‘Family Matters’ Stars Think Carl Was Laziest Cop In History

Carl Winslow was a classic Sitcom Dad on Family Matters, doling out parental wisdom and saucy asides with the best of ‘em. But as his co-stars noted on the Welcome to the Family rewatch podcast, there was something strange about Carl. He often strutted around the Winslow house in his police uniform, but you hardly saw him doing any policing.

“Girl, I want to talk to you about your daddy, who, apparently, is working from home all the time,” Telma Hopkins (Aunt Rachel) told Kellie Shanygne Williams (Laura). “I mean, why is he always at home?”

Williams noted that at least Carl was in uniform. “Maybe he was  just policing the house,” she guessed. 

“Yeah, well,” Hopkins sniffed. “He needs to go police somewhere else. Him and the horse he rode in on.”

The ladies have a point. Family Matters ran for nine seasons, and Carl did spend an inordinate amount of time lecturing the kids, complaining about the water bill and dealing with that troublesome Urkel. Was Carl simply lazy, using the Winslow house as his personal donut shop when he should have been out in the streets?

Then again, maybe we cut Carl a break. This is Family Matters, not Brooklyn Nine-Nine. Following Carl in the squad car doesn’t advance plots about missing homework assignments or disastrous prom dates. And an episode about a science project gone wrong gets darker if Carl returns home in a bloody uniform. 

The truth is, Family Matters did occasionally showcase Carl the cop. Remember the Season 2 episode when he visits the grave of a hostage that he failed to save? 

Then there was the time Eddie was profiled by racist cops, leading to a confrontation down at the actual donut shop. “So what are you saying — that Black kids aren't allowed in white neighborhoods?” Carl asks the a-hole officer. “I really don't know how that badge stays on because it's pinned to slime.” 

Scenes like these gave the kid-friendly sitcom some gravitas, but because Family Matters was sandwiched between ABC’s TGIF sitcoms like Full House and Sabrina the Teenage Witch, it couldn’t play this card too often. You can’t follow the Olsen twins with a double homicide. 

Actor Reginald VelJohnson played plenty of cops during his career, including a memorable turn helping Bruce Willis get through a tough night in Die Hard. Family Matters gave him a chance to show what police officers do once their workday was through. 

“Do you ever think of what cops do after work? They're just like us: They have bad days, they have good days, they have happiness, they have sadness,” he told U.S. News and World Report, per Entertainment Weekly. “The amazing pressure of having to deal with the public in a life-or-death situation – that must be an incredible thing to do on a daily basis.”