All under one roof

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Television series
German title All under one roof
Original title Family Matters
Country of production United States
original language English
Year (s) 1989-1998
length 23 minutes
Episodes 215 in 9 seasons
genre Sitcom
Theme music As Days Go By by Jesse Frederick
idea Michael Warren
William Bickley
music Gary Boren, Steven Chesne
First broadcast September 22, 1989 (USA) on ABC
German-language
first broadcast		 September 4, 1995 on ProSieben
occupation
synchronization

All under one roof (original title: Family Matters , in German " Family Matters ", but also "The family counts / is important") is an American sitcom that ran from 1989 to 1998 in the United States and from 1995 in Germany . It is an offshoot of the series A Greek conquers Chicago ( Perfect Strangers ).

content

The medium-sized African American family Winslow lives in a suburb of the American city of Chicago next to their neighbors, the Urkels and the Niedermeyers . In the Winslow family, there are quite conservative behavior patterns. In each episode, typical behavioral characteristics of the people involved lead to problems that need to be solved. Unlike most other sitcoms, there are a lot of dramatic and serious elements to it. In isolated episodes, this includes socially critical issues such as racism , gun ownership , sexuality or even alcohol consumption . Despite the serious elements, these topics are always accompanied with humorous components. Ultimately, all problems that arise are resolved by keeping the family together.

In the case of All Under One Roof, a frequent slide into the science fiction genre is also noticeable, for example in the form of one of the inventions developed by Urkel.

With its 215 episodes in a total of nine seasons, the series is one of the most successful sitcoms. It was produced by Warner Bros. Television .

Most of the success is due to the secret main character Steven Q. Urkel , whose unintentionally chaotic behavior creates a uniquely bizarre comedy.

characters

Carl Winslow

Carl Otis Winslow is the father and landlord of the Winslow family. He works for the Chicago Police Department and has three children with his wife Harriette. His mostly humorous nature and his almost artificial excitement towards Steve Urkel make him sympathetic to the audience. When it comes to food, sports and chauvinism, he is portrayed as a stereotype of the American man, but who is dutiful, tolerant and sensible and especially passes these qualities on to his son Eddie.

Jaleel White, starring Steve Urkel (2010)

Steven Urkel

Steven "Steve" Quincy Urkel is the son of the neighbors and visits the family regularly in every episode (apart from the first episodes) before moving in completely with them from season 7. In the first season, episode 12 ("Rendezvous with three admirers") he has his first appearance. Extremely annoying, sometimes disrespectful to adults, physically skinny and with strange habits and hobbies, he is all too often viewed by the Winslows, classmates and the teaching staff as a nuisance and outsider, even his parents seem to avoid him and want to get rid of him. His appearance and clothing (especially the high water pants, the suspenders and the oversized glasses) as well as his extremely clumsy behavior, his high-pitched voice and his strange laugh make him the main attraction of the series. He always says the obligatory saying “Was that me?” Whenever he has broken something again through his clumsiness, often also as a result of defects in his more or less useful inventions, which he either tried out himself or the Winslows, especially Carl, to do so.

As an extremely intelligent person, Steve succeeds in briefly transforming himself into a "cool guy" called Stefan Urquelle with a transformation machine he invented. Stefan was later established as an independent character. He also invents a teleportation platform and a cloning machine.

Steve drives a BMW Isetta , loves to play the accordion and is a great fan of polka . He also collects beetles and can be seen in several episodes with insect glasses (e.g. Turbotermites devastating the house Eddie moved into). He also has a thing for cheese.

He has been madly in love with Laura Winslow since early childhood and, much to Laura's extreme displeasure, tries undeterred to win her heart and inspire her for many of his hobbies. From the middle of the series, however, those hobbies and habits, in contrast to Laura, magically attract the equally pretty Myra Monkhouse, as does Steve's intelligence, which prompts him to enter into a relationship with Myra at times, but without, much to Myra's displeasure, the feelings to lose for Laura. At the end of the series, however, he succeeds in winning the fight for Laura's favor against his self-created alter ego Stefan Urquelle, and he becomes engaged to her.

An important support of the plot is that Steve, despite his many negative qualities and his sometimes abnormal behavior, is socially committed, honest and sincere and has a keen sense of justice.

Harriette Winslow

Harriette Winslow is a housewife and the wife of Carl. In contrast to her husband, she gets upset less often and has a very good relationship with Steve. Most of the time, when the family gets out of hand, they are the ones who get the upper hand.

Estelle Winslow

Estelle Winslow is Carl's mother and also lives in the Winslow's house. For her old age (we are mostly talking about over 80 years), however, she behaves more adolescent and often makes ironic jokes about the weight of her son. In addition, she pursues various sporting activities (e.g. bungee jumping, motorcycling, parachuting or kung fu), which Carl believes are unsuitable for her age. But despite all the shortcomings, the son and mother love each other very much. She also has a good relationship with Steve and is extremely patient with him despite his behavior.

Laura Winslow

Laura Lee Winslow is the daughter of Carl and Harriette and a normal American teenager. She is mostly busy keeping Steve away from her, because he gets on her nerves with his behavior and his incessant, sometimes bizarre wooing for her heart, like most other people. Laura is very intelligent, with a few exceptions very sensible and very self-confident, which is reflected in the fact that she is consistently active and leading in extracurricular activities such as cheerleading or charitable causes. She is very careful about her appearance and has a weakness for good-looking boys, with whom, much to Steve's displeasure, she occasionally has minor love affairs. Her best friends are first Penny and later especially Maxine, with whom she is extremely close friends. In the course of the series she meets Steve's alter ego Stefan (who is much cooler than him) and falls in love with him. They even get engaged at Disneyland . But Stefan has to turn back into Steve. Only through the cloning incident do they come together again - this time permanently. Towards the end of the ninth season, the tide turns and Laura develops serious feelings for Steve Urkel. At the end of the ninth season, they get engaged and want to get married.

Edward "Eddie" Winslow

Edward "Eddie" James Arthur Winslow is Laura's big brother and also an average teenager. He has a particularly good relationship with his father, but this is repeatedly put to the test in conflicts about his future prospects, adolescent stupidities such as coming home too late, illegal betting and other temptations on the edge of legality as well as their unsuccessful attempts to hide. He has nothing against Steve Urkel either, if it doesn't damage his image. He likes to be cool and is also very fond of the world of women, but only after several brief love affairs at the end of the series with Greta McClure does he find the right woman at his side. However, he feels bothered by the persistent and intrusive advances on the part of Steve's cousin Myrtle Urkel. He has a talent for singing, is a gifted basketball player and is very successful in a number of sideline jobs, especially with the hot dog chain Mighty Weenie . His best friends are first Rodney and later Waldo and Weasel. After dropping out of college, he goes to the police academy, which he successfully graduates.

Judy Winslow

Judy Winslow is the youngest daughter of Carl and Harriette. It was already written out of the series in the fourth season.

Rachel Crawford

Rachel Crawford is Harriette's sister and has to live with her son with the Winslows due to a clearance sale (hence the German term “all under one roof”).

Richie Crawford

Richie Crawford is the son of Rachel and plays a minor role in the series. Often his childish behavior gets him into trouble. Richie also gets along very well with Steve.

Waldo Faldo

Waldo Geraldo Faldo is Eddie's best friend. He is not very intelligent, but an extraordinarily talented cook, very sensible, sincere and a loyal soul, which his girlfriend, the beautiful Maxine, especially values, and accepts his deficits. If you call him, he always instinctively answers with “What's up?”.

Stefan Urquelle

In the season 7 finale, Steve manages to clone himself with a machine. Because everyone involved is of the opinion that two Steve Urkels are unbearable, the clone decides to permanently transform into Stefan Urkels. This appears from now on at irregular intervals.

Myra Monkhouse

Myra Monkhouse does not appear until later seasons of the series. She is hopelessly in love with Steve, but he doesn't really get involved with her until ep.6.09.

3Y

3J - short for Jerry Jamal Jameson - is Richie's best friend and also has an extraordinary talent for causing problems. In the course of the series he is said to be adopted by the Winslows.

Cast and dubbing

The German-language dubbing took place at Rainer Brandt Filmproductions GmbH in Berlin. Rainer Brandt and Horst Müller wrote the dialogue books, Müller also directed the dialogue with Thomas Wolff .

role actor Voice actor Period Further information
main actor
Carl Winslow Reginald VelJohnson Helmut Krauss Season 1–9
Harriette Winslow Jo Marie Payton-Noble (1.01 to 9.11)
Judyann Elder (9.14 to 9.22) 		Sonja German Season 1–9 The actress was replaced during the final season
Edward "Eddie" Winslow Darius McCrary Frank Schröder Season 1–9
Laura Winslow Kellie Shanygne Williams Ghadah Al-Akel (1st voice)
Andrea Kathrin Loewig (2nd voice) 		Season 1–9
Steve Urkel Jaleel White Santiago Ziesmer Season 1–9 Made his first appearance in episode 1.12 and became the defining figure of the series
Estelle "mother" Winslow Rosetta LeNoire Barbara Ratthey Season 1–8
Rachel Crawford Telma Hopkins Andrea Aust Seasons 1–6 and 9 In seasons 6 and 9 only guest appearances
Richie Crawford Joseph & Julius Wright (Season 1)
Bryton McClure ( Seasons 2-9) 		Timo Plümicke (seasons 2–7) Fabian Hollwitz (seasons 8–9) Season 1–9 In season 1 a baby and therefore no speaking role
supporting cast
Judy Winslow Valerie Jones (1.01)
Jaimee Foxworth 		Daniela Reidies Season 1–4 The character was written from the series
Waldo Geraldo Faldo Shawn Harrison Bernhard Völger Season 2-7
Maxine Johnson Cherie Johnson Melanie Haggège Season 2–9
Myra Monkhouse Michelle Thomas Bianca Krahl Season 4–9
3Y Orlando Brown Season 7–9
Fletcher Thomas Arnold Johnson (Seasons 2-5)
Whitman Mayo (Season 6)
Ed Cambridge (Season 7) 		Hans Nitschke Season 2-7
Greta McClure Tammy Townsend Season 6–9 As well as an extra appearance in season 3
Curtis Juan Pope Season 7-8 As well as extra appearances in seasons 3 and 4
Alex Parks (Weasel) Shavar Ross Simon hunter Season 4–5
Vonda Mahoney Danielle Nicolet Season 3–4
Gwendolyn Naya Rivera Season 4
Lt. Lieu Murtaugh Barry Jenner Bodo Wolf Season 2-4
Captain Savage Sherman Hemsley Season 6
Commissioner Geiss Dick O'Neill Season 8–9
Nick Niedermeyer Ron Orbach Season 7-8
Director Shimata Clyde Kusatsu Klaus Jepsen Season 2–5
Mr. Looney Tom Poston Season 5-6
Dave McClure Ron Canada Bodo Wolf Season 6-7
Guest appearances (selection)
Bones Bubba Smith Tilo Schmitz 5.05 Known as the Hightower from Police Academy
Sergeant Shishka David Graf 4.07 Known as Tackleberry from Police Academy
Grandmama Larry Johnson 5.07 Former Charlotte Hornets basketball player
Mr. Tanaka Pat Morita 9.12 Known as Mr. Miyagi from Karate Kid
Skull Jason David Frank Asad Black 8.08 Known from the Power Rangers series
John Terrence Howard 5.20
herself The Bushwhackers 5.18 Former WWF wrestling team
herself All-4-One 6.24 American band, made famous by I Swear
He himself Johnny Gill 3.20 American singer
Aunt Oona Donna Summer 5.23, 8.22 American singer and songwriter
He himself Dave Koz 4.14 American saxophonist
herself Tracie Spencer 4.15 American singer
herself portrait 4.23 American band
herself Shanice 5.13 American singer
herself Shai 5.15 American band
He himself Freddie Jackson 5.24 American singer
He himself Ziggy Marley 7.05 Jamaican singer
herself Immature 7.22 American band
herself New Edition 8.09 American band
herself Missy Elliott 9.10 American rapper
He himself Johnnie Cochran 9.13 American lawyer

Awards

Others

  • For the first four seasons of the series, the Winslow s had another daughter named Judy ( Jaimee Foxworth ). Due to the character's lack of popularity, Judy was seen less and less before she attended Estelle and Fletcher's wedding towards the end of season four and was never seen or mentioned again.
  • Before the first recordings as Steve Urkel , Jaleel White was looking for typical nerd glasses / egghead glasses (black with tape around the nose bridge). However, since he could not find anything suitable, his father, a dentist, gave him his protective glasses, the famous Urkel glasses. He later wanted to get the originally planned glasses, but the team liked his “horn-rimmed look” so much that the Urkel glasses stayed.
  • The role of Steve Urkel was named after a friend of a producer. Originally it should only be seen in the opening episodes.
  • The high-pitched voice, the high-water pants and the strange gait with the flared elbows are considered ideas of Jaleel White. After Jaleel White broke his voice during the third season, it became more and more difficult for him to keep the voice of Steve Urkel . As a result, the voice seemed stranger and stranger as the series progressed. Santiago Ziesmer , the German dubbing voice, adjusts his voice as you can later hear it in the cartoon character SpongeBob SquarePants . With Stefan Urquelle you can hear Ziesmer's "normal" voice.
  • The character Steve Urkel became so popular that it released several merchandise items, including maps and books.
  • In addition to the role as Steve Urkel , Jaleel White can be seen in three double roles: Stefan Urquelle , Myrtle Urkel ( Steve's cousin) and OGD ( Steve's cousin).
  • Jaleel White has various cameo appearances as Steve Urkel in the following series:
  • All Under One Roof was discontinued after the eighth season of ABC. The television station CBS took over the series and aired the ninth (final) season.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ in the German dubbing index
  2. ^ IMDb.com Family Matters - Awards - accessed April 14, 2014