`DID I DO THAT?'; AS IT APPROACHES ITS 200TH EPISODE, `FAMILY MATTERS' AND ITS LOVABLE GEEK, STEVE URKEL, HAVE THE SECOND-LONGEST-RUNNING PRIME-TIME SHOW ON TELEVISION, A NEW NETWORK AND SOME SLIGHT WARDROBE CHANGES.

Byline: Janet Weeks Daily News Staff Writer

George Clooney stares at the asphalt, rhythmically bouncing a basketball and contemplating his next move.

It's a balmy afternoon outside the ``ER'' soundstage on the Warner Bros. lot, and Clooney is passing time with a pickup game of H-O-R-S-E. A serious pickup game of H-O-R-S-E. So serious that Clooney, who injured himself playing basketball here last year, has taken care to wear special ankle supports.

Suddenly, Clooney begins a furious drive, dribbling and turning and jumping on the bumper of a van parked nearby. ``While singing a Frank Sinatra tune!'' he says, announcing his shot and warbling ``Summer Wind.''

He misses.

The ball bounces to his opponent, a young man who, unprepared for the game, is dressed in neat pressed khakis and brown street shoes. He tries a simple, less flashy move, a strategy that has placed him ahead of Clooney.

He moves to the right of the basket and fires.

Swish.

Now it's game point. Clooney has to repeat the shot or accept defeat.

He dribbles.

He shoots.

He loses.

To Jaleel White. To Urkel.

The game - a chance occurrence between stars of shows filmed in neighboring soundstages - points up two interesting truths about 20-year-old Jaleel White.

One, he is not the pratfalling geek Steve Urkel he has played so adeptly for eight successful seasons of ``Family Matters.'' In fact, he is a basketball fanatic capable of beating Batman, even in ``ol' fuddy duddy'' shoes.

Two, like his basketball style, White is deliberate and steady and cool, traits that have helped him keep a level head in the heady world of Hollywood while alter-ego Urkel has slowly climbed into our collective psyche.

``I feel like nobody knows Jaleel White,'' says White without a trace of disappointment.

Indeed, he's happy to take a back seat to Urkel, a pop-culture icon so well-known that the World Wide Web sports 572 sites that mention him. That White is less famous than Urkel ``is exciting to me,'' White says, because when he moves on from the show - he's a junior at UCLA, after all - people will not know what to expect.

``And why mess with success?'' White adds. ``You've got to ride that wave.''

The Urkel wave began to crest eight years ago, when Steve Urkel, suspenders-wearing nerd and neighbor of the Winslow family, made a guest appearance on a midseason episode and captured the show. He quickly became part of the cast.

Two-hundred-plus episodes later, ``Family Matters,'' and Urkel, are still going strong. The sitcom currently ranks as the second-longest-running show currently on in prime time, behind ``Murphy Brown.'' It is one of only 20 comedies to last past 200 episodes.

``Family Matters'' has not only outlasted other shows, but became the focus of an intense bidding war this spring between ABC, where it previously aired, and CBS, its new home. CBS viewed landing the comedy as major victory in its war to steal thunder from ABC's winning ``TGIF'' Friday lineup. ``Family Matters'' is now the cornerstone of CBS' new ``Block Party'' Friday (8 p.m. Channel 2). Although preliminary ratings for Friday show the hourlong premiere of ABC's ``Sabrina, The Teenage Witch'' beat ``Family Matters,'' the show is gaining in its new home, up 7 percent in all homes over the previous week.

CBS, of course, hopes those numbers continue to build, since it paid an estimated $1.7 million per episode to steal it away from ABC.

``We feel `Family Matters' is one of the great television shows in history,'' says CBS Entertainment president Leslie Moonves. ``One of our priorities is to get a younger audience and no better show represents that demographic.''

Yet despite its longevity and its popularity among kids and young adults, ``Family Matters'' has never quite earned the respect of other sitcoms that have also hit the 200th episode mark - shows like ``MASH'' or ``Cheers.'' It has never been nominated for an Emmy, and few would argue that the television academy has overlooked it.

But without critical acclaim and a closetful of trophies, the show has chugged along, winning its time period eight years in a row. Weekly, it is watched by 20 million viewers. Most importantly, it is watched by the young, which makes the show a hit with advertisers.

``It may not have snob appeal, but it's a show you can watch with your family,'' says Moonves, who nurtured the show in its early days when he was president of Warner Bros. television. ``And it's just plain funny.''

``Family Matters'' is such a favorite of Moonves that he was moved to take a good-natured potshot at rival ABC during the recent celebration of the 200-episode landmark.

``When ABC was stupid enough to not jump when they had the opportunity, and we grabbed the show, it turned out out to the single best thing I've done at CBS.''

``Family Matters'' premiered in 1989 as a sort of alternative to the hit sitcom ``The Cosby Show,'' which focused on an affluent upper-class clan of urban professionals.

The Winslow family - father Ward (Reginald VelJohnson), wife Harriette (JoMarie Payton-Noble), son Eddie (Darius McCrary) and daughter Laura (Kellie Shanygne Williams) - are decidedly middle-class, which is more reflective of TV's audience.

``We believed there was a great opportunity to do a black show that was blue-collar,'' says executive producer Bob Boyett of the show's impetus. ``But we had no idea we would have such a following this many years later.''

University of Southern California sitcom writing professor Sam Denoff, who earned two Emmys for his work on the landmark television series ``The Dick Van Dyke Show,'' says ``Family Matters'' can credit its longevity to White's over-the-top Urkel.

``There's something appealing about the Urkel guy,'' he says. That Urkel wasn't in the original concept of the show makes his status as the show's heart an amazing bit of serendipity, he says.

``It's one of the great examples of a hit coming out of something that was just plodding along.''

White calls his good fortune ``a dream come true. Actually, it's a dream I never even had.'' During an on-set celebration for the taping of the 200th episode, a Halloween-themed show that airs Oct. 24, White's voice cracked with emotion as he talked about his ``Family Matters'' friends.

``This really does feel like a family,'' he said. ``You work hard and you have fun and then look up and you're at 200 episodes.''

And while White moves on in his personal life - he's studying writing, producing and directing at the University of California, Los Angeles - Urkel will be moving on, too. Sort of.

In the premiere show this season, Urkel got a partial makeover. He no longer wears suspenders (although his pants are still too short) and his nasally falsetto has been lowered a decibel or two.

``We're going to grow him up a bit,'' says White.

As for ``Family Matter's' '' lack of critical acclaim, Denoff says that kind of praise has nothing to do with whether a show stays on the air. The only way shows last is if audiences watch.

``And you can't predict what audiences will watch, which is both frustrating and also the best thing about the business. Everyone who runs a network should assume the posture that there are no rules about what won't work or will. There is no way of calculating it. And things that are doomed to failure by prognosticators are hits.''

CAPTION(S):

3 Photos

Photo: (1--Cover--Color) `FAMILY' REALLY MATTERS

With Jaleel White as Urkel, series hits TV milestone

(2) `There's something appealing about the Urkel guy. It's one of the great examples of a hit coming out of something that was just plodding along.'

Sam Denoff

television writer and professor at University of Southern California, speaking about Jaleel White, above.

(3) The ``Family Matters' cast celebrates its 200th episode on the set.

Terri Thuente/Daily News