TVSquad

This week, we're going to take a bit of a departure from the shows we normally cover. It's very rare that a show that puts out 76 episodes could be considered by anyone to be gone too soon, and yet I make the argument that 8 Simple Rules (for Dating My Teenage Daughter) is that show.

I'm also not going to try and convince you that 8 Simple Rules was one of the greatest sitcoms of all time, because it simply wasn't. It was a fairly standard, solid series headlined by a brilliant comic actor... and then it became something else.

I know many of you have been waiting for this moment, so I'll get right to it. Tonight begins the official entry of Family Matters onto the Nick at Nite schedule. Starting at 9 p.m., there will be a marathon of the series that began as a spinoff of the ABC sitcom Perfect Strangers.

For those unfamiliar with the show, Family Matters was a traditional sitcom about the Winslows -- Carl, Harriet, Eddie, Laura, the other daughter that mysteriously disappeared mid-way through the series, Grandma Estelle, Aunt Rachel, and, eventually, cousin Richie. Of course, all of these characters became second bananas to one Steve Urkel, who eventually became the star of the show. Face it, you didn't tune in to see what wisdom Carl would pass on to his son Eddie. You tuned in to see Urkel breaking something at the Winslow home, fawning over Laura, inventing transformation chambers and Urkel-bots, and uttering the now-famous phrase, "Did I do that?"

To get you warmed up for Urkel specifically and Family Matters as a whole, Nick at Nite has provided an Urkel-O-Meter on their website to determine how much of the suspenders-wearing nerd we have in all of us. By answering a few questions the Urkel-O-Meter tells you if you are suave like Stefan Urquelle, a belle like Myrtle Urkel, or a true, lovable nerd like Urkel himself. After taking the quiz it turns out that I am a true Steve Urkel. Well, no surprise to some of you readers out there, is it?

This is one of my favorite comedies of the past ten years, and I no idea that it actually starred not one but two cast members from Lost. More on that after the jump.

Married to the Kellys was a sitcom that ran on Friday nights on ABC during the 2003-04 season, part of their TGIF comedy lineup. But I think this show stood out as something for adults more than kids. It starred Breckin Meyer as a New York City writer who publishes his first novel and decides to keep his promise to his wife and move (he thought she meant move from the Village to the Upper West Side, not "America"). Now, this is where the usual big city guy vs. Kansas jokes come into play, but that's just half of the show.