Choir Trouble is the thirteenth episode of the third season in this television sitcom on Family Matters, which was aired from ABC on December 20, 1991. It was directed by James O'Keefe and written by Mary M. Schwarze.
Plot[]
Choir director Rachel kicks recently converted Urkel out of the choir when the nerd can't sing a lick. Soon everyone else leaves the choir after being fed up with her micromanagement. Estelle sets Rachel straight by advising her that God isn't interested in the quality of the voice, but that the words come from the heart.
Synopsis[]
The episode opens with Estelle (who's reading her bible) & Carl (who's impatiently pacing back & forth) waiting on the rest of the family while they're all upstairs getting ready for church. Carl's patience grows very thin, lamenting that they'll be late for church....(as usual). He then threatens the family by saying that they'll be taking the bus if they don't hurry up and come downstairs. Harriette then emerges from upstairs, she's ready, but then Richie comes out with grape juice stained on his suit jacket. Harriette gets frustrated as she rushes her nephew upstairs to change him into another suit. Then Steve arrives as he greets Estelle with his usual greeting of "Estelle, my Belle". He then asks the eldest Winslow where everyone is as she replies that they're all getting ready for church. Steve proceeds to tell Estelle that every Sunday, he watches the Winslow family pile into their gremlin and "putt putt" off to church and that he has never been to church and wished he could tag along. Upon hearing this, Estelle happily invites him to come to church with the family and that he can sit next to her, Steve happily accepts the invite and hugs her. Next, Carl reemerges from the kitchen, first calmly saying that maybe he didn't make himself clear before he loudly yells "WE ARE LATE FOR CHURCH, LET'S GO NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWW !!!!" as the entire family, now ready to leave, rushes downstairs. Estelle then announces that she's invited Steve to come along to church with them, the family pauses before they all rush back upstairs.
After the intro, at church special guest stars The First A.M.E. Church Choir and The Winslow Family start singing "He's Been Good to Me". After the song, Pastor Peeble comes up and starts preaching causing Steve to make gospel outbursts. He continues to say amen and hallelujah causing the Pastor to shut him down! Pastor Peeple then makes the announcement for a new choir director for Gospel Sunday and that Rachel has been chosen for the position as she starts dancing and bragging about it, until the preacher puts her in place.
A few days later, everyone gathers at the church for choir rehearsal. Eddie is seen talking to a girl named Becky, one of the choir members, asking her after rehearsal "You, me, movie ?", she replies back "You, me, NEVER !" as she walks off and Laura witnesses this and couldn't resist rubbing it in by telling Eddie that "he couldn't pick up a girl if she had handles". Then Carl arrives with a present for Rachel (a hat), in the hopes that she will give him the solo part. Harriette chastises her husband for "sucking up", saying it's "sneaky, underhanded & dishonest" just as Rachel arrives, thanking her older sibling for the necklace she got her, saying it must've costed a "fortune". She tells everyone that coffee break is over and asks for everyone to get into place just as Steve arrives as Laura asks him what's he doing there and the nerd replies that he'd like to try out for the choir if it's okay with Rachel, she says "Yes" and tells him to squeeze in with the tenors. The choir then begins rehearsing "Oh, Happy Day" but Steve quickly proves that his NOT fit to be in the choir due to his, screeching off-key singing, prompting Rachel to tap her baton, stopping rehearsal. She asks Steve to step forward and sing for her as he proceeds to do so, again off-key. Rachel then tries to help her nerdy neighbor another way, with a pitch pipe. She blows into the pitch pipe as Steve hums along with it, but she tells Steve to LISTEN to the sound of the pitch pipe but he continues humming along with it. Rachel then breaks the news to Steve that she cannot let him be in the choir as Harriette steps forward saying to give him a chance to prove himself, with the choir members agreeing. Rachel doesn't listen and kicks the nerd out as he sadly walks out of the church and the choir glares down at Rachel for the way she treated him.
Long after Steve is gone, it's 11:45pm (fifteen minutes before midnight) and the choir is STILL rehearsing as this time, they're rehearsing "Go Tell it on the Mountain" (with Carl shouting "Hallelujah" in-between). 6 hours in, everyone is frustrated, but more so the choir as they begin to feel that Rachel isn't suited to lead them as she starts to get a little bossy, chastising various members; first with a member named Marge, asking her to sing from her diaphragm NOT her sinuses, then she goes after a male choir member she calls Brother Spencer, to "slap some Poligrip on those choppers", saying they sound like a pair of castanets and then Harriette tries to get Rachel's attention but her younger sister tells her to "Zip it". Rachel then proceeds to resume the rehearsals once more, telling the choir members to "follow her baton" as they begin singing once again, but at an angrier, faster pace then Carl throws them off base with him as if he were singing the solo, prompting Rachel to stop the rehearsal yet again but he continues with his "Hallelujahs".
He then asks about his solo part but Rachel 86's it, prompting him to step forward to say that she can't cancel his solo because he bought her a hat. She then proceeds to tell her brother-in-law that she can do whatever SHE wants because SHE is the choir director, prompting the choir to protest. Harriette then steps forward asking Rachel who would sing the solo if not Carl, she replies that she going to sing it, causing the choir to react negatively. She then explained that she & Marge have the best voices and that she flipped a coin and she won. The choir broods over this as Rachel continues to chastise them saying that she's in charge and that being why SHE has the baton holding it up.....just as Carl stares it down, takes it and breaks in two as Rachel gasps and he hands it back to her, saying "Now, you have TWO" as he walks off, taking back the hat he bought for her and the members of the choir follow behind him. As the choir members walk out on Rachel, she shouts that they would "never sing in this town again", then Harriette walks up and rips the necklace off her younger sibling's neck and walks off.
Back at the Winslow residence, Estelle and Steve are playing checkers and he beats her yet again. She is amazed at his skills and asks him how became so good at checkers, he replies that it was practice. She then asks him if he told his parents about him going to church, the nerd replies that they didn't approve it but he could care less because his parents DON'T care about him. He starts explaining the concept of him not seeing, hearing, or feeling God, but there is always belief that he can. Estelle says that is faith and he should learn more about it. Rachel then walks in and asks where everyone is, Estelle replies that they all went out to dinner as Rachel asks her why didn't she go, the eldest Winslow replies that she, Harriette & Carl "drew straws" to see who would have a heart-to-heart talk with Rachel about her behavior as choir director and Estelle "won". The eldest Winslow then sits Rachel down and explains to her that the Lord doesn't care if his praises are sung off-key but as long as it's sung straight from the heart, prompting her to apologize to Steve for kicking him out of the choir as he jokes that she saved him the trouble of quitting with the others followed by his laugh & snort. Rachel chuckles & says that she had that coming and laments that she really messed things up and that Gospel Sunday was in two days and no one in the choir would talk to her. Estelle then tells Rachel to apologize to them but then she says not after the way she acted. Estelle then explains to Rachel that she & Steve were discussing Faith just before she walked and that she should have faith that the choir will forgive her. Rachel then asks Estelle what if they DON'T forgive her, the eldest Winslow jokes that she would have to leave town.
Finally, it's Gospel Sunday at the church, Pastor Peeble preaches the word of God before he announces that Gospel Sunday had been cancelled, prompting Rachel to step forward saying that the congregation deserved the hear the truth. Rachel takes to center stage and explains that reason behind Gospel Sunday being cancelled was due to the choir quitting over her behavior as choir director. She openly acknowledges that the minute she became choir director, she acted like a jerk (with various members of choir agreeing from the pews), bullying choir members and bossing them around and that she was truly sorry and that she hopes that the choir can find it in their hearts to forgive her. Carl first responds by singing "Put Your Hand in the Hand of the Man", followed by Harriette singing a lyric from the song ("Put Your Hand in the Hand of the Man who calmed the sea"), then Laura ("Take a Look at yourself and you may look at others differently"), then Eddie ("By putting Your Hand in the Hand of the Man from Galilee") leading the rest of the Winslow family to center stage and then finally, the choir members join in as they all take their places on stage behind the Winslow clan, reuniting with Rachel. She then sings her part ("Take a Good Look at yourself and you might look at others differently, by putting Your Hands in the Hands of the Man from Galilee") as she walks down to take Steve's hand to sing with the Winslows and choir. As the song goes, it collaborates with members and singers of The First A.M.E Choir (who mostly sang behind the cameras and wasn't seen in the episode). The song ends with EP credits and cameras zooming out to get a glimpse of the church.
In the end credits, the closing theme & camera zooming away from the Winslow home is replaced with choir singing "He's Been Good to Me" with Rachel singing the lead.
Cast[]
Main[]
- Reginald VelJohnson as Carl Winslow
- Jo Marie Payton as Harriette Winslow
- Rosetta LeNoire as Estelle Winslow
- Darius McCrary as Eddie Winslow
- Kellie Shanygne Williams as Laura Winslow
- Jaimee Foxworth as Judy Winslow
- Bryton James as Richie Crawford (credited as Bryton McClure)
- Jaleel White as Steve Urkel
- Telma Hopkins as Rachel Crawford
Guest[]
- Earl Billings as Brother Spencer
- Ron Taylor as Pastor Peebles
- Shana Mangatal as Becky
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- The episode establishes that unlike the Winslows, Urkel's family are atheists.
Quotes[]
- Rachel: Maybe you could come back when your voice has changed.
- Urkel: It already did.
- Estelle "Mother": Steve, how did you get so good at checkers?
- Urkel: Practice. Fortunately, when I was young I had no friends.
- Urkel: My dad wanted to know how I could believe in a God I can't see, touch, or analyze. I pointed out to him I also cannot see, touch or analyze an atom, but I believe it exists.