Before she was on "Family Matters," Harriette Winslow was an elevator operator at the Chronicle Building where Larry and Balki worked on "Perfect Strangers."
"Perfect Strangers" takes place on the mean streets of Chicago, Illinois, where Carl Winslow is a police officer.
Carl and Harriette Winslow are the proud parents of three children, including eldest son Eddie, middle child Laura and youngest daughter Judy -- who was written out of the show in the fourth season.
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It's hard to picture "Family Matters" without Steve Urkel, but the nerd next door was never supposed to be more than a simple guest star. He appeared midway through Season 1 and was so popular that he gradually became the focus of the series.
Harriette progresses from an elevator operator to director of security at the Chronicle, before finally moving on to become head of sales at Ferguson's Department Store.
Hariette's sister Rachel moves in with the family, along with her son Richie, and opens a restaurant called Rachel's Place -- after Urkel accidentally burns down Leroy's.
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Urkel has an on-and-off relationship with Myra Monkhouse from Season 4 to Season 9. At times, his love for Myra gets in the way of his feelings for longtime love Laura.
Eddie is best friends with Waldo Geraldo Faldo, who has a sister named Quesadilla and an Aunt who goes by Velveeta.
Myrtle Mae Urkel, played by Jaleel White in drag, heads to Chicago from her home in Biloxi, Mississippi, on occasion. She has a massive crush on Eddie and sometimes comes between Eddie and his girlfriend Greta.
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In the Season 1 episode "Laura's First Date," Carl makes a decision he will later regret when he picks Steve Urkel to attend a school dance with Laura, who was upset because she didn't have a date.
In the Season 2 episode "Life of the Party," dance history was forever changed when Steve introduced the Urkel dance at Maxine's rooftop party. Later, Steve fell off the roof after drinking spiked punch.
It was Cherie Johnson -- who played Cherie on "Punky Brewster" -- who starred as Laura's best friend and Waldo's girlfriend Maxine.
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Knowing he can never out-muscle his competitors, Steve invents a jet pack to win the rope climbing contest in "Brain Over Brawn."
After Carl crushes his rare and valuable Peruvian beetle, then refuses to apologize, Steve takes Carl on "Citizen's Court" to settle the case.
Steve invents Urkelbot in Season 3, but abandons the project when the robot tries to win Laura for itself. Later, Steve revamps his creation to help Carl fight crime.
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When Steve and Carl are feuding, the only way to settle things is for the pair to compete on "American Gladiators." Waldo's cousin Sabre helps them land a spot on the show.
After Steve breaks an ornament that Laura planned to give as a gift, she is furious with her neighbor -- until her guardian angel Tyrone appears and teaches her the true meaning of Christmas.
The Season 5 episode "Dr. Urkel and Mr. Cool" is Steve's first appearance as his much more hip alter-ego Stefan Urquelle.
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Hoping to fix his eyes without going to the doctor, Carl steps into Steve's transformation chamber. After Myra tampers with the machine, Carl steps out as Carl Urkel in the two-part Season 6 premiere.
After failing phys ed, Steve almost fails to graduate. To pass, he must learn to swim, so Laura pretends to drown to give him some added motivation in Season 6.
Hoping to impress a college recruiter by using his transformation chamber to transform into Albert Einstein, Steve accidentally transforms into an Urkel-like version of Elvis -- which almost costs him a chance at MIT.
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On a trip to Disney World in Season 6, Stefan proposes to Laura. Things go wrong for the couple when Laura messes with the transformation machine to keep Stefan from turning back into Steve.
Steven's parents move to Russia in the Season 6 finale, leaving Steve at home alone until Carl agrees to let him live with the Winslows.
The Winslows adopt 3J -- that's Jerry Jamal Jameson -- in Season 8 after meeting him through Steve in the episode "My Big Brother."
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In a three-part premiere episode, the Winslows use the Urk-Pad to travel to France, where Steve ends up being held hostage at the Paris Opera House.
In the Season 8 finale, Carl and Steve use a time travel watch to travel through time. They land on an 18th-century pirate ship until Myra, Laura and Maxine show up to rescue them.
Stevil shows up in the Halloween episodes of the final two seasons of the show. In Season 9, he's accompanied by an evil dummy version of Carl known as Carlsbad.
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After both Stefan and Steve propose to Laura at the end of the series, she chooses to spend her life with Steve, who has never stopped loving her.
At the end of the series, Eddie becomes a cop like his father. He is saved one day when a bulletproof vest that Carl gave him helps to deflect a bullet.
In the last episode, NASA is so impressed with one of Steve's inventions that they send him into space, where he promptly causes the shuttle to crash into a satellite.
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