December 17, 2025 • 38 mins
Telma's character Rachel, among her many talents, is apparently also a mechanic! This episode we get into Rachel and Harriette's sister dynamic, Laura's hustler mindset, and Telma's talent for on-camera stunts. Plus, we respond to a voicemail from a listener who wants to know about '90s fashion!
Leave us a voicemail at thefamilymatterspod.com! Let us know what you think of the podcast and share your own memories of "Family Matters." And if you have any questions, issues, or "family matters" of your own that you need advice on, Telma and Kellie will do their best to help!
Follow us on Instagram @welcometothefamilypod. And follow Telma @telma_hopkins and Kellie @kellieswilliams.
"Welcome to the Family with Telma and Kellie" is an Audiation and iHeartRadio production.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Really listens a mission this day and age Kelly and
Thelma and returning the page we're talking. Family Matters is
about those times? Ellen? What happened between the line with
Kelly and me? Welcome to the fam, Elisa, Kelly, welcome, welcome,
(00:30):
Welcome to the family. Y'all to the family. I'm Telma
and I'm Kelly. And in the nineties we start in
a little sitcom you may have heard of called Family Matters.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Yes, now, today we're going to rewatch season one, episode seven,
Body Damage, where Rachel gets into a little fender bender
in Carl's vintage police car and has to fix the
damage before he finds out.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
But before we get into that, I want to note
what up with you girl? What happened this week?
Speaker 2 (00:59):
Okay? I've been waiting to tell you this because I've
been noticing something over the years.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
Okay, I think people who.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
Drive eco friendly car something is wrong with them.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
And why do you say that, Kelly? They're crazy? Oh Chase.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Does it matter whether they're in front of a police car,
in a school parking lot or in front of her church?
They drive like they on an autubon.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
Okay, are you saying they're driving too fast for your liking. No,
they're just reckless. I mean these you say, go ahead, I.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
See where you're going with this, don't And I really
don't understand subtlety that well.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
And I'm not being that subtle. Shall I just come
out with.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
Hey, what are you trying to side?
Speaker 1 (01:48):
It told me that you were a demon behind the
wheel when you first started driving. Young lady out here,
somebody had to redie there hair because they had the
nerve to go out with you or a drive.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
And apparently you don't.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
Have to put your foot into the tank to go
to the next stop sign, is what I hear.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
I'm just let's say, let me just put this.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
I just heard he had to dye his hair a
couple of times because it turned white while he was
in the car with you. I mean, there was just
some crazy step going. Now this is your faue, brother,
I'm talking about it. Just so we're clear.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
You gonna take Derrick? First of all?
Speaker 1 (02:26):
Is who you didn't say, Darius? You? Oh okay, I
was one that I burnt. Yeah there you go.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
Okay, So look it is Iama's because that's what you
made me. That's how you told me how to drive.
Don't even try it.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
But how to drive?
Speaker 2 (02:43):
Listen.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
Yeah, I drive a fast car, but I was good
and grown when I started. Okay, Tracy Chapman, Now I
did not teach you how to drive. Who taught you
how to drive?
Speaker 3 (02:52):
Girl?
Speaker 1 (02:52):
Because I know I wasn't that crazy. Listen, I learned
by watching you you had to pay somebody. Just gonna
tell somebody you had to pay somebody to teach you.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
Liza and all of y'all Sunday drivers.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
Get off the road, yep, because Kelly coming correct, Kelly
coming right out here the way? Well, girl, all right,
it's truly interesting. I'm glad I got a chance to
front you on your stuff to talk about other people.
But I am through with my trainer child. This girl
has lost her mind. Apparently she thinks I'm twenty years
(03:23):
younger than I am, and she is trying to teach
me to be really bendy like a pretzel. Now, in
my youth, I was as bendy as they come. I
will put myself on the back of that. The girl,
now it just pops completely out of the socket. She
don't get it. I got to get her off, man.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
I got to stop you here because maybe these people
out here who don't know you. You have trained this trainer
to treat you this way because I don't know if
you remember me working out with you and walking with
you where you try to run me into the ground.
This is in my prime, before I were young. You
were supposed to be able to hang. You hang out
(04:00):
where Jackie join to Curncy. You should have told me
before you got me out there.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
I thought you can hang. I'm not an Olympian, yo.
I found that out. You're barely a walk of than
Oh man, Okay, those were the days it was. It was,
But let's talk about this show, girl, Let's talk about it.
(04:26):
Today's episode is called body Damage. Now now my personal
body that we're talking about a car here, So don't
get it twisted, okay. It was written by Ken Kuda
and directed by the late James O. Keith.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
Do you remember, James? I do.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
Yeah. It aired on November tenth, nineteen eighty nine. Now, Kelly,
what was going on that week in nineteen eighty nine?
Speaker 2 (04:47):
Well, you know I always loved my little facts.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
I know you do.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
Okay, So Babyface and miss Jackson, if your nasty was
still on the top of the billboard, R and B charts.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
I like how you said that. It was almost like
if your nasty was a last name, is not? What
else are appen?
Speaker 2 (05:04):
Girl? Okay. Earlier that week, on Tuesday, November seventh, Laurence
Douglas Wilder made history by being elected the first black
governor in the US. Wow, and he was governor of
Virginia from nineteen ninety to nineteen ninety four.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
Jeez, that wasn't that long ago. Huh? It wasn't not
really when you think about it.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
Okay. So another major historical event happened on November ninth
was that it was decided that the Berlin Wall would
come down on November tenth, the day the episode. Their
demolition had already begun and folks were crossing the border
and from East Germany into West Berlin freely.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
That must have been really something. I remember it. I
remember Garbi Chap, what was it bring that wall down?
That wall or whatever?
Speaker 3 (05:46):
He said?
Speaker 1 (05:47):
Yeah, I certainly understand as a black woman, a black person,
when that freedom is not there and when that freedom
is there. So I know that that must have been
a great thing for them. I wish I had asked
Rose about it, because she was actually around when everything
was going on. She probably had a really wonderful insight
into it. But I remember it. When I was in
(06:09):
Germany a few years ago, I did go to the
Berlin Wall. It was unfortunately it was during COVID, so
I wouldn't get out of the car, but we got
as close as we could get, and that was probably
more impactful because you see how massive that wall was.
And it's funny how barriers were dealing with our own
(06:29):
but how that barrier kept people of like minds apart.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
Yeah, and now that all this time later we were
asking to tear down walls. Then now we're trying to
build walls. Now we're trying to build them up.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
Yep.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
Okay, so enough about the ancient history. Let's get into
this episoul.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
First things first, we have to acknowledge that this is
another pre Erkle cold open. I'm sorry, this makes no
sense to me. He hasn't been introduced, but at least
Carl calls him by his name. This time, we know
he's Steve, and we also know he hangs out with
a duck, which is always good to know.
Speaker 2 (07:08):
Okay, he takes the baths with the real live duck,
which was crazy. I think that's the beginning of the
shenanigans on the show.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
The duck wasn't even wet. That's what I'm trying to
take out. Water dripping nowhere.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
Well, I think that's real, right, Duck feathers don't really
get what do they.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
Well, if you pull a duck out the bathtub, you
mean to tell me he's not gonna drip. Why are
you asking me all these deep questions? I don't know,
because you're supposed to be deep. That's why you're a
co host. You're deep. It just seems odd to me
because we don't know him yet. Well, anyway, it's syndication,
So everything goes okay.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
But before we get into the episode, now, I just
wanted to touch in on one thing, the open credits. Now,
on this episode, you rebuild and as can you talk
a little bit about why you chose to ask for
that particular credit. This is a little behind the scenes
Hollywood tea.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
Well, first of all, Joe, Marie and Reggie were the
stars of the show. But work wise, I probably worked
more than both of them at that point in my career,
and it worked with Bob some years ago doing Buzz
and Buddies. So This was one of the times it's
not always your choice. Don't think you get a fired
on the show. Yeah, I want to be and as
(08:19):
a with a and first a second right. That doesn't
always happen. But we were in a position on this
particular show to ask for and dads, and it's simply
if you can't be first or second, be last, and
it kind of just distinguishes you. So instead of just
Telma Hopkins at the top is and Telma Hopkins as Rachel.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
So you get your own moment, So you get your
own moment.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
But a lot of times it's really at the executive
producer's discretion. Like on Clean Slate, I didn't know what
credit I got because of course Laverne is a star
and George is a star, and I ended up getting
the end credits with George, which were with Telma Hopkins
and George Nice. Yeah, so that just gives you a
(09:02):
little extra you and George Wallace together, so we're funny.
We're funny. We're funny. Oh indeed, that's a little thing.
So your managers can ask for it. Some people are
in that position where they can just say, this is
what I want. If you want me this is what
you you know, right, We've never gone in like that,
but most of the time we've gotten good placement as
far as but it's usually at the executive producer's discretion.
(09:23):
You can ask for it. Yeah, well you could ask
for Anne because you were just hold that. Well, yeah,
I can ask. That's all I can do. I ain't
giving up the job for it. I'll tell you that.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
I know. That's right. And this baby this was to
tell mohaw because this was just and somebody else right, right, Okay,
So in this episode we found out another somewhat surprising
thing about Rachel. She's also a complete gearhead.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
Yeah. It's so believable, isn't it.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
I mean, it's funny. So how much the character is
willing to try new things and going in a new direction,
specifically because she's living the Midwest, this is true, is
just one of those towns where you like work for it,
like a steel company for the rest of your life.
She's like like a billion things.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
Right, But I think that she's probably trying to find
her way too, because she was always coming up with
something and she did want to be a contributor to
the household. She just didn't always pick the best ways
to do it. This particular time, she's taking an adult
education class. Obviously she's a savat since she's taken like
the class for twenty minutes, Since she can rebuild the car,
(10:31):
that's believable. The funny thing about it is that, although
Rachel is a gearhead in this I actually like old cars,
and I like the fact that Rachel was always trying
to try this, try that, or try the other. Now
now it's necessary. You know, back then, you got a career.
You stuck with your career till the wheels fell off.
(10:52):
Now they would they call it multiple streams of income.
You cannot do one thing anymore. You need to do
five or six. Everybody's Jamaican, as far as I everybody's Jamaica.
You need nine six jobs just to pay your bills,
just to pay your bills. So she was actually ahead
of the curve.
Speaker 2 (11:09):
And you were looking completely fabulous while doing it.
Speaker 1 (11:12):
Well, you know, Dollie, I must say, Gina, wherever you are, girl,
you were doing your thing. I got seriously Annie all
in this episode. Seriously.
Speaker 2 (11:21):
So at the beginning, you're studying how to repair a car,
and then suddenly you need to use it. Yeah, convenient.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
Yes, Well, you know, Kyle brings home a vintage car
because he is the safest driver in all of Chicago,
and he gets to drive this beautiful car in the
Columbus Day parade. And because he is the best driver
in all of the safest driver, I'm not going to
say the best, the safest driver in all of Chicago,
he gets to be the lead car in the parade.
(11:50):
So he's really excited about that, and Rachel's really excited
too because she loves this car.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
So did you lean on any of your inside knowledge
from being from Motor City to inform this episode?
Speaker 1 (12:03):
No, I mean I'm from the Motor City. I never
built a motor or anything, and I left the city
because I wanted to drive a car and not build one.
Luckily Motown was there too, so I got out of it.
But that's my growing up. When I grew up, cars
were prolific. Everybody drove a Lincoln the cab like of
this that, and they were all made in Detroit. So
that's really a part of my history. But more so,
(12:25):
I've learned more about cars from my son because he's
the real gear hit. I thought it was funny that
they basically have me channeling him, talking about the bandage
and this and the prison of you know, the gloss
and the curve of the I don't know nothing. I
do like old cars. I remember when we first moved
out here and I was driving, I don't know, something
(12:48):
really little in a Ford, a Pento maybe I don't
know what it was, but anyway, I remember we had
in our dining room pictures of classic cars just because
they were beautiful. We had like a Bugotti and a
cord A Dusenberg or something, but we had him on
the dining room walls and they were really, really beautiful.
And I always liked that, even though I didn't have
(13:09):
a beautiful classic car, that I could look at those.
But I ended up getting one.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
Yeah, I used to love that car, your great Mercedes.
What year and what?
Speaker 1 (13:18):
Oh god, I don't remember what year that was.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
That car was fabulous.
Speaker 1 (13:21):
That was my Diesel that I bought from Dick's smothers.
I remember he had come down. I was dating a
friend of his at the time, which is why we
were hanging out so much. But he had come down
and I saw the car, and oh, I just fell
in love with it. It was so gorgeous. And it
was a diesel, just a big old thing. And I
told him, I said, if you ever decided to sell
that car, please call me first. And a year later
(13:42):
he called. He said, you still want the car?
Speaker 2 (13:45):
That car was beautiful.
Speaker 1 (13:46):
I bought that car, and later on we bought a
nineteen sixty Porsche. I remember that big parts. Yeah, And
Dick's mothers was the one that picked the car for me.
I had been dealing with Beverly Hills Porsche and they
had called me about a car that they wanted me
to come in and see, and I called Dickie to
tell him about it. He said, well, I'm come in town.
Let me go look at it first. And so he
(14:06):
went down there and he put both of them up
on the lift and then he called me. He said, okay,
you don't want that car. You want this car. And
he said, here's how much you offer them for it.
Offer him cash, don't back down, don't offer him anything else.
Just hang up the phone. So that's what I did,
and two months later they called and said, you still
want the car. So I did end up with Classics, right?
Speaker 2 (14:30):
Yeah? Nice? Yeah? Why didn't exactly? I had to remember
my first.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
Car that Nissan Maximum, Nissan Maximum Baby Baby, but you
drove up until the wheels came off. That was the
first week, of course. But I just love that car.
Speaker 2 (14:46):
No, Oh my gosh, that's a new level of freedom.
Speaker 1 (14:49):
It is. There's something about especially a new car. It's
just like, oh my god. You know, it's such a
great feeling, such a great feeling. Okay, so back to
the episode. Yeah, and that's about us.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
So in this episode, Rachel convinces Harriet that she needs
to go on a little joy ride in Carl's precious.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
Com and she does a little back and forth with
her sister, which I think kind of shows you their
little dynamic when she says, you know, I just love
these old cars. Each one has its own personality and quirks,
kind of like men. That's true. Some don't look like
much but can really move, and others are really flashy,
but there's nothing under the hood. I had a couple
(15:31):
of moves. But that's the little way of getting her
sister into her frame of mind. Yeah, which is not
always easy because Harriet is the sensible one. She is
the one that rescues us when we get ourselves a
little under But it's fun to see Harriet too get
a little step out of care takeaway.
Speaker 2 (15:51):
Yeah. Yeah, because I think black women you're always forced
to be very grounded and like kind of be sober
minded because everybody's depending on you to make smart choices
and do that. So yeah, to see her kind of
you could tell she wants to do it.
Speaker 3 (16:04):
Do you go?
Speaker 2 (16:05):
And also it was really sweet the relationship that Rachel
and Harriet have. It was sweet.
Speaker 1 (16:12):
You know, we find out later that part of that
is that we have things in common. But as characters,
I really love their dynamic. And the funny thing is
I'm the older of the two, but it's so easy
for me to play her little sister because I say
nuts and she's so sensible most of the time when
I'm that little sistering her into doing something. But yeah,
(16:36):
I loved playing her sister. And you know, Harriet's very
take charge anyway, so it's easy to acquiesce to that,
especially when that's the part that you're supposed to play. Sure,
which allowed me to have more fun as Rachel because
she could be silly because she always had Harriet and
she had Carl too. They were always going to take
care of her.
Speaker 2 (16:53):
Okay, So then Harriet finally agrees to allow Rachel to
take the call for a spin. And then what happens.
Speaker 1 (17:01):
So you know, as soon as they say nothing's gonna happen,
you know, the next sound is a crash. I mean,
that's just where we're going. But I was so tickled
being in that car. It reminded me of when I
got my first new car out here. That's exactly I
was in the car, and I was just into I
(17:22):
was so excited. Yes, I paid cash for it. I've
never done that before. I was so tickled with myself.
And that's what that scene reminded me of because I
was just that tickled.
Speaker 2 (17:31):
Okay, so she goes out of the driveway. The very
next thing we see them backing into the driver move.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
And even get out the driveway.
Speaker 2 (17:39):
Right then you back up and it's a huge dent
on the driver's front of the car.
Speaker 1 (17:46):
You see the first thing she did oo you in trouble.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
That's one thing I hate about being the oldest. No
matter what goes wrong, it's your fault responsible.
Speaker 1 (17:58):
Why did you let the first and do this? And
everybody kind of understands that, why did you let your
sister play in traffic? You're a mama. Why traffic? Of
course I couldn't say that out loud exactly, And you
left tell your fault right everything. Even if you weren't there,
I could be out of town, it was still my fault,
at least according to them.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
Now here's another thing I noticed again. The recurring theme
is that you're gonna be fabulous, whether you are wearing
a fabulous any hole get up or some overalls, which
is the next scene. You're like dressed up in these overalls,
but it's like the most couture overalls you've ever seen.
(18:41):
Who was by Bob.
Speaker 1 (18:42):
Mackie Apparently so Gina had people, She had people, she
was in touch with folks. I love that thing was
tailing down question and pets and the little boots and
the vests and the she was your little headband.
Speaker 3 (18:55):
She was.
Speaker 1 (18:57):
She really did a great job. Yeah, and I I
loved Because I was a tomboy growing up, scenes like
this were always fun for me. I could think there
was a little danger involved, even though I know there was,
because there's crew and you know they're right there with
you with the filament and they show you exactly what
to do. But it's your felt powerful to have them
fire that sucker up every time.
Speaker 2 (19:17):
You're like, I'm not a nut, but I do play
one on TV.
Speaker 1 (19:21):
Yes, and I just pull the fire.
Speaker 3 (19:23):
Oh.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
I love stuff like that.
Speaker 2 (19:25):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:25):
I love learning how to do something or fake something.
And that's all that was, you know, it was all show.
But I had to actually learn how to handle the
blow torch. I had to actually learn what to touch
in order to get the effect that they wanted to get,
filament and all that. So it was a little learning
curve in there. But I find stuff like that fun.
Speaker 2 (19:45):
I noticed how much physical comedy you and Reggie had
before the Steed character came on the show.
Speaker 1 (19:51):
Yes Child, and I love it, you know. I mean
that's one of the fun things, is to be able
to act and make people laugh without actually saying anything.
I mean, I always appreciate ate that as an actor.
I loved working with Reggie doing it. I especially loved
working with Cindy Williams, shury Leyah Laverne and Shirley because
she was primed for that sort of thing. She was
up for anything. But I really started the more physical
(20:14):
comedy with nel Carter on Give Me a Break. I mean,
we started finding things together that we could do. That
tickled us, so we just started implementing it into the show. Actually,
one of the things that we did became the intro
of the show where we get into this push and
fight and I push her through the kitchen door and
she comes back, picks me up and throws me over
the couch. And we did it the first time. The
(20:37):
producers didn't know, so they freaked out. They thought we
were really fighting, and they were just like, oh, look,
what do we do?
Speaker 3 (20:41):
What do we do?
Speaker 1 (20:42):
And we just busted out laughing. We're like, oh, thank goodness.
But yeah, physical comedy is fun and that's why I
love watching My Reggie.
Speaker 2 (20:49):
Did you get a chance to do that at all
as the buddies?
Speaker 3 (20:52):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (20:52):
No, little well, because you were a model.
Speaker 1 (20:55):
No, But I mean there were a couple of circumstances,
like once we had an actual lion on the.
Speaker 2 (21:00):
Show, sig FRIEDA and Teloma.
Speaker 1 (21:02):
Sick Freed and Teloma, And while we were doing the scene,
the lion was bolted to the floor. There was like
a big bolt in the floor that held him, you know,
in his space, and the chain broke loose, and I mean,
when I tell you, we were crawling out of the scene.
(21:23):
The lion didn't move, but we crawled out of that scene.
I think joel's Wick was our director.
Speaker 2 (21:29):
Then are you serious?
Speaker 1 (21:30):
He said, that's the way you should have been acting
the whole time, because it was when he broke loose.
We were like the puddles of sweat. Somebody right, love
itself it love it. But I love the way she
looks at me when we get out of the car
and look at it, the look she gives me A
So Joe Marie, you know it's like, you know, see
(21:53):
what happened was right, and that you you're crit a character
and too you are something else. Girl, Laura Winslow is
like a con man, crook. I don't know what you do.
You know what you're doing up in that room where
you learning all this stuff? I mean feet first and
the blackmailing your own mother.
Speaker 2 (22:14):
Well this is I remember in the beginning they told
me that they really wanted the character to be kind
of a carbon copy, a young version of Joe Marie.
Speaker 1 (22:23):
Well, girl, you did that. So she's running it and
I love you just you're so matter of fact about stuff.
You know, first of all, just the whole you know,
an opportunity like this comes along once maybe twice.
Speaker 2 (22:36):
In a lifetime.
Speaker 1 (22:37):
What do you want, Judy? I want a bike? What
do you want? Jhony? And of course your poor brother,
but he gives him a dirt bike out of it.
But you know, I wait a minute. There's one time
when Eddie actually does something that's out of characters. When
he comes downstairs with that note that he said he
has to have something that holds up. I was like,
(22:58):
where'd that line come from? That's the smartest thing he
said the whole nine season. Girl. So this becomes the
holes scene after this of Joe Marie trying to wrangle
everybody so that Carl doesn't find out that we tore
up the car basically, and she is so hilarious. Oh
(23:21):
my gosh, her and Eddie. I mean, it's bad enough
with you and the girls. With when Eddie comes in
and she does the whole thing with eye winking when
she's taking it over, telling him, oh you were messed up,
Well you are grounded, you're grounded, and she just I
just go like she had had tourettes or something, and
the look on his face. I just love how he
(23:44):
plays it. Do that, so she found it. It's like
that is going on, and then she says to Carl,
I don't think we should talk about this anymore. Let's
just go to bed and gives a sleep and we'll
talk about it tomorrow when you cool. All like how
she turned the hole around, It just made me laugh.
(24:06):
It made me laugh. Us didn't make you laugh because
you ain't contributing.
Speaker 2 (24:11):
No, I'm listening to your story getting wrapped up, and
now I gotta think.
Speaker 1 (24:15):
Okay, you're supposed to think while I'm rapping.
Speaker 2 (24:17):
Oh, okay, okay. So Carl he walks in and he
almost finds out that everything goes down.
Speaker 1 (24:24):
Right because of Eddie, of course, But when they get outside,
Rachel has pulled it off. Were you surprised that how
good that little bender looked after Rachel had finished with it?
Just because it's not realistic. My son tells me that
there is no way all that could have been done
(24:45):
overnight if we'd had four or five people helping us,
maybe and everything that a car repair shop would have
in order to bake the paint.
Speaker 2 (24:53):
You know, she must have been a welder.
Speaker 1 (24:56):
She was like, I mean, a total like svit and
she'd only been going to school six weeks I'll tell
you she's a sapunt.
Speaker 2 (25:05):
Yeah. So then they finally get to the park where
they have to come clean until Karl.
Speaker 1 (25:10):
Well yeah, but let's I don't want to skip over
this because this is one of Carl's moments that just
makes me cry. What he is so funny? Well, first
of all, when he comes back in with the fender
over his shoulder and just a look he is because
I'm going to be doing a lot of yelling. And
then when he comes back him and his posturing that
(25:35):
not and he starts at the front door not and
nods on everybody in the house goes. It takes his time.
I love that he didn't rush it. He may show
you knew exactly who he was nodding at with disgust
each time. I think the only one that got away
was Richie and mother wins Low because she wasn't in
the scene.
Speaker 2 (25:55):
Right, So Harriet and Rachel take full responsibility, right, and
the kids.
Speaker 1 (25:59):
Stall the wind out of his because he was getting
ready to go there. And when she takes responsibility, it
just sucks all the air out, right.
Speaker 2 (26:07):
Because can't yell. Let nobody right? Okay, So then they
didn't rope these kids and the kids didn't do anything.
So I'm trying to figure out how the kids take
responsibility too, even though they wasn't their fault.
Speaker 1 (26:18):
Oh yeah, blackmail your mama, that's why.
Speaker 2 (26:21):
Well, did the mama wreck the car or not?
Speaker 1 (26:23):
Hey, did she feed you the next day? I'm just
asking because perhaps you live somewhere else.
Speaker 2 (26:28):
See, this is what happens when you get into fights
with black women. They just go there, they're gonna bring
up I thought you was gonna let bygones be by gone.
Speaker 1 (26:36):
Now bygones is back.
Speaker 2 (26:39):
You done brought up something that happened twenty years ago.
Speaker 1 (26:41):
That's my job, and I take my job seriously. Okay,
But I love the fact that when he comes around,
as soon as Harry gives a big speech and everything
and the music starts, it's like, oh, it's our moment, right,
but it doesn't happen right well, because basically the is
that what he's really upset about is that he was
(27:04):
left out that nobody. Of course we're not gonna tell him.
We know what would have happened. He'd have blown up,
even admits it, but he's hurt that he's not a
part of the solution. Well, Carl you practically never are right,
but we try to give you some respect anyway. But
as upset as he is about the car, he's more
(27:24):
upset of that feeling of being left out and of
us not coming to him with our problems. Of course
we know why, because he would have went off, because
he make it a bigger problem. That's why I still
I do like that they always bring it back to family,
that we depend on each other, and that we can't
not do that. We have to rely on each other
(27:46):
and always, so we got.
Speaker 2 (27:47):
Is each other.
Speaker 1 (27:48):
That's all we got, girl, That's all we got. And
wait a minute, I love the fact that Carl is
a crash of the car too, is full of bad
and fast drivers. Oh, I'm sorry, did I repeat myself?
I'm sorry. I must have said that I thought.
Speaker 2 (28:06):
You was gonna let Bygones be by gone.
Speaker 1 (28:08):
I already told you Bygones is back. What's the issue?
Get with the program, sister girl?
Speaker 2 (28:21):
So Tema, I noticed that you had a lot of
episodes surrounding your character at the beginning of the show.
Do you think it's because the producers and the writers
got to see you do so much on Bus and Buddies.
Speaker 1 (28:34):
Well, I'm sure that had something to do with it.
I mean, that's the reason I actually did not have
to audition for the show. It was wonderful having done
a show with you nice and I think probably of
the three adults, I was the silliest, and they knew
that I would just do whatever, so it was easy
to write for. I call myself the pri Steve pre earcle,
you know, and.
Speaker 2 (28:54):
Now a little Birdie told me that you also had
some other antics that you used to use before Family
Matters to make sure that you were definitely written in
two episodes in a way that you felt was a propell.
Speaker 1 (29:12):
I'm not going to say it was appropriate, but it
was the way I went down at that time in
my life. I had no fear apparently. Okay, yeah, for
Bosom Buddies. It's one to Bob Ever gave me another job.
Speaker 2 (29:26):
Because I could tell by the way you bringing this
up that she was cutting up.
Speaker 1 (29:31):
He came over to see a show I was doing
with Eileen Brennan, New Kind of Family with Rob Low
and Janet Jackson, and then he kind of wrote a
role for me on Bosom Buddies. But it was supposed
to be recurring. So when I went in to meet
with Chris Thompson and the writers. I didn't know it
was supposed to be recurring, so I just assumed I
was on every show, And when they told me I
wouldn't be, I was like, what, well, you can't do that.
(29:54):
Black people will really be upset with you if they
see a black girl one week and they don't see
it for two or three weeks. Play the black card girl.
Then I went from that to, well, I guess I'm
just gonna have to sit outside till you change your mind,
because I think I should be in every show, And
then I went from that too or I could call
the NAACP and tell them I was My manager could
not even believe that I had the audacity to say
(30:18):
that out loud with my outside voice. But guess what,
by the time I got along, I was a member
of the regular cast. Sometimes you just gotta be ballsy,
close my mouth, don't get fed. That's right.
Speaker 2 (30:32):
So we all been going about this the wrong way.
I've been going on auditions like an idiot. All I
needed to do was stages girl.
Speaker 1 (30:38):
I wouldn't do it now cause you get sat on. Okay,
Oh no, back then, I didn't care. I just had
a lot of nerves. Plus I had a contract with ABC,
which made it a little easier to be ballsy. Right.
Speaker 2 (30:56):
I can't believe you.
Speaker 1 (30:57):
I mean, for those of you who don't know, tellma
tell me. It's probably one of the most crazy, no,
most like people in the industry. So that you would
even do that, It's like, you know that emoji with
the whole top blown off of the head. That's kind
of how Mark looked my manager when I told him,
It's like, you did what.
Speaker 2 (31:16):
I'm a car.
Speaker 1 (31:17):
Hold on, I got a call from Bob Boyhead.
Speaker 2 (31:20):
Oh god, now let's get into a couple of funky facts,
unky facts.
Speaker 1 (31:29):
I love funky facts.
Speaker 2 (31:31):
So in nineteen eighty nine, a vintage nineteen thirty six
Ford Model sixty eight, which was the base model for
the car that they used on the show. Oh really,
was it worth about twenty five thousand dollars in premium conditions.
In twenty twenty five, that same car might be as
high as sixty five to seventy thousand.
Speaker 1 (31:52):
Yeah, I can believe that what you got. The first
police car ever used in America was an electric powered
wagon and Ohio in eighteen nine. Isn't that crazy. Wait,
eighteen ninety nine electric electric powered wagon in eighteen ninety
nine is that crazy? So in reality, Rachel to just
(32:14):
even think she could do what she did on this episode,
it would take one to three years to learn a
basic level of competency and vintage body repair, and five
plus years to be at an advanced level. And in
twenty twenty five, it would cost minimum five thousand dollars
to just get the basic level of expertise. And this
(32:38):
genius do it all overnight.
Speaker 2 (32:43):
I love it, But I mean, let's just underlies the
magic of black women, black girl magic altogether, because we
guess what you're gonna get it done?
Speaker 1 (32:51):
Because Helly Breandon, well on the line, she could put
throw it in the skillet and fried up in a
pan and all that stuff. We can do all that
while we're twirling. Well, we ask you guys to call in,
and call in you did, so we are so excited
to see what you want to know from us. Here
(33:11):
we go.
Speaker 3 (33:13):
Hello, nice to meet both of you. A huge fan.
Thank you for giving us your talent and showing us
how how to be by family. Basically, my question is
being that nineties fashion is kind of coming back. How
does it feel kind of watching the younger era think
(33:35):
that they have something new when you guys kind of
you know, like that was your that was original. You know,
you started something with fashion. So how does it feel
watching all the younger kids kind of where the things
that you guys would wear back in the day.
Speaker 1 (33:52):
Well, I'm definitely gonna let Telma talk about this because
her fashions have made it through all of thees and
she was fabulous in all her fashions.
Speaker 2 (34:04):
No matter what time, day or hour, she was still cute.
So I'll let you take this one because I was
a little kind of crazy.
Speaker 1 (34:12):
That was only because somebody else was dressing me. I
like how you said all the decades, thank you, Kelly.
I mean, I did love the fact that we had
an original look. I definitely my character Rachel had a
definite look, but I really thought that she had borrowed
some of her look from Annie Hall because she had
(34:34):
that kind of the saddle shoes and the socks and
the you know, all that stuff. And it's nice. I
think kids are wearing a lot less than we did
in the nineties, but it's nice to think that we
influenced them somehow. I don't necessarily see my look nowadays
that much, but it certainly set a trend at that time.
(34:54):
What do you think, Kel, I mean, you're you're in
the clothes much more than I am when.
Speaker 2 (34:59):
I was at the show. I don't know if my
nineties looked kind of made it out of the nineties,
because I mean it was like some uh some sideways
black boots, a side poet, a kid.
Speaker 1 (35:13):
You know. So this is real talk, Baby, tell what
looked like she was on Dynasty? I looked like I
was on What's My People?
Speaker 2 (35:21):
Once?
Speaker 1 (35:22):
Wasn't. Baby, it didn't work. So what you're saying is
your your look did not influence anybody. Is that what
you're saying.
Speaker 2 (35:36):
I hope it didn't influence anybody, is what I'm saying.
Speaker 1 (35:39):
Well, we hope that it's some kind of answer for you.
I don't know if it's the best one, but uh,
we didn't promise the best answer, just an answer. But
thank you so much for calling in. I mean, we
really appreciate it, and we're just excited to be able
to in a way talk to our fans. So thank
you for calling in.
Speaker 2 (35:59):
So with that, we're gonna bid everybody adieu.
Speaker 1 (36:03):
A do what oh you mean, like.
Speaker 2 (36:05):
Ba uh, what's going on?
Speaker 1 (36:09):
Well, Kelly has giving me kind of a look that
tells me that that's it for this week now.
Speaker 2 (36:16):
But stay tuned.
Speaker 1 (36:17):
We're gonna rewatch each episode of Family Matters week by week,
so make sure to rewatch the show right along with us.
You can catch it on Hulu and TVs and a
bunch of other places. Welcome to the Family with Telma
and Kelly is a production of iHeart Podcasts and Audiation.
It's hosted by me Tloma Hopkins and me Kelly Williams.
(36:40):
Our executive producers are Sandy Smalling's for Audiation, Adam Ripped,
JD Hopkins, who also happens to be my son and
Kelly's pobro, and Jonathan Strickland for iHeart Podcasts.
Speaker 2 (36:50):
The show is produced by Telma and I but our
series producer is Ireland Metchen and our theme songs lyrics
were written by j D Hopkins and Adam Ripped. The
theme song was scored and mixed by Matt Noble, who's
also our series mixer.
Speaker 1 (37:04):
And we'd like to thank Nikki Etour and the entire
iHeart podcast team. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you.
Speaker 2 (37:10):
Follow us on Instagram a Welcome to the Family Pod
for behind the scenes photos and more bonus content.
Speaker 1 (37:16):
And don't forget to leave us a voicemail at our website,
Thefamilymatterspod dot com. We want to hear your thoughts and
favorite memories of the show, and let us know if
you need advice, because we're good for some bad advice.
We might be able to help you with your own
Family Matters and make sure to rate and review us
wherever you're listening.
Speaker 2 (37:34):
We are so excited to have you guys along.
Speaker 1 (37:36):
For the ride. Yes, Welcome to the family, y'all, and
we'll see you next time. Welcome to the Familie Audiation.
Really listens a mission this day and age Kelly and
Thelma and returning the page we're talking. Family Matters is
about those times? Ellen? What happened between the line with
Kelly and me? Welcome to the fam, Elisa, Kelly, welcome, welcome,
(00:30):
Welcome to the family. Y'all to the family. I'm Telma
and I'm Kelly. And in the nineties we start in
a little sitcom you may have heard of called Family Matters.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Yes, now, today we're going to rewatch season one, episode seven,
Body Damage, where Rachel gets into a little fender bender
in Carl's vintage police car and has to fix the
damage before he finds out.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
But before we get into that, I want to note
what up with you girl? What happened this week?
Speaker 2 (00:59):
Okay? I've been waiting to tell you this because I've
been noticing something over the years.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
Okay, I think people who.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
Drive eco friendly car something is wrong with them.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
And why do you say that, Kelly? They're crazy? Oh Chase.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Does it matter whether they're in front of a police car,
in a school parking lot or in front of her church?
They drive like they on an autubon.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
Okay, are you saying they're driving too fast for your liking. No,
they're just reckless. I mean these you say, go ahead, I.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
See where you're going with this, don't And I really
don't understand subtlety that well.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
And I'm not being that subtle. Shall I just come
out with.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
Hey, what are you trying to side?
Speaker 1 (01:48):
It told me that you were a demon behind the
wheel when you first started driving. Young lady out here,
somebody had to redie there hair because they had the
nerve to go out with you or a drive.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
And apparently you don't.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
Have to put your foot into the tank to go
to the next stop sign, is what I hear.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
I'm just let's say, let me just put this.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
I just heard he had to dye his hair a
couple of times because it turned white while he was
in the car with you. I mean, there was just
some crazy step going. Now this is your faue, brother,
I'm talking about it. Just so we're clear.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
You gonna take Derrick? First of all?
Speaker 1 (02:26):
Is who you didn't say, Darius? You? Oh okay, I
was one that I burnt. Yeah there you go.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
Okay, So look it is Iama's because that's what you
made me. That's how you told me how to drive.
Don't even try it.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
But how to drive?
Speaker 2 (02:43):
Listen.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
Yeah, I drive a fast car, but I was good
and grown when I started. Okay, Tracy Chapman, Now I
did not teach you how to drive. Who taught you
how to drive?
Speaker 3 (02:52):
Girl?
Speaker 1 (02:52):
Because I know I wasn't that crazy. Listen, I learned
by watching you you had to pay somebody. Just gonna
tell somebody you had to pay somebody to teach you.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
Liza and all of y'all Sunday drivers.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
Get off the road, yep, because Kelly coming correct, Kelly
coming right out here the way? Well, girl, all right,
it's truly interesting. I'm glad I got a chance to
front you on your stuff to talk about other people.
But I am through with my trainer child. This girl
has lost her mind. Apparently she thinks I'm twenty years
(03:23):
younger than I am, and she is trying to teach
me to be really bendy like a pretzel. Now, in
my youth, I was as bendy as they come. I
will put myself on the back of that. The girl,
now it just pops completely out of the socket. She
don't get it. I got to get her off, man.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
I got to stop you here because maybe these people
out here who don't know you. You have trained this trainer
to treat you this way because I don't know if
you remember me working out with you and walking with
you where you try to run me into the ground.
This is in my prime, before I were young. You
were supposed to be able to hang. You hang out
(04:00):
where Jackie join to Curncy. You should have told me
before you got me out there.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
I thought you can hang. I'm not an Olympian, yo.
I found that out. You're barely a walk of than
Oh man, Okay, those were the days it was. It was,
But let's talk about this show, girl, Let's talk about it.
(04:26):
Today's episode is called body Damage. Now now my personal
body that we're talking about a car here, So don't
get it twisted, okay. It was written by Ken Kuda
and directed by the late James O. Keith.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
Do you remember, James? I do.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
Yeah. It aired on November tenth, nineteen eighty nine. Now, Kelly,
what was going on that week in nineteen eighty nine?
Speaker 2 (04:47):
Well, you know I always loved my little facts.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
I know you do.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
Okay, So Babyface and miss Jackson, if your nasty was
still on the top of the billboard, R and B charts.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
I like how you said that. It was almost like
if your nasty was a last name, is not? What
else are appen?
Speaker 2 (05:04):
Girl? Okay. Earlier that week, on Tuesday, November seventh, Laurence
Douglas Wilder made history by being elected the first black
governor in the US. Wow, and he was governor of
Virginia from nineteen ninety to nineteen ninety four.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
Jeez, that wasn't that long ago. Huh? It wasn't not
really when you think about it.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
Okay. So another major historical event happened on November ninth
was that it was decided that the Berlin Wall would
come down on November tenth, the day the episode. Their
demolition had already begun and folks were crossing the border
and from East Germany into West Berlin freely.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
That must have been really something. I remember it. I
remember Garbi Chap, what was it bring that wall down?
That wall or whatever?
Speaker 3 (05:46):
He said?
Speaker 1 (05:47):
Yeah, I certainly understand as a black woman, a black person,
when that freedom is not there and when that freedom
is there. So I know that that must have been
a great thing for them. I wish I had asked
Rose about it, because she was actually around when everything
was going on. She probably had a really wonderful insight
into it. But I remember it. When I was in
(06:09):
Germany a few years ago, I did go to the
Berlin Wall. It was unfortunately it was during COVID, so
I wouldn't get out of the car, but we got
as close as we could get, and that was probably
more impactful because you see how massive that wall was.
And it's funny how barriers were dealing with our own
(06:29):
but how that barrier kept people of like minds apart.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
Yeah, and now that all this time later we were
asking to tear down walls. Then now we're trying to
build walls. Now we're trying to build them up.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
Yep.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
Okay, so enough about the ancient history. Let's get into
this episoul.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
First things first, we have to acknowledge that this is
another pre Erkle cold open. I'm sorry, this makes no
sense to me. He hasn't been introduced, but at least
Carl calls him by his name. This time, we know
he's Steve, and we also know he hangs out with
a duck, which is always good to know.
Speaker 2 (07:08):
Okay, he takes the baths with the real live duck,
which was crazy. I think that's the beginning of the
shenanigans on the show.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
The duck wasn't even wet. That's what I'm trying to
take out. Water dripping nowhere.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
Well, I think that's real, right, Duck feathers don't really
get what do they.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
Well, if you pull a duck out the bathtub, you
mean to tell me he's not gonna drip. Why are
you asking me all these deep questions? I don't know,
because you're supposed to be deep. That's why you're a
co host. You're deep. It just seems odd to me
because we don't know him yet. Well, anyway, it's syndication,
So everything goes okay.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
But before we get into the episode, now, I just
wanted to touch in on one thing, the open credits. Now,
on this episode, you rebuild and as can you talk
a little bit about why you chose to ask for
that particular credit. This is a little behind the scenes
Hollywood tea.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
Well, first of all, Joe, Marie and Reggie were the
stars of the show. But work wise, I probably worked
more than both of them at that point in my career,
and it worked with Bob some years ago doing Buzz
and Buddies. So This was one of the times it's
not always your choice. Don't think you get a fired
on the show. Yeah, I want to be and as
(08:19):
a with a and first a second right. That doesn't
always happen. But we were in a position on this
particular show to ask for and dads, and it's simply
if you can't be first or second, be last, and
it kind of just distinguishes you. So instead of just
Telma Hopkins at the top is and Telma Hopkins as Rachel.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
So you get your own moment, So you get your
own moment.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
But a lot of times it's really at the executive
producer's discretion. Like on Clean Slate, I didn't know what
credit I got because of course Laverne is a star
and George is a star, and I ended up getting
the end credits with George, which were with Telma Hopkins
and George Nice. Yeah, so that just gives you a
(09:02):
little extra you and George Wallace together, so we're funny.
We're funny. We're funny. Oh indeed, that's a little thing.
So your managers can ask for it. Some people are
in that position where they can just say, this is
what I want. If you want me this is what
you you know, right, We've never gone in like that,
but most of the time we've gotten good placement as
far as but it's usually at the executive producer's discretion.
(09:23):
You can ask for it. Yeah, well you could ask
for Anne because you were just hold that. Well, yeah,
I can ask. That's all I can do. I ain't
giving up the job for it. I'll tell you that.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
I know. That's right. And this baby this was to
tell mohaw because this was just and somebody else right, right, Okay,
So in this episode we found out another somewhat surprising
thing about Rachel. She's also a complete gearhead.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
Yeah. It's so believable, isn't it.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
I mean, it's funny. So how much the character is
willing to try new things and going in a new direction,
specifically because she's living the Midwest, this is true, is
just one of those towns where you like work for it,
like a steel company for the rest of your life.
She's like like a billion things.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
Right, But I think that she's probably trying to find
her way too, because she was always coming up with
something and she did want to be a contributor to
the household. She just didn't always pick the best ways
to do it. This particular time, she's taking an adult
education class. Obviously she's a savat since she's taken like
the class for twenty minutes, Since she can rebuild the car,
(10:31):
that's believable. The funny thing about it is that, although
Rachel is a gearhead in this I actually like old cars,
and I like the fact that Rachel was always trying
to try this, try that, or try the other. Now
now it's necessary. You know, back then, you got a career.
You stuck with your career till the wheels fell off.
(10:52):
Now they would they call it multiple streams of income.
You cannot do one thing anymore. You need to do
five or six. Everybody's Jamaican, as far as I everybody's Jamaica.
You need nine six jobs just to pay your bills,
just to pay your bills. So she was actually ahead
of the curve.
Speaker 2 (11:09):
And you were looking completely fabulous while doing it.
Speaker 1 (11:12):
Well, you know, Dollie, I must say, Gina, wherever you are, girl,
you were doing your thing. I got seriously Annie all
in this episode. Seriously.
Speaker 2 (11:21):
So at the beginning, you're studying how to repair a car,
and then suddenly you need to use it. Yeah, convenient.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
Yes, Well, you know, Kyle brings home a vintage car
because he is the safest driver in all of Chicago,
and he gets to drive this beautiful car in the
Columbus Day parade. And because he is the best driver
in all of the safest driver, I'm not going to
say the best, the safest driver in all of Chicago,
he gets to be the lead car in the parade.
(11:50):
So he's really excited about that, and Rachel's really excited
too because she loves this car.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
So did you lean on any of your inside knowledge
from being from Motor City to inform this episode?
Speaker 1 (12:03):
No, I mean I'm from the Motor City. I never
built a motor or anything, and I left the city
because I wanted to drive a car and not build one.
Luckily Motown was there too, so I got out of it.
But that's my growing up. When I grew up, cars
were prolific. Everybody drove a Lincoln the cab like of
this that, and they were all made in Detroit. So
that's really a part of my history. But more so,
(12:25):
I've learned more about cars from my son because he's
the real gear hit. I thought it was funny that
they basically have me channeling him, talking about the bandage
and this and the prison of you know, the gloss
and the curve of the I don't know nothing. I
do like old cars. I remember when we first moved
out here and I was driving, I don't know, something
(12:48):
really little in a Ford, a Pento maybe I don't
know what it was, but anyway, I remember we had
in our dining room pictures of classic cars just because
they were beautiful. We had like a Bugotti and a
cord A Dusenberg or something, but we had him on
the dining room walls and they were really, really beautiful.
And I always liked that, even though I didn't have
(13:09):
a beautiful classic car, that I could look at those.
But I ended up getting one.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
Yeah, I used to love that car, your great Mercedes.
What year and what?
Speaker 1 (13:18):
Oh god, I don't remember what year that was.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
That car was fabulous.
Speaker 1 (13:21):
That was my Diesel that I bought from Dick's smothers.
I remember he had come down. I was dating a
friend of his at the time, which is why we
were hanging out so much. But he had come down
and I saw the car, and oh, I just fell
in love with it. It was so gorgeous. And it
was a diesel, just a big old thing. And I
told him, I said, if you ever decided to sell
that car, please call me first. And a year later
(13:42):
he called. He said, you still want the car?
Speaker 2 (13:45):
That car was beautiful.
Speaker 1 (13:46):
I bought that car, and later on we bought a
nineteen sixty Porsche. I remember that big parts. Yeah, And
Dick's mothers was the one that picked the car for me.
I had been dealing with Beverly Hills Porsche and they
had called me about a car that they wanted me
to come in and see, and I called Dickie to
tell him about it. He said, well, I'm come in town.
Let me go look at it first. And so he
(14:06):
went down there and he put both of them up
on the lift and then he called me. He said, okay,
you don't want that car. You want this car. And
he said, here's how much you offer them for it.
Offer him cash, don't back down, don't offer him anything else.
Just hang up the phone. So that's what I did,
and two months later they called and said, you still
want the car. So I did end up with Classics, right?
Speaker 2 (14:30):
Yeah? Nice? Yeah? Why didn't exactly? I had to remember
my first.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
Car that Nissan Maximum, Nissan Maximum Baby Baby, but you
drove up until the wheels came off. That was the
first week, of course. But I just love that car.
Speaker 2 (14:46):
No, Oh my gosh, that's a new level of freedom.
Speaker 1 (14:49):
It is. There's something about especially a new car. It's
just like, oh my god. You know, it's such a
great feeling, such a great feeling. Okay, so back to
the episode. Yeah, and that's about us.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
So in this episode, Rachel convinces Harriet that she needs
to go on a little joy ride in Carl's precious.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
Com and she does a little back and forth with
her sister, which I think kind of shows you their
little dynamic when she says, you know, I just love
these old cars. Each one has its own personality and quirks,
kind of like men. That's true. Some don't look like
much but can really move, and others are really flashy,
but there's nothing under the hood. I had a couple
(15:31):
of moves. But that's the little way of getting her
sister into her frame of mind. Yeah, which is not
always easy because Harriet is the sensible one. She is
the one that rescues us when we get ourselves a
little under But it's fun to see Harriet too get
a little step out of care takeaway.
Speaker 2 (15:51):
Yeah. Yeah, because I think black women you're always forced
to be very grounded and like kind of be sober
minded because everybody's depending on you to make smart choices
and do that. So yeah, to see her kind of
you could tell she wants to do it.
Speaker 3 (16:04):
Do you go?
Speaker 2 (16:05):
And also it was really sweet the relationship that Rachel
and Harriet have. It was sweet.
Speaker 1 (16:12):
You know, we find out later that part of that
is that we have things in common. But as characters,
I really love their dynamic. And the funny thing is
I'm the older of the two, but it's so easy
for me to play her little sister because I say
nuts and she's so sensible most of the time when
I'm that little sistering her into doing something. But yeah,
(16:36):
I loved playing her sister. And you know, Harriet's very
take charge anyway, so it's easy to acquiesce to that,
especially when that's the part that you're supposed to play. Sure,
which allowed me to have more fun as Rachel because
she could be silly because she always had Harriet and
she had Carl too. They were always going to take
care of her.
Speaker 2 (16:53):
Okay, So then Harriet finally agrees to allow Rachel to
take the call for a spin. And then what happens.
Speaker 1 (17:01):
So you know, as soon as they say nothing's gonna happen,
you know, the next sound is a crash. I mean,
that's just where we're going. But I was so tickled
being in that car. It reminded me of when I
got my first new car out here. That's exactly I
was in the car, and I was just into I
(17:22):
was so excited. Yes, I paid cash for it. I've
never done that before. I was so tickled with myself.
And that's what that scene reminded me of because I
was just that tickled.
Speaker 2 (17:31):
Okay, so she goes out of the driveway. The very
next thing we see them backing into the driver move.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
And even get out the driveway.
Speaker 2 (17:39):
Right then you back up and it's a huge dent
on the driver's front of the car.
Speaker 1 (17:46):
You see the first thing she did oo you in trouble.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
That's one thing I hate about being the oldest. No
matter what goes wrong, it's your fault responsible.
Speaker 1 (17:58):
Why did you let the first and do this? And
everybody kind of understands that, why did you let your
sister play in traffic? You're a mama. Why traffic? Of
course I couldn't say that out loud exactly, And you
left tell your fault right everything. Even if you weren't there,
I could be out of town, it was still my fault,
at least according to them.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
Now here's another thing I noticed again. The recurring theme
is that you're gonna be fabulous, whether you are wearing
a fabulous any hole get up or some overalls, which
is the next scene. You're like dressed up in these overalls,
but it's like the most couture overalls you've ever seen.
(18:41):
Who was by Bob.
Speaker 1 (18:42):
Mackie Apparently so Gina had people, She had people, she
was in touch with folks. I love that thing was
tailing down question and pets and the little boots and
the vests and the she was your little headband.
Speaker 3 (18:55):
She was.
Speaker 1 (18:57):
She really did a great job. Yeah, and I I
loved Because I was a tomboy growing up, scenes like
this were always fun for me. I could think there
was a little danger involved, even though I know there was,
because there's crew and you know they're right there with
you with the filament and they show you exactly what
to do. But it's your felt powerful to have them
fire that sucker up every time.
Speaker 2 (19:17):
You're like, I'm not a nut, but I do play
one on TV.
Speaker 1 (19:21):
Yes, and I just pull the fire.
Speaker 3 (19:23):
Oh.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
I love stuff like that.
Speaker 2 (19:25):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:25):
I love learning how to do something or fake something.
And that's all that was, you know, it was all show.
But I had to actually learn how to handle the
blow torch. I had to actually learn what to touch
in order to get the effect that they wanted to get,
filament and all that. So it was a little learning
curve in there. But I find stuff like that fun.
Speaker 2 (19:45):
I noticed how much physical comedy you and Reggie had
before the Steed character came on the show.
Speaker 1 (19:51):
Yes Child, and I love it, you know. I mean
that's one of the fun things, is to be able
to act and make people laugh without actually saying anything.
I mean, I always appreciate ate that as an actor.
I loved working with Reggie doing it. I especially loved
working with Cindy Williams, shury Leyah Laverne and Shirley because
she was primed for that sort of thing. She was
up for anything. But I really started the more physical
(20:14):
comedy with nel Carter on Give Me a Break. I mean,
we started finding things together that we could do. That
tickled us, so we just started implementing it into the show. Actually,
one of the things that we did became the intro
of the show where we get into this push and
fight and I push her through the kitchen door and
she comes back, picks me up and throws me over
the couch. And we did it the first time. The
(20:37):
producers didn't know, so they freaked out. They thought we
were really fighting, and they were just like, oh, look,
what do we do?
Speaker 3 (20:41):
What do we do?
Speaker 1 (20:42):
And we just busted out laughing. We're like, oh, thank goodness.
But yeah, physical comedy is fun and that's why I
love watching My Reggie.
Speaker 2 (20:49):
Did you get a chance to do that at all
as the buddies?
Speaker 3 (20:52):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (20:52):
No, little well, because you were a model.
Speaker 1 (20:55):
No, But I mean there were a couple of circumstances,
like once we had an actual lion on the.
Speaker 2 (21:00):
Show, sig FRIEDA and Teloma.
Speaker 1 (21:02):
Sick Freed and Teloma, And while we were doing the scene,
the lion was bolted to the floor. There was like
a big bolt in the floor that held him, you know,
in his space, and the chain broke loose, and I mean,
when I tell you, we were crawling out of the scene.
(21:23):
The lion didn't move, but we crawled out of that scene.
I think joel's Wick was our director.
Speaker 2 (21:29):
Then are you serious?
Speaker 1 (21:30):
He said, that's the way you should have been acting
the whole time, because it was when he broke loose.
We were like the puddles of sweat. Somebody right, love
itself it love it. But I love the way she
looks at me when we get out of the car
and look at it, the look she gives me A
So Joe Marie, you know it's like, you know, see
(21:53):
what happened was right, and that you you're crit a character
and too you are something else. Girl, Laura Winslow is
like a con man, crook. I don't know what you do.
You know what you're doing up in that room where
you learning all this stuff? I mean feet first and
the blackmailing your own mother.
Speaker 2 (22:14):
Well this is I remember in the beginning they told
me that they really wanted the character to be kind
of a carbon copy, a young version of Joe Marie.
Speaker 1 (22:23):
Well, girl, you did that. So she's running it and
I love you just you're so matter of fact about stuff.
You know, first of all, just the whole you know,
an opportunity like this comes along once maybe twice.
Speaker 2 (22:36):
In a lifetime.
Speaker 1 (22:37):
What do you want, Judy? I want a bike? What
do you want? Jhony? And of course your poor brother,
but he gives him a dirt bike out of it.
But you know, I wait a minute. There's one time
when Eddie actually does something that's out of characters. When
he comes downstairs with that note that he said he
has to have something that holds up. I was like,
(22:58):
where'd that line come from? That's the smartest thing he
said the whole nine season. Girl. So this becomes the
holes scene after this of Joe Marie trying to wrangle
everybody so that Carl doesn't find out that we tore
up the car basically, and she is so hilarious. Oh
(23:21):
my gosh, her and Eddie. I mean, it's bad enough
with you and the girls. With when Eddie comes in
and she does the whole thing with eye winking when
she's taking it over, telling him, oh you were messed up,
Well you are grounded, you're grounded, and she just I
just go like she had had tourettes or something, and
the look on his face. I just love how he
(23:44):
plays it. Do that, so she found it. It's like
that is going on, and then she says to Carl,
I don't think we should talk about this anymore. Let's
just go to bed and gives a sleep and we'll
talk about it tomorrow when you cool. All like how
she turned the hole around, It just made me laugh.
(24:06):
It made me laugh. Us didn't make you laugh because
you ain't contributing.
Speaker 2 (24:11):
No, I'm listening to your story getting wrapped up, and
now I gotta think.
Speaker 1 (24:15):
Okay, you're supposed to think while I'm rapping.
Speaker 2 (24:17):
Oh, okay, okay. So Carl he walks in and he
almost finds out that everything goes down.
Speaker 1 (24:24):
Right because of Eddie, of course, But when they get outside,
Rachel has pulled it off. Were you surprised that how
good that little bender looked after Rachel had finished with it?
Just because it's not realistic. My son tells me that
there is no way all that could have been done
(24:45):
overnight if we'd had four or five people helping us,
maybe and everything that a car repair shop would have
in order to bake the paint.
Speaker 2 (24:53):
You know, she must have been a welder.
Speaker 1 (24:56):
She was like, I mean, a total like svit and
she'd only been going to school six weeks I'll tell
you she's a sapunt.
Speaker 2 (25:05):
Yeah. So then they finally get to the park where
they have to come clean until Karl.
Speaker 1 (25:10):
Well yeah, but let's I don't want to skip over
this because this is one of Carl's moments that just
makes me cry. What he is so funny? Well, first
of all, when he comes back in with the fender
over his shoulder and just a look he is because
I'm going to be doing a lot of yelling. And
then when he comes back him and his posturing that
(25:35):
not and he starts at the front door not and
nods on everybody in the house goes. It takes his time.
I love that he didn't rush it. He may show
you knew exactly who he was nodding at with disgust
each time. I think the only one that got away
was Richie and mother wins Low because she wasn't in
the scene.
Speaker 2 (25:55):
Right, So Harriet and Rachel take full responsibility, right, and
the kids.
Speaker 1 (25:59):
Stall the wind out of his because he was getting
ready to go there. And when she takes responsibility, it
just sucks all the air out, right.
Speaker 2 (26:07):
Because can't yell. Let nobody right? Okay, So then they
didn't rope these kids and the kids didn't do anything.
So I'm trying to figure out how the kids take
responsibility too, even though they wasn't their fault.
Speaker 1 (26:18):
Oh yeah, blackmail your mama, that's why.
Speaker 2 (26:21):
Well, did the mama wreck the car or not?
Speaker 1 (26:23):
Hey, did she feed you the next day? I'm just
asking because perhaps you live somewhere else.
Speaker 2 (26:28):
See, this is what happens when you get into fights
with black women. They just go there, they're gonna bring
up I thought you was gonna let bygones be by gone.
Speaker 1 (26:36):
Now bygones is back.
Speaker 2 (26:39):
You done brought up something that happened twenty years ago.
Speaker 1 (26:41):
That's my job, and I take my job seriously. Okay,
But I love the fact that when he comes around,
as soon as Harry gives a big speech and everything
and the music starts, it's like, oh, it's our moment, right,
but it doesn't happen right well, because basically the is
that what he's really upset about is that he was
(27:04):
left out that nobody. Of course we're not gonna tell him.
We know what would have happened. He'd have blown up,
even admits it, but he's hurt that he's not a
part of the solution. Well, Carl you practically never are right,
but we try to give you some respect anyway. But
as upset as he is about the car, he's more
(27:24):
upset of that feeling of being left out and of
us not coming to him with our problems. Of course
we know why, because he would have went off, because
he make it a bigger problem. That's why I still
I do like that they always bring it back to family,
that we depend on each other, and that we can't
not do that. We have to rely on each other
(27:46):
and always, so we got.
Speaker 2 (27:47):
Is each other.
Speaker 1 (27:48):
That's all we got, girl, That's all we got. And
wait a minute, I love the fact that Carl is
a crash of the car too, is full of bad
and fast drivers. Oh, I'm sorry, did I repeat myself?
I'm sorry. I must have said that I thought.
Speaker 2 (28:06):
You was gonna let Bygones be by gone.
Speaker 1 (28:08):
I already told you Bygones is back. What's the issue?
Get with the program, sister girl?
Speaker 2 (28:21):
So Tema, I noticed that you had a lot of
episodes surrounding your character at the beginning of the show.
Do you think it's because the producers and the writers
got to see you do so much on Bus and Buddies.
Speaker 1 (28:34):
Well, I'm sure that had something to do with it.
I mean, that's the reason I actually did not have
to audition for the show. It was wonderful having done
a show with you nice and I think probably of
the three adults, I was the silliest, and they knew
that I would just do whatever, so it was easy
to write for. I call myself the pri Steve pre earcle,
you know, and.
Speaker 2 (28:54):
Now a little Birdie told me that you also had
some other antics that you used to use before Family
Matters to make sure that you were definitely written in
two episodes in a way that you felt was a propell.
Speaker 1 (29:12):
I'm not going to say it was appropriate, but it
was the way I went down at that time in
my life. I had no fear apparently. Okay, yeah, for
Bosom Buddies. It's one to Bob Ever gave me another job.
Speaker 2 (29:26):
Because I could tell by the way you bringing this
up that she was cutting up.
Speaker 1 (29:31):
He came over to see a show I was doing
with Eileen Brennan, New Kind of Family with Rob Low
and Janet Jackson, and then he kind of wrote a
role for me on Bosom Buddies. But it was supposed
to be recurring. So when I went in to meet
with Chris Thompson and the writers. I didn't know it
was supposed to be recurring, so I just assumed I
was on every show, And when they told me I
wouldn't be, I was like, what, well, you can't do that.
(29:54):
Black people will really be upset with you if they
see a black girl one week and they don't see
it for two or three weeks. Play the black card girl.
Then I went from that to, well, I guess I'm
just gonna have to sit outside till you change your mind,
because I think I should be in every show, And
then I went from that too or I could call
the NAACP and tell them I was My manager could
not even believe that I had the audacity to say
(30:18):
that out loud with my outside voice. But guess what,
by the time I got along, I was a member
of the regular cast. Sometimes you just gotta be ballsy,
close my mouth, don't get fed. That's right.
Speaker 2 (30:32):
So we all been going about this the wrong way.
I've been going on auditions like an idiot. All I
needed to do was stages girl.
Speaker 1 (30:38):
I wouldn't do it now cause you get sat on. Okay,
Oh no, back then, I didn't care. I just had
a lot of nerves. Plus I had a contract with ABC,
which made it a little easier to be ballsy. Right.
Speaker 2 (30:56):
I can't believe you.
Speaker 1 (30:57):
I mean, for those of you who don't know, tellma
tell me. It's probably one of the most crazy, no,
most like people in the industry. So that you would
even do that, It's like, you know that emoji with
the whole top blown off of the head. That's kind
of how Mark looked my manager when I told him,
It's like, you did what.
Speaker 2 (31:16):
I'm a car.
Speaker 1 (31:17):
Hold on, I got a call from Bob Boyhead.
Speaker 2 (31:20):
Oh god, now let's get into a couple of funky facts,
unky facts.
Speaker 1 (31:29):
I love funky facts.
Speaker 2 (31:31):
So in nineteen eighty nine, a vintage nineteen thirty six
Ford Model sixty eight, which was the base model for
the car that they used on the show. Oh really,
was it worth about twenty five thousand dollars in premium conditions.
In twenty twenty five, that same car might be as
high as sixty five to seventy thousand.
Speaker 1 (31:52):
Yeah, I can believe that what you got. The first
police car ever used in America was an electric powered
wagon and Ohio in eighteen nine. Isn't that crazy. Wait,
eighteen ninety nine electric electric powered wagon in eighteen ninety
nine is that crazy? So in reality, Rachel to just
(32:14):
even think she could do what she did on this episode,
it would take one to three years to learn a
basic level of competency and vintage body repair, and five
plus years to be at an advanced level. And in
twenty twenty five, it would cost minimum five thousand dollars
to just get the basic level of expertise. And this
(32:38):
genius do it all overnight.
Speaker 2 (32:43):
I love it, But I mean, let's just underlies the
magic of black women, black girl magic altogether, because we
guess what you're gonna get it done?
Speaker 1 (32:51):
Because Helly Breandon, well on the line, she could put
throw it in the skillet and fried up in a
pan and all that stuff. We can do all that
while we're twirling. Well, we ask you guys to call in,
and call in you did, so we are so excited
to see what you want to know from us. Here
(33:11):
we go.
Speaker 3 (33:13):
Hello, nice to meet both of you. A huge fan.
Thank you for giving us your talent and showing us
how how to be by family. Basically, my question is
being that nineties fashion is kind of coming back. How
does it feel kind of watching the younger era think
(33:35):
that they have something new when you guys kind of
you know, like that was your that was original. You know,
you started something with fashion. So how does it feel
watching all the younger kids kind of where the things
that you guys would wear back in the day.
Speaker 1 (33:52):
Well, I'm definitely gonna let Telma talk about this because
her fashions have made it through all of thees and
she was fabulous in all her fashions.
Speaker 2 (34:04):
No matter what time, day or hour, she was still cute.
So I'll let you take this one because I was
a little kind of crazy.
Speaker 1 (34:12):
That was only because somebody else was dressing me. I
like how you said all the decades, thank you, Kelly.
I mean, I did love the fact that we had
an original look. I definitely my character Rachel had a
definite look, but I really thought that she had borrowed
some of her look from Annie Hall because she had
(34:34):
that kind of the saddle shoes and the socks and
the you know, all that stuff. And it's nice. I
think kids are wearing a lot less than we did
in the nineties, but it's nice to think that we
influenced them somehow. I don't necessarily see my look nowadays
that much, but it certainly set a trend at that time.
(34:54):
What do you think, Kel, I mean, you're you're in
the clothes much more than I am when.
Speaker 2 (34:59):
I was at the show. I don't know if my
nineties looked kind of made it out of the nineties,
because I mean it was like some uh some sideways
black boots, a side poet, a kid.
Speaker 1 (35:13):
You know. So this is real talk, Baby, tell what
looked like she was on Dynasty? I looked like I
was on What's My People?
Speaker 2 (35:21):
Once?
Speaker 1 (35:22):
Wasn't. Baby, it didn't work. So what you're saying is
your your look did not influence anybody. Is that what
you're saying.
Speaker 2 (35:36):
I hope it didn't influence anybody, is what I'm saying.
Speaker 1 (35:39):
Well, we hope that it's some kind of answer for you.
I don't know if it's the best one, but uh,
we didn't promise the best answer, just an answer. But
thank you so much for calling in. I mean, we
really appreciate it, and we're just excited to be able
to in a way talk to our fans. So thank
you for calling in.
Speaker 2 (35:59):
So with that, we're gonna bid everybody adieu.
Speaker 1 (36:03):
A do what oh you mean, like.
Speaker 2 (36:05):
Ba uh, what's going on?
Speaker 1 (36:09):
Well, Kelly has giving me kind of a look that
tells me that that's it for this week now.
Speaker 2 (36:16):
But stay tuned.
Speaker 1 (36:17):
We're gonna rewatch each episode of Family Matters week by week,
so make sure to rewatch the show right along with us.
You can catch it on Hulu and TVs and a
bunch of other places. Welcome to the Family with Telma
and Kelly is a production of iHeart Podcasts and Audiation.
It's hosted by me Tloma Hopkins and me Kelly Williams.
(36:40):
Our executive producers are Sandy Smalling's for Audiation, Adam Ripped,
JD Hopkins, who also happens to be my son and
Kelly's pobro, and Jonathan Strickland for iHeart Podcasts.
Speaker 2 (36:50):
The show is produced by Telma and I but our
series producer is Ireland Metchen and our theme songs lyrics
were written by j D Hopkins and Adam Ripped. The
theme song was scored and mixed by Matt Noble, who's
also our series mixer.
Speaker 1 (37:04):
And we'd like to thank Nikki Etour and the entire
iHeart podcast team. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you.
Speaker 2 (37:10):
Follow us on Instagram a Welcome to the Family Pod
for behind the scenes photos and more bonus content.
Speaker 1 (37:16):
And don't forget to leave us a voicemail at our website,
Thefamilymatterspod dot com. We want to hear your thoughts and
favorite memories of the show, and let us know if
you need advice, because we're good for some bad advice.
We might be able to help you with your own
Family Matters and make sure to rate and review us
wherever you're listening.
Speaker 2 (37:34):
We are so excited to have you guys along.
Speaker 1 (37:36):
For the ride. Yes, Welcome to the family, y'all, and
we'll see you next time. Welcome to the Familie Audiation.
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Betrayal: Weekly
Betrayal Weekly is back for a brand new season. Every Thursday, Betrayal Weekly shares first-hand accounts of broken trust, shocking deceptions, and the trail of destruction they leave behind. Hosted by Andrea Gunning, this weekly ongoing series digs into real-life stories of betrayal and the aftermath. From stories of double lives to dark discoveries, these are cautionary tales and accounts of resilience against all odds. From the producers of the critically acclaimed Betrayal series, Betrayal Weekly drops new episodes every Thursday. Please join our Substack for additional exclusive content, curated book recommendations and community discussions. Sign up FREE by clicking this link Beyond Betrayal Substack. Join our community dedicated to truth, resilience and healing. Your voice matters! Be a part of our Betrayal journey on Substack. And make sure to check out Seasons 1-4 of Betrayal, along with Betrayal Weekly Season 1.