Household Issues was the longest working collection on ABC’s Friday Evening TGIF block. For 9 seasons, the wacky tales of the Winslow household and their pesky subsequent door neighbor, Steve Urkel (Jaleel White), made Household Issues one of many highest rated reveals of the 90s. The collection was not with out its exhausting occasions, from a solid annoyed by Urkel’s dominance over the plots, to one of many characters being fully written out as if she by no means existed. By the top of Season 8, the present was falling on exhausting occasions, because it was purchased by CBS, together with Step by Step, in a failed try by the community to create their very own TGIF-like lineup.
Season 9 could be the final for Household Issues, however not all of its solid would make it fairly to the top. Over the last season, Jo Marie Payton, who had performed the Winslow matriarch, Harriette, going again to day one, and even earlier than, when the character first appeared in Good Strangers, abruptly disappeared. This wasn’t like Judy Winslow (Jaimee Foxworth), who simply vanished to by no means be spoken of once more. Relatively, simply as oddly, Payton, after virtually a decade, was recast, with one other actress, Judyann Elder, taking part in Harriette for the ultimate 9 episodes. So, why did Payton depart when the collection was already so near the top?
Recasting TV Characters By no means Works
Harriete Winlsow being recast in Household Issues is not the primary time one thing like this has occurred, and it will not be the final. It occurs extra typically in motion pictures. What number of James Bonds, Supermans, Batmans, and so on. have we had? We settle for the change as a result of actors age or need to get away from the character, however that character nonetheless goes on. Staying with superheroes, it is not simply the leads that may be affected. Katie Holmes performed Rachel Dawes in Batman Begins, however in The Darkish Knight, Maggie Gyllenhaal is Bruce Wayne’s (Christian Bale) love curiosity. Terrence Howard performed a pivotal function as James Rhodes within the authentic Iron Man, however from Iron Man 2 on, it is Don Cheadle within the half. It is not a superhero film, however in Again to the Future, Claudia Wells performs Jennifer, Marty McFly’s (Michael J. Fox) girlfriend, however when her mom bought severely sick, she determined to maintain her and never return for the sequels. The ultimate two entries of the trilogy have Elizabeth Shue as Jennifer, but the franchise did not miss a beat.
We normally settle for this with motion pictures, however not a lot with TV collection. This may very well be as a result of now we have extra of an emotional reference to them. We watch them at house, time and again as consolation TV, particularly sitcoms. Simply take a look at The Recent Prince of Bel-Air. After all, they may have by no means fired Will Smith and changed him, however altering a aspect character like Aunt Viv is okay, proper? For the primary three seasons, Janet Hubert performed Vivian Banks, however from Season 4 to the top, it was Maxwell Reid as Aunt Viv. Now, Reid was simply positive within the half, however she by no means felt like Aunt Viv. That is as a result of we had spent a lot time with Janet Hubert over dozens of episodes, not only one film. To interchange a personality like that in a sitcom is like attempting to interchange a member of our household. Now think about Harriet Winslow being performed by the identical actress for eight lengthy seasons, for greater than 100 episodes, solely to have another person stroll in someday and name themselves by the identical identify. It is like an alien landed in the course of Household Issues.
‘Household Issues’ Solely Exists Due to Harriette Winslow
One in every of TGIF’s earliest collection was Good Strangers, an Odd Couple-like present a few weird fish-out-of-water European man named Balki Bartokomous (Bronson Pinchot) and his typical American cousin Larry Appleton (Mark Linn-Baker). The pair work at a newspaper known as The Chicago Chronicle. It was at this newspaper that Balki interacted with an elevator operator named Harriette Winslow. Performed by Payton, Harriette was some of the liked elements of the present. Her husband, Carl (Reginald VelJohnson), appeared on the collection on occasion as effectively. Harriette was so preferred that in 1989, a by-product with Harriette and Carl was ordered known as Household Issues.
Household Issues adopted the Winslow household of their house life. There was son Eddie (Darius McCrary) and daughter Laura (Kellie Shanygne Williams), and for the primary 4 seasons, a youngest daughter named Judy, together with a number of different relations who lived with them as effectively. It was a lightweight and straightforward healthful present with a loving household. Each episode, one thing small would occur, like the youngsters having hassle with faculty, or an even bigger situation, like Harriette shedding her job. It doesn’t matter what occurred although, the household bought by way of it collectively, coming collectively, speaking it out, studying a lesson, after which ending the episode with a hug because the viewers clapped.
A lot of that decision got here from Harriette. She was at all times there because the sturdy spouse and mom to make all of it higher. She did not have awkward quirks, act imply, or have a catchphrase. She was an individual. The routine labored effectively for everybody concerned, after which midway by way of Season 1, a brand new character named Steve Urkel was launched in what was alleged to be a small function. The present would by no means be the identical.
Jo Marie Payton Was Pissed off by A number of Behind-the-Scenes Moments on ‘Household Issues’
Household Issues might have grown in recognition after Steve Urkel turned the point of interest, however the solid wasn’t pleased to see the eye turned from what the present was alleged to be to one thing else. On E! True Hollywood Story, Payton talked about dealing with the information that Steve Urkel could be the star of the present:
“And we stated ‘Okay.’ We weren’t pleased about it. I feel alongside the best way it bought to be a little bit resentful nevertheless it was simply an adjustment that we needed to make.”
Although the solid principally bought alongside and accepted the brand new path, it wasn’t the top of the drama. Urkel so overtook each nook of the present, that after Season 4, the weird and controversial choice was made to eradicate the youngest daughter, Judy Winslow. She wasn’t killed off or recast or despatched away to boarding faculty for the following 5 years. Nope, she simply disappeared as if she by no means existed, by no means to be talked about once more. It infuriated Payton, who talked about her response to the showrunners with Individuals:
“I stated, You guys want to inform me one thing that isn’t solely artistic, but in addition politically right to straighten out this example as a result of there’s nowhere on the earth a household … You gave me three youngsters, you took away my child. If you happen to had taken away my oldest little one, we might have at all times provide you with [various excuses in the episodes] that she was on the mall or together with her buddies. You took away my child, and after I requested you, ‘Why did you’re taking away my child woman?,’ you stated, ‘No person would discover.’ I stated, ‘You already know what, once we’re strolling down the road, no one’s gonna discover you as a result of they don’t seem to be going to ask
you
, they are going to ask
me
what occurred to Judy.'”
Whereas Payton and the remainder of the solid grew used to the absence of Judy Winslow’s character, there have been nonetheless points with the Urkel character, and Jaleel White, the rising boy behind the large glasses. By Season 9, that rising boy was a grown man in his 20s. In considered one of Payton’s final episodes, he even tried to battle the TV mother, as she advised Leisure Tonight:
“There was one time he really wished to bodily battle me. [There was a scene where] I stated we won’t do this, requirements and practices is not going to let that cross, it is not gonna occur. He wished to do it anyway… He was so mad, he began kicking and screaming and stuff. He stated one thing about, ‘She should need to melee.’ I stated, ‘What’s a melee?’ He stated, ‘a battle.’ I rotated — if he wanna battle, I’d. . . Darius [McCrary] grabbed me. I used to be gonna whip his behind.”
Why Did Jo Marie Payton Depart ‘Household Issues’?
Household Issues was limping alongside throughout what would grow to be its last season. The plots had been getting extra preposterous and audiences had moved on from Urkel. He simply wasn’t as humorous as an uber-nerd man, like he was when he was a child and teenager. The present had began to turn into a parody of itself, and now that it was on CBS, issues solely bought worse. Payton determined to get out. In a 2017 solid reunion interview with Leisure Weekly, she talked about why she left:
“I really made the choice to depart the present two years earlier than I left. I used to be sad about lots of issues; I used to be going by way of a divorce, I wasn’t pleased on the present — it didn’t imply I didn’t need to carry out as an actress or an artist. The way in which I clarify it’s that, while you’re a baker, you don’t at all times need to bake desserts or cookies; you need to bake pies, you need to bake bread. I wished to do one thing else. I don’t remorse that I left.”
For the ultimate 9 episodes of Household Issues, Harriette Winslow could be performed by Judyann Elder, a veteran TV actress then greatest identified for her recurring function on Martin. She was ok within the function, however she had an unimaginable process of getting viewers to care a few character who they knew was not performed by the unique actor. It was the ultimate nail within the coffin for a present already on its final leg.
Within the Leisure Weekly Reunion, Payton’s on-screen husband, Reginald VelJohnson, talked about what the transition was like:
“It was exhausting for me after 9 years of doing one thing with one particular person. It’s like getting a divorce after which marrying anyone else. It was bizarre.”
Darius McCrary, who performed Payton’s son Eddie for over eight years, struggled with the change as effectively:
“No disrespect to Judyann … however I felt like my mother was gone, you recognize? I did my job as an actor, however there have been simply so many issues that had gone on behind the scenes that the viewers wasn’t aware about that had form of already shut it down.”
It is not so unusual {that a} TV character could be recast. It is occurred many occasions earlier than. However it was very odd for it to occur so late in a collection. Nonetheless, irrespective of that Jo Marie Payton left, she stays shut with the solid of Household Issues as we speak, twenty-five years after it completed off.
Recasting Harriette Winslow Harm ‘Household Issues’ Legacy
Harriette Winslow wasn’t the star of Household Issues. That, after all, goes to Steve Urkel, one of many greatest popular culture icons. There’s a character who might have by no means been recast. For the showrunners to suppose that Jo Marie Payton might merely be let go and that the present might go on with out her continues to be insulting. She might have been a aspect character, however the entire collection began as a by-product of who she was in Good Strangers. Her significance had already been enormously diminished by making Urkel and his shenanigans the star, however to interchange her for the final season was the worst of insults. It was additionally a serious insult to audiences, treating viewers like they had been silly and would simply willingly settle for a personality we liked being changed and never really feel it.
With The Recent Prince of Bel-Air, Daphne Maxwell Reid at the very least had an opportunity to develop into the function and earn our love. Judyann Elder coming in for one season, with Household Issues on its method out, wasn’t truthful not solely to us however to her. She by no means had an opportunity to develop into the function and discover her personal voice. As an alternative, she got here off as a caricature and a weak one at that. Payton’s model of Harriet was heat and pleasant, from her voice, to her mannerisms, to her power. Elder did not look or sound like Payton in any respect and got here throughout a void character merely reciting strains for the digital camera. Not solely did we all know she wasn’t Harriet, however we could not really feel her emotion both. That is not a slight on Elder, nevertheless it speaks to the unimaginable feat she had. Fortunately, this variation got here on the finish of Household Issues when many individuals had already tuned out, and it is Jo Marie Payton’s Harriet Winslow who lives on eternally in syndication and streaming. Simply cease watching after Season 8, and it is like she by no means left us.
Household Issues is out there to stream on Max, Disney+, and Hulu within the U.S.
