Family Matters is a spin-off of Perfect Strangers; Harriette Winslow was originally the elevator operator at the Chicago Chronicle newspaper where Larry Appleton and Balki Bartokomous worked. ABC and the producers liked the character so much for her wit and morale that they created a whole show centered on her family.

Reginald VelJohnson, fresh off his rising fame from Die Hard, first appeared as Carl Winslow in a guest role on Perfect Strangers before the character was spun off into his own series.

Steve Urkel, played by Jaleel White, was originally meant to be a one-time guest character introduced midway through season one in the episode 'Laura's First Date,' but he proved so popular that he quickly became the show's breakout character and joined the main cast.

Judy Winslow, the family's younger daughter, appeared until season four, after which the character was retconned as having never existed.

Jo Marie Payton's contract expired before the ninth season and, feeling the show had jumped the shark years earlier, she was reluctant to continue. She left mid-season shortly after nearly getting into a physical altercation with Jaleel White during an episode where White, playing a gangster character instead of Urkel, tried to insert material violating Broadcast Standards and Practices; Darius McCrary had to physically separate the two.

After Jo Marie Payton's departure, Judyann Elder took over the role of Harriette Winslow for the remainder of the final season, following one last appearance by Payton in a Christmas episode that brought back several former ABC-era characters.

The show's original theme song was Louis Armstrong's 'What a Wonderful World,' but it was scrapped after the fifth episode of season one and replaced by 'As Days Go By,' written by Jesse Frederick, Bennett Salvay and Scott Roeme.

The network switch from ABC to CBS resulted from a $40 million deal in which CBS acquired the rights to both Family Matters and Step by Step, driven partly by tensions between producer Miller-Boyett and Disney after it acquired ABC's parent company.