If you grew up in the 1990s and watched TV, there’s a good chance you watched shows like Perfect Strangers, Full House, and Family Matters. All good shows. The latter was one of the longest-running live-action situational comedies featuring a cast of black actors. For many people, and not only those in the black community, Family Matters remains one of the defining features of the 90s. As one can imagine, there was more going on behind the scenes than on the soundstage. Since the show ended, some of the cast have found themselves in dark places, others on top of the world. Click next to learn more about what happened when producers stopped the cameras.
25. Iconic Succes
To get to the level of success enjoyed by Family Matters, a show needed a good premise, but it also needed a good cast and production crew. Family Matters had all that. The premise of the show was a spinoff of Perfect Strangers, which aired on ABC, like Family Matters. The show ran for nine seasons, putting only behind The Cosby Show for longest running live-action comedy with an all-black cast. Whereas the fictional Cosby family was an upper-middle class family living in Brooklyn Heights, New York, the equally fictional Winslows lived in a middle-class Chicago neighborhood.
24. 1990s Jaleel White
One character was not a Winslow, but audiences would hardly know it. Steve Urkel, a neighbor to the Winslows, made such regular appearances in the Winslow house he was like another Winslow kid. The actor who played Urkel, Jaleel White, was only 12 when the show started. He wasn’t a stranger to acting, having appeared on The Jefferson’s in 1984. His role on Family Matters was not originally supposed to be so integral. Writers penned Steve Urkel as a one-time guest appearance, but audiences loved him. Producers decided to keep the character.