Family Matters

Family Matters offers a picture of black family life that takes its middle-class ordinariness for granted, which is unusual for TV. Even more unusual, it's a show you can watch with your whole family, and chances are, everyone will get a few good laughs out of it.

Family Matters has assembled one of the most broadly appealing casts seen in recent years. Reginald VelJohnson, who played the sympathetic cop in the movie "Die Hard," is almost irresistible as a character. And yet the show's concept is so familiar that Family Matters will have to struggle to be fresh, to avoid going over old ground, to give its characters texture and definition. The potential for some excellent comedy is certainly here. [18 Sept 1989, p.1D]

With his deft timing and vaudeville hamminess, White brings such extravagant high spirits to the role that he is hard not to like.

A homogenous Cosby Show clone with no distinguishable character...It's inoffensive and sometimes affectionate, as when the clan pulls together in the second episode after Harriette loses her job. It might play, then, on ABC's benign made-for-baby-sitters Friday lineup.[21 Sept 1989, p.3D]

Though inoffensive, this is as standard as sitcom gets. [22 Sept 1989, p.1]

There are plenty of black faces on this show, but there should be red faces at producing a comedy with so few laughs. Family Matters makes "The Cosby Show" still look fresh. Family Matters makes "Father Knows Best" look fresh. The writing is practically nonexistent. [22 Sept 1989, p.29]

One of the most forgettable [newcomers].[22 Sept 1989, p.C28]