Maybe we will finally find out what happened to Judy Winslow. Originally premiering on television in 1989, Family Matters followed the members of the Winslow family, consisting of a grandmother, two parents, a son, and two daughters. Famously, the youngest daughter Judy (initially played by Valerie Jones in season 1 and Jaimee Foxworth after that) disappeared after the first four seasons. No explanation was ever given for her absence in the next five seasons.
Officially, Judy’s final onscreen appearance was in the season 4 episode “Mama’s Wedding,” where she is last seen walking down the aisle as a flower girl. However, the running joke has always been that Judy one day went up the stairs on an episode of Family Matters and was never heard from again. If producers thought viewers wouldn’t notice, they were wrong, as Judy’s disappearance still bothers fans nearly three decades later.
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This disappearance also hasn’t sat very well with certain cast members. At a recent cast reunion at 90s Con, the Family Matters cast was asked about whether they’d be interested in revisiting the Winslow family with a series revival. Jo Marie Payton, who played the family matriarch Harriette, said she would only do a revival if Judy was written back into the story. The actress felt “personally hurt” when Jamiee Foxworth was written out of the show.
“I said, you guys need to tell me something that is not only creative, but also politically correct to straighten out this situation because there’s nowhere in the world a family … You gave me three kids, you took away my baby,” Payton said, as reported by People. “If you had taken away my oldest child, we could have always come up with … that she was at the mall or with her friends. You took away my baby, and when I asked you, ‘Why did you take away my baby girl?’ you said, ‘Nobody would notice.'”
She added, “I said, ‘You know what, when we’re walking down the street, nobody’s going to notice you because they’re not going to ask you, they’re going to ask me what happened to Judy.’ So for me, that’s one of the other things that I [wouldn’t be] excited about, going back into it. The very first episode has to be that [Judy] comes down those stairs.”
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A Family Matters Revival Is Always Possible
Warner Bros. Television
There have been rumors of a Family Matters revival happening in recent years, so we could very well find out what Judy has been doing. These rumors are perhaps based on the success of other shows from the era having success with revivals, such as Full House and Roseanne. In 2019, amid rumors of WarnerMedia looking to reboot or revive many classic sitcoms, Reginald VelJohnson spoke about the potential of seeing the Winslows again. The actor made it clear that he’d be happy to return as Carl if such a revival were to happen for Family Matters.
“I didn’t realize it was going to last that long, and I did it, and people seem to love it. It would be nice to do a sequel or something to it you know? I think people would enjoy that,” VelJohnson said. “Whatever they wanted me to do, I’d be involved in [it]. I am so excited that people are still lovin’ the stuff, the work that I … that’s been done and want it to come back. I would be immediately involved. I’m so happy that people are responding to what I did years ago and whatnot and they’re responding, you know? I love it man. Family Matters, I would love to do a reboot of that show. It would be exciting.”
Family Matters Dad Reginald VelJohnson Would Love to Do HBO Max Reboot
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Jeremy Dick
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Jeremy Dick has been a writer and editor since 2014. He is a self-professed horror expert, pop culture enthusiast, and Bob Saget fanatic.
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