearly ends up killing himself.  Maybe a bit of an exaggeration, but something alcohol has been responsible for in the past.   It's also something that it has always been forgiven for, which is something I can't say for steroids, marijuana or any other drug.

"Making the Team"

 In this episode Steve really wants the opportunity to try out for the basketball team and because of his nerdy build and his inability to be athletic during P.E. class, no one believes he can be any good.  As a result, they make him the equipment manager, even though he insist that if they just give him a try he'll prove that he's good.  In an important game, the basketball team suffers a lot of game ending injuries until they come to the point to where they either have to forfeit or put Steve in.   They decide put Steve in and are downright astounded by how good he is.   It reminds me of many times in life when I have had to prove myself as a creative writer to other people.  I remember once while at Northwestern College I had written something about horror films in my films aesthetics class that Professor Jamie Durham was so impressed with that he shared with the whole class and with some of his colleagues, as well as his other classes that day.  The next day in Keith Fynaardt's English class,  a girl told the class about something Jamie Durham has said to her class the day before.  I said to her and the rest of the class, "He was talking about me, I'm the one that said that" and I was given a look by everyone including Fynaardt like I was lying.   It pissed me off so much that I got up and walked myself across campus looking for Professor Durham.  When I found him I told him the situation and had him walk back with me to Fynaardt's class and after Durham confirmed that it was me he had been talking about,  I gave a piece of my mind to the rest of the class about stereotypes and how despite just being a big strong muscle head who spent too much time in the weight room, I was also a brain.   I'm not exactly sure how Fynaardt felt about my little blow up.   I never got a chance to ask him. I left the college a short time after that, for much different reasons.

"Psycho Twins"

 I love professional wrestling and I love the Bushwackers.   Nothing too much to say about this episode other than it's fun and one that I'll always take the time to sit down and watch if it is on.

"Sink or Swim"

 Steve is near graduation and all he has to do to graduate is pass a swimming course in P.E.  Only problem is Steve can't swim and is terrified of doing so.  As a result Carl takes the time to show Steve how to swim and help Steve to graduate.  This episode goes to show that if you take the time to help someone and you work hard, they can really surprise you with what they are capable of.  

Other episodes I enjoyed but don't have a whole lot to say about are "The Big Reunion"  "Son"  and the one where Steve Finally stands up to Laura.



What are you favorite "Family Matters" episodes?