FAMILY MATTERS: FA LA LA LA LAAGGHH! (TV)
Summary
One in this comedy series about the Winslows, an African-American family living in Chicago next door to their annoying neighbor, Steve Urkel.
Carl prevents Urkel from setting up a display of Christmas lights on his roof, despite Urkel’s insistence that it is a tradition he follows every year. Harriette is upset that Laura seems to be too busy to help her decorate the Christmas tree. While playing poker with some of his friends, Carl learns about a Christmas decoration contest to see who in the area has the best-decorated rooftop, and is interested when he learns that there will be a large cash prize for winning. Carl decides to enter the contest, hoping to use Urkel’s decorating skills to his advantage even after learning about Urkel’s belief that the contest “cheapens” the spirit of Christmas. Carl tells Urkel that he has changed his mind about letting him decorate the roof, but neglects to mention the contest to him. Harriette tries to decorate the tree with Eddie, but he also has plans and says he is “getting a little old” for such family activities. Harriette laments that she has always decorated the tree with her family and wishes that she could share such traditions with her children. Carl and Urkel set up an elaborate Christmas display on his roof, although it suffers from a few technical malfunctions. Carl urges Urkel to repair them so that their display can be the best in the neighborhood, although Urkel feels that this is unimportant.
Estelle attempts to teach Laura and Eddie a lesson about their dismissal of Christmas traditions by neglecting to bake her annual Christmas gingerbread cookies. She notes that by neglecting to decorate the tree with Harriette, they reduced the task from a tradition to a mere “job” for her to perform. When Carl and Urkel are unable to find animatronics to replace those broken in their roof display, they dress up as Santa Claus and an elf respectively and assume their positions in a mock sleigh. Urkel soon realizes that Carl entered his house into the contest and is outraged. Before he can leave, however, the roof starts to buckle under the combined weight of all the various accoutrements on it. They fall through the roof into the kitchen, dragging the decorations down with them. Later, Urkel yells at Carl both for entering the contest and lying to him about it. Carl apologizes to Urkel, and Urkel forgives him. Eddie and Laura decide to “un-decorate” the Christmas tree so that they can redecorate it with Harriette. Includes commercials.
Details
- NETWORK: ABC
- DATE: December 15, 1995 8:30 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:28:35
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: B:41588
- GENRE: Comedy
- SUBJECT HEADING: African-American Collection - Comedy; TV - Comedy
- SERIES RUN: ABC - TV series, 1989-1997; CBS - 1997-1998
- COMMERCIALS:
- TV – Commercials – Chef Boyardee pasta
- TV – Commercials – Children’s Motrin fever relief
- TV – Commercials – Domino’s pizza
- TV – Commercials – JCPenney department stores
- TV – Commercials – Nestle chocolate chips
- TV – Commercials – Pillsbury cooking dough
- TV – Commercials – Robitussin cough syrup
- TV – Commercials – Sears department stores
- TV – Commercials – Target department stores
- TV – Commercials – United States Postal Service shipping
- TV – Commercials – Wal-Mart department stores
- TV – Commercials – “Balto” motion picture
- TV – Commercials – “Dracula: Dead and Loving It” motion picture
- TV – Commercials – “Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers: The Movie” home video release
- TV – Promos – “America’s Funniest Home Videos”
- TV – Promos – “Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman”
- TV – Promos – “Santa Saturday”
CREDITS
- David W. Duclon … Executive Producer
- Thomas L. Miller … Executive Producer, Developed by
- Robert L. Boyett … Executive Producer, Developed by
- William Bickley … Executive Producer, Created by
- Michael Warren … Executive Producer, Created by
- Jim Geoghan … Co-Executive Producer
- Fred Fox Jr. … Co-Executive Producer
- Gary Menteer … Co-Executive Producer
- Miles Kristman … Coordinating Producer
- Stephen Langford … Supervising Producer
- Fred Rubin … Supervising Producer
- Kelly Sandefur … Producer
- Rebecca Misra … Co-Producer
- Jeff Luini … Associate Producer
- Richard Correll … Director
- Meg DeLoatch … Writer
- Jesse Frederick … Music by, Theme Music by
- Bennett Salvay … Music by, Theme Music by
- Reginald VelJohnson … Cast, Carl Winslow
- JoMarie Payton Noble … Cast, Harriette Winslow
- Rosetta LeNoire … Cast, Estelle Winslow
- Darius McCrary … Cast, Eddie Winslow
- Kellie Shanygne Williams … Cast, Laura Winslow
- Bryton McClure … Cast, Richie Winslow
- Shawn Harrison … Cast, Waldo Geraldo Faldo
- Jaleel White … Cast, Steve Urkel
- Iqbal Theba … Cast, Zoohair
- Joel Anderson … Cast, Charlie
- Marlon Chopper Young … Cast, Willie