1{2 "document_id": "lb_hotpotqa_0d6a7aae6f7e00180107c47a73dedda18caf3949666c4d55",3 "family": "public_hotpotqa",4 "split": "test",5 "text": "Passage 1:\nAmerican Nerd\nAmerican Nerd: The Story of My People is a book by Benjamin Nugent. The book discusses the history and origin of the term \"nerd\", as well as what the term means in today's age. Some of the important topics discussed include the racial differences for the term \"nerd\", such as how race played into Urkel, a nerdy character played by Jaleel White on the TV series Family Matters.\n\nAppearances\nThe book and the author were featured on Last Call with Carson Daly as well as The Sound of Young America on NPR.\nPassage 2:\nSteve Urkel\nSteven Quincy Urkel is a fictional character on the American ABC/CBS sitcom Family Matters, portrayed by Jaleel White. Although originally slated to be a one-time-only character on the show, he broke out to be its most popular character and gradually became its protagonist. Due to the Urkel character's off-putting characteristics and the way he would stir up events and underscore the plot or even move it along, he is considered a nuisance by the original protagonist's family, the Winslows, though they come to accept him over time.\nThe character is the epitome of a geek or nerd of the era, due to traits such as large, thick eyeglasses, flood pants held up by suspenders, multi-colored cardigan sweaters, saddle shoes, and a high-pitched voice. He professes love for his neighbor Laura Winslow, who is a character in the main family of the series, but this love of his is written as an accent on or trigger for events and crises and is therefore unrequited until the series' end.\nThroughout the series, starting from Urkel's debut, he is central to many of its running gags, primarily property damage and/or personal injury resulting from of his inventions going awry or his outright clumsiness. He becomes known by viewers and characters alike for several catchphrases uttered after some humorous misfortune occurs, including \"I've fallen and I can't get up!\" \"I don't have to take this. I'm going home.\" \"Did I do that?\" \"Whoa, Mama!\" and \"Look what you did!\" (on occasions when someone else caused the damage, though usually the accident was indirectly caused by Urkel).\n\nCharacter development\nIn syndication, Steve Urkel first appeared on the 4th episode of the first season, \"Rachel's First Date\" (as the show staff wanted to more naturally introduce him to audiences upon repeated viewings). In the 12th episode of the first season, \"Laura's First Date\", he reappears as a nerdy young boy who takes Laura Winslow out on a date. Despite him being madly in love with her, Laura finds Steve grating and doesn't return his affection. \nWhile initially intended to be a minor character, Urkel became very popular for his oddball antics, soon becoming a recurring character and joining the main cast, beginning with the season-two premiere \"Rachel's Place\".Family Matters co-creator Michael Warren named the character after his friend, writer, and director Steve Urkel. Due to the show and the character's tremendous popularity during the early 1990s, Erkel encountered difficulties using his own name; he received many prank phone calls from \"Laura\" asking for \"Steve\", and businesses found his name to be suspicious. Warren stated that had he known if the character would reappear for years, he would not have named him after his friend.\n\nPortrayal\nSteve Urkel embodies the stereotype of a socially inept intellectual who means well but often messes things up. Despite his intelligence, his actions often come across as clumsy and foolish. He is fiercely protective of and obsessed with his unrequited love, Laura Winslow, and this admiration extends to the rest of the Winslow family. However, Steve is comically clumsy and inept, and his attempts to help the Winslows often go awry. This puts him at odds with the family patriarch, Carl, who routinely throws Urkel out of his house. He has been shown to take responsibility for his own mistakes and reimburses the Winslows for the damages he's done. Steve is close to Harriette Winslow, who is delighted each time he comes over, much to Carl's chagrin.\nLater episodes suggest that Steve's attachment to the Winslows stems from his bad relationship with his own family. Urkel often hints that most of his relatives, including his (never seen) parents, despise him and refuse to associate with him. This culminates in the two moving to Russia without him, whereupon he moves in with the Winslows. The show has also revealed that Steve has at least four relatives who care about him who are Uncle Ernie who owns a horse trailer; Uncle Cecil who, despite his gambling problems, visits the Urkel home to keep an eye on him; Aunt Oona from Altoona, (played by singer, Donna Summer), who is like a mother to him; and cousin Myrtle. In the series finale, Steve responds to Carl talking about how proud he is of his future son-in-law by saying \"Thanks, Dad.\"\nUrkel dresses unfashionably for someone his age (he is most commonly seen wearing suspenders, brightly colored shirts, and high water pants) and has a number of hobbies and interests, including polka dancing and accordion playing. His motor vehicle of choice is the small three-wheeled Isetta. Unlike his friends, he has little interest in popular culture and athletic endeavors, though he enjoys playing basketball, once attempting to join the school team. This has caused Myra to be attracted to Urkel himself due to them not being interested in pop culture. However, Steve has shown little interest in her mainly due to her stalker behavior.\nWhile he is unpopular with his schoolmates, Urkel is a brilliant student and is on a first-name basis with his teachers. He is a genius inventor as well, and his fantastical but unreliable gadgets (including a transformation device and a time machine) are central to many Family Matters plots and gags.\nUrkel also has an adept sense of lawbreaking that involves peer pressure. This was explored four times, mainly with Eddie, since he often has to learn his lesson the hard way when he finds himself in situations outside of his control.\n\nStefan Urquelle\nDuring the season five episode \"Dr. Urkel and Mr. Cool\", in a takeoff on The Nutty Professor films, Urkel devises a plan to win Laura's heart: transforming his DNA using a serum, which suppresses his \"nerd genes\" and brings out his \"cool\" genes. This results in the alter ego known as Stefan Urquelle, played by Jaleel White in more casual attire. Initially, Laura is enamored with the smoother Stefan, but asks that he turn back into Steve when Stefan's self-centeredness makes itself apparent.\nSteve improves the formula in the season five episode \"Stefan Returns\" to reduce its negative effects on his personality, and invents a \"transformation chamber\" allowing him to become Stefan at will. He would change into Stefan several times – even while dating Myra – but some circumstance would force Steve to turn into his normal self again. With his narcissistic tendencies toned down, Laura falls deeply in love with Steve's alter-ego.\nIn the seventh-season finale \"Send in the Clones\", Steve creates a cloning machine and winds up creating a perfect duplicate of himself. Myra is initially excited, but eventually realizes that two Steves are just too much. To clear up the situation, Laura proposes that one of the Steves be permanently turned into Stefan, so that she and Myra can both be with the one they love. This Stefan becomes a recurring character and eventually proposes to Laura in the ninth season. After weighing her choices in the episode \"Pop Goes the Question\", Laura chooses Steve over Stefan. Stefan leaves and does not appear again.\n\nCultural impact\nIn 2010, Westside Middle School in Memphis, Tennessee, outlined its dress code policy on sagging pants, asking students to pull them up or get \"Urkeled\", a reference to the character. In this practice, teachers would forcibly pull students' pants up and attach them to their waist using zip ties. Students would also have their photo taken and posted on a board in the hallway, for all of their classmates to view. In an interview with NBC affiliate WMC-TV, Principal Bobby White stated that the general idea is to fight pop culture with pop culture. One teacher at the school claimed to have \"Urkeled\" up to 80 students per week, although after five weeks the number dropped to 18.\n\nRatings effect\nIn syndication, Steve is incorporated into the teaser scene of \"Rachel's First Date\"; his first appearance in the original broadcasts is in the 1989 episode \"Laura's First Date\", in which Carl and Eddie separately set up dates for Laura for a dance or party (both terms are used in the episode), and the first thing known about him is that he allegedly ate a mouse, and he later makes reference to a mouse when speaking to Carl, implying that it might be true. Prior to Steve Urkel's introduction, the show was on the brink of cancellation due to mediocre ratings. After Urkel was introduced, several scripts had to be hastily rewritten to accommodate the character, while several first-season episodes that had been completed had new opening gag sequences filmed featuring Steve trying to push open the Winslows' front door while the family holds it shut. The addition of Steve immediately helped the show boost its modest ratings. White was credited as a guest star in the first season and became a regular member of the cast in season two. In the opening credits for Seasons 5-9, White was the only regular whose character's name appeared alongside his own during the opening credits (Season 9 did not have the same credit sequence showing all the actors, it simply listed their names across the bottom of the screen, but White was listed \"as Steve Urkel\" there as well).\nJo Marie Payton, who played Harriette Winslow, admitted that she felt the Urkel character had hogged much of the show's attention and disrupted the close family relationship she had formed with the rest of the cast. Payton took particular umbrage when youngest sibling Judy Winslow was dismissed as a disposable character and her portrayer, Jaimee Foxworth, was fired to make room for more Urkel stories, because she felt particularly close to Foxworth as the baby of the cast. Payton experienced increasing burnout over the course of the show, became increasingly upset over the production staff allowing White free rein to misbehave, and felt that the overbearing focus on Urkel had made the show jump the shark; she very nearly quit when the show moved to CBS but agreed to stay for the first several episodes while a new actress, Judyann Elder, was cast as Harriet. In an interview with Entertainment Tonight, Payton recalled an instance where White insisted upon inserting something that would have violated Broadcast Standards and Practices, to the point where he and Payton nearly came to physical blows with each other. White is one of the few living members of the cast with whom Payton no longer speaks regularly. She nevertheless speaks well of her experiences and appreciates the effect that Urkel had on the show's popularity and thus the residuals everyone receives from the show. Reginald VelJohnson, in a 2022 interview with Entertainment Tonight, acknowledged that White could be difficult to work with on set but attributed the difficulties to White's young age and being surrounded by other teenagers, which VelJohnson (who himself never had children) found overwhelming. On the whole, VelJohnson had \"nothing but good memories\" of working with White.\n\nThe Urkel Dance\nThe Urkel Dance was a novelty dance that originated in the season two episode, \"Life of the Party\". It was based around the character of Steve Urkel and essentially incorporated movements that made the dancer's posture more like his.\nThe dance was popular enough to appear on another show, Step by Step, when the Steve Urkel character appeared in a crossover in the season one episode, \"The Dance\".\nJaleel White also performed the song, in character as Steve Urkel, on the 5th Annual American Comedy Awards. Bea Arthur (from Maude & The Golden Girls) joined him on stage to \"Do The Urkel\", after which she said, \"Hey, MC Hammer, try and touch that!\"A promotional cassette single of the song that accompanies the dance was produced and distributed in limited numbers. A T-shirt was also produced featuring lyrics and Urkel's likeness.\nRick Sanchez pays some form of homage to The Urkel Dance with \"The Rick Dance\" in the Rick and Morty episode \"Ricksy Business\".\n\nAppearances on other shows\nFull House – In the 1991 episode, \"Stephanie Gets Framed\", Steve is called in to help Stephanie Tanner (Jodie Sweetin) deal with her anxieties after she has to get glasses. He was cousin to a friend of D.J. He also jams with Uncle Jesse and gives Michelle a penny for her piggy bank, telling her that \"with prevailing interest rates, that penny will be worth three cents by the turn of the century\". Incidentally, Family Matters did not air on the night of the episode's original airdate (January 25, 1991). It is implied that he found himself in San Francisco in the Full House universe before paying a visit to the Lambert household from Step by Step.\nStep by Step – In the series' second episode, \"The Dance\", Steve lands in the Lambert-Foster family's backyard after launching himself with a rocket pack from the living room of the Winslows' house in the Family Matters episode \"Brain Over Brawn\" (the two scenes being shown in uninterrupted sequence, as Family Matters and Step by Step aired back to back on ABC's TGIF lineup at the time). He then helps his science-fair pen pal, Mark Foster (Christopher Castile), and lifts Alicia \"Al\" Lambert (Christine Lakin)'s spirits after her potential date dumps her just before a school dance. White reprises his \"Do the Urkel\" dance in the scene where Al gives the boy that dumped her his comeuppance. White also makes a brief two-second cameo as Steve in the 1997 episode \"A Star Is Born\", snapping a clapperboard on the set of the movie that Al was cast in over her two sisters.\nIn the Family Matters episode \"Beauty and the Beast\", Steve sends a chain letter to his friend Cory Matthews, who lived in Philadelphia. The reference is to Ben Savage's character from Boy Meets World, but there were no on-screen crossovers. In an episode of Boy Meets World, Cory says he receives a chain letter from his friend Steve.\nFuller House - In the Season 3 finale, Urkel was mentioned by D.J.. In a January 2018 interview with TVLine's Andy Swift, series creator and former show runner Jeff Franklin mentioned that they have talked about White reprising the role and that they had some ideas for the character if White decides to reprise the role (Franklin was dismissed from the show before this materialized, and Urkel never appeared in the series).\nScooby-Doo and Guess Who? - White reprised his role on the animated series Scooby-Doo and Guess Who? in the episode \"When Urkel- Bots Go Bad!\"\n\nMerchandise\nAt the height of his popularity, Urkel's name was branded to several products including a short-lived fruit flavored cereal known as Urkel-Os and a Steve Urkel pull string doll, which were both released in 1991. There was also a T-shirt line that was created in 2002, but was discontinued shortly after its inception.In 2021 White launched his own cannabis brand that featured a strain called \"Purple Urkel\". He reprised the role of Urkel in a skit with Snoop Dogg to promote the strain.\n\nReception\nIn 1999, TV Guide ranked Urkel #27 on its list of the \"50 Greatest TV Characters of All Time\". In 2004, he was listed at #98 in Bravo's 100 Greatest TV Characters.\n\n\n== Notes ==\nPassage 3:\nFamily Matters\nFamily Matters is an American television sitcom that debuted on ABC on September 22, 1989, and ended on May 9, 1997. However it moved to CBS, where it was shown from September 19, 1997, to July 17, 1998. A spin-off of Perfect Strangers, the series revolves around the Winslow family, an African-American middle class family living in Chicago, Illinois. Midway through the first season, the show introduced the Winslows' nerdy neighbor Steve Urkel (Jaleel White), who was originally scripted to appear as a one-time character. However, he quickly became the show's breakout character (and eventually the main character), joining the main cast.Running for nine seasons, Family Matters became the second-longest-running live action U.S. sitcom with a predominantly African-American cast, behind only The Jeffersons (11 seasons). It aired for 215 episodes, being ranked third, behind only Tyler Perry's House of Payne (280+ as of 2021), and The Jeffersons (253). Family Matters was the last live-action scripted primetime show that debuted in the 1980s to leave the air; the only scripted show that started in the 1980s and lasted longer in continuous production was The Simpsons.\n\nHistory\nThe series was a spinoff from the ABC sitcom Perfect Strangers; both shows aired Friday nights on ABC's primetime slot called \"TGIF\". Jo Marie Payton played Harriette Winslow, the elevator operator at a newspaper where Larry Appleton and Balki Bartokomous also worked. Reginald VelJohnson, who was coming off of growing fame from his role in Die Hard, made an appearance on the show as Harriette's husband Carl Winslow, a Chicago police officer. ABC and the producers loved the character Harriette for her great morale and quick-witted humor and decided to create a show that would focus on her and her family, husband Carl, son Eddie, elder daughter Laura, and younger daughter Judy (who appeared until the character was retconned after season four as having not existed).In the pilot episode, \"The Mama Who Came to Dinner\", the family had also opened their home to Carl's street-wise mother, Estelle (Rosetta LeNoire), usually known as \"Mother Winslow\". Prior to the start of the series, Harriette's sister, Rachel Crawford and her infant son, Richie, had moved into the Winslow household after the death of Rachel's husband. The Winslows' nerdy teenage next-door neighbor, Steve Urkel (Jaleel White), was introduced midway through the first season in the episode \"Laura’s First Date\" and quickly became the focus of the show.The popular sitcom was a mainstay of ABC's TGIF lineup from 1989 until 1997, at which point it became part of the CBS Block Party lineup for its final season. Family Matters was produced by Bickley-Warren Productions (1991–1998) and Miller-Boyett Productions, in association with Lorimar Television (1989–1993) and later Warner Bros. Television (1993–1998). As the show progressed, episodes began to center increasingly on Steve Urkel, and other original characters also played by White, including Steve's suave alter-ego, Stefan Urquelle (who is Jaleel White's real-life self), and his female cousin, Myrtle Urkel.\n\nNetwork change\nIn early 1997, CBS picked up Family Matters and Step by Step in a $40 million deal to acquire the rights to the programs from ABC. ABC then promised to pay Miller-Boyett Productions $1.5 million per episode for a ninth and tenth season of Family Matters. However, tensions had risen between Miller-Boyett Productions and ABC's corporate parent, The Walt Disney Company (which had bought the network in 1996 as part of its merger with ABC's then-parent Capital Cities/ABC Inc.). Miller-Boyett thought that it would not be a big player on ABC after the network's recent purchase by Disney.Miller-Boyett Productions agreed to a $40 million offer from CBS for a 22-episode season for both Family Matters and Step By Step. CBS scheduled Family Matters along with Meego and Step By Step as a part of its new Friday lineup, branded as the CBS Block Party. The network scheduled the family-oriented block against ABC's TGIF lineup, where the two series originated. Jo Marie Payton's contract had just expired and she was reluctant to continue, feeling the show had jumped the shark years prior. She agreed to stay to keep continuity but left midseason shortly after very nearly getting into a physical altercation with White in what would be her last regular episode; in that episode, White (playing a gangster instead of his usual Urkel) was attempting to insert material that violated Broadcast Standards and Practices. The resulting dispute between White and Payton escalated to the point where Darius McCrary had to separate the two. Payton would appear in only one more episode after that—a Christmas episode that also brought back several former characters from the ABC run who had been written out on CBS—before Judyann Elder took over as Harriette for the remainder of the season.\nWhile Family Matters continued to lose viewership compared to previous years, it was initially a modest success on CBS, beating the show that replaced it, You Wish. Meego, however, was a ratings failure and was canceled after six weeks. Near the end of the ninth season, the cast was informed that a tenth and final season was planned, so scripts and plot synopses were written for the show. After the holiday special season, CBS replaced Meego with Kids Say the Darndest Things, and with that show's child-centered focus, it was placed in Family Matters' 8/7c time slot, with Family Matters pushed an hour later and paired with Step by Step. The ratings for Family Matters fell even further in this later slot, and the entire block except for Kids Say... was canceled in spring 1998, with the remaining episodes burned off in the summer, On November 28, 2019 Bryton McClure who played the 2nd version of Richard \"Richie\" Crawford Sayed To OWN \"it was about time, relationships gone a little south and time to move on\", on November 28th, 2020 TV One Did a Thanksgiving Marathon called Family Matters: Turkel \nMarathon, Michelle Thomas went to talk to fellow co-star Reginald VelJohnson that she was sick, and the rest of the main cast never said their goodbyes after 25 years of her passing\n\nCast\nEpisodes\nProduction notes\nFamily Matters was created by William Bickley and Michael Warren (who also wrote for, and were producers of, parent series Perfect Strangers) and developed by Thomas L. Miller and Robert L. Boyett (who also served as executive producers on Perfect Strangers); all four also served as executive producers of the series. The series was produced by Miller-Boyett Productions, in association with Lorimar Television who co-produced the show until 1993, when Warner Bros. Television absorbed Lorimar (a sister company under the co-ownership of Time Warner).\nStarting with season three, the series was also produced by Bickley-Warren Productions. The series was filmed in front of a live studio audience; the Lorimar-produced episodes were shot at Lorimar Studios (later Sony Pictures Studios) in Culver City, California, while the Warner Bros.-produced episodes were filmed at Warner Bros. Studios in nearby Burbank.\nThe show's original theme was Louis Armstrong's \"What a Wonderful World\"; it was scrapped after the fifth episode of season one (\"Straight A's\"), though it was heard only in the pilot episode in syndicated reruns. The second theme, \"As Days Go By\", written by Jesse Frederick, Bennett Salvay and Scott Roeme and performed by Frederick, was the theme for the majority of the series until 1995. The sixth season's opening credits was last used in the season seven episodes \"Talk's Cheap\" and \"Fa La La La Laagghh\", the only two episodes during the final three seasons to feature the theme song (this was heard in season one episodes in ABC Family and syndicated airings). A longer version of \"As Days Go By\" was used during the first three seasons, though in syndicated reruns the short version is heard (in ABC Family airings, the long theme was used for all of the episodes during the first three seasons).\nFamily Matters is set in the same fictional universe as several other TV shows related to ABC's TGIF or CBS's Block Party. Before Family Matters, Harriette Winslow was originally the elevator operator at the Chicago Chronicle newspaper office in the third and fourth seasons of Perfect Strangers. Family Matters was a spin-off series given to this character in 1989. Characters from Family Matters appeared on other shows, including Full House, Boy Meets World, Step by Step and Meego.\n\nSyndication\nIn September 1993, Warner Bros. Television Distribution began distributing Family Matters for broadcast in off-network syndication; most television stations stopped carrying the show by around 2002, though some stations in larger markets such as WTOG in Tampa, Florida continued to air Family Matters until as recently as 2005 and New York's WPIX as 2006. In 1995, reruns of the series began airing on TBS Superstation, where it ran until 2003. TBS would air two episodes of Family Matters each weekday afternoon from October 1995 to September 1999. From 1999 to 2003, TBS only aired the series once per weekday typically playing in the early mornings. The series would return to TBS 17 years later on February 3, 2020 and airs in the early morning time slots paired with George Lopez.\nFrom 1997 to 2003, reruns of the series aired on WGN America. In 2003, ABC Family picked up the series and aired it for five years until February 29, 2008. From 2004 to 2006, UPN aired the show for 2 years. BET aired reruns briefly in December 2009 and began airing the series on a regular basis on March 1, 2013; the series returned to BET in mid-February 2023. MTV2 also began airing reruns on September 7, 2013. The show aired on Nick at Nite from June 29, 2008 to December 31, 2012. ABC Family and Nick at Nite airings cut the tag scenes at the end of all episodes, despite the fact that many episodes during the series have tag scenes during the closing credits. The series also currently airs on TV One since 2019. In Canada, the series also aired on CTV, CBC and currently airs on Family Channel.\nOn September 29, 2017, Family Matters became available for streaming on Hulu. In the UK it aired on Sky One whilst Perfect Strangers aired on BBC One.\nReruns of the series also started airing on Cartoon Network's ACME Night block on September 19, 2021.\nOn October 1, 2021, Family Matters began streaming on HBO Max after its streaming rights expired from Hulu, but has since returned to the Hulu platform.\n\nInternational airings\nIn France, it aired as La Vie de famille (Family Life) as part of the show Club Dorothée on January 1, 1995 and on RTL9 (from August 28, 1995), France 2 & M6 (from June 1, 2000).\nIn Italy, it aired as Otto sotto un tetto (Eight under one roof) on Canale 5, Italia 1 in 1992, with subsequent airings on Fox Retro & Sky Atlantic.\n\nHome media\nWarner Home Video has released the first four seasons of Family Matters on DVD in Region 1 while the remaining five seasons were released by the Warner Archive Collection. On February 4, 2014, Warner Home Video released season 4 on DVD, but consumers complained when it was found that the season 4 set contained syndication edits rather than the original broadcast masters. Warner Bros. responded to the complaints, offered a replacement program to receive corrected discs and reissuing the set with corrected broadcast copies on April 4, 2014. All episodes are the original broadcast form, except for the episode \"Number One With a Bullet\", disc 1, episode 6. The entire series is also available for digital download on Amazon.com and the iTunes Store, all but season 6 remastered in both SD and HD.\n\nAnimated Christmas TV movie\nOn September 1, 2021, it was announced an animated Christmas film Did I Do That to the Holidays? A Steve Urkel Story would air on Cartoon Network as part of the block ACME Night in 2022. It was set to be released on HBO Max. However, on August 22, 2022, it was announced the film will not be moving forward on HBO Max and will be shopped elsewhere due to the Warner Bros. Discovery merger. Current bidders are Apple TV+, Hulu and Netflix.\n\nAccolades\nNotes\nPassage 4:\nMichelle Thomas\nMichelle Doris Thomas (September 23, 1968 – December 23, 1998) was an American actress. She was known for her roles as Justine Phillips on the NBC sitcom The Cosby Show (1988–90), as Myra Monkhouse on the ABC/CBS sitcom Family Matters (1993–98), and as Callie Rogers on the CBS soap opera The Young and the Restless (1998).\n\nEarly life and education\nMichelle Thomas was born in Brookline, Massachusetts, on September 23, 1968, to Phynjuar \"Penwah\" Thomas, a stage actress, and musician father Dennis \"Dee Tee\" Thomas, a saxophonist and founding member of the band Kool & the Gang. Thomas grew up in Montclair, New Jersey, and graduated from West Essex High School in 1987.As a child, she would accompany her mother to her theater rehearsals and performances. Her mother was her first acting coach, and coached her throughout the course of her career. A friend of her mother who had heard Michelle Thomas sing before had requested that she enter Miss Talented Teens. Thomas was crowned Miss Talented Teen New Jersey at the state's Hal Jackson's Talented Teen pageant, and then in July 1984, at the age of 15, she was crowned Miss Talented Teen International in Montego Bay, Jamaica from among 35 state and national representatives.\n\nCareer\nIn 1983, Michelle Thomas appeared in her first television commercial. In December 1984, she appeared with Hal Jackson on Soul Train after having won the Miss Talented Teen International pageant earlier in the year.From 1988 to 1990, Thomas portrayed Justine Phillips, the girlfriend of Theo Huxtable, on The Cosby Show. She appeared on various television programs, including A Man Called Hawk in 1989 and Thea in 1994. Thomas had a role in Dream Date in 1989 and had a small role in Hangin' with the Homeboys in 1991.\nThomas appeared in music videos for Mint Condition, Chubb Rock, and Dru Hill. Her publicist was Kahdijah Bell, daughter of Ronald Bell of Kool & the Gang. Thomas was a guest host of the weekly music series Soul Train in May 1996 and March 1997.From 1993 to 1998, she portrayed the role of Myra Monkhouse, the girlfriend of Steve Urkel, on Family Matters. After the sitcom ended in 1998, Thomas portrayed Callie Rogers, an aspiring singer and love interest of Malcolm Winters, on the daytime soap The Young and the Restless. In October 1998, Thomas took a medical leave from the series due to her ill health. Thomas had been in the studio recording music before her sudden turn in health. She appeared posthumously in the role of Anne in the film Unbowed in 1999.\n\nHealth and death\nIn August 1997, Thomas was diagnosed with a rare cancer, an intra-abdominal desmoplastic small-round-cell tumor (DSRCT). Thomas never smoked or drank alcohol, and was a vegetarian. Her mother added that \"they'd give her a sedation that was supposed to put her out for 20 minutes and she'd be asleep for four days. Her body couldn't take it.\" Thomas underwent surgery to remove a lemon-sized tumor shortly before landing her The Young and the Restless role in the spring of 1998. She underwent surgery again in October 1998 after a second cancerous growth ruptured. After being released from the hospital, Thomas flew home to New Jersey to spend Thanksgiving with her family in Weehawken, New Jersey.On December 23, at age 30, Thomas died in New York City at Manhattan's Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. Malcolm-Jamal Warner, Thomas' longtime friend and former boyfriend, was among those at her bedside. On December 26, 1998, a Muslim funeral service was held, per her request. She was buried in New Jersey.\n\nFilmography\nFilm\nTelevision\nMusic videos\nHonors\nPassage 5:\nBoy Meets World (season 2)\nThe second season of the television comedy series Boy Meets World aired between September 23, 1994 and May 19, 1995, on ABC in the United States. The season was produced by Michael Jacobs Productions and Touchstone Television with series creator Michael Jacobs as executive producer. It was broadcast as part of the ABC comedy block TGIF on Friday evenings. This is the last season to have Lily Nicksay portray Morgan Matthews. (She would be replaced by Lindsay Ridgeway in season three.)\n\nCast\nMain\nBen Savage as Cory Matthews\nWilliam Daniels as George Feeny\nBetsy Randle as Amy Matthews\nWill Friedle as Eric Matthews\nRider Strong as Shawn Hunter\nDanielle Fishel as Topanga Lawrence\nLily Nicksay as Morgan Matthews\nAnthony Tyler Quinn as Jonathan Turner\nWilliam Russ as Alan Matthews\n\nEpisodes\nPassage 6:\nTwenty Vicodin\n\"Twenty Vicodin\" is the eighth season premiere episode of the American television medical drama series House and the 156th overall episode of the series. It aired on Fox on October 3, 2011. The episode introduces a new regular cast member to the series, Odette Annable, who plays Dr. Jessica Adams. Jaleel White, who played Steve Urkel on the ABC show Family Matters, makes a guest appearance in the episode. In the episode, the storyline picks up eleven months after the season seventh finale with House in prison.\n\nPlot\nEight months after being imprisoned for driving his car into Cuddy's living room, House has five days before he is granted parole, to which he has become eligible due to space issues and relatively good behavior. He is faced with prison bullies, mainly their leader (Jude Ciccolella), who extorts him into paying them \"twenty Vicodin\" as \"exit tax\", and meets Jessica Adams (Odette Annable), a young prison doctor who becomes fascinated with his medical skills. When a fellow prisoner collapses due to mysterious symptoms, House races against the clock and the head prison doctor to find the cure. During his imprisonment period, House has not had any phone calls or visitors; as House explains, human contact is what brought him there to begin with. In the end, House cures the man, but not without punishment from the parole board.\n\nProduction\n\"Twenty Vicodin\", the eighth season premiere of House, was written by Peter Blake. It debuted actress Odette Annable as Dr. Jessica Adams, a doctor working at the prison where Dr. House is incarcerated. David Shore stated that it was a challenge for him to appropriately punish House for the deed in the season 7 finale without turning the series into a prison show or changing House's characteristics (while changing the environment around him, i.e. removing Cuddy and \"chilling\" his relationship with Wilson), and that is why he decided to pick up the story eight months after House's incarceration.\n\nReception\nCritical reception\nThe episode was received with generally good reviews. The A.V. Club initially gave this episode a B− rating. Anthony Ocasio of ScreenRant.com gave the episode a positive review, stating \"the House season 8 premiere presents a wonderfully crafted case study, penned by executive producer Peter Blake, on the man that is House, in which Hugh Laurie masterfully traverses a new environment filled with intriguing challenges and compelling characters.\" Joseph Oliveto from screencrave.com gave the episode a very good review, awarding the episode 9/10. Oliveto commented that Twenty Vicodin was \"A tense season-opener [that] assures us that “House” hasn’t lost the magic\".\n\nRatings\nWith 9.78 million viewers, \"Twenty Vicodin\" was the 8th most watched program of the night. This was a decrease of 0.76 million viewers from the season seven premiere, but an increase of 0.67 million from the season 7 finale. The episode was the 14th most watched program of the week for adults 18-49. The season premiere was the second most watched program of the week in Canada with 2.81 million viewers.\nPassage 7:\nShawn Harrison (actor)\nShawn Harrison (born December 28, 1973) is an American actor best known for his role as Waldo Faldo, the dim-witted but lovable chef-in-training on the ABC sitcom Family Matters from 1990 to 1996.Before sixth grade, he appeared in seven commercials such as Fruity Pebbles and Burger King. In 1986, Harrison made an appearance in the Kidsongs video \"I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing\" in the role of Mike. His mother died when he was 17.\nHarrison has also made occasional appearances as the hairstylist Peaches on the UPN sitcom Girlfriends, and made several guest appearances on other series prior to that, including Moesha.\nHe provided the voice of Timber Wolf on the animated series Legion of Super Heroes, which premiered in fall 2006. He was also in an episode of Punky Brewster. He also played William K in two episodes The Ms. Pat Show.\n\nFilmography\nFilm\nTelevision\nPassage 8:\nTotal Blackout\nTotal Blackout is an American game show airing on Syfy that features contestants that have to complete challenges such as: identifying things with either their hands, nose, or mouth; gathering items; or getting from point A to Point B while being totally in the dark (hence the name \"Total Blackout\"). The host of the show is Jaleel White, known for roles like Steve Urkel on the ABC/CBS sitcom Family Matters, and Sonic the Hedgehog in three animated shows. Each episode has four players competing to win $5,000. On occasion, episodes will feature four teams of two. The player or team who either takes the longest to do a certain task or identifies the fewest items in the allowed time is eliminated at the end of each round. The show was renewed for a second season by SyFy that started on October 30, 2012. Season 1 and 2 are now available on iTunes.\nThe show is originally Danish and first aired in Denmark (created by Henrik Nielsen) on Kanal 5 in 2011, where Uffe Holm was host of the show. The show was later adapted to a U.S.version.\n\nEpisodes\nSeason 1 (2012)\nSeason 2 (2013)\nPassage 9:\nJaleel White\nJaleel Ahmad White (born November 27, 1976) is an American actor. He is best known for his role as Steve Urkel on the sitcom Family Matters. The character was originally intended to be a one-time guest appearance on the show; however, he was an instant hit with audiences and White became a regular cast member. The series aired for a total of nine seasons, from 1989 to 1997 on ABC, mostly on its Friday night TGIF lineup, and from 1997 to 1998 on CBS, again on Friday nights, via their short-lived CBS Block Party attempt. White then reprised his role as Urkel for the first time in 21 years in the 2019 series Scooby-Doo and Guess Who?.\nWhite is also the first actor to voice the popular Sega video game character Sonic the Hedgehog in animated media, doing so in Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic the Hedgehog (also known as Sonic SatAM) and Sonic Underground, all of which were produced by the now-defunct DIC Entertainment studio. He then reprised his role as Sonic in the 2013 Sonic fan film.\nAfter Family Matters ended, White went on to star in the short-lived UPN comedy series Grown Ups (1999–2000). White then took brief hiatus from acting to attend UCLA in Los Angeles, California, where he graduated in 2001, earning a degree in film and television. He returned to acting with supporting roles in Dreamgirls (2006), and cameo appearances on another ABC series, Boston Legal, Fox's House, ABC's Castle, and USA's Psych. In 2010, he portrayed Dr. McCormick in the sci-fi film Mega Shark Versus Crocosaurus. In March 2012, White was a contestant in season 14 of Dancing with the Stars before he was voted off in May of that year, leaving him with a 7th place finish overall. In April 2012, White hosted the Syfy game show Total Blackout. In January 2017, White appeared in Bones as Officer Adams. In 2020, White had a recurring role in the one season-long Netflix series The Big Show Show.\n\nEarly life\nWhite was born in Culver City, California, the only child of Michael White, a dentist, and Gail White, who was a homemaker. His mother later became his manager. White attended John Marshall Fundamental High School in Pasadena, California, and South Pasadena High School before graduating from UCLA in 2001. On the advice of his preschool teacher, White began acting as a child. He got his start on TV commercials at age three. One of White's notable commercial appearances was for Jell-O pudding pops alongside Bill Cosby.\n\nCareer\nAfter starting his career at the age of three, White's first television role was a guest stint on The Jeffersons, in 1984. He later auditioned for the role of Rudy Huxtable on The Cosby Show. According to White, he was cast in the role (the character was originally intended to be male) but was replaced by Keshia Knight Pulliam when Bill Cosby decided to mirror his television family after his real life family. The following year, he was cast as the son of Flip Wilson and Gladys Knight on the CBS sitcom Charlie and Company. The series was intended to be CBS' answer to the highly rated Cosby Show which debuted on NBC in 1984. Unlike The Cosby Show, Charlie and Company did not catch on with audiences and was canceled in May 1986. In 1987, he appeared in the pilot episode for Good Morning, Miss Bliss, and had a guest role on Mr. Belvedere. In 1988, White had a supporting role in Cadets, a sitcom starring Soleil Moon Frye. The pilot episode aired during a preview special on September 25, 1988, on ABC. The series, however, was not picked up by the network. Also during the 1980s, he appeared in a few segments of NBC's One to Grow On.\nWhite had a role in the NBC television film Camp Cucamonga. The film features an ensemble cast including Sherman Hemsley, Jennifer Aniston, and Brian Robbins. Several other child actors of the era including Chad Allen, Candace Cameron, Danica McKellar, Josh Saviano, and Breckin Meyer also appear.\n\nFamily Matters\nAt the age of 12, White originated his most famous role, Steve Urkel, on Family Matters. The role was initially conceived as a one-time guest appearance, but the character proved to be popular and White was given a full-time starring role. He also played several other members of the Urkel family, including his alter ego Stefan Urquelle and Myrtle Urkel. During the height of Family Matters' popularity, the character of Urkel was marketed with breakfast cereal (Urkel-Os) and an Urkel doll. In addition to starring in the series, White also wrote several episodes, including one, at age 19, that was the series' highest rated for that year. The series was a staple of ABC's TGIF lineup and became one of the longest-running sitcoms with a predominantly black cast in television history.In 1992, he was featured in The Jaleel White Special, in which he played a fictionalized version of himself making a film, while also playing Steve Urkel.By the time the series ended in 1998, White, who was then 21 years old, was disillusioned with the role, and had been shaken by the death of his close friend and co-star Michelle Thomas from an aggressive form of stomach cancer. Shortly after the series' cancellation, he stated in a 1999 interview, \"If you ever see me do that character again, take me out and put a bullet in my head and put me out of my misery.\" Due to the character's popularity, White was so tightly defined by his Urkel character that he encountered difficulty finding other roles.In later years, White came to terms with the character. In a 2011 interview with Vanity Fair, he addressed the 1999 \"bullet\" quote stating, \"It's one of those things that it's very unfortunate how quotes are taken out of context. I remember that interview very vividly. I loved playing those characters ... But the fact is that I was maturing. ... To be honest, I was retarding my own growth as a man to maintain the authenticity to what I thought that character should be.\" When asked if he would ever reprise the Steve Urkel role, White said, \"I'll always say never say never; I'm a pretty creative person. I can't envision how I could do it in a way that would be irreverent and fun for both me and the viewing audience\".\n\nOther career highlights\nWhite was the original English voice of the popular video game character Sonic the Hedgehog, having been cast in 1993 (pre-dating Martin Burke and Ryan Drummond). He voiced the character in all of the DiC-produced animated series: Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic SatAM, and Sonic Underground, as well as the Christmas special, Sonic Christmas Blast. In Underground, White also voiced Sonic's brother and sister, Manic and Sonia. White did not return to voice Sonic when Sonic X was released in 2003.\nIn 1999, White returned to television in the UPN sitcom Grown Ups. The series was based around White as a young man striking out into adulthood. He also co-produced and wrote some episodes for the show, in which he starred as \"J\", a college graduate struggling to establish his role in life as an adult. The pilot episode featured another former child actor, Soleil Moon Frye, known for her role as Punky Brewster, as the girl whom he chose as a roommate. The show received poor reviews from critics but debuted in second place in the ratings upon its premiere. However, ratings soon dropped and UPN canceled the series after one season.White's acting roles have not been restricted to sitcoms. He has provided his voice to several animated projects including Warner Bros.' 1998 film Quest for Camelot. In 1999, he provided the voice for a teenaged Martin Luther King Jr., in Our Friend, Martin.\nIn 2001, White graduated from UCLA with a degree in film and television. He has continued acting and has had small parts in the films Big Fat Liar (in a cameo role) and Dreamgirls, and was featured as the lead role in the direct-to-DVD comedy Who Made the Potatoe Salad? in 2006. In 2007, he guest-starred on the CW series The Game, followed by a role as a law school graduate interviewing for a job at Crane, Poole and Schmidt in the ABC legal drama Boston Legal.In June 2009, White began appearing in the web series Road to the Altar. In the series, White stars as Simon, a 30-something black man marrying a young Jewish girl named Rochelle. In September 2009, White guest starred on the USA Network series Psych, as an estranged college singing buddy of the character Gus.\nIn June 2010, White starred in the web series Fake It Till You Make It. He also serves as writer and producer of the series. The series, which premiered on Hulu, follows the exploits of former child star Reggie Cullen (White) turned image consultant and his three protégés as they hustle to navigate Hollywood. In March 2011, White guest starred on the TBS sitcom Are We There Yet?, which reunited him with fellow Family Matters cast member Telma Hopkins. Later that same year, White appeared as the star in Cee-Lo Green's music video for his song \"Cry Baby\".In October 2011, White appeared in the season 8 premiere of House, titled \"Twenty Vicodin\", where he appears as a well-connected inmate, occasionally helping Hugh Laurie's character Gregory House to sneak contraband into the prison. In April 2012, White began hosting the Syfy game show Total Blackout.In March 2012, White began competing on the 14th season of Dancing with the Stars. He was partnered with two-time dance champion Kym Johnson. In the opening night's performance, White and Johnson danced the Foxtrot to \"The Way You Look Tonight\". They earned a total of 26 points out of 30. White was voted off the series in May 2012.In 2015, White appeared in a Scion commercial.In 2017, it was announced that CBS picked up his single camera comedy series Me, Myself & I with Bobby Moynihan, that premiered in September 2017. After six episodes, it was pulled from the fall schedule, leaving seven episodes unaired, with the network airing the remaining episodes in the summer.\n\nPersonal life\nWhite dated actress Christine Lakin from fellow TGIF show Step by Step in the early 90s.\nWhite has one daughter, Samaya (born in 2009), with ex-girlfriend Bridget Hardy.In 2021, White announced the launch of his ItsPurpl line of cannabis products featuring the Purple Urkle strain, set for debut on April 20 at California dispensaries.White has a memorial set up in his home for his Family Matters co-star Michelle Thomas, who died in 1998 of stomach cancer, shortly after the series had wrapped. He has described Thomas as a 'big sister' who was, for a period of time in the early seasons of the show, his closest friend on set, and has stated that his childhood seemed to officially end with her death.\n\nFilmography\nFilm\nTelevision\nWeb\nAwards and nominations",6 "char_len": 48117,7 "document_hash": "d8930558f9666d103d96442ee260c246e57a5705f144eb77724199d30f53434a",8 "questions": [9 {10 "question_id": "q00",11 "qtype": "hotpotqa",12 "question": "Which American actor portray Steve Urkel in \"Family Matters\""13 }14 ]15}