....I remember distictly watching Family Matters its first season and noticing everything wrong with the show. For those that were old enough the remember, Disney had recently purchased ABC and I was well aware of Disney racial bias of not showcasing Blacks and other races in their media, espcially in primary roles. They are the masters of token roles and characters. During this time, the Cosby Show was dominating TV, and had no signs of faltering. Disney/ABC needed a competing show, and needed it fast! That first couples of episodes seemed like they had the basis for a white family show and they just added black actors last minute. There were no real indicators that this was a BLACK family, just an American family, which is not a problem, until it is....
For example, the theme song. Sung by a white guy. What black show do you know does not have a black singer singing or playing some groove to begin the show??? And the intro song was so generic, so cookie cut to match the rest of the other white friendly shows throughout the line for the evening.
The story lines were too generic, too bland and too stereotype of the times. Topics which were of the times yet, their delivery and conclusions seems too from the eyes and minds of the write writers and not of the black actors and the audience that they were trying to steal from the Cosby show.
Lastly....Urkel. As a kid of the 80's, I was well aware of the "nerd" stereotype. The kid that was smart, yet socially awkward, mis fitting clothes, high water pants with suspenders, pocket protector and calculator in pocket...white male. With the loud laugh and always knocking things over, etc. But he was white. And I'm emphizing that to make a point.
They introduced Urkel as a nerdy Black boy that wears high water german/swedish ladenhazen pants who plays the accordian and loves cheese? And his parents are working in some European country, Switzerland, I believe. That characater was originally written for a white kid/family and they just added so black actors to see if "anyone will notice". The nerdy stereotype of that magitude was never associated with Black boys and the Black community, and I picked up on it immediatly. And I was insulted.
Not to mention, the Black stereotypes of the "ghetto" whenever Eddy and his crew got into trouble, the audience always cheering for whenever someone danced or rapped, the terrible hair cuts, the safe non Black parenting, and Carl Winslow's tendency to allow his bosses to talk to him anyway.
Now am I saying there were any good moments of the show, not at all. The Tracey Spencer episode will go down as one of the greatest celebrity appearance shows of the 90s! However, Family Matters was not a show to present the Black family to Black people for whom were searching for relatable TV. It was for white people to be comfortable having Black people on their TV screen and their kids bedroom walls. And Jaleel White was the PERFECT actor to play the role...slight intended.