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Rock Video is the twenty-second and final episode of the first season finale in this television sitcom on Family Matters, which aired on ABC on April 27, 1990. It was directed by Richard Correll and written by Geoff Gordon and Gordon Lewis.

Synopsis[]

Eddie's ego runs amok when he tries to enter a rock video for a contest, with Steve as the cameraman. (Eddie's friends are, surprisingly, very friendly to Steve this time around.) Edward's narcissism eventually disgusts his band mates, who desert him and cause his family to call him out for it. Wanting to salvage his hopes for winning the contest, he eventually calls on Urkel and his family to make a friendly rap video, "We Are a Family" with Estelle as the DJ. Also, Carl tries to settle the family's taxes to no avail.

Plot[]

Coming home from a weekend away from camping, Laura and Carl are talking about a wonderful weekend they had. They agreed it was nice that once in a while that they didn't have to deal with any surprising and annoying visits from Urkel. Laura and Carl later visited and annoyed by Steve.

Carl tries to get some silence so he can deal with the taxes, causing Laura and Judy to leave the kitchen. Harriette comes in and isn't very happy about Carl attempting to do the family's tax returns. She points out that he doesn't have the experience and the patience to deal with it. Harriette also mentions Carl should do the right thing and call his younger brother, Calvin. She knows that he has the patience and the resource to deal with their taxes. Carl refuses thinking his brother is going to rip him off again like last time. Soon, they hear loud rock music blasting from the living room. Carl and Harriette run in there to see Eddie and his band(consisting of his friends Rodney, Jerry and Kyle) playing. Mother Winslow is seen dancing to the music. An annoyed Carl immediately yells at the group to stop playing at once and take their equipment elsewhere. Eddie tells him that his band needs to practice for a rock video contest for a local music show which the first prize is $1,000 and an airing of the video on MTV. Carl tells him that his band can't play in the living room because he needs quiet when dealing with the taxes. He allows Eddie and his band to play in the garage.

Eddie and his band needs equipment to film his video for a contest. Rodney foils them by allowing his camera to be broken due to his attempt to try and spy on the girls in the girls locker room at their school. Steve comes to the rescue with his audio and video advantages from his middle school. Rodney, Jerry and Kyle vote against letting Urkel shoot their video but Eddie overrides them stating that they need him. Rachel has come up with ideas for the video but Eddie decides he wants to keep things simple.

While that is going on, Carl once again attempts to deal with the family taxes to no avail and Harriette admonishes him for getting the wrong tax files. She tells Carl again to do the right thing and call Calvin to help them deal with their taxes. He quickly refuses, which Mother Winslow mentions to stand back and watch him crumble.

However on the day of the video shot, Eddie's big ego runs amok and tells Steve to limit the lens to just himself. Although Urkel reluctantly agrees, he makes a brief remark about Eddie's music video being a bigger bomb than Howard the Duck (from George Lucas). He's feeling uneasy in leaving out Rodney, Jerry and Kyle out of the video.

After watching the video in the living room, his band gets upset and confront Steve for his actions. He defends himself, revealing Eddie's plans to leave the others out of the video and keep the camera lens on him. Rodney, Jerry and Kyle had enough of Eddie and leave him. Laura and Judy didn't like it either, pointing out it was poorly made on his part. Laura also admits that she's not happy over him tricking Urkel into leaving his bandmates out and just film him in the video. As they leave, Eddie arrogantly claims the two were just jealous because he didn't invite them to be in his video. However, his ego is deflated when Carl shows his anger and disagrees with it. He immediately confronts Eddie for his behavior and mentions that no one liked his video in general. Carl also points out that Laura and Judy are right in their assessment of how terrible it was made. He derides the video as narcissistic and ego-driven in how he left everyone out except himself. Harriette agrees and admonishes Eddie for being a selfish and egotistical camera hog. She tells him off that his bandmates had a right to leave him. Harriette points out his video wasn't a rock video but rather a love letter to his egotism and he has only himself to blame for the matter. Rachel also agrees stating Eddie originally asked her to help out with the production but he quickly pushed her away. Estelle leaves him with Urkel, implying she is also disappointed in Eddie as well.

Eventually, Harriette has enough of Carl's stubbornness in letting himself deal with the taxes and asks Calvin to help out, which he succeeds in doing. When Carl learns about it, he is upset about it because he was close to figuring it out. Harriette points out that Calvin was able to help them save thousands of dollars on their taxes, making Carl apologize for his actions.

Cleaning up from the whole thing, Carl asks Urkel to go home and he needs to speak to Eddie alone. After he reluctantly leaves, the two have a discussion about it. Eddie finally apologizes for his behavior and admits it was his song. Carl tells him that it was still wrong of him to behave like a jerk in making Steve film the video and leave his bandmates out. He mentions even though Eddie wrote the song, everyone is included in it and not just him. Carl points out that when someone decides to be an egotistical jerk and leave everyone out, he usually ends up being alone. Eddie agrees and believes he won't be able to win the contest now since Rodney, Jerry and Kyle have quit on him. On top of it, he knows Steve is mad at him since it was he who told Urkel to keep the camera lens on him.

In the kitchen, Carl discusses the plan to help Eddie out by making their own band, creating a family friendly video and win the local rock video contest. Harriette, Laura, Judy and Estelle like his idea and are on board. However, Rachel refuses any involvement with Eddie. Carl talks to her about her issues and realizes she still hasn't forgiven him from earlier when he refused her earlier script for her idea on his video. Rachel admits that she is still reluctant to help Eddie out because she's still angry at him and knows he can be very abrasive about it. After he walks inside, Carl tells him of the great idea the family has in remaking the video with Urkel filming it. Eddie reluctantly agrees to take another chance on it. However, he wants Rachel to rewrite the script for the video and apologizes for hurting her feelings. She forgives Eddie and rewrites the script.

On the day of local rock video contest, the Winslows are happy that they won the grand prize of $1,000 and the airing of their family friendly song "We Are a Family".

Cast[]

Main[]

Guest[]

Recurring[]

Cameo[]

  • Bumper Williams as Kyle
  • Chance Quinn as Jerry

Trivia[]

  • This marks Bumper Williams' first role as a minor character. He would return as one of Laura's would-be boyfriends, Daniel Wallace.
  • The final appearance of Joseph and Julius Wright before replacing the new Richie as Bryton McClure in 2nd season.
  • Final recurring credit of Jaleel White as Urkel. He later joins the main credits beginning with Rachel's Place.
  • Carl's younger brother, Calvin, is revealed to work as an accountant.

Running gags[]

  • This is one of the many episodes where Harriette begs Carl to get help with something, but he tries to do it himself, in the end ultimately realizing that Harriette was right and that he was in over his head.
  • Steve shows his love of polka music for the first time in this episode.
  • Laura and Judy leaving the kitchen because Carl is paying taxes is a callback to the same thing they did in Two Income Family

Quotes[]

Estelle: Forget it, Harriette! Once Carl has made up his mind, the best thing to do is stand back and watch him fall.

Steve: What's the matter, too hip?
Eddie: Yeah Urkel, that's always your problem.

Urkel: This is going to be the biggest bomb since Howard the Duck.

Rodney: [Furious after seeing Eddie's music video] I can't believe it.
Eddie: This is so cool! It's hype! It's super bad!
Harriette: You got the bad part right.
Rodney: Urkel, what were you doing? The camera was on Eddie the whole time.
Urkel: You want to feel this one out big guy?
Kyle: All you could see is my right foot.
Jerry: At least you were in it.
Rodney: Urkel, you screwed up big.
Urkel: Hey, I was only following Eddie's instructions.
[This catches Rodney, Jerry and Kyle's attention and Eddie is embarrassed by Urkel. Rachel faces Steve.]
Rachel: Exactly what were Eddie's instructions?
Urkel: To keep the camera on him and forget all the other meatheads.
Rodney, Jerry and Kyle: What?
Urkel: [points to Eddie] His words, not mine.
[Eddie's band-mates abandon him for his narcissistic attitude.]
Kyle: You got an attitude problem. I'm walking!
Jerry: I'm walking to! Can uh you give me a lift?
Eddie: Fine, go ahead! We're better off without them, their egos were getting way out of control!

[After Laura and Judy reveals how much they hated the video]
Eddie: You're just jealous that you weren't in it.
Carl: [Confronts Eddie] No one was in it except you!
Harriette: You can't blame them for walking, Eddie. That wasn't a rock video. That was a love letter to Eddie Winslow from Eddie Winslow.
  v - e - dFamily Matters Season 1
The Mama Who Came to DinnerTwo-Income FamilyShort StoryRachel's First DateStraight A'sBasketball BluesBody DamageMr. BadwrenchStake-OutFalse ArrestThe QuiltLaura's First DateMan's Best FriendBaker's DozenThe Big ReunionThe PartyThe Big FixSitting PrettyIn a JamThe CandidateBowl Me OverRock Video
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