Family Matters : Synopsis, Pictures, Photos, Trivia, Filming Locations

At the beginning of the series the Winslow family had 3 children. The youngest, Judy, was ultimately phased out.

The character of Steve Urkel was named after a friend of one of the producers, and was only supposed to appear once. However, the audience's response was so overwhelmingly positive that the producers decided to make Urkel a regular character.

On the ABC Family airings, there is an extended opening sequence, which presumably has not been used since the series originally aired on ABC.

The theme song for the pilot was "What a Wonderful World," not "As Days Go By".

Many sets used in scenes inside the house were also used in _"Hogan Family, The" (1986)_ and _"Step By Step" (1991)_ .

'Jo Marie Payton-Noble' 's Harriet Winslow originated in "Perfect Strangers" (1986) as an elevator operator. 'Reginald Veljohnson ' also appeared as Carl on the show.

The character of Steve Urkel was so popular, that it spawned a series of merchandise including a talking doll, trading cards, posters, books, lunchboxes and t-shirts. The character even had its own limited edition cereal.

The show was cancelled by ABC after its eighth season but eventually picked up by CBS in hopes of attracting a younger audience.

There was supposed to be a 10th season featuring Steve and Laura's wedding but CBS cancelled the show after one year on the network.

'Jo Marie Payton-Noble' left the show when it moved stations from ABC to CBS because she didn't like how the show overemphasized the Steve Urkel character.

Jaleel White played eight characters total during the series. Of course, his original character is Steven Quincy Urkel. He also played his female cousin Myrtle Urkel in a few episodes and male cousin Cornelius Eugene Urkel (or "OGD: Original Gangsta Dawg") in one episode. He also provided the voice of his invention Urkel-Bot in two episodes. The remaining are Steve's alter-egos (in order of reverse length of appearance)... Stefan Urquelle, Bruce Lee, Elvis Presley, and Albert Einstein.