Family Matters is an American sitcom about a middle-class African-American family living in Chicago, Illinois, which ran on national television for nine full seasons. The series was a spin-off of Perfect Strangers

Perfect Strangers (TV series)

Perfect Strangers is an American sitcom that ran for eight seasons from March 25, 1986, to August 6, 1993, on the ABC television network. Created by Dale McRaven, the series chronicles the rocky coexistence of midwestern American Larry Appleton and his distant cousin from eastern Mediterranean...

, but revolves around the Winslow family. Midway through the first season, the show introduced the Winslows' nerdy neighbor Steve Urkel

Steve Urkel

Steven Quincy Urkel, generally known as Steve Urkel or simply Urkel, is a fictional character on the ABC/CBS sitcom Family Matters, portrayed by Jaleel White...

 (played by Jaleel White

Jaleel White

Jaleel Ahmad White is an American actor and screenwriter. He is best known for his role as Steve Urkel from Family Matters and voicing the character of Sonic the Hedgehog and other characters for Sonic the Hedgehog media....

), who quickly became its breakout character

Breakout character

A breakout character is a fictional character in different episodes, books or other media that becomes the most popular, talked about, and imitated. Most often a breakout character in a television series captures the audience's imagination and helps to popularize the show, sometimes inadvertently...

 and eventually a main character.