“Home Improvement” (1991-1999) - Did you watch?

I believe Patricia was a nightmare to work with.

Tim Allen is repulsive.

It was a very dated and unfunny show. In reruns it failed miserably, while it's contemporaries like Seinfeld and Roseanne did well.

I don’t know why people compare Roseanne and Seinfeld to Home Improvement.

Seinfeld and Roseanne were geared toward adults while HI was 100% a family show like Full House

I liked Home Improvement back then. Loved the chemistry between Tim Allen and Patricia Richardson. I think their relationship was what made the entire show work for me. Didn't care much for the kids, and at the end I started to hate the cute but holier than though middle-child.

For some reason I never felt the urge to go back and watch reruns. Could be Tim Allen's political antics, or the show being pretty much the card board template for all future family sitcoms (knowing very well that there were plenty before with the same tropes)

Patricia Richardson made the show.

This show made Full House seem sophisticated.

OP is trying to lure Jonathan Taylor-Thomas out of hiding.

I was the same age as JTT so I grew up watching the show and liked it at the time. However, I cannot watch reruns of it now. It is very dated and does not hold up well.

Funny how a white convicted felon/ex drug dealer like Allen can trash a black man like Barack Obama (who has never been gotten so much as a speeding ticket) and the Deplorables eat that shit up.

[quote]I believe Patricia was a nightmare to work with.

I remember her on True Hollywood Story (or a show like that), and you could tell she thinks really highly of herself. She said she turned down $25 million and refused to do another season of the show because she “was bored.”🙄 How stupid can you be knowing you will most likely never be offered that kind of money again? She seemed really stuck up and believed bigger and better things were waiting for her. She reminded me of another Shelly Long.

That said, she gets props for being a good actress and her exact words were that she was a “blue-state liberal Democrat,” which probably drove Tim crazy.

She told Tim Allen that the only way she would agree to do another season is if she was paid the exact amount they were offering him ($2 million per episode for one more season which amounted to $50 million vs them offering her $1 million per episode which amounted to $25 million). She also said she wants to be an Exec Producer like him etc. or she was out. The rest of the cast (minus the neighbor) began to make demands for one more season also so Tim decided it was time to end it and the $50 million wasn’t worth it.

He also toyed with the idea of doing another season without the wife and making himself a divorced man but that wasn’t flying.

If Tim was smart (which he wasn’t) and really wanted the show to go on, he would have split whatever he was being offered with Patricia so that they were being paid equally and let her become an executive producer as well. But he didn’t so he must not have wanted the show to go on as much as he claimed to.

Even my deep love for JTT couldn’t make me watch.

R13 he wanted to move on as much as the rest. It was Disney execs that didn’t want the show to end. That’s why they offered him $2 million per episode.

It was a poor man's "Step by Step". Patrick Duffy makes me want to whack my pud.

Patricia Richardson should think highly of herself. She made inexperienced actors look good and turned the "wife" character into someone interesting.

Not sure why there is hostility toward someone who left a job that they were over, once they had enough money to leave.

I don't know why R3 said it failed in reruns., it use to be on all the time.

This was one of those mediocre 90's sitcoms that I didn't just find unfunny but BORING. I remember it being a few mildly humorous moments an episode with a bunch of plain fluff in between that didn't even try being snappy. Maybe I just didn't get it back then. I felt the same way about The Nanny but gained a great new appreciation for that this year on CoziTV. Maybe I'll give Home Improvement another try one day, too.

It spent its entire 8 years in the Top 10, and was number one for a couple of seasons.

It literally trampled Seinfeld in viewers, averaging 17 million a week to his 12 million. A week.

I was hoping that there would be an episode in which Brad and Randy would gangbang Mark.

[quote] If Tim was smart (which he wasn’t) and really wanted the show to go on, he would have split whatever he was being offered with Patricia so that they were being paid equally and let her become an executive producer as well. But he didn’t so he must not have wanted the show to go on as much as he claimed to.

Guys like Allen (who turn out to be Trump supporters) can't allow women, or other minorities, to be their equal.

Of course the thread had to take a turn into pedophilia.

I watched as a kid, mostly because I had an epic crush on Jonathan Taylor Thomas. It doesn't exactly hold up, but in fairness none of those ABC family shows do (Step by Step, Full House, etc). I also remember being very oft put by Tim Allen's toxic masculinity although I'm not sure we had a word for it back then.

R20, it's funny how that works. It reminds me of how in the early twentieth century, there were many famous musicians/artists who are no longer as famous today. Look at Seinfeld versus Home Improvement today. Many people watching Seinfeld on reruns today would probably be surprised to learn that Home Improvement was the biggest show in the 90s.

The appeal of the show was to see Allen's character fail miserably at life and on the Tool Time show. The wife was the one who brought back order in her family's chaos while the neighbor convinced Tim to crawl back to this wife and say he's sorry for causing the chaos in the first place (which he never considered to be his fault before he talked to the neighbor which happened in pretty much every episode of its entire run).

Never watched this shit.

Not even once.

Wilson is the only really memorable character from the show.

R15 He was on the fence about moving on until they offered him that $2 million an episode, then he was all for it. Then when Patricia declined, he was desperate to think of ways to do the show without her (hoping to still get that $2 million an episode), but ultimately gave up when they couldn’t think of any ideas that would work.

It’s all right here starting at the 1:09 mark.

Yes, OP. It was a fun show.

Patricia was great in The West Wing.

It was a huge hit and even got a bunch of Emmy nominations. Jonathan Taylor Thomas became a huge star for a few years. The ogre sounds Allen made were widely imitated by white suburban dads everywhere.

Richardson was obviously working on a higher level.

Frances Fisher played Jill in the pilot, but was fired because she was humorless and stiff as a board.

I imagine Richard Karn had a hairy musky manhole.

[quote]Patricia was great in The West Wing.

But that didn’t pay $25 million a season. I would have rode out Home Improvement until it was cancelled if they were willing to pay me that much.

I’d fuck Al.

He could even keep the flannel shirt on...

I found out that a guy I had a big crush on in my early 20s loved this show. That killed it for me.

I think I caught a few episodes of this show in reruns. It has its charms, but it's not very memorable.

The one thing I will give it credit for are the moments when Tim is talking to Wilson over the back yard fence. These moments show the best writing, and Wilson is always portrayed as the wise sage who is teaching Tim how to be a better man. Unfortunately, since this is a sitcom, these moments get repeated often, which makes Tim Allen's character come off as an utter dimwit who can't show insight or learn anything. And since he's the lead character and supposed to be likable, I think it hurts the show.

While others might be able to relate to a doofus, I really can't.

Didn’t Allen hate the change from Fisher to Richardson? At first he didn’t like the change and loved Fisher but the audience didn’t take well to her or ever laugh at her deliveries. She spoke her likes very dramatic which sounded like nagging etc vs comedy, which Richardson nailed.

It was ok. I'm not surprised it failed in syndication. I had never watched its original run and saw some episodes when it was still a big hit and was just being syndicated. The episodes didn't hold up on repeat viewing. A show like Roseanne, however, still holds up for the first 5-6 seasons before it goes into the crapper. And for me at least, Cheers holds up until Shelly Long leaves.

Lmao at people claiming it didn’t do well in syndication when it was aired in syndication for almost 2 decades

It’s still in syndication. It was playing yesterday here in NC.

But definitely not as much as Seinfeld, friends, modern family, etc.

Again, why are we comparing it to adult comedies?

R43, you probably have a point. Family comedies tend to age like pop music whereas adult comedies age a bit better. They serve different demographics and it makes no sense to compare them.

[quote]I watched as a kid, mostly because I had an epic crush on Jonathan Taylor Thomas.

Yep I've also said it here many times. JTT had to be one of my first crushes, that cute smirk pulled me right into this show.

Am I the only DLer who found Tim Allen quite hot?

"Tool Time," indeed.

I mean, golly.

Politcs aside I cant deny Tim Allen and the cast made a funny show for the 90s, but it absolutely did NOT age well.

The epitome of AWG, R46 and R47.

The producers wanted to do an episode where Tim meets a gay couple doesn't realize they're gay. Allen nixed the idea saying he didn't want gay characters on his "family" show.

Asshole.

[quote]It’s still in syndication. It was playing yesterday here in NC.

The only channel I've seen this on syndication here in Canada was on the Buffalo Fox channel, and that was many, many years ago.

Frasier, Friends, Seinfeld, Rosanne ....

And then there's Home Improvement?

Tim Allen is an asshole and I hate his show.

I think Allen can be funny.

R46, you're not alone. He was sexy, to some extent for the very reasons some of the more refined types here call him an asshole.

Anyway, I watched HI for a couple of years when I got sick of Seinfeld. (There are only so many years I can take watching such awful people grow more awful each season ... and, yes, I do know that was the point of the series.) That said, Seinfeld is a much more memorable show and, un-PC moments aside, more timeless. HI was pretty routine, forgettable stuff.

I hated Roseanne (the show, but probably also the person) at the time, so reruns of My Mother the Car would be preferable as far as I'm concerned. I know others loved it, but I don't think it's anywhere near as much a part of pop culture history as Seinfeld.

The comedian Dana Carvey had a short-lived sketch show that aired ABC aired in the timeslot immediately following Home Improvement. Dana Carvey’s showrunners weren’t familiar with Home Improvement, and hoped that the sitcom’s comedic senses would complement Carvey’s wacky, adult-oriented humor. They were wrong.

I watched Home Improvement quite regularly during its original run. I'm the same age as JTT and the show was pretty popular among my age group.

A reason why it doesn't age well and it doesn't have a high rewatchability factor could be that the episodes were just so formulaic, so if you've seen one you've seen them all. Tim says or does something insensitive (usually to Jill) before the midway mark, Tim is left befuddled until he talks with Wilson at the backyard fence, Wilson gives him sage advice as always, Tim apologies to Jill (usually botching the quote or reference Wilson gave him), Jill accepts, knowing that she married a dumbass and his screwups go with the territory, end episode.

Thrown in the mix is a Tool Time segment, often where Tim would damage something and/or injure himself. Some of these were pretty funny to be fair; I still laugh at the time he jammed a potato into a plugged-in lamp.

Jill Taylor had to be the most forgiving TV wife of the 1990s. Tim once dropped a huge steel beam on her car, and she [italic]didn't[/italic] divorce his ass

I watched it only for JTT ❤️

I saw it occasionally, yet I can't remember even a single thing about it. I must have been watching in another universe if any "huge stars" besides Pamela Anderson came out of this show.

I watched early on, but even as an young teen, I kind of new it was shit and not of the same caliber as Roseanne (there's no reason why the two shows shouldn't be compared - they were both family sitcoms, but one had substantially better writing and acting). Even during its original 90s run, Home Improvement felt dated and formulaic like most of the awful TGIF style family shows.

Oh, dear: new = knew

Watching old episodes of Roseanne makes me frustrated that The Conners is not a better show.

[quote]I still laugh at the time he jammed a potato into a plugged-in lamp.

R57 that is literally the only thing I remember about this show. Al warning him to make sure the power was off and Tim ignoring him and wammo.

R52 that you'd group FRASIER with those other lessers tells us all we need to know.

This was a funny show. Wish it aired more.

Watched one episode - never saw the appeal. Middle-brow, not funny and boring family entertainment.

Used to burp the worm to JTT as a teenager. Good times. x

I hated HI but I like Last man Standing a lot. I always thought Tim a cutie. I dont care about his (or anyone elses) politics when they are just entertainers.

Never watched. Couldn’t stand that stupid heterosexual attempt at humor. Oink. Oink.

I could never, ever stand "guy" shows. I am not a guy, my dears, and have no interest in them.

It was meh. Inoffensive fluff to watch when folding clothes or after work.

I had a crash on Brad in his teenage years. Husky bod and blond hair

The show was very formulaic. I watched it fairly often the first couple years but not later-on. Patricia Richardson was pretty good given the thankless part. I'm surprised she hasn't done more. Ditto Richard Karn. Both have kept working, but should have had better roles.

I think Richardson thought she was going to set the world on fire since she just appeared in Ulees Gold which was a critical hit, even though Peter Fonda got the Oscar nom. Think I’ve seen maybe one or two episodes when I was younger and I don’t remember them at all. Practically every family sitcom is formulaic shit anyway.

I used to love this show

This show is not still being rerun. It’s forgotten and deservedly so.