Shark Bytes

I hadn't realized how long this show was on the air until I started seeing some reruns on Nick at Nite. I knew about Stephan, and I remember seeing the robot Urkel built.
But I just saw a couple of episodes that, I believe, define the series' turning points. All the other comments about characters growing up, getting a new Harriet (I haven't seen her yet; never knew there was a different Harriet until I read the comments here), and it became all about Urkel, are right on the money.
The first episode was when Eddie and Urkel challenged this carnival brawler using a force field that Urkel designed.
The second was when Urkel and Carl went back in time and were on a pirate ship.
Yes, we allow for some deviance in sitcoms, but this ain't Mork and Mindy. No force fields, deflector shields or time travel, please!
As soon as I saw them transform, I thought: "Shark sighting."

the jumped whenn they switched harriet
i admit i didn't like stephan
and would have had steve starting to like myra more than laura and would have steve and myra married
after the christmas episode of the 9th season because i think myra is prettier
than laura even maxine is prettier than
laura now i don't think laura was ugly
just not as pretty as myra or maxine
i think it's a shame the one who played myra is dead i liked her
she was prettiest black woman i have ever seen and still is and
i think most episode of family matters are funny it did get really silly though
but still funny

i like family matters
i admit i don't care stephan &
i didn't like the second harriet &
i would ended the show w/
steve get married to myra instead of
almost marrying laura which the show
ended before they could of course
1 reason the writers wrote laura
starting to liking steve because
the actress mitchell thomas who played myra which is funny her name was mitchell thomas because there a character on matlock named mitchell thomas she told them
she had stomach cancer and they noticed she refused to have anything done because she wanted children and
2 they were planning laura to start
falling in love in steve
which number 2 sounds like the right
answer
i think myra is prettier than laura
even maxine is prettier than laura
i would let it ended with steve starting to really like myra even more
than laura in the 9th seaon and
after the christmas episode of the season had steve & myra get married
and that would have been it
i think most episodes were funny
yet i also admit it got too silly

This show was utterly preposterous from the word go. Bad acting, Bad writing, Bad producing, Bad Directing, Bad everthing! Reginald Vel Johnson was the biggest ham actor, except for maybe William Shatner, I have ever seen. The rest of the cast was at best mediocre and as for Urkel....He was about as entertaining to watch as looking directly into the sun. This show proves that the most of the public will watch ANYTHING put on the air.

Urkel got old very quickly. I can't believe this show was on for so many years. Where was I during that time period not knowing it was on for so long? Was Urkel 40 when the show ended?

oh and i forgot to say i the last comment, R.I.P. michelle thomas and rosetta lenoire

this show never jumped the shark... but one thing i didnt like about this show was judy. i didnt think she was that important when she was still there

Now I love Steve Urkel but once the show started revolving around his shenanigans it became stupid and "Jumped the Shark". Urkel was good in moderation but when unrealistic things started happening every episode it was stupid. So basically it started getting stupid around 1995 with Steve's inventions. I preferred the show when it acually focused on "Family Matters"

I personally believe the show jumped the shark many times. One thing I never liked was Stefan. His character was just plain idiotic and not funny. I think that Steve ahould have slowly transitioned into him, that way Laura would have married the right guy before the season ending. I REALLY LIKE THIS SHOW REGARDLESS, but hate the Harriet swith, pretty gay if you ask me.

The show jumped after Jaleel passed puberty and started thinking he had to sound like a nasally Mickey Mouse. By the end you couldn't even understand the dialogue of the script.

When Steve started doing all these things that not even the top scientists in the world have accomplished to this day. It woulda been nice if they just kept him as he was in the early days, but then he suddenly had this whole scientific background and all this stuff that is just so ridiculous. Who knew a kid could figure out how to create artificial intelligence, yet only at the end of the series he decides to use one single gravity whatevertheheckitwas in space, thus gaining......I forget, but ya, Surely my point is clear. He coulda been a rich bastard with all the work he did. But instead he used it to just impress or scare his neighbors. Either way, I appreciate the show for what it is, regardless of how ridiculous it got. Maybe some are more sensitive to it than me, but all shows naturally decay as they get older so it doesn't matter much to me. Urkel was best when he was younger and always will be. It was only too bovious he couldn't hold the show as the little nerd far into his puberty :p

This show jumped more times than a dolphin performing at sea world.

1. Urkel. Cute as a kid character, not entertaining at all at 18. Talk about a one trick pony with his tradmark annoying 'did I do that?'.

2. Stefan Urkel... gimme a break. the same people that ridicule Steve will all of a sudden pander to his every whim when he goes shopping at the gap and gets contacts.

3. 3J. That's all this show needs... a street wise smart ass kid to show the show has 'depth' and roots in inner city life.

4. Judy. GO TO YOUR ROOM! Don't come out til your porno gets exposed on E! True Hollywood Story.

5. Laura and Steve... I hate you, but i'll marry you anyways when we change networks and you...get...blasted...off...into...space.... Riiiiiiight.

6. Carl. Sure he's a cop...but he's got to be the one cop with the most days off on record.

7. That house. Seriously...it's had every window broken, the kitchen destroyed, the garage blown up, multiple holes in the roof, etc... all because of one kid. It's called RESTRAINING ORDER, people... Done... no more insurance premium hikes, less urkel.

Typical Family Matters episode formula - carl acts like an insensitive slob and does something stupid, harriet reacts with great irritability and makes a veiled threat to leave him but ends up forgiving him, steve tries to do good, makes everybody hate him for the moment but then feel bad when they realize he had only good intentions, eddie gets dissed by a girl and laura continues in her perpetual PMS.

I think the show jumped after the kids graduated from high school. After that the show turned to garbage and Harriet leaving was the final straw for me. But don't blame Urkel for the show's demise. It was the writers who decided to make him the center of the show instead of the family and if they hadn't done that the show probably would've been canceled after the second season. The actors did the best they could with the material they had and that wasn't much to begin with.

The show to me jumped after season 6. I think this show was very funny with or without Steve Urkel,even though I still find him to be very funny.Once they added 3J and JoMarie Payton left the show. It was done from there.I think they should of brought Thelma Hopkins back to the show after her show as a regular after her show
"Getting By" was canceled. Also kept Judy Winslow. They could of thought of a number of storylines for her. All in all it was still a great show. I watched it as a child and found it funny. I see now were they could of improve on a number of things,but it's still one of my favorites.