Home Improvement

[danielshooley]

The year is 1990. George H.W. Bush is U.S. President; the Persian Gulf crisis is in full effect; and a stand-up comedian named Timothy Allen Dick (born on June 13, 1953 in Denver, Colorado, USA) appears on a Showtime Television Network stand-up comedy special called Men are Pigs.

Soon after the special aired, Disney exec Jeff Katzenberg, on behalf of Disney chairman Michael Eisner, offers Tim a long-term contract with Disney.

During the Summer of 1990, the trio of Carmen Finestra, David McFadzean, & Matt Williams (who had previously worked for Bill Cosby & Roseanne Barr, respectively, on their self-titled 1980s sitcoms) conceived a sitcom pilot called Hammer Time, a show about a fictional local cable tool show reminiscent of This Old House with Bob Vila; soon after the Men are Pigs special aired, Jeff Katzenberg suggested that the trio revamp the project as a sitcom vehicle for Tim Allen, and by January 1991, Hammer Time had been rechristened Home Improvement, with the show-within-a-show rechristened Tool Time simultaneously.

The pilot episode of Home Improvement was taped on April 19, 1991, and joining Tim in the cast were veteran actors Pat Richardson as Jill Taylor, wife of Tool Time host Tim; Earl Hindman as Wilson Wilson, Jr., Taylor family neighbor (whom Tim would often ask advice on problems); 9-year-old Zachery Bryan as eldest son Brad Taylor; 9-year-old Jonathan Thomas as middle son Randy Taylor; and 7-year-old Taran Smith as youngest son Mark Taylor, who often got picked on by his brothers.

The pilot tested through the roof and was picked up as a regular series by the ABC Television Network (then owned by independent company Capital Cities, Inc. before Disney bought it in 1995) for Fall 1991.

Soon after being picked up, upon network recommendation, a scene was taped that August that wasnt part of the original pilot (and not seen since its network airing before the 1st season DVD was released by Buena Vista Home Entertainment), with Tim getting ready to watch a Classic Tool Time episode and trying to convince his family to join in.

Home Improvement premiered on the ABC Television Network on September 17, 1991 at 8 p.m. after Full House and was an immediate hit show, becoming #1 in its debut week--and at rookie seasons end, at #4 in the Nielsen ratings.

In August 1992, ABC execs moved the show to Wednesday nights at 9 p.m. opposite Seinfeld on NBC; within 6 months, Home Improvement was regularly beating Seinfeld in the Nielsens, and as a result, NBC moved Seinfeld to Thursday nights at 9 p.m., a move making Seinfeld the classic it is today.

In September 1994, Home Improvement moved to Tuesday nights at 9 p.m., a timeslot where it would remain in the Top 10; that December, Tim made his feature film debut in the Disney/Hollywood Pictures film The Santa Clause.

In August 1998, after 7 years, Jonathan Thomas, by this time a teen idol, decided to leave Home Improvement to focus on his education; despite the blow, the show remained at #10 in the Nielsen ratings.

On January 11, 1999, Tim announced that the current Season 8 of Home Improvement would be its last after turning down an offer to do a 9th and final season.

The 90-minute finale was taped on April 9, 1999.

On May 25, 1999, ABC aired a 2-hour Series Finale of Home Improvement starting at 8 p.m. (though several ABC stations cut it to 90 minutes, airing the Spin City 3rd season finale at 9:30 p.m.).

Throughout its 8-season, 203 half-hour episode run, Home Improvement was produced by Wind Dancer Productions, Inc. in association with Walt Disney Television.

Since leaving the ABC Television Network, reruns of Home Improvement have appeared in worldwide syndication via Buena Vista Television in worldwide syndication and on such cable networks as TBS, WGN America, Nickelodeon & TV Land--and have NO signs of stopping.

[dvdjunkie]

And the purpose of this thread was........????

Nothing here that most of us didn't already know.

[milojthatch]

This was one of my all time favorite shows growing up. I'm kind of sad there were not better extras on the DVDs, but I'm just grateful the full shows made it to DVD period!

[Lazario]

It was also one of my favorite shows as a kid. Of course, the last time I saw it- I rolled my eyes so many times, I was afraid they were going to fall out.

[Sotiris]

Patricia Richardson is proud of ‘Home Improvement’ but says, ‘Hollywood hates our show’
https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-a ... nniversary

[Kyle]

Why does the original post feel like it was written by ai? Or at the very least, copy/pasted from a wikipedia article?

[carolinakid]

I never saw this show but I like Tim Allen.
His Buzz Lightyear work is really all his work I’m familiar with.

[Guitarman]

I’m also a big fan of “Home Improvement” and really wish the series would be given a nice Blu-Ray release with cleaned up picture and lots of good bonus materials (something the DVDs really dropped the ball on). I can remember hoping the series would get a complete BR release in 2011 (for its 20th anniversary) and in 2016 (for it’s 25th anniversary), but alas, that never happened. I’m also surprised that there’s never been any merchandise created for the show other than a Super Nintendo game released back in the 90s. Considering how popular this show was when it was on, not to mention the amount of merchandise that’s been created for shows like “Friends”, “Seinfeld”, “The Sopranos” and “Game of Thrones”, I feel like “Home Improvement” definitely needs some more love. At the very least, I’d like to see a good, long detailed book written on the history of the show, from the time the idea for the show was first conceived up to when it ended, and what the people involved in it have been doing in the years since.