I kind of agree in the sense that, for me, much of the humor was the show, not the family. Granted, PR's character arc was a drag, but the home part had the same arc every ep--Tim goes to neighbor who is the sage (I'm reminded of Wolfman Jack in American Graffiti) and receives the pearls of wisdom. People today may not know that Tim was a very successful standup comedian who had worked hard to pull through addiction to be a headliner--his 'macho/non PC' schtick was unique at the time. The show was just another case of the comedian who wants to be a serious actor story, Like Jerry Lewis. Wasn't it great that Seinfeld never wanted to be that way?
I find it impressive that NBC put Frasier up against Home Improvement and Home Improvement didn't get hurt at all ratings wise I suppose that had to do with Home Improvement being a more blue collar show while Frasier was more white collar I know in my household we watched Home Improvement because my dad (a construction worker) hayed Frasier (though he did like the character on CHEERS)
I hate to say this, but any episode that centered around Wilson was dreadful. You can only do so much with a character when you can;t see his face
I started watching Home Improvement repeats in syndication at a time when I needed a lighthearted diversion in my life. Home Improvement fit that bill just fine. Yes, it was predictable as all get out, but that predictability made it comforting. I guess I never took it seriously enough to get upset over any changes through the years. As for Wilson, I liked him just fine, especially when it was revealed he was related to the Wilsons from the Beach Boys.
I like Wilson as a bit player. As a main focus? Hell no The ones I can remember are 1) he dated Jills teacher 2) he was gonna move out of the country 3) he got criticized by a journalist and tried to become one of the boys 4) the Halloween episides with the witch 5) the greenhouse episode in the last season Not sure if there's any others I know that's a small amount of episides for a show with 8 seasons but I would say every one of those episodes were brutal
Can we talk about how they had all those glass doors with no covering? I mean talk about creepy. Good gosh, Wilson could have just watched their lives from his back yard.
I caught a later season episode on Laff the other day and it was the one where Brad starts his first part time job. Let me just say that it was bad according to the few minutes I saw.
There may have been in some episodes, I guess dependent on the scene. Looks at a few pics/videos, the windows had blinds but not the doors
This article from 1999 does not put PR in a good light 'Home Improvement' star Patricia Richardson eager for sitcom's end
She had a small part in Ulee's Gold, probably the best acting Peter Fonda ever did. She was wayyyy out of her league
Towards the later years Tool Time was usually the cold open and then a quick 2 minute segment in the middle of the show Much different that the 10 to 15 minutes it got in the early years
Anyone familiar with Figure It Out, which used to be on Nickelodeon back in the late 90s? I know that there's plenty of episodes with Taran Noah Smith as one of the panelists if anybody wants me to post that in this thread.