Jump to content

Home Improvement (TV series)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 155.247.83.61 (talk) at 03:33, 23 July 2007 (→Show background). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

This article is about the television series. For the renovation process, see Home improvement.



Home Improvement
File:Homeimprovementlogo.jpg
Created byMatt Williams
Carmen Finestra
David MacFadzean
StarringTim Allen
Patricia Richardson
Earl Hindman
Zachery Ty Bryan
Jonathan Taylor Thomas (1991-1998)
Taran Noah Smith
Richard Karn
Debbe Dunning
Pamela Anderson
Country of origin United States
No. of episodes204 (list of episodes)
Production
Running time30 minutes
Original release
NetworkABC
ReleaseSeptember 17 1991 –
May 25 1999

Home Improvement is an American television sitcom starring actor/comedian Tim Allen, which ran from 1991 to 1999. The show was created by Matt Williams, Carmen Finestra, who both produced The Cosby Show, and David MacFadzean.

Plot details and storylines

The series centered on the antics of the Taylor family, which, along with Tim, included his pedantic wife Jill (Patricia Richardson) and their three mischievous sons: the popular and athletic Brad (Zachery Ty Bryan), comedian and intellectual Randy (Jonathan Taylor Thomas), and the socially awkward youngest son, Mark (Taran Noah Smith),

File:Home improvement 250.jpg
The Taylor Family. From left to right: Randy, Tim, Jill, Mark (top), Brad (bottom).

Early seasons

In early seasons, sons Brad and Randy would torment their youngest brother Mark (and each other) in ways that consistently presented a challenge to Tim and Jill. Mark always believed what his siblings told him (for example, that the whole family but Mark were aliens and that Mark was not Tim and Jill's natural son), until Jill explained all.

Mark was initially presented as slightly naive and in constant admiration of his father. Brad was presented as a character who often engaged fist before brain, a tendency which regularly landed him in trouble. Randy was the comedian of the pack-- the quick-thinking, sarcastic son who had more common sense than Brad but wasn't immune to trouble.

Jonathan Taylor Thomas' departure

As the series progressed, however, Mark grew into a teenage outcast who dressed in dark goth clothing, while Brad became interested in cars like his father and took up soccer. Randy joined the school newspaper, before leaving for Costa Rica in Season 8. This was done since Jonathan Taylor Thomas, wanted to take time off to focus on academics. He attended Harvard University. His last appearance on Home Improvement was the 1998 Christmas episode, with Thomas either unable or unwilling to return to the show for the series finale.

Tool Time the show

Focus was also given to Tim's job as a television personality on his own home improvement show, called Tool Time. Tim was the host of this show-within-a-show, originally called Hammer Time, but Tim and the producers felt that name would be confused with MC Hammer (TVography: Home Improvement). 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) — who assisted the pair by bringing them tools, for example. Although an excellent salesman and TV personality, Tim was spectacularly accident-prone as a handyman, often causing hilarious disasters on and off the set to the consternation of his co-workers and family. Many of Tim's accidents were caused by his devices designed in application of his mantra, "More power!"

The relationship between Tim and Al

Though ultimately good friends, there was a tense relationship between Taylor and Borland. Borland was portrayed as a slightly geeky character, usually having more knowledge, skill, and audience popularity than Taylor. His catchphrase, as an opposition to Taylor's jokes, was "I don't think so, Tim." He also came up with many puns and giggles and snorts when a joke is made at Taylor's expense. The cautious, insecure, brighter Borland always bore the brunt of Tim Taylor's jokes and constant put-downs. Al is frequently mocked by Tim because of his weight, beard, in Tim's eye bland personality, poor sense of humor and his preference of flannel shirts. Tim typically uses his television show to vent about numerous problems he is having in his personal life, and Al is usually very annoyed by this. A running joke for Taylor was commenting on Al's overweight mother, who was often referred to but was never seen throughout the series (although in the Season 8 episode "Dead Weight", she died, and the characters were shown paying their respects at her extra-wide coffin which showed her body but not her face).

Special guests and cameos

Many "special guests" made "cameo" appearances on Tool Time. These guests included race car drivers Johnny Rutherford, Robby Gordon, Michael Andretti, and Mario Andretti, actress and model Jenny McCarthy, country artist Alan Jackson, golfer Payne Stewart, and The Beach Boys. 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, former boxers Evander Holyfield and George Foreman (the season 1 episode "Unchained Malady"), and former President Jimmy Carter all appeared on the series. Carter made an appearance during an episode which focused on Habitat for Humanity, which was the season three episode "Eve of Construction." Jay Leno appears with his car collection in the episode "Brother, Can You Spare a Hot Rod?" He plays a mechanic who is cleaning Papa Mia (the Detroit pizza magnate)'s cars. Bob Vila also appeared on several episodes, with Tim seeing him as a rival.

A then-unknown Dave Chappelle and Jim Breuer guest-starred in the Season 4 episode, "Talk to Me", as two of the men Tim gives advice to and almost destroying their relationships with their respective girlfriends.

Character honors

Starting in Season 4, Jill studied to become a psychologist. In "Is There A Doctor in the House?" from Season 5, Tim also received an honorary Ph.D. from his alma mater, Western Michigan University. Tim also received an award for "Safety" in one episode from the second season despite his accident record on Tool Time. (The reason was that the people giving the award mistakenly believed that he staged all his accidents and Tim, to keep his reputation, let them.)

Running gags

File:Homeimprovementep2.jpg
Tim's souped up lawnmower. Tim often souped up appliances and machines, with them often injuring Tim or destroying the family's home or the Tool Time set
  • Scene Transitions - During scene changes, clever transitions were used to comically remove the current image from the screen. For example, the current scene could shatter like glass, fall over like a piece of wood, or deflate like a balloon. These transitions usually (though not always) included something shown or mentioned in the scene before.
  • Basement Pipe - Tim banged his head on a large metal pipe every time he was walking down the basement steps. We first see this gag in Season 1, Episode 5, "Wild Kingdom." This never happened to any other character. In one episode, he banged his head on a pipe while walking down the steps of an aircraft carrier, and also banged his head walking down the basement steps in Benny's aunt's house.
  • Binford 6100 - From Season 3 onwards, every new power tool introduced by Tim on Tool Time was called the Binford 6100. Prior to this, each tool had a unique model number.
  • Opera - Nearly every time the word Opera was mentioned in the Taylor household, either Tim or the boys would scream.
  • Nanna - Tim's constant jokes of "Nanna", Jill's mother. Jokes from her weight to her driving were included.
  • Address Card - In the show's early years, Tim would often make remarks (usually involving women) that would cause offense to certain sections of the Tool Time viewership. Al would hold up the address card for viewers to write in and complain. Sometimes Tim would ask Al to destroy the card, but he would always have more. This was first seen in Season 1, on the episode, "Reach Out And Teach Someone".
  • Salute to... - From the outset of Season 2, Tim and Al would make a theme of a particular home improvement project or item on Tool Time by hosting a week long "salute" to it. This would usually be evident with a banner that said "Salute to ____" or Tim or Al would say "...a salute" followed by a hand salute, thrusting the hand forward, having a sound effect that resembled the particular item being saluted (e.g., if it was a salute to lawn care, the sound effect would be of a mower), finishing with Tim and/or Al saying the particular item being saluted.
  • The Man's... - Similar to the salutes, "Tool Time" often featured "The Man's ____ (Bathroom, Kitchen, etc.)." These skits are the embodiment of Manliness according to Tim.
File:Homeimprovementep21.jpg
Tim holding up the address card for a change, when Al was host for the day, as seen in the episode, "A Battle Of Wheels".
  • Wilson's Advice - The character Wilson (Earl Hindman), the Taylor family's sage advice-giving neighbor with many historical, philosophical, and literary works to quote. Tim always confusingly misquoted and re-worded Wilson's advice when speaking to Jill or his sons, often prompting them to say, "Please don't explain" or "I don't want to know".
  • Wilson's Face - Perhaps the show's best-known gimmick. Since Wilson was partly inspired by a neighbor that Tim Allen had when he was very little and was too short to see over his neighbor's fence (and therefore unable to see his neighbor), the bottom half of Wilson's face was almost never seen on the show, unless he was playing another role. Instead, it was almost constantly hidden and sometimes blocked by various props, such as fences, grills, masks, plants, or scarfs. In one episode, Mark was papier-macheing his face leaving the bottom half of his face revealed. Also on one Halloween episode, Wilson was seen at a costume party dressed as the Phantom of the Opera, the mask covering the top half of his face and leaving his mouth revealed. On one occasion his entire face was visible, although hidden behind Halloween makeup.) On another occasion his face was covered with clown makeup. On yet another occasion his face was covered with a beard. His face was fully shown following the series finale episode while taking his final bow. During the show, Wilson is usually working on an unusual project of some sort in his backyard. One of his projects included a self portrait, and when Tim asked to see it, Wilson showed it to him, but only the upper half of Wilson's face was completed. Someone else was supposed to play the character 'Wilson'. When he found out that his whole face would never be shown, he refused to do it. The creators of the show held auditions again, and Earl Hindman got the role of Wilson.
  • Jill's Childhood Stories - Jill often told stories about an experience she had when she was a little girl. Tim and the boys always hated those stories and would plead her not to tell them, walk away in the middle of the story, or both. Jill would often try to disguise these stories either by launching straight into it when the boys were off-guard (or willing to listen), or convert them from "when I was a little girl" stories to "when I was a little person" stories. Many times, though, the boys saw straight through this as they matured. One of the most notable examples was when while Jill tried to explain to Randy that older siblings (in Randy's case, Brad) get to do more things earlier, she lamented about how growing up her older sister got to wear a bra while Jill had to wear a "dorky undershirt". Randy replied by saying he understood, and asked Jill "Gee, when do I get to wear a bra, mom?"
  • Disney Gags - Some jokes stemmed from Jonathan Taylor Thomas' and Tim Allen's respective roles in other Disney productions. In a Halloween episode, Cooper Karn (Richard's real son) is seen dressed as Lion King character Simba and another child is dressed as Toy Story's Buzz Lightyear. Randy gives two pieces of candy to Buzz and seven pieces to Simba. (Jonathan provided the voice of young Simba in The Lion King). In another episode when Tim's brother Marty's daughter (with her twin over at Tim's mother's) visit, a stuffed Simba toy is displayed, and Thomas makes a comment about it. A similar joke is made by Tim, in the same episode (as an outtake), when he is playing with a Buzz Lightyear doll (the character he played in Pixar film Toy Story). In addition, there is a scene in the Toy Story film with a toolbox labeled "Binford", referencing the fictional hardware company from the show.
  • K&B Construction - Throughout the show's tenure, the K&B Construction men would make periodic visits on Tool Time, often providing feminine counters to Tim's macho positioning.
  • Double Entendres - One infrequent gag was to have Tim (and in one occasion Al) perform or say something with a homosexual double entendre accidentally in front of a recurring extra named Milt, who would reply with, "Hey, I don't go for that sort of thing!" For example, Tim covered Delores' 12-hour diner shift. When he serves two meals to two men, he says, "You're the pancakes, and you must be the fruit."
  • Al is the Star - Tool Time viewers often had the misconception that Al was the star of the show, probably due to him being more skillful and intelligent than Tim. Tim usually takes these comments with barely restrained annoyance and reminds the viewers that Al is his assistant and not the reverse. A related running gag is a fan of the show telling Tim "I'm a big fan of Tool Time. I love Al", to which Tim would always reply with a sarcastic, "We all love Al.". In later seasons, when Tim introduces Al to the Tool Time crowd, he would get an applause from the audience.
  • Whenever Tim made a joke like, "You think they'd call it..." Al would say, "I don't think so Tim".
  • When something would go wrong, Tim would grunt "Oh no".
  • Whenever Al (or anyone else) would be sarcastic to something Tim said, Tim would hiss at them.
  • Whenever Tim introduces Al on Tool Time, he added a sarcastic middle name like Al "This land is" Borland.
  • Al's Mother - Tim frequently cracks jokes about Al's mother usually about her weight.
  • Power - Tim saying something needed "More power", which was then followed by his trademark "Simian Grunt" Later, characters would suggest that Tim make "the power [blank]" when he expressed dissatisfaction with something's capabilities.

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. Midway throughout the show's run, it was also competed against another highly-rated sitcom, Frasier, which slightly dropped the ratings, though it stayed in the top 10. The final episode aired on May 25, 1999 with a 90-minute, three-part episode entitled "The Long and Winding Road," which was the fourth highest rated comedy series finale of the 1990s, behind Cheers, The Cosby Show and Seinfeld. Since 1995, due to its popularity, reruns began airing on The Disney Channel and Channel 4 and ABC1 in the UK. At the present time, old episodes are currently on national syndication and on cable television network such as TBS and Superstation WGN in the U.S., the Seven Network and FOX Classics in Australia, and can be seen on digital channel ABC1 in the UK. In America, it will begin airing on Nick at Nite in September 2007 [1]. In Germany, Home Improvement was shown on ARD, RTL, VOX, and reruns are currently shown on the private channel RTL 2. 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

Some might also conclude that there were similarity with this show and the 1960s sitcom My Three Sons. Both stars of the show Fred MacMurray and Tim Allen produced family friendly movies for Disney, particularly staring in versions of The Shaggy Dog movies. Both My Three Sons and Home Improvement were shows focused on a man and the relationship he had with his three sons.

Characters

Main article: List of Home Improvement characters

The Taylor Family

Friends of the family

  • Al Borland (Richard Karn) — Tim's assistant and best friend
  • Wilson W. Wilson Jr. (Earl Hindman) - Tim's neighbor and confidant
  • Lisa (Pamela Anderson) — Binford's first "Tool Girl"; Ashley Judd auditioned for and won the role of Lisa the Tool Girl. However, her agent urged her to pursue movies instead of a television career, and she pulled out days before the original pilot was to be taped, resulting in the casting of Pamela Anderson. The last-minute change necessitated alterations to the original script, in which Lisa was a major character; she was a college student majoring in psychology who acted as a stand-in for Jill on the Tool Time set.
  • Heidi Keppert (Debbe Dunning) — The second "Tool Girl"
  • Harry (Blake Clark) — Owner of "Harry's Hardware"
  • Benny Beroni (Jim Labriola) - One of Tim's buddies who hangs out at the hardware store

Series finale

The series ended in a three-part episode with Tim being displeased at how Tool Time had been changed into something resembling a corporate-sponsored Jerry Springer-like show, and Jill getting a new job offer. The personal conflict revolved around the job being in Bloomington, Indiana, a change that Tim strongly resisted initially.

Of course, after talking to Wilson, he agreed to leave Detroit. Tim ended his Tool Time appearances with a final show that garnered huge ratings. However, Jill realized that they would be moving out of the house the family grew up in. The conclusion was somewhat ambiguous, although Jill seemed adamant about them not moving. The last shot was Tim imagining (a thought balloon was used for emphasis) putting the whole house on a flatbed truck and then on a tugboat, leaving the viewer to decide if they moved or stayed in Detroit.

The three-part series finale was taped twice, once with Wilson's face revealed and another with it hidden. ABC was to decide which version would air in May 1999. Ultimately, they aired the version with Wilson's face hidden, as in the other 200 episodes. This version was released later that fall on VHS, titled Home Improvement: The Series Finale.

Awards and Nominations

Home Improvement received numerous awards and nominations in its 8 season run. Notable awards and nominations include:

Golden Globe Awards

  • 1993
    • Nominated- Best Performance by an Actor In A Television Series - Musical Or Comedy (Tim Allen)
  • 1994
    • Nominated- Best Television Series - Musical Or Comedy
    • Nominated- Best Performance by an Actress In A Television Series - Musical Or Comedy (Patricia Richardson)
    • Nominated- Best Performance by an Actor In A Television Series - Musical Or Comedy (Tim Allen)
  • 1995
    • Nominated- Best Television Series - Musical Or Comedy
    • Nominated- Best Performance by an Actress In A Television Series - Musical Or Comedy (Patricia Richardson)
    • Win- Best Performance by an Actor In A Television Series - Musical Or Comedy (Tim Allen)
  • 1996
    • Nominated- Best Performance by an Actor In A Television Series - Musical Or Comedy (Tim Allen)
  • 1997
    • Nominated- Best Performance by an Actor In A Television Series - Musical Or Comedy (Tim Allen)

Primetime Emmy Awards

  • 1993
    • Nominated- Outstanding Comedy Series
    • Nominated- Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series (Tim Allen)
  • 1994
    • Nominated- Outstanding Comedy Series
    • Nominated- Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series (Patricia Richardson)
  • 1996
  • 1997
  • 1998
  • A Super NES game of the same name was based on the series. It had no manual; its splash screen explained, “Real men don’t need instructions.” The game didn't sell in large numbers, and is hard to find today.
  • After the Tool Time game episode aired, Northern Games released The Home Improvement Board Game, which can still be ordered online.[2]
  • Ryobi released a line of tools titled "Tim Allen Signature Tools", which were available for a limited time.

DVD Releases

Cover Art DVD Name Ep # Region 1 Region 2 Region 4
File:HomeImprovementS1.jpg The Complete First Season (1991-1992) 24 November 23 2004 June 27 2005 June 28 2005
File:HomeImprovementS2.jpg The Complete Second Season (1992-1993) 25 June 7 2005 August 1 2005 July 20 2005
File:HomeImprovementS3.jpg The Complete Third Season (1993-1994) 25 November 23, 2005 January 9 2006 January 16 2006
File:HomeImprovementS4.jpg The Complete Fourth Season (1994-1995) 26 June 6, 2006 N/A N/A
File:HomeImprovementS5.jpg The Complete Fifth Season (1995-1996) 26 November 14, 2006 N/A N/A
File:HomeImprovement S6.jpg The Complete Sixth Season (1996-1997) 25 May 15, 2007 N/A N/A
File:HomeImprovementS7.jpg The Complete Seventh Season (1997-1998) 25 August 7, 2007 N/A N/A
The Complete Eighth and Final Season (1998-1999) 28 TBA N/A N/A
Complete Seasons 1-3 Deluxe Edition 74 N/A N/A September 13 2006
Home Improvement Bundle: Seasons 1-4 100 September 2006 N/A N/A

DVD notes

The Region 1 DVDs are on three discs, whereas the Region 2 DVDs are presented across four discs. 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. In an interview on about.com[3], 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.

Buena Vista Home Entertainment will no longer release the show in Region 2 or 4 due to poor sales. This was also the case with The Golden Girls.

Goofs

  • In the episode "Let's Go To The Videotape" at the hardware store, Tim says Jill's speech was "so boring". But later, when Jill was watching the videotape of Tim making fun of her, he says Jill's speech was "so dull".
  • In the Season 3 episode "This Joke's For You" (aired September 29, 1993), Tim says to Wilson that Randy is twelve going on thirteen. This is inaccurate because Randy was born in 1982, making him eleven at the time.
  • In the Season 3 episode "Blow Up" (aired November 3, 1993) Tim says that Brad is thirteen years old. This is inaccurate because Brad was born in 1981, making him twelve at the time.
  • In the Season 5 episode "Oh, Brother" (aired January 9, 1996) Randy is shown to have had is hair cut. Yet in "Tanks For The Memories" (aired January 30, 1996), he still has long hair.

Nielsen Ratings

1991-1992 Season: #4 (tied with Cheers)

1992-1993 Season: #3

1993-1994 Season: #1

1994-1995 Season: #3

1995-1996 Season: #7

1996-1997 Season: #9

1997-1998 Season: #10 (tied with Frasier)

1998-1999 Season: #10

See also

References

  1. ^ http://www.sitcomsonline.com/boards/showthread.php?t=117588
  2. ^ http://www.northerngames.com/
  3. ^ http://movies.about.com/od/skippingchristmas/a/kranksta111904_4.htm
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Home_Improvement_(TV_series)&oldid=146449832"