Talk:Home Improvement (TV series)

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What secret is revealed in "E: True Hollywood Story?"

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Was Wilson's face really exposed in the final episode? If I remember correctly, he showed it after the show while bowing in front of the audience. – Torsten Bronger 00:17, 14 Oct 2004 (UTC)

Yes it was. I saw the final episode, it was great. Too bad the actor has passed away. Jokem (talk) 16:25, 30 May 2008 (UTC)

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I have a difficult time believing that Home Improvement was set in Detroit. --24.200.35.253 00:41, 14 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Contents 1 It was set in Detroit 2 MC Hammer (TVography: Tool Time) 3 Clean Up Tag Removal? 4 Years Home Improvement took place 5 Subliminal message 6 Mixed up Intro 7 The Great US TV on UK DVD Retreat! 8 Issues 9 cleanup 10 Show Cancellation 11 Taylor family 12 Cleanup 13 is vs. was 14 which episode 15 kids 16 nonsense sentence 17 Didn't Patricia Richardson replace another actress? 18 Theme Song 19 Fair use rationale for Image:Home Improvement cast.jpg 20 Cleanup Of Intro 21 Requested move 21.1 Survey 21.2 Discussion 22 Looking for help writing an article about the spin-offs and crossovers of this series 23 Toy Story

[edit] It was set in Detroit

There are several indications it was set in Detroit.

The biggest indication is in the episode "The Look", where Tim buys season tickets for the Detroit Pistons.

On a side note, there is no mention of "The Man's" line of rooms from ToolTime. Usually tended to be one of the funnier things in an episode.

Modor Another indication is the mention of several other cities in Michigan; for example; the episode when Tim gets lost in a blizzard on the way to a wedding. This episode mention the city "North Adams"; which is a city off US 12, near Brooklyn, Michigan. Additionally, a reference is made that Toledo, Ohio is a short drive in the episode where Tim's old shop teacher appears.

Toffile

Everything sports related on the show was about Detroit teams: Detroit Pistons, Detroit Lions, Detroit Red Wings. It snows in the winter. Tim once made a quick trip to Canada in an afternoon. I'm sure it was directly mentioned several times they are in Detroit (like the final episode where they considered moving away). I would never believe anyone who says this did not take place in Detroit.--Will2k 16:35, Jun 22, 2005 (UTC)

Tomohuynh

One episode has Tim and Al flying home on a plane when the pilot mentions they are close to landing in Detroit Metro airport. Also in the episode, Tim asks if they should rather drive to Detroit.

Wiki

The show was set in Detroit... yet the show was actually filmed in Burbank, California. It was mentioned that the show was in Detroit. One episode that comes to mind is episode #1.16 "Jill's Birthday," where Jill says "That'll be a cold day in... Detroit."

Actually, it seems like they live in a suberb of Detroit. Suburbs are usually considered part of a city(so someone in a suberb of Los Angeles would say they are from Los Angeles). TJ Spyke 18:21, 4 September 2006 (UTC)

JoeCool

I was watching the episode "Feud for Thought" from the third season and an old friend of Jill's at a high school reunion asks Jill where she and Tim are living. Jill out right responds, "Detroit."

[edit] MC Hammer (TVography: Tool Time)

Can someone explain this for me? Golden Husky WMC 19:40, 14 March 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Clean Up Tag Removal?

Anyone else feel that this tag can be removed? Phasedice 22:19, 15 January 2006 (UTC)

No, the article is still pretty unorganized and doesn't follow a very logical sequence. --Dalkaen^T/C 23:05, 16 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Years Home Improvement took place

While viewing the date Home Improvement aired, my brother, a big fan, noticed that the date this website has as the start of Home Improvement (September 1,1991) varies from another web site (www.http://www.morepower.com/homeimpr.html) which has the beginning date as September 17,1991. The ending dates, however, are the same.

• • The actual date IS in fact September 17... September 1 is wrong of course. May 25 1999 is the finale airing of the show. 65.7.58.44 04:37, 2 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Subliminal message

Somebody should add a line about the (quite unknown) subliminal message showing in each episodes intro when Heidi/Debbe Dunning is introduced. For a few frames you can clearly see a "Watch Tool Time" screen for a split second. If you have an episode on your PC you can check it yourself with frame-to-frame skipping. Story/Proof here (in German): [1] 87.193.15.109 00:31, 25 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Mixed up Intro

Anyone else feel the intro is sort of mixed up?

"Home Improvement was an American television sitcom starring actor/comedian Tim Allen, and loosely based on his stand-up comedy routine that ran on ABC for eight seasons from September 1991 to May 1999."

doesn't that imply that his stand-up comedy ran for eight seasons?

--Pongles 21:01, 7 June 2006 (UTC)

Yea, it does sound like that.Peter Tangney 23:00, 19 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] The Great US TV on UK DVD Retreat!

"Buena Vista will no longer release the show in Region 2 or 4 due to poor sales. Buena Vista also discontinued The Golden Girls in those regions, this is considered a part of The Great US TV on UK DVD Retreat."

You know who's responsible for this, don't you? The government! 138.69.160.1 16:38, 7 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Issues

The article has two issues I noticed - the tenses flipflop throughout the article from past to present. Since the show is wrapped, I suggest any present tenses be changed to past tense.

Secondly, the heading 'history' is really very little to do with history - it's more of a longer plot synopsis. I suggest it be reworded or removed. In fact, I think I'm going to do that now - If anyone has a problem with it, feel free to respond. TheHYPO 12:23, 24 October 2006 (UTC)

The article could do with a bit of condensation IMO, as some of it is basically written twice. I reckon we could drop some of the running gags (some of them aren't even "gags" let alone running ones), or move them somewhere else. Some parts of this article jumps about from section to section, it doesn't seem to "flow" properly. Hmm, I'll think about that. Some of the premise content would be better elsewhere on the page though. NKTP 23:16, 25 October 2006 (UTC)

Just thought I'd mention that at one point it states that Tim knocked out Bob Vila with a 4x4. Now that is a large car I suggest someone changes it to 2x4 —Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.107.222.124 (talk) 21:48, 23 May 2008 (UTC)

[edit] cleanup

I did a biug cleanup on teh article, removing dead weight sections, re arranging some sections, adn trimming off the useless gab in teh sections. I will add references later. Karrmann 20:25, 5 November 2006 (UTC)

What did you say? Anthony Rupert 15:08, 19 November 2006 (UTC)

Kinda scary that he'd edit stuff eh? Icarus'sNewBag (talk) 02:25, 13 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Show Cancellation

The article says that, per a 1999 Time Magazine story, Jonathan Taylor Thomas's departure cost the show 3 million viewers "which was probably a big factor in its subsequent cancellation." Is this "big factor" per Time or a personal opinion? According the the E! Hollywood Story piece on Home Improvement, the leads felt the show had become stale, and Tim Allen announced in January 1999 that he would not renew his contract for a ninth season, despite being offered twice what he was currently getting ($1.25 million per episode). It would appear, therefore, that the show ended while it was still in the Top Ten in US ratings, and was not "cancelled" by the network. Signinstranger 16:33, 1 December 2006 (UTC)

I don't believe the show was "cancelled" by ABC, more rather Tim Allen had decided that the show had run its course and therefore there wouldn't be a 9th season. Mind you Jonathan Taylor-Thomas leaving the show at the beginning of the 8th season may well have contributed to this decision, as a lot of people feel the show fell apart after he left. NKTP 22:29, 1 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Taylor family

In this section, apparently the birthdates are listed for the characters rather than for the actors that play them, but it's written in such a fashion that it causes for confusion. Anyone agree? Anthony Rupert 14:20, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

Agreed. Although Jonathan Taylor Thomas is older than Zach Ty Bryan, his Randy character is younger than Brad, with Brad being born in 1981, and Randy being born "13 months" later, as Randy himself said, which would be 1982. There was also a transition graphic in one episode that showed a tombstone that said "Randy Taylor, 1982-1994." It would be best to just give the charcters' birthdates, not the actors'.

Giving Jill's birthdate would be more difficult, since it changes during the show. In one episode, she goes to her 20th high school reunion; the class of 1973, meaning she would be born in 1954 or 1955. Later on, however, her birtdate changes to 1956. (131.183.101.3 19:16, 30 December 2006 (UTC))

I've just moved the D.O.B's along a bit to make it a lot more clearer that the dates are the birthdays/months of the characters in Home Improvement, not the actors. The transition mentioned above can be seen in Season 3, its the "Reality Bytes" episode. You can't miss it. NKTP 21:57, 31 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Cleanup

I added the cleanup tag because there are several dead links, some poorly written sections, some mixed up spelling, some bad information. FrozenPurpleCube 17:48, 27 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] is vs. was

This is a comment about recent edits to this article. Many pages say was, because many unexperienced editors keep changing it to was. That doesn't make it correct. see also Talk:The O.C.#Is not Was. The show is a "work" and the work still exists (ergo, use present tense "the show is a sitcom"). A broadcast run is an EVENT that has past (ergo, use past tense "was originally broadcasted by Fox from date to date" --TheDJ (talk • contribs • WikiProject Television) 21:56, 25 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] which episode

Which episode is it that at the end has J.T.T holds up a little lion and Tim Allen holds up Buzz Lightyear and "inpersonates" him? (71.188.156.187 (talk) 03:07, 2 May 2008 (UTC))

in which episode does one of the boys smoke pot and the parents are trying to find out which one? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 217.86.92.33 (talk) 08:27, 1 May 2007 (UTC).

>> Season 7 Episode, "What a Drag." You can buy Season Seven on August 7, 2007 in the United States!!! GreysAnatomyFan8894 05:14, 13 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] kids

just something that slightly annoyed be for ages is why to all three child actors have to have three names e.g zachary ty taylor? whats wrong with zachary taylor, or is this just some american rule i don't know.--Pinknoise 14:23, 14 July 2007 (UTC)

>> No American rule that I know about! Actually, that's Zachary Ty Bryan, not Taylor (but who cares? lol). However, in the final two seasons of the show, Taran Noah Smith was credited as just Taran Smith.

[edit] nonsense sentence

"Some might also conclude that there were similarity with this show and the 1960s sitcom My Three Sonssimilarities are common for this show who's writers are known for stealing ideas and passing them off as their own. "

This sentence doesn't make sense. 81.108.103.145 23:43, 18 August 2007 (UTC)

This line is also hostile and if there are not any facts to back it up, it should be removed. Apollo729 15:40, 20 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Didn't Patricia Richardson replace another actress?

I seem to remember there being some controversy shortly after the show debuted about the orignal actress playing Tim's wife being fired after the pilot episode due to lack of chemistry. The pilot was reshot after Ms. Richardson was hired. Does anybody remember who the other actress might have been? And is the original pilot episode available somewhere? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.64.156.41 (talk) 14:46, 26 October 2007 (UTC)

--The original actress was Frances Fisher, who went on to portray Rose's mother in *Titanic.65.7.50.44 (talk) 03:48, 24 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Theme Song

It would be a major gaffe to allow this article to go on neglecting to mention what was probably the most interesting aspect of this show, the theme song--most notably, the bizarre grunting/singing noises Tim made at the beginning and end of the song (sounded like "huuueeaaarrhh"). Chalkieperfect 22:09, 30 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Fair use rationale for Image:Home Improvement cast.jpg

thumb|right|This piece of discussion is about this picture. Image:Home Improvement cast.jpg is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.

Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Wikipedia:Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to insure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.

If there is other fair use media, consider checking that you have specified the fair use rationale on the other images used on this page. Note that any fair use images uploaded after 4 May, 2006, and lacking such an explanation will be deleted one week after they have been uploaded, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you.

BetacommandBot 17:56, 6 November 2007 (UTC)

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I have now added what I think is a bit more substantial specification of the image.Spitfire (talk) 21:20, 15 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Cleanup Of Intro

Intro needs tons of work. "home improvement is a great show" is hardly neutral —Preceding unsigned comment added by Icarus'sNewBag (talk • contribs) 02:28, 13 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Requested move

This article has been renamed from Home Improvement to Home Improvement (TV series) as the result of a move request.