My Review of "Family Matters: Season 1"

Family Matters: Season 1 first aired back in 1989 and ended in 1990. It's a show that is over 30 years old and I have fond memories of this show. I remember the ABC network's TGIF (Thank Goodness It's Friday) shows. This is when they put on all of the classic family sitcoms Friday night like Family Matters, Full House, Perfect Strangers, Step by Step and the list goes on and on.

Family Matters was one of those shows that I loved. I don't know why but I couldn't wait until that show popped up. Now over 30 years later I have to see if this show is still as fun for me as an adult versus when I was a child. I was a little bit worried but a little anxious about the nostalgia this would bring.

When the first episode hit I was surprised at how young everyone was. Of course this is the start of what would later be 9 seasons. I forgot how young the kids were when they initially started. The show started off innocently enough. It was pretty much the spin-off of Perfect Strangers but it didn't feel like a spin-off. There were no real references of that previous show other than Harriette working as an elevator operator at the local newspaper plant.

Yes, there are a ton of really outdated things that they reference here that I thought would blow people's minds. It's like walking into a time capsule because you see how people used to dress, act and interact with one another. These were very innocent times and it's kind of soothing to watch a show like this with less complicated problems and issues.

There is a lot of slapstick comedy here but nothing that compares to today's standards. The show really starts the season off as a generic family show. It feels as though they're trying to figure out who they are and make a name for themselves.

About the halfway mark we start getting introduced to a new character named Steve Urkel that will be forever cemented into the show. He's definitely the Urkel we all know and love but still figuring out the character.

One of the big breakout episodes is when Steve is getting bullied by a kid and decides to stick up for himself. This is when Eddie decides to defend the Steve despite not really liking Steve in the first place. It's a really good episode that was really well written.

I also notice that the parenting in this show is much different than you would see in shows today. Carl will not tell Eddie what to do. He tells Eddie that he has to decide for himself. Eddie has to use his own intuition as to what is right and wrong. The guilt overtakes Eddie and he decides to defend the defenseless much like his father does.

There's a lot of nice lessons but done in a different manner in this season. I love that about this show. It lets the kids figure things out for themselves so that they're not reliant on adults to tell them what to do. They're growing as individuals and the adults in turn learn from their kids mistakes as well.

In the latter episodes the show starts to really find out what it is and we start to see what this show is going to metamorphosize into. Though much of the show starts to be directed to Eddie and Carl probably because of that huge breakout bully episode.

Overall, it took a while to get into this season but later on it starts to pick up and realize what it was. It's strange to see a show pivot this much throughout a season but it was different times back then. I know I'm going to see a lot more changes too. I have to give this season a 6.5 out of 10.