When Home Improvement Died 

One thing i love about this show is how creative they got with hiding Wilson's face

Their dedication to Halloween episodes was always a favorite of mine ❤️

There is no show I associate with my childhood more than this. I wish they still made sitcoms like this. They were so good.

I think you missed an important part about the final season. The reason Tool Time felt like it jumped the shark in the final season was on purpose. The execs of the show were trying to change it to appeal to more people against Tim's wishes which ultimately caused him to leave the show and move with Jill out of state. It felt like a very important part of the series to see Tim give up one of the biggest pieces of his life for his wife.

I always loved Tim and Patricia's chemistry, they were the most realistic tv couple

This show had the best holiday episodes - the Christmas, Thanksgiving, and Halloween episodes are the only ones I still watch once in a while.

I have fond memories of watching Home Improvement with my family when I was a kid. We all thought it was funny. The 90s were really a much simpler time.

This was my favorite show as a kid!

This is one of the only shows my family watched together as a child before they divorced. And the last that I saw with my Father before he passed. I wouldn't say it died, they had said enough. And chose to end it. This is still endearing and hilarious to me, it has a special place in my heart and fall asleep to it often.

I was so sad when the last episode aired...loved this show as a kid. I don't think the last season was forgettable...to me they just lived the "real" life and represented what most families go though throughout the years.

I love how you pinpoint the exact episode the show died. Hard to argue with that level of precision.

This show is still my favorite! It had a perfect amount of comedy and heartfelt moments!

Grew up on this show being born in 1985. Always watched it with my family growing up. Classic and hilarious, a seriously amazing part of my childhood.

To me, this show never became bad to the point of being unwatchable. I think that it was more of a case of the first seasons being brilliant to the point of being a very tough act to follow. Having said that, I think that the show could have done without the story arc around Marty and his daughters moving into the Taylor home.

At the beginning of the series, Tim was the oldest child, with younger (unseen) brothers Steve and Danny. By the end of the series though, it is established that Tim is the _middle_ child, with older brother Jeff and younger brother Marty.

I loved every season and am still sorry it is gone. Nothing on TV today even comes close.

Later seasons aside, the final episode IMO ended the series with a bang. Facing total cancellation of their show, Tim and Al decide to put together one last ensemble with the K&B Boys for Tool Time, bringing the show back to its hardware tool roots. Instead of literally burning the aet down with an electrical fire as intended by the execs, they set the audience ablaze with a killer song and dance number, which was the perfect way to end the series to me.

Home Improvement was a great sitcom. The misadventures of accident prone TV show host Tim Taylor and his family.

I always thought the actress that played Jill was way too good for this show. She was really great and you can see her emotional range when they allow her to act.

‘Tim Taylor’s’ passion project became very meaningful.

great recap! I loved Home Improvement as a kid. I met JTT at an event when I was a kid (we're close to the same age - around 1993-ish) and was blown away with his charisma with adults. Thank you for making the video!

One of my favourite characters on the show, was the black guy that shows up so randomly, when he says "Hey, I don't go for that sort of thing"....

This is one of my favorite shows. I have rewatched it multiple times and I cry at the final episode every time.

As Home Improvment's greatest fan - this is a great summary of the entire series. Most of these videos are sensationalized. The series started to take a shift in Season 6 onwards where they pushed the "issue" button and turned Mark into a goth and some of the storylines were getting repeated. There were a couple of good notable episodes - especially in Season 8 where Brad gets his car stolen in Chop Shop 'Til You Drop. Wilson popping up in random places was an in-joke, there's only so much you can keep him behind the fence with his face covered and yet still feature him. I think a lot the issue too is that the original creators Carmen Finestra, David McFadzean and Matt Williams took a bit of a backseat after the 3rd season...

I used to watch this all the time too, typically one of those shows I put on in the background while I did other things. I don't think I ever got as far as Season 8, to be honest. I really remember the earlier seasons...especially the Halloween episodes. It was a good show while it lasted.

My favorite part of the series, is seeing the boys grow up through out the series. Cause we all grew up together. 🥲 Cause I graduated H.S, the same year the show ended.

Just discovered your channel. Love looking back on the wealth of sitcoms we had back in the 90s. So much went on that I was not aware of because I watched most of them casually and as a kid didn't care to notice any of all these big changes happening all the time. ANYWAYS can you do a video on 3rd Rock From the Sun? I wonder where that show may have died in its run.

I think this show was great all the way through, Tim Allen was likeable throughout and the kids were actually like normal kids at the time, plus Jill stayed an interesting character who grows as the show progresses

Great swipes. The video turned out fantastic. Still one of my top favorite shows!

Completely agree. The first 4 seasons were generally a fun sitcom w/ the occasional drama. The second half became completely overdramatic and focused WAY too much on cheesy 90's tropes like drugs, grades and goth kids. And the comedy, like you said, went from witty to that obnoxious over-the-top guy at parties that just isn't funny.

5:00 - That floor buffer taking Tim's pants had me ROFL the first time I seen and still brings smile or chuckle when I see it again.

Tim (Allen) went to Western Michigan University, and my residential dining hall still played old episodes on the wall-mounted tube TVs until around 2009. Like the show, a flashy 'renovation' brought an end to that.

At least the rubbish we have now lets us appreciate what we had and can rewatch it now with that appreciation and love❤

I've been to Traverse City Michigan where they filmed the season 5 episode titled "A Taylor runs through it" the one where Jill gets hurt water-skiing. My aunt lives there. It is a truly beautiful town! And Tim Allen has a vacation home there.

Thank you making this film and summary of all 8 seasons! I was looking up vidoes about the early internet in the 1990s, and somehow led me to this!. I remember watching this show a lot when I was a child in New Zealand in the mid 1990s. I mainly remember the early seasons and didnt see the later ones. I didnt realise how the storylines did evolve and have some more meaning beyond the grunting of Tim the Tool Man Taylor. Thank you!

I always liked how creative he got with the Christmas decorations. Every season he one up himself and I loved they kept that side story going with his Competition.

My absolute favorite show to watch in the 90s. As a kid it was a fun show. Watching it now as a adult it taught me family values 😅😂

I was a kid in the 90s and remember seeing some eps of the last couple seasons when they aired with my family but mostly I watched the reruns in middle school and high school in the mid 2000s. It's weird to see the show analyzed like this because I just always saw it as a silly over the top comedy not some award winning show that could "jump the shark". I liked seeing Brad and Mark grown up and having their own story lines. The only thing that bothered me was they were always in the house/backyard and it looked so fake and boring, I wish they had more real life locations instead of the fake sitcom set but that's just how it was in the 90s.

Yay! The video I’ve been waiting for!!😁

I'm on a huge fan of Tim Allen out Borland and also cast and crew of Home Improvement I wish they would bring it back to a bit of today and show people what the sitcom was about

I loved this show as a kid because I was a Detroit Lions fan and the same age as the 2 oldest kids (they were actually the same age even though older/younger in series). And I related to all 3 as I played sports, was a bit of a nerd, and I loved rock and metal music. I still have all the episodes and have watched them from start to finish a few times as an adult.💕

Can't believe how many random memories this video brought up. I haven't really thought about this show since the finale aired - and somehow retained all these random things. Like Tim not understanding Jill's dad using military time, or Brad setting off the crazy new alarm system trying to get test answers in the middle of the night, or it specifically being Randy's thyroid that's the problem... Makes me wonder how much else from my childhood is still up there somewhere lol

That was beautifully done Rustin. Very well done sir. Your hard work really shines through. I hope you're doing well. We haven't chatted in quite a long time.

Talk about memories. I was 12 years old when the first season aired. I lived in Los Angeles at the time, sadly never did get to see Home Improvement, but I did get to see Full House, Cheers, Woops, and The Tonight Show.

It went downhill when Heidi left and the kids got too old. Very good show, very rewatchable even today.

Honestly, coming up with new ideas to hide Wilsons face was the right thing to do vs him just behind behind a fence most of the time (though iconic and never felt old when they did it) it was a smart way to do it. And Im glad someone spoke up about the Halloween episodes, never really bad a bad one in the bunch honestly, some weaker, but never bad. And while the episodes about health scares and death are tough to watch, it was kinda an interesting take and seeing a show grow and talk about more serious issues, while some had been tackled in the past about loss, they really put it all on the table with these ones. And I think one thing that did make the show a bit harder to watch was when the boys eventually grew up and hit the high school level. Especially for Mark as they really never found use for him when he got older, the goth part doesn't last for long for him, then he reverts to a normal teen, they did give a lot of focus to Brad, his soccer dreams, his knee injury, and Randy becoming an activist and that one episode he had dealing with the woman who was dying. Also I'm glad someone also brought up relationships and such because they almost all go NOWHERE in this show. Jill's sister in that one episode with her husband Charlie (great episode) but nothing followed up with it, Tim and Jill's brother and sister dating goes nowhere, even writing out Art and Tim's mom's relationship as well (I do understand that was part of his actor passing away) but you think they could have made an episode out of that. And as you pointed out, Al and Trudy just never really sold it for me, and many others too, because they barely had any chemistry or time on screen together. She never really became a friend to Jill like Eileen did, she had no connection really with any cast cast members, and the final episode, the wedding, she barely had anything to do in it. Overall there's a lot of issues with later seasons, but the earlier ones have their golden moments.

ABC wanted to do a 9th season but Tim didn't. So, technically it wasn't canceled just refused by the star to be renewed because Tim knew the writing was on the wall.

When this show was in it's prime, i was working as a carpet steam cleaner. And let me tell you, this show was on in EVERYONE's house, from people with young kids, to elderly great-grandparents. No other show that I know of was so widely appealing. and i still have a hard time with the fact that Last Man Standing has been on much longer than this show, yet no one really talks about it like they did with this show.

Seasons 1-4 was definitely where the show was at its peak. You know that one moment when a show "Jumps the Shark." They do anything to capture viewers' attention and that moment is where Tim was training to get into space.

I remember Watching Home Improvement on ABC and I've seen the Show on Disney+

Hi fun facts love your videos

ABC offered Tim and Patricia to do a 9th season but they declined. Had a 9th season been down, raitings would probably have gone down. The boys were grown up and ready to move on.

I think the worst episode had to be when Brad had the opportunity to play pro soccer in England straight out of high school and they talked him out of it to go to college the next year instead. A classic Broken Aesop - "education is important" getting twisted into "live your life on others' schedule, don't grab the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity if it interferes with what mom and dad had in mind". They even explicitly said it would still be there and college wouldn't, exactly backwards!

Paused at about the 10 minute mark… all those things described up to the that point, the high production values on location, is what made this show so great. I loved it as a kid and has been my main driving factor to return to the series over the years.

I remember being 10-11 yo when this show was out. Me and my dad watched this show together as a kid. I looked forward to it. Miss ya my man. Love you dad

The Halloween episodes were always great! I wish more series went all in like Home Improvement.

They recently put this on Disney Plus, and I am watching it now. I love the Halloween episode.

The home improvement show always reminded me of how my uncles families were, and if my dad didn't pass, I'd have the same family outcome. Makes me sad watching it, cause it's something I could never have, unless I wanted to start my own family, but I am a broken man from not having a father growing up, and how poorly my uncles treated my mom and me.

Used to love watching this while having dinner before my night shift started every weekday. Was part of my routine and put me in a good mood before work. I miss feel good traditional shows like this.

I almost got to go to a taping of this, wasn't old enough. Wasn't black enough for Family Matters, ended up going to Hanging with Mr Cooper, it was such an amazing experience, the cast was absolutely hilarious between scenes, joking around and having a good time with the audience, was like a stand up comedy show to get the audience laughing. The show was good but seeing it done live was a whole other experience!

And to me home improvement never died . Just my opinion of course but I still watch every season religiously

So glad I picked up the whole series on DVD sets when they were on clearance at Walmart. Streaming services are great in their own way but because stuff like this isn't on any of them they'll never fully replace physical media.

I’ve been rewatching and am up to season 2. Quite good, funny. I love the sexual innuendos. Like the length of something “THE TOOL” 😂 my favorite line from Jill when talking about the middle one, “where did we go wrong with him?” Jill says “don’t worry he’s not yours” 😂

Season 1-5 are amazing. Hilarious show!

Remember, if it doesn't say "Binford," somebody else made it.

You did a great job. I been watching off and on. I already stated to myself that I would not be watching the later season of this show. But thanks for the breakdown.

I watched this show the whole entire time it was on between 91-99 when I was growing up but strangely never had one conversation with one kid at school about this show the whole time.

Used to love this show as a kid. I think however by season 5 I felt like it'd run its course and definitely felt it was on the decline. By then I was mostly invested in Seinfeld, Friends, Frasier and 3rd Rock from the Sun, all of which I felt had far superior comedy writing over Home Improvement which - as the narrator says - had become too reliant on 'eye roll' or groan humor instead of the more well crafted, situational humor of the aforementioned.

Unfortunately Randy doesn't come back for the series finale

"You fired the granite guy!?!?" I miss this show so much. Rewatched it a couple of years ago... might be time for another rewatch.

This is a great video. This was and is one of the best series ever made. But you're spot on concerning later seaon issues.

I liked Wilson, the neighbor. He had wisdom to deal with guys like Tim. Poor Jill needed to go to chef school.

No mention of the show being in Detroit.. what the heck, bro!

Great breakdown. I can see what you're saying, but I still loved it. Networks are incapable of making good shows like this anymore for some reason.

I can think of a lot of shows I watched growing up but Home Improvement is the only one that gives me vivid memories of being together with my family. Such good times.

What I would have liked for the ending of the Tim Taylor/Bob Vila feud is a situation where Tim saves Bob’s life, and although Bob is grateful and later asks Tim why he did it, Tim simply says “You would have done it for me…so you could lecture me on what I did wrong!” or some kind of joke such as that.

Home Improvement had a great run with some good gems in later episodes, but the laughs did die down in season 8. It's not all because JTT left, but it didn't help and psychologically when a main cast member leaves a show (and of the 3 boys he was the one who I think had the most focus on screen), it comes off as the show is winding down. Good call on Al and Trudy having no chemistry. The fans wanted to see Al find love, but it just felt forced. After he got married its like "well, good for him, I guess". Also, even though Al was presented as socially awkward, it seemed like he was a bit out of her league. Yeah, she was rich and all, but I feel like a well-educated, decent-looking, handyman like Al who was on TV could have reached beyond his grasp a bit. Even as a heterosexual male I'm sitting there going "Al could land such a hotter woman"

The "You fired the Granite Guy" conversation is one of the funniest bits on television.

I’d love for this show to come back, but it wouldn’t be the same without Earl Hindman as Wilson. Having said that, they could cast John Bedford Lloyd, who was in the running for the role before Mr. Hindman got it, as Wilson’s cousin who inherits Wilson’s house.

The highlights of the show were seeing which tool was Tim gonna get hurt with

This show was pretty corny but I still liked watching it anyways. Also still remember renting the awful video game from a local supermarket back in the day 😂

My 4 boys are growing up watching this

Very nice video. Thanks for posting and have a nice day too.

Long time, no see! I remember you would mention about this show quite frequently and you finally made that video of when this show died! Interesting take! I recently found out that they added that show on Disney Plus and I might consider watching it since I loved Tim Allen growing up! How have you been lately? Did you watch the new Indiana Jones movie? I saw it twice for a preview screening and the other night celebrating my 23rd birthday! You should make a video about why people hate Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. I hope you’re doing well!

I was really lucky to be a kid during this shows run I always looked forward to seeing new episodes

I’m actually rewatching this right now right too!

had to end sometime.. but I miss these types of wholesome shows

The only joke I remember from that show is from the vasectomy episode. Doctor: We start with a local anesthetic. Tim: Local? Like, here in Detroit? Doctor: Local, like directly into your testicles.

He still has that roadster they built on the show. It wasn’t just a prop. That was something really cool about this show

It died for me when they stopped doing the Halloween and Christmas special decorations😢

This is done incredibly well!!

When the boy left the show

Like most sitcoms, it got stale once the kids got older and the only one they would acknowledge for the longest time was Jonathan Taylor Thomas since he was the "heartthrob" of the three.

The show finished number 1 on the ABC network when it finished. Disney wanted to do more seasons but tim had the final say. The fact is his on air wife who played Jill told Tim that season 8 was her last as she did not want to do anymore seasons Tim said the network still wanted to go ahead with season 9 and have Jill's character killed off and offered Tim alot of money per episode to continue but Tim said no.

The colossal accidents were hilarious

I'd say it stood strong for all of it's seasons. Says a lot I'd still rather rewatch Home Improvement than... just about everything currently on TV.

Can't beat the few first seasons but it's not uncommon to see the remaining seasons of any show to drop off hard where it's something you're familiar with until there is something new and better comes up.

Great take on an iconic piece of Americana. Love those iconic screen transitions! :)

Thank you for the trip down memory lane. :)

The overreaction to Brad smoking weed, and the whole "Mark is goth 3 years after goth was a big thing" is what killed it for me.