Home Improvement (TV series)/YMMV

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • Acceptable Targets: The overweight; however, Tim's restriction of his fat jokes to Al, Al's mother, and Jill's mom (before she lost weight) may have been meant to imply it's only all right if it's a friend and they know you're joking (though judging by Al's reaction, they don't have to think it's funny).
  • Crosses the Line Twice: When Tim asked an exterminator who used nerve gas what's shaking, Wilson answers his entire body.
  • Crowning Moment of Heartwarming: The final episode had Al marrying Trudy in the Taylor's back yard, before Tim realises that the Taylor's back yard is simply too small for the wedding; at which point Wilson points out that if they removed the fence & used his yard too, then there'd be enough room. They then question why they hadn't removed the fence sooner.
  • Ensemble Darkhorse: Al is this in real-life. See Ascended Extra.
    • Wilson, too. Originally, the character had limited screentime that was simply to have Tim seek advice on his current problem. However, producers liked both actor and character, so they gave him increasingly more to do over the run of the show. (Episodes centered around him, regular interactions with the other characters, a love interest, etc.)
  • Hilarious in Hindsight: In the series finale Tim introduced Al as "Al-be-doing-infomercials-for-a-living Borland!" Richard Karn is indeed doing infomercials now, in costume as Al.
    • A 1993 episode (more accurately, the episode where Randy breaks his wrist sliding down Dead Man's Curve) features an easy-to-miss line where a character named Buzz brings Tim his coffee, "just how he likes it, cream and five sugars" Buzz then says "Two more sugars, they'll be calling you Buzz!" Then consider what Tim did two years |later...
  • Iconic Character, Forgotten Title: No, the name of this show is NOT "Tool Time".
  • Memetic Mutation: Al's "I don't think so, Tim."
  • The Problem with Licensed Games: The SNES video game made based on the show is considered bad.

Seanbaby: This is a screenshot of a man with a grappling hook fighting a dinosaur. I swear to God this is based on the family show with the same name.

  • Tear Jerker: The episode when Jill's dad died. Another example is John Binford's death. Even moreso when Wilson gives Tim a small speech about grieving, to which he ends by saying, "It lets you accept that the person is really... truly... gone. Tim looks over the fence, and finds Wilson has left Tim by himself. After Earl Hindman, Wilson's actor, died in 2003, this scene was just so much worse.
    • "The Longest Day" where they think Randy might have cancer. When Randy breaks down while talking to Tim at the arcade and then jumps into Tim's arms.

"Why does this bad stuff always have to happen to me?...I don't wanna die, Dad."

    • The episode where Al's mother dies. Doubles as bittersweet heartwarming during Tim and Al's speeches at her funeral: Despite all Tim's fat jokes and Al's griping about how she smothered him, Al really loved his mother and Tim was aware of all her great qualities.
  • The Woobie: Mark, in early seasons. God, his big brothers were such pricks.
    • It never seemed to bother him all that much though. And Randy and Brad usually suffered for the teasing.
    • Mark kind of remained The Woobie even into his teen years. Because of his oddball habits and interests (and briefly becoming a goth), he often had difficulty keeping a girfriend.
    • Jerkass Woobie: Randy was an insufferable smartass, but several episodes showcased his hidden insecurities (his small size, worrying about how "cool" he was to girls, thinking Brad was their father's favorite) or gave him serious issues to cope with ("The Longest Day" in which he thought he might have cancer and "Losing My Religion" in which an old woman he bonded with suddenly became ill).