Judith "Judy" Winslow was one of the main characters of Family Matters. She was the youngest daughter of Carl and Harriette Winslow.
Biography[]
Judith Winslow was born on April 19, 1980 to Carl and Harriette Winslow. She is the younger sister of Eddie and Laura Winslow.
During her years on the series, Judy attended an unnamed elementary school, then an unnamed junior-high school.
Judy is introduced as cute, sassy, and sometimes a little naive (like thinking the sponge to seal envelopes was for getting the glue off her tongue). It's often referenced that Judy hated vegetables, especially Brussels sprouts and broccoli. She has trouble learning her multiplication tables, and almost gets a "D" in English one semester. She also liked dolls early on and was seen playing with a dollhouse in her title credit.
She and Laura often bantered back and forth, whether fighting or teaming up. She is paired with Richie more in seasons 2-4.
Judy helps her aunt and sister stuff envelopes to make extra money after Harriette loses her job in Two-Income Family. She is unhappy her aunt portrayed her as whiny in Short Story and stages a fight with Laura to show that sisters should make up. She breaks the Girl-Scout-cookie record and helps distract Rachel’s suitor by singing in Rachel’s First Date. She earns $10 by getting two As on her report card in straight A’s. She brings in a stray dog and helps hide him from Carl in Man’s Best Friend.
She helps distract Carl from driving his parade float in Body Damage. She also blackmails Eddie by taking photos of the mess in the house during The Party. She made a diorama with Estelle and Rachel's help but sets Rachel's log cabin on fire when everyone comments how pitiful it is in The Big Fix.
Carl and Harriette find out that Judy isn't doing her book reports and might get a D in English in Fast Eddie Winslow. Judy is very excited to share with her mom that she received an A in spelling in Ice Station Winslow, but Harriette and Rachel are distracted by assembling Richie's penguin costume for a play. After trying to show her the test and mentioning she got extra credit for spelling "platypus" right, she leaves dejected because Harriette is still distracted. Later, Rachel catches Judy ripping the beak off his costume, which Harriette determines is out of jealousy and lets them work things out. Laura and Judy eat breakfast together when Rachel has Richie practice his waddle. Laura comments that he's cute but Judy replies that he's not. Laura questions what she's upset about and Judy fills her in that she's ignored when he's around. Laura tells her she felt the same way after she was born, even trying to bury Judy in her crib with toys. Eventually, she realized being older also had its advantages like staying up late and having someone look up to you. Judy says she never thought about that and goes to apologize to Richie.
In Taking Credit, Richie tries to hog credit for a cake that he and Judy both made. When Judy fights back, Rachel tries to explain why Richie shouldn't do that with stories about credit from Carl and Steve. After hearing them, Richie realizes his error and apologizes to Judy about hogging all the credit, which she accepts. After getting Harriette's dress dirty trying it on, she begs Carl to help when she ruins it by putting it in the washing machine. Afterwards, Harriette reveals to Carl she knows he's covering for her because Judy confessed to it in A Thought in the Dark.
Her fourth-grade teacher was named Mrs. Fezlate, whom the kids called "Mrs. Fuzzlip" for her hairy upper lip. In the series' fourth season, Judy's character simply disappeared at age 13, with no explanation.
As the show started revolving more around Steve Urkel, the producers of the show thought that Judy was unneeded and she was more of a background character who was given very few lines. She disappeared after the episode Mama's Wedding; she is last seen walking down the aisle as the flower girl in Estelle and Fletcher's wedding.
Relationships[]
Harriette Winslow - Mother
Carl Winslow - Father
Eddie Winslow - Brother
Laura Winslow - Sister
Estelle Winslow - Grandmother
Rachel Crawford - Aunt
Richie Crawford - Cousin
Steve Urkel - neighbor/brother-in-law
3J - Adopted brother
Robert Crawford - Uncle (deceased)
Darlene Baines - Maternal grandmother
Jimmy Baines - Maternal grandfather
Samuel Winslow - Paternal grandfather (deceased)
Frank Winslow - Uncle
Calvin Winslow - Uncle
Walter Winslow - Uncle
Darryl Winslow - Uncle
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Judy's character was originally written for both Aaliyah and Countess Vaughn.[citation needed] Played by Valerie Jones in the pilot episode, she is portrayed by Jaimee Foxworth from the second episode on until the end of season 4.
Behind the Scenes[]
In the rest of the series, the cast of the show acted as if she never existed and Harriette and Carl acted as if they only had two kids, Eddie and Laura. William Bickley, the show's creator and writer, said that Jaimee Foxworth was cut due to a "budget consideration." However, in a recent interview, Jaimee disagreed and pointed out that she was cut because of an incident that happened between her mother and the producers.
Producer William Bickley would elaborate further in 2017. "When conceptualizing the fifth season, we had to consider all avenues on where we wanted to take the show. ABC wanted to expand the show budget-wise and make the plots more dynamic and add more set pieces, in order for the show to be more competitive in its time slot, because it was a very competitive time period for sitcoms. We began to realize that all the changes and the plots centering around the older teens and adults didn’t give Judy’s character any room to grow and by the fourth season, that was already becoming apparent. Instead of forcing her in, it just was easier, story-wise, to write her off. It was painful to let Jaimee go, but there was just no way to include her."[citation needed]