Home Improvement (TV series)/Trivia

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • Actor Allusion: After Disney acquired ABC, there were several references to Jonathan Taylor Thomas's (Randy) role in The Lion King and Tim Allen's role as |Buzz Lightyear:
    • In a Halloween episode, Randy gives one piece of candy to a kid dressed as Buzz and a giant handful to to a kid dressed as "the cute little lion cub."
    • Tim is having a tea party with his nieces. He does all the voices of their stuffed animals, but they complain that he didn't voice the lion right. Tim mentions that he doesn't know what it's like to be a lion. Randy mentions that it was tough. Later in the same episode, Tim is playing with the girls' Buzz Lightyear, and argues with it by claiming "I am Buzz Lightyear... No, I am Buzz Lightyear... No, I am Buzz Lightyear... I come in peace." Tim then presses the button on the toy, causing it to say "I am Buzz Lightyear. I come in peace." in the exact same voice.
    • Another episode had Tim arguing with his brother. When it descended into "Is too times 100!", "Is not times a thousand!", Tim capped "to infinity!" with "to infinity and beyond!", the Catch Phrase of Buzz Lightyear in Toy Story.
  • Actor Shared Background: Patricia Richardson grew up in a military family just as her character Jill Taylor did. Richardson's father, a Naval Academy Graduate, was a fighter and test pilot and later an aeronautical engineer and executive. Her mother was a housewife. The fact Jill Taylor's father also would fly missions was brought up in an episode where Jill discusses her fear of flying with Wilson.
  • Contractual Purity: Back in the 70's Tim Allen was arrested for drug dealing and he got his life in order, eventually becoming a successful comedian. Before the show aired a newspaper article tried to drum up a controversy for having a reformed drug dealer as the star of a family show. They responded by telling their side of the story as quickly as possible. Tim Allen also noticed that because of the show more families with young kids would attend his stand-up, so he toned down the adult content. Even today he is largely considered a family-friendly actor/comedian. Unusual for the trope Allen has always been honest and forthright about his past and criminal record, if for no other reason than to be an example of how anyone can turn their life around for the better.
  • The Danza: Tim Allen as Tim Taylor.
  • Dawson Casting/Playing Gertrude: In a minor example, Jonathan Taylor Thomas, who played the middle son Randy, was actually one month older than Zachary Ty Bryan, who played the oldest son Brad.
  • Directed by Cast Member: Tim Allen and Patricia Richardson each directed one episode in season eight.
  • Dyeing for Your Art: Casting for Wilson was damn near impossible because of the stipulation he would never show his face, for obvious reasons actors want their face to be seen. Earl Hindman went the entire series without showing his face, even in cast calls, and only revealed it in a special airing after the Series Finale.
  • Name's the Same: Tim Allen's character is not to be confused with the real Tim Taylor, a longtime news anchor at Cleveland's CBS/FOX affiliate WJW-8 from 1977 until 2005 (he retired at that point).
  • The Other Darrin: Jill's sister Robin appeared in two episodes and was played by a different actress each time.
  • The Other Marty: Jill was first played by Frances Fisher but audiences reacted poorly to her performance in the pilot episode and Patricia Robinson took over the role.
    • Richard Karn was nearly this, see What Could Have Been below.
  • Real Life Relative: The actress who plays Jill's sister Carrie is married to Richard Karn, who plays Al.
  • Separated At Birth Casting: The actor who plays Al's brother Cal looked uncannily like him. Lampshaded on the show.
    • The actresses cast to play two of Jill's sisters resembled Patricia Richardson.
  • Star-Making Role: For Tim Allen.
  • Technology Marches On: Tim criticizes Al for purchasing a cell phone, which was seen as an extravagant purchase.
  • Throw It In: Al's Catch Phrase "I don't think so, Tim." was originally not meant to be a joke. The joke was Al's deadpan expression to Tim's behavior, and the laughter which followed his line was a surprise.
  • Unintentional Period Piece: Averted. While there are elements of the show that make it undoubtably from The Nineties, Home Improvement, in both visuals and humor, has aged rather well, especially in comparison to a lot of the other sitcoms from its era. The lack of topical humor and the Taylors being a working-class family that largely ignored popular trends contributes largely to this.
  • What Could Have Been: Tim Allen revealed, on a talk show, that he wanted the finale of the show to set up The Reveal that Wilson was a ghost. And now he is.
    • Al was originally just a placeholder character for another named Glenn to be played by Stephen Tobolowsky. Tobolowsky was unavailable to shoot the pilot so Richard Karn was brought in as Al to be a fill in character. When Stephen Tobolowsky was still unavailable once the series was picked up Tim Allen urged the producers to keep Karn on as he liked the way they worked together. They agreed and Tobolowsky was let go and Karn was kept on permanently.
    • Ashley Judd was originally cast as the Tool Girl, which was supposed to be a much bigger role (a college student majoring in psychology who acted as a stand-in for Jill on the Tool Time set), but she pulled out only days before the pilot was shot.
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