Home Improvement (TV series)

Home Improvement
Home Improvement logo
Format	Family sitcom
Created by	Carmen Finestra David MacFadzean Matt Williams
Starring	Tim Allen Patricia Richardson Earl Hindman Zachery Ty Bryan Jonathan Taylor Thomas Taran Noah Smith Richard Karn Debbe Dunning Pamela Anderson
Theme music composer	Dan Foliart
Opening theme	"Iron John's Rock"
Country of origin	United States
No. of seasons	8
No. of episodes	204 (List of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Carmen Finestra David MacFadzean Matt Williams (entire run) Bob Bendetson (seasons 3–5) Elliot Shoenman (seasons 4–8) Bruce Ferber (mid season 4-season 8) Charlie Hauck (seasons 6–7) Tim Allen (seasons 6–8) Laurie Gelman (season 8)
Location(s)	Detroit, Michigan (setting) Burbank, California (actual filming location)
Camera setup	Videotape; Multi-camera
Running time	22 minutes
Production company(s)	Wind Dancer Productions Touchstone Television
Broadcast
Original channel	ABC
Picture format	480i (SDTV)
Original run	September 17, 1991 – May 25, 1999
Status	Ended

Home Improvement is an American television sitcom starring Tim Allen, that aired from 1991 to 1999. The show was created by Matt Williams, Carmen Finestra and David MacFadzean. In the 1990s, it was one of the most watched sitcoms, winning many awards. The series launched Tim Allen's acting career and also was the start of the television career of Pamela Anderson, who was part of the cast for the first two seasons. The show's title is a pun: it refers to physical improvement of houses, as well as to improving life with family, friends, work, and school.

Show background

Based on the stand-up comedy of Tim Allen, Home Improvement made its debut on ABC on September 17, 1991, and was one of the highest-rated sitcoms for almost the entire decade. It went to #1 in the ratings during the 1993–1994 season; that year, Allen also had the #1 book (Don't Stand Too Close to a Naked Man) and movie (The Santa Clause).^[1] Midway throughout the show's run, it was competing against another highly-rated sitcom, Frasier, which slightly dropped the ratings. It did, however, remain a Top 10 show. The final episode aired on May 25, 1999 with a 90-minute finale, which was the fourth highest rated comedy series finale of the 1990s, behind Cheers, The Cosby Show and Seinfeld.^[2]

The cold opens in each episode that included one, which began being used in all episodes starting in season two, often opened with the show's main title logo within the teaser scene; from season four onward, the show began using an anthropomorphic version of the logo in the opening scenes, using various different animations.

In 2007, with the DVD release of Tim Allen's two stand-up specials, he said that Home Improvement was supposed to be a parody of This Old House, where the host does almost nothing and the co-host (Al in this case, Norm on This Old House) does all the work.

Syndication

In the United States, Home Improvement started to air in broadcast syndication in September 1995, distributed via Buena Vista Television (now Disney-ABC Domestic Television) and continued to be syndicated until March 2007; in a manner similar to Seinfeld and The Simpsons after they began airing in broadcast syndication, episodes of Home Improvement were not aired in order of their production code number or original airdate. It has previously aired on cable television via Nick at Nite from 2007 to October 2009^[3], and WGN America from 2002 to 2006. Currently, the show has aired on TBS since 2002 and began airing on TV Land on January 4, 2010.^[4]

Since 1995, due to its popularity, reruns began airing on The Disney Channel, Channel 4 and ABC1 in the UK. Originally, Home Improvement was aired on Channel 4 and then later the Disney Channel, however in 2005, it began broadcasting on abc1. On September 26, 2007, ABC1 ceased transmissions and no official announcement was made as to which channels would be broadcasting ABC1's previous programming. Home Improvement has been shown on Virgin 1 since July 28, 2008. At the present time, reruns are aired internationally on the Seven Network and 111 Hits in Australia (until April 26, 2010), Sab Tv and Disney Channel in India and although it stopped airing in the UK due to ABC1 ceasing transmission on September 26, on July 28, 2008 it restarted from the pilot episode on Virgin 1. In Canada, it has began airing on CMT and YTV. In Germany, Home Improvement was shown on ARD, RTL, VOX, and reruns are currently shown on the private channels RTL 2 and Super RTL. It was also shown on M-Net on South African television, and reruns are showing throughout 2007 on the M-Net Series channel, available to DStv users.

Tim Allen, Richard Karn, and Debbe Dunning had a reunion in a show called Tim Allen Presents: A User's Guide to Home Improvement in 2003.^[5] Tim presented his own favorite clips from the show, insider's tips, personal reflections and a question and answer session with the live audience. The special is included on the season 8 DVD set.

Plot details and storylines

Taylor family

The series centered on the Taylor family, which consists of father Tim (Tim Allen), his spouse Jill (Patricia Richardson) and their three children: the oldest, Brad (Zachery Ty Bryan), the middle child Randy (Jonathan Taylor Thomas) and youngest, Mark (Taran Noah Smith). The Taylors live in suburban Detroit, Michigan and have a neighbor named Wilson (Earl Hindman) who is often the go-to guy for solving Tim and Jill's problems.

Tim is a stereotypical American male, who loves power tools, cars and sports (especially the local Detroit teams). He is a former salesman for the fictional Binford Tool company, and is very much an overconfident know-it-all. Witty but flippant, Tim jokes around a lot, even at inopportune times. Family life was boisterous, with the two oldest children, Brad and Randy, tormenting the much younger, Mark, while continually testing and pestering each other. This rough by-play happened especially throughout the first four seasons, and was revisited occasionally until Jonathan Taylor Thomas left at the beginning of the eighth season.

Brad, popular and athletic, was often the moving factor, who engaged before thinking, a tendency which regularly landed him in trouble. Randy, a year younger, was the comedian of the pack; known for his quick-thinking, wisecracks, and smart mouth. He had more common sense than Brad but was not immune to trouble. Mark was somewhat of a mama's boy, though later in the series (in the seventh season) he grew into a teenage outcast who dressed in black clothing (a goth). Meanwhile, Brad became interested in cars like his father and took up soccer. Randy joined the school newspaper; in the eighth season, he left for Costa Rica.

Tool Time

Each episode included Tim's own home improvement show, called Tool Time, a "meta-program," or show-within-a-show. Originally slated to be called Hammer Time, the show's name was changed to Tool Time because Tim Allen and the producers felt that name would be confused with rap musician MC Hammer. In hosting this show, Tim was joined by his friend and mild-mannered assistant Al Borland (Richard Karn), and a "Tool Time girl" — first Lisa (Pamela Anderson) and later Heidi (Debbe Dunning) — whose main duty was to introduce the pair at the beginning of the show with the line "Does everybody know what time it is?" They would also assist Tim and Al during the show by bringing them tools.

Although revealed to be an excellent salesman and TV personality, Tim Taylor was spectacularly accident-prone as a handyman, often causing massive disasters on and off the set to the consternation of his co-workers and family. Many Tool Time viewers assume that the accidents on the show are done on purpose, to demonstrate the consequences of using tools improperly. Many of Tim's accidents were caused by his devices being used in an unauthorized manner, designed in application of his mantra "More power!". This popular mantra would not be uttered after Home Improvement's seventh season^[6], until Tim's last line in the series finale.

The Tool Time studio audience is the actual studio audience of Home Improvement. Scenes with Tim and Al without the audience are pre-taped, usually for a cold opening.

Relationship between Tim and Al

Though ultimately they are best friends, there was sometimes a tense problematic relationship between Tim and Al.

Al is reserved, though he has much more knowledge, skill, and audience popularity than Tim. His catchphrase, as an opposition to Tim's ill-advised ideas or jokes, is "I don't think so, Tim". He also comes up with many puns and would giggle and snort when a joke was made at Tim's expense.

Al, being cautious, insecure, and brighter, bears the brunt of Tim's jokes and constant put-downs. Whenever Tim would make a remark likely to put off some Tool Time viewers, Al would quickly pull out a large sign with the show's address for those viewers to write to Tim and complain. Al is frequently taunted by Tim because of his beard, weight, bland personality (in Tim's eye), poor sense of humor, his overbearing mother, and his preference of flannel shirts (and often other flannel items such as an over-sized pair of flannel briefs in the episode "Room Without A View"; Tim shows the briefs again in the episode "A Funny Valentine"). In one of the episodes it was revealed why Al wears flannel - his father used to wrap him in his flannel shirts when Al would get cold helping him in his workshop. Tim typically uses his television show to vent about various problems he is having in his personal life. Al is usually very annoyed by this. In the end, there was a respect between Tim and Al.

An early episode shows a flashback to the premiere of Tool Time, in which Tim has a full-blooded beard, and introduces Al, who for the only time in the whole series is clean-shaven.

Relationship between Tim and Wilson

Wilson and Tim are next-door neighbors and best friends. Every time that Tim would screw up in his everyday life, he would go to Wilson for advice. As always, Wilson had the answer, often using a philosophical or historical quotation to make his point. Tim would repeat what Wilson said to his wife, Jill, or the viewers of Tool Time, but he would often explain his revelation by misquoting Wilson, using Wilson's long words incorrectly, or mistaking the name of the person or work quoted. Wilson and Tim really trust each other, and that is why they are close as friends and neighbors.

Awards and nominations

Home Improvement received numerous awards and nominations in its 8 season run. Notable awards and nominations include: Golden Globe Awards, Kids' Choice Awards, YoungStar Awards, ASCAP Award and many others.

Production

Development and early recasts

Home Improvement had been in the works between Tim Allen and the writing/producing team of Carmen Finestra, David McFadzean and Matt Williams since the summer of 1990. Originally, the project's proposed title was Hammer Time, both a play on the catchphrase made popular by artist MC Hammer and the name of the fictional fix-it show within the series, which was also called Hammer Time. By the time ABC committed to the project in early 1991, Allen and his team had already changed the title to Home Improvement. The show hosted by Tim Taylor in the shooting script for Home Improvement was still called Hammer Time when the first pilot with Frances Fisher was filmed in April 1991. The catalyst for the series' name change was to represent the aspect of fixing problems within the family and homelife, as well as the use of mechanics and tools. Once the second phase of the pilot was produced, with all the actors that made the final cut into the series (including Patricia Richardson), Tim Taylor's Hammer Time became Tool Time.

The first filmed pilot was produced in April 1991, in which Frances Fisher played Jill Taylor. Fisher, primarily known as a dramatic actress, was well qualified for the co-starring role but was viewed by the studio audience as not being comedic enough, and too serious in her line delivery. The producers tried to work with Fisher on adapting to the situation comedy setting, but shortly after the pilot wrapped post-production, they decided to recast her. This version of the pilot featuring Frances Fisher as Jill Taylor remains unaired. In addition to featuring Frances Fisher as Jill Taylor, and numerous visual differences between the pilot's sets, another interesting aspect about the unaired pilot is that the show Tim Taylor hosts is, indeed, named Hammer Time rather than Tool Time. The grainy, timecoded unaired pilot surfaced in bootleg circles around the mid-1990s at television conventions, and first surfaced on P2P networks around mid-2003. The timecoded unaired pilot remains elusive and hasn't been seen since December 2003 when Disney filed a cease and desist order to have it removed from file-sharing sites.

Before the first pilot was shot, actor John Bedford-Lloyd was in the running for one of two roles; that of Tim's Tool Time assistant, who was in this stage of development named Glen, and for the role of Wilson. Bedford-Lloyd eventually got the part of Wilson, but his agent later made claims that the actor was unaware that most of his scenes would require his face to be partially hidden behind a fence. For this reason, the crew received news just one day prior to taping the first pilot that Bedford-Lloyd had dropped out. Casting immediately contacted the other actor considered for the role, Earl Hindman.

Stephen Tobolowsky was tapped to play the Tool Time co-host, Glen. However, he was still busy with a movie that was in the middle of production at the time the first pilot was set to be shot. Therefore, the producers set out to cast an alternate character that would stand-in as Tim's co-host for the pilot only, or for however many episodes until Tobolowsky was available. Casting auditioned Richard Karn, for what would be his first major appearance on a TV sitcom; the character of Al Borland was created from there. After the first few episodes completed with Patricia Richardson as Jill, Tobolowsky was still tied up with his other commitments, and Karn found himself in his role permanently when Tobolowsky decided he would have no time to do a series. Thus, the character of Glen never came into being.

Casting changes

Pamela Anderson

In the first two years of the show, Pamela Anderson played the part of Tim's assistant, Lisa, on Tool Time. As she had only a very small part, and was not present in every episode, she became frustrated with her role and took the role of C.J. Parker on the syndicated series Baywatch. Her last episode as a series regular was "The Great Race," which aired on May 19, 1993. Tim's new assistant, Heidi, played by Debbe Dunning, replaced Anderson as the Tool Time Girl for the following third season, starting with "Maybe Baby," which aired on September 15, 1993. Anderson did reprise the role of Lisa, now as a paramedic, in the sixth season finale "The Kiss and the Kiss-Off," which aired on May 20, 1997.

Departure of Jonathan Taylor Thomas

In the show's eighth season, the middle child Randy left for Costa Rica in the episode "Adios" which aired on September 29, 1998. This was done since Jonathan Taylor Thomas reportedly wanted to take time off to focus on academics. His last appearance on Home Improvement was the eighth season's Christmas episode "Home for the Holidays," which aired on December 8, 1998. He did not return to the show for the series finale, aired in May 1999, only appearing in archived footage. He was shooting the movie Speedway Junky for release that summer.

Cast

Main cast

Character	Actor/Actress	Episodes	Season
Timothy "Tim" Taylor	Tim Allen	(204 episodes, 1991–1999)	1–8
Jillian "Jill" Patterson-Taylor	Patricia Richardson	(204 episodes, 1991–1999)	1–8
Bradley Michael "Brad" Taylor	Zachery Ty Bryan	(201 episodes, 1991–1999)	1–8
Randall William "Randy" Taylor	Jonathan Taylor Thomas	(177 episodes, 1991–1998)	1–8
Marcus Jason "Mark" Taylor	Taran Noah Smith	(204 episodes, 1991–1999)	1–8
Albert "Al" Borland	Richard Karn	(201 episodes, 1991–1999)	1–8
Heidi Keppert	Debbe Dunning	(148 episodes, 1993–1999)	3–8
Wilson Wilson, Jr.	Earl Hindman	(202 episodes, 1991–1999)	1–8

Recurring characters

Character	Actor/Actress	Episodes	Season
Lisa	Pamela Anderson	(48 episodes, 1991–1997)	1, 2, 6
Martin "Marty" Taylor	William O'Leary	(30 episodes, 1994–1999)	4–8
Harry	Blake Clark	(24 episodes, 1994–1999)	4–8
Benny	Jimmy Labriola	(16 episodes, 1994–1999)	4–8
Dr. Ilene Markham	Sherry Hursey	(16 episodes, 1993–1997)	3–6

Special guests and cameos

Many special guests made cameo appearances on Tool Time. These guests included race car drivers Johnny Rutherford, Robby Gordon, Mario and Michael Andretti, Al Unser, Sr./Jr./III, actress and model Jenny McCarthy (the season 8 episode "Young at Heart"), country artist Alan Jackson (the season 5 episode "When Harry Kept Delores"), golfer Payne Stewart (the season 7 episode "Futile Attraction") and comedian Drew Carey (the season 6 episode "Totally Tool Time", although not playing himself).
Numerous NASA astronauts appeared on the series, the most notable being Ken Bowersox, who made three separate appearances.
Former Denver Broncos quarterback John Elway, then Detroit Pistons star Grant Hill (the season 7 episode "Believe It or Not"), former boxers Evander Holyfield (the season 3 episode "Eve of Construction") and George Foreman (the season 1 episode "Unchained Malady"), and former President Jimmy Carter all appeared on the series. Carter made an appearance during season three episode "Eve of Construction", which focused on Habitat for Humanity.
Isiah Thomas appears as himself at the end of the season three episode (Aisle See You In My Dreams).
Jay Leno appears with his car collection in the fourth season episode "Brother, Can You Spare a Hot Rod?" He also appeared four years later in the episode "Home Alone" in a dream sequence about Tim's book, saying "Instead of getting a literary genius like Tim Taylor, we're stuck with Jack Nicholson and Marlon Brando." Leeza Gibbons and Oprah Winfrey also guest-starred in the episode playing themselves on their respective talk shows talking about Tim's book (and how he has not written it).
Bob Vila also appeared on several episodes, with Tim seeing him as a rival (he appears in Season One's "What About Bob?" Season Two's "The Great Race," Season Three's "The Great Race II," Season Four's "Tool Time After Dark," with recycled Tool Time footage from earlier episodes, and Season Six's "Insult to Injury" in a dream sequence about Vila winning the consecutive home renovation show appearance record; Vila wasn't played by himself, and instead played by a stunt-double for a one-shot cameo.)
The Beach Boys appeared in the Season 6 episode "The Karate Kid Returns" as Wilson's cousins. (Then-Beach Boys Carl Wilson and Mike Love were real-life cousins.)
Tom Wopat, best known as Luke Duke from the TV Series, the Dukes of Hazzard, appears early on in Season 7 as Ian, to whom Jill feels romatically attracted after meeting him in a gym.
A then-unknown Dave Chappelle and Jim Breuer guest-starred in the Season 4 episode "Talk to Me". This episode set the stage for the Home Improvement spin-off Buddies, which was Chappelle's first television series.
Other famous guests include Drake Bell in the third season episode "Swing Time", Jack Elam, and Ernest Borgnine, who both appeared in the first season episode "Birds of a Feather Flock to Taylor."
Dan Aykroyd makes a guest appearance as a blues-loving minister, the character he was currently playing at the time in the Home Improvement spin-off series Soul Man.
Robert Picardo, best known as The Doctor on Star Trek: Voyager, made two appearances on the show as Tim's neighbor, Joe "The Meat Man" Morton. He appeared in "A Sew, Sew Evening," and "Blow-Up," both early on in the third season. It was explained by Marie (his wife) in the fifth season episode "Jill's Surprise Party" that he had left her for a younger woman who worked at his plant.
Rodney Dangerfield and Alex Rocco appeared together in the 1997 Thanksgiving episode in which they both appeared in a luxury box at the Pontiac Silverdome.
Magicians Penn and Teller also appeared in one of the episodes of the final season, opening for Tool Time by performing tricks with Tim.
Actress Michelle Williams played Jessica Lutz, a girl that Brad was going on a date with in Season 4, 3 years before she became famous as Jen Lindley on Dawson's Creek

Episodes

Nielsen ratings

Seasonal Nielsen Rankings (based on average total viewers per episode) of Home Improvement on ABC.^[7]

Season	Season Premiere	Season Finale	TV Season	Rank	Viewers (in millions)
1	September 17, 1991	May 5, 1992	1991–1992	#4	16.1
2	September 16, 1992	May 19, 1993	1992–1993	#3	18.0
3	September 15, 1993	May 25, 1994	1993–1994	#1	19.2
4	September 20, 1994	May 23, 1995	1994–1995	#3	18.6
5	September 19, 1995	May 21, 1996	1995–1996	#7	15.4
6	September 17, 1996	May 20, 1997	1996–1997	#9	13.5
7	September 23, 1997	May 19, 1998	1997–1998	#10	11.7
8	September 22, 1998	May 25, 1999	1998–1999	#10	10.9

DVD releases

Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment has released all eight seasons on DVD in Region 1, 2 and 4. Season 8 has the "Backstage Pass" (which immediately followed "The Long and Winding Road, Part III") and the reunion show on the fourth disc of the set.

DVD Name	Ep#	Release dates
DVD Name	Ep#	Region 1	Region 2 (Germany)	Region 4
The Complete First Season	24	November 23, 2004	July 14, 2005	June 28, 2005
The Complete Second Season	25	June 7, 2005	October 13, 2005	July 20, 2005
The Complete Third Season	25	November 23, 2005	January 12, 2006	January 16, 2006
The Complete Fourth Season	26	June 6, 2006	December 6, 2007	December 5, 2007
The Complete Fifth Season	26	November 14, 2006	March 6, 2008	April 2, 2008
The Complete Sixth Season	25	May 15, 2007	November 13, 2008	December 3, 2008
The Complete Seventh Season	25	August 7, 2007	April 2, 2009	March 18, 2009
The Complete Eighth Season	28	June 10, 2008	August 13, 2009	December 2, 2009

DVD notes

The Region 1 DVDs are on three discs (with the exception of the Final Season set, which has four discs), whereas the Region 2 DVDs are presented across four discs, but in Germany the fourth to seventh seasons are also three disc sets. The Region 2 packaging and programme menus for Season 1 vary compared to the Region 1 releases. The Season 3 menus in Region 1 are in widescreen, but 4:3 in Region 2. The Region 1 releases of Seasons 2 and 3 consist of (deliberate) "holes" in the outer packaging—these do not exist in the Region 2 releases; in fact, the Season 3 outer packaging is physically printed where the hole would be in the Region 1 packaging.

It has been mentioned on review sites about the lack of episode commentaries and bonus features on the DVDs (except unaired blooper reels). In an interview on about.com^[8], Tim said that it was a done deal that the DVDs would not contain interviews or episode commentaries. Whether this was before or after somebody at Disney ordered the three commentaries available on the Season 1 DVDs is unknown.

References

↑ "Tim Allen". Inside the Actors Studio. 2006-05-28. No. 15, season 12.
↑ Petrozzello, Donna (May 27, 1999). "POWER RATINGS FOR 'HOME'". NY Daily News. http://www.nydailynews.com/archives/entertainment/1999/05/27/1999-05-27_power_ratings_for__home_.html. Retrieved 2010-02-24.
↑ Coming to Nick At Nite in 2007 – Sitcoms Online Message Boards
↑ [1]
↑ Tim Allen Presents: A User's Guide to 'Home Improvement' (2003) (TV)
↑ http://www.ultimatedisney.com/homeimprovement-season3.html
↑ http://www.angelfire.com/ny2/televisioncity/9095.html
↑ Tim Allen Interview – Christmas with the Kranks, Toy Story 3

External links

Home Improvement

Characters	Tim Taylor • Jill Taylor • Other characters

See also	Episodes • Guttural • Buddies • Soul Man • Thunder Alley • Home Improvement: Power Tool Pursuit!