WI: Other Sitcoms Had An "Urkel"

By an "Urkel", I mean a character who has nothing to do with the show concept and is so foreign and alien to it and the intent, but who becomes the breakout star who hijacks the series. The series becomes centered around them, the series mutates to become unrecognizable from the original concept, the other characters become superfluous like some vestigial organ, and the quality deteriorates to ridiculousness. It is the negative, inversion of the "Fonzie", which is a breakout character who does not act as a detriment to the show or the other cast members.

What if Cheers, Moonlighting, or whatever other show was afflicted? Steve Urkel himself was brought in rather last minute from a totally different script, and was intended as a one off guest. Therefore, it may not even be just the concept of a negative breakout character. One could argue Steve Urkel himself as a free floating character that could have latched onto other shows.
 
Last edited:
Do you have any specific sitcoms in mind?

I always thought Night Court did well not to make Bull into the kind of off-the-wall character that everyone claps for when he walks into the room, the way Newhart did(much to its detriment, imv) with Larry Darryl and Darryl. And Stephanie and Michael, with their endless TV-nostalgia tropes.
 

Quebec_Dave

Banned
With Urkel and "Family Matters", I read that the other cast member ostracised Jaleel White because he thought they stole all their thunder. However, if it weren't for him, I doubt the show would have lasted more than two seasons.

As for "Newhart", I really hated how they ended the series with that stupid dream sequence. I always have to worry now when a series ends whether or not they will use the same stupid cop out again.
 
With Urkel and "Family Matters", I read that the other cast member ostracised Jaleel White because he thought they stole all their thunder. However, if it weren't for him, I doubt the show would have lasted more than two seasons.

As for "Newhart", I really hated how they ended the series with that stupid dream sequence. I always have to worry now when a series ends whether or not they will use the same stupid cop out again.

I thought that was supposed to be a parody of Dallas and St. Elsewhere. St. Elsewhere, by the way, has to have the monopoly on worst endings to a TV show ever conceived.
 
Did the Fonz sort of do this on Happy days; in the end Henry Winkler refused to let it be called Fonzie's Happy Days and be all centered around him, but it seems close at times anyway.

When I read this I thought it meant just a guy that was like that, and I thought, "lol, Wesley was like that for a time on Star Trek:TNG, the way he messed up and then saved the ship with his utter genius." I can just imagine Wesley after he accidentally releases some nanites or something saying, "Did I do that?"

But, seriously...

I never watched "Family matters," but have read about it; it was right in that college/law school/"no time for TV" span and I'd have had to start watching reruns if I had. So, I'll have to go just by what the OP describes and say...

"Cheers." Have an episode centered around sports and one of Sam's old teammates early in the show really take off. He's a two-sport star, tring to make it in the pros in both, which SAm feels like he's showing him up. He steals a few concepts that Bo Jackson would use later in the Bo Knows spots, but what really takes the cake is when the Patriots make the Super Bowl, because a fictional team is used in the show, the Boston Minutemen. Yeah, this would be 4th season of "Cheers" already, so it might be cheating a bit from what OP wanted, but the idea is that Sam is really jealous by this time because the guy gets to go to the Super Bowl, and then there's an episode where the Bears demolish the guy, he plays so lousy (3-4 fumbles, runing wrong way on a play to give Bears a safety). The Bears beat the Minutemen in the episode that airs just before the Super Bowl, 46-10 because the writers think it's so clever because of the "46" defe3nse.

Then, the Super Bowl airs, and the final score is guess what? 46-10! All of a sudden, everyone wants to tune in to the show and the character is seen as teh star, everything centers on him.Especially with Diane leaving, it's the perfect chance for them to make it center totally on him at the end of the next season. Suddenly, it's all sports.

Does this sound like about what you wanted?
 
Top