If its not a hood story its not a Black story - Urkel

[Taadow]

I get what he trying to say…


but…

[Rant]

Look:

There ain’t no nicca nowhere in real life named Waldo.
There ain’t.


Don’t even try to think of one. There ain’t nann.


And any Black chick named Myra is at least 65 years old.

And any Black chick named Greta probably ain’t FBA. She prolly from Germany or some chit.



I say this to say, you can smell all the Non-Blackness all over Family Matters.
It seems like they tried as hard as they could to strip Black from it, despite an all-Black cast.

You gotta suspend your disbelief too much watching it. It’s like a cartoon.

I got all kinda random chit in my music collection, I’ll admit.
But I don’t have no Polka like Steve (sidebar: unless you count Zydeco…).
Damn that - how many niccas you know that enjoy Polka so much, that they play The Accordion??
And then you gon tell me he finally get a broad, and she’s the only Black chick on Google Earth
that anybody has ever seen play an Accordion? Do that sound like niccas you know?
CHICAGO Niccas, at that??

Mother Winslow was the Realest muffucca on that show, and even she talked to them like
she didn’t know WTF they was on.



You know what - I challenge folk to do this:
Watch an episode of Family Matters at random, and just look at the wardrobe!
Whoever did the costuming for them just brought whatever TGIF had on the racks.
They was not Fresh, yo.



s/o to Perfect Strangers, doe.

 

[broller]

Yall remember that show City Guys? Loved that shyt

Yeah, it used to come on NBC on Saturday mornings. I remember the two main characters, one breh and a white dude.

I still remember the theme song

I remember when Jamal went "MILITANT" and also remember when he was PAWGin

 

[NYC Rebel]

Dude is miserable and you clearly see why Black folk he worked with dont rock with him

 

[MrLogic]

So martin was hood?
and living single?


shyt that means The Wire was hell on earth... shyt you can put NY Undercover on that list too.

 

[Pegasus Jackson]

Old heads remember that the first season of Family Matters barely had Urkel on it (or he might have not even been on it yet). If you thought the show was terrible with him.. imagine it without him.

Never a good look when people cry and bytch for validation... they never get it. See Little Richard, LL Cool J and now Urkel.

 

[Mike the Executioner]

Old heads remember that the first season of Family Matters barely had Urkel on it (or he might have not even been on it yet). If you thought the show was terrible with him.. imagine it without him.

Never a good look when people cry and bytch for validation... they never get it. See Little Richard, LL Cool J and now Urkel.

It's difficult with Family Matters because Urkel seriously was the show. Jaleel stole almost every scene he was in. The show would have gotten cancelled if Urkel never popped up, or if "Laura's First Date" was his only appearance. The first eleven or twelve episodes, nobody talks about. Nobody. Except for "The Quilt" maybe, but that's it.

Urkel just had that energy that nobody else on the show did. I understand exactly why the writers put so much emphasis on him, and I understand why Jaleel feels slighted because he committed himself to this one character for almost a decade, during his childhood and teen years, with a bit of college. Then for people to turn around and tell you your work was trash, that's not going to sit right with you. A couple years ago, during his TV One special, he said he knew exactly why Family Matters didn't rank as highly in the black community as Martin and Living Single and he was fine with it. Something happened since then because he's definitely not fine with it anymore.

 

[tremonthustler1]

Yall remember that show City Guys? Loved that shyt

Hot take:

City Guys was the best realized version of those Peter Engel teenage shows and that includes Saved By The Bell.

 

[Zero]

It just didn’t age well. It was great for us when we were kids watching this show. But watching as an adult it looks hella corny. Has nothing to do with a “hood story.”

Pretty much.

 

[parallax]

Hot take:

City Guys was the best realized version of those Peter Engel teenage shows and that includes Saved By The Bell.

not really a hot take. the saved by the bell and california dreams series were kinda over the top. i think hang time would be next up

 

[Wildin]

You gotta suspend your disbelief too much watching it. It’s like a cartoon.

I got all kinda random chit in my music collection, I’ll admit.
But I don’t have no Polka like Steve (sidebar: unless you count Zydeco…).
Damn that - how many niccas you know that enjoy Polka so much, that they play The Accordion??
And then you gon tell me he finally get a broad, and she’s the only Black chick on Google Earth
that anybody has ever seen play an Accordion? Do that sound like niccas you know?
CHICAGO Niccas, at that??

Urkel was that dope. Eddie was in a band, played guitar, urkel could play the accordion. There wasn't a limit to what they could do, which people called white because in life there are many things we can't do, not for lack of trying but lack of disposable income, living community, opportunity.

shyt urk had an accordion at a time when you had to get one from a local music store that caters to different types of instruments. That's a specialty instrument. You can't even walk into guitar center today and just buy an accordion. You can order one, and they probably aren't cheap, and this was back when you had to pay cash, not just finance or put payments on it.

Then the dude had to get lessons or might've been smart enough to teach himself, without internet.

In any other black show it'd be a black character who's interested in accordion but can't afford it, don't have anyone to teach him. Lived in the hood and couldn't travel to the burbs or city or some shyt. shyt they could've really clipped a nikkas wings and gave him an accordion but the running joke was that he was terrible at it and everyone hates it, but the homie was good, he knew how to play.

So martin was hood?
and living single?


shyt that means The Wire was hell on earth... shyt you can put NY Undercover on that list too.

Martin was urban, but not hood.

Bruh man from the 5th floor climbing through his window and shyt....

Living single was urban too. Which isnt a bad thing. Family matters wasn't urban even though they tried. There's a few racist episodes, and Harriet lost her job and the family struggled for a minute but it wasn't urban. Like others said there are episodes and storylines you could've swapped the cast and characters to white folks and gave them different names and it would've been the same.

Urkel had that sauce (no homo) he was like Kramer, the way the he walked, the way he talked, he never just 'said his lines'. And the chemistry between urk and carl, urk and Laura, urk and Eddie, urk and Myra, was crazy.

 

[jay83]

It’s crazy how fresh prince, living single, Martin still holds up fairly well.

But a show like girlfriends that came out 15 years later is absolute trash.

 

[Thavoiceofthevoiceless]

Let's give family matters and the entire cast their flowers.

They had ABC in a chokehold. And abc couldn't understand it.

It wasn't Michelle tanner taking over every network and made cameos, but they would've preferred that.

Urkel was a force to be reckoned with. Guy had promotional appearances everywhere. NBA, NFL. Cereal, dolls.

And as corny as the show was because it was written by white folks, the cast kept it from becoming minstrel. Jaleel was able to put on 54 different costumes and play different characters, as was Reginald, as was Kellie (Laura). That showcased range.

Yeah the show was some cookie cutter format step by step, full house was all the same shyt but none of them mfs had range. Face it, you laughed when they told you to laugh, if you even laughed at all.

Name one of them mfs that were actually funny on step by step or full house? Urkel was funny, carl was funny, shyt the supporting cast was funny. And they never had to bring in white folks to keep the show afloat. Like "ok, the ratings are slipping, bring in Zack Morris" or some other white guy.

Jaleel said it best in his book, if family matters wasn't a live action show where the characters grew up and grew old, that shyt would still be on, like the Simpsons. Full house wouldn't be here, step by step wouldn't be here, dinosaurs didn't last, clueless didn't last, the only other show that had a significant pop was boy meets world.

When you can turn on your TV and not see white faces and the shyt is wholesome, you have good quality programming. Family matters, sister sister, smart guy, my brother and me, parenthood. I fukked with those shows. A lil corny most times but that's what we had to choose from.

We can give the show and the entire cast their flowers while also admitting that it was trash and doesn't hold up well today.

The boldest point he made is also full of shyt as the shows popularity would have waned at some point like all shows before it has.

 

[Wildin]

We can give the show and the entire cast their flowers while also admitting that it was trash and doesn't hold up well today.

The boldest point he made is also full of shyt as the shows popularity would have waned at some point like all shows before it has.

What broke urkel is that he grew up. He grew taller than Eddie and carl, shyt was pretty much not funny at that point.

That's not his fault, that's just how people grow.

I go to a black soul food restaurant a couple times a week, even if it's just to chill and grab a cup of coffee, I'll make it in. Family matters is usually on the TV because it's on Hulu. It's muted with captions and people still nod over at it and laugh, or are like "I remember this episode!" And "wait.....watch whats about to happen " and still laugh.

Even the young kids in my family 7-21 know who urkel and family matters is. It don't hit like when TGIF was on but it is what it is.

 

[Taadow]

Hot take:

City Guys was the best realized version of those Peter Engel teenage shows and that includes Saved By The Bell.

Iono mayne…California Dreams had some slappers…

 

[Vice Queen]

Jameel is soft launching that right wing grift.