Tim Allen’s Salary For ‘Home Improvement’ Was Higher Than Jerry Seinfeld’s Salary On ‘Seinfeld’

Home Improvement and Seinfeld were huge sitcom rivals in the 1990s. It makes you wonder how much their lead stars were paid. Well, the former’s Tim Allen – whom his castmates accused of being a liar – amassed his $100 million fortune, mostly due to his hefty salary from the ABC show. Ironically, Jerry Seinfeld – who’s now a billionaire – made less on Seinfeld.

Some say the pay gap justifies his feud with his co-stars. People are also surprised that Seinfeld’s ex-girlfriend, Jami Gertz was also richer than him when she made a cameo on the NBC series. But looking back at the sitcoms’ competition alone, it was hard to tell which one was doing better than the other, even by the numbers.

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Tim Allen Earned Up To $1.25 Million Per Episode On ‘Home Improvement’

According to The Richest, Tim Allen initially made between $200,000 and $300,000 per episode of Home Improvement. During the last two seasons (1998-1999), he started earning $1.25 million ($2 million today) per episode. The series had 204 22-minute episodes so he would have at least made $30 million in the earlier seasons.

As if that wasn’t lucrative enough, Allen was offered $50 million for a ninth season. His onscreen wife, Patricia Richardson was offered half of that. Neither agreed, and the show ended in season 8. But in November 2023, Allen teased fans about a reboot, which Richardson called a lie.

“I see Richard Karn a lot,” the former told The Messenger back then. “And I talk to the boys [Zachery Ty Bryan (Brad); Jonathan Taylor Thomas (Randy); and Taran Noah Smith (Mark)] …and I’m there as one of their friends. We keep talking about [a spinoff].”

Per TV Line, the actress told the Back to the Best podcast: “I would hear on Twitter (or whatever) that [Allen] was coming out publicly and saying this stuff about how everyone was on board to do a Home Improvement reunion…”

She continued: “I called Jonathan one day and I said, ‘Has he asked you about this?'” And he went, ‘No. Why is he going around telling everyone that we’re on board when he hasn’t talked to you or me?‘”

“I think that’s weird,” Richardson said. “He was lying to people and telling them that I was on board and I didn’t know anything about it.” Even if Allen asked, the TV star said she “would not want to” do a Home Improvement sequel.

Here’s the net worth of the Home Improvement cast from highest to lowest:

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Jerry Seinfeld Made Up To $1 Million An Episode In The Last Season Of ‘Seinfeld’

During the first season of Seinfeld, the lead actor only made $20,000 per episode. It eventually went up to $40,000 an episode in seasons 2 and 3 before renegotiating for $100,000 per episode for seasons 4 to 6. By the next two seasons, he was making $500,000 per episode. It wasn’t until the final year (1998) of the show that Seinfeld made $1 million per episode.

While Allen was offered $50 million to continue his show, the Unfrosted star was offered $5 million per episode to make season 10. Seinfeld turned it down as he wanted to leave the show at its peak. In a recent interview with GQ Hype, the actor said he has no regrets about the series, although he’s “a little bit” bothered about its ending.

He went on to share that the creatives behind Seinfeld “were affected by some things that people had said,” like calling the characters “selfish or whatever.” But “looking back on it,” he said, “I think they were great! I love them. First of all, you’re not doing comedy without self-directed individuals. That’s an essential element of comedy, since Shakespeare and forever. You can’t do comedy without selfish people. That’s what people relate to.“

Here are the Seinfeld alums’ net worth from highest to lowest:

‘Home Improvement’ Had More Viewers Than ‘Seinfeld’ At First

In 1997, the Los Angeles Times reported that Home Improvement had better ratings than Seinfeld at the beginning. The former “handily won the first head-to-head encounter by attracting 17.3 million homes, versus 11.6 million viewing” of the latter. But when Cheers ended that year, NBC put Seinfeld in its slot, increasing their viewership to “57% in the first four weeks,” per the outlet. Glenn Padnick, president of Castle Rock Television (producer of Seinfeld), said:

Following the shift, Seinfeld went on to claim the Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series, which “the Home Improvement crew found particularly vexing given their show’s demonstrated superiority in terms of popular appeal.” But in 1994, HI remained the top-rated TV show while Seinfeld only ranked third.

After another time slot shuffle with NBC, HI continued to win in, terms of ratings. But the intensified competition “diminished its audience by nearly 20.” Seinfeld then became “TV’s No.1 comedy,” per L.A. Times. As a result, sources revealed that Allen became “obsessed” with the rival show.

He “wanted to equal or surpass the show and its star in terms of commerce because his series has been denied commensurate critical recognition,” according to the publication. Allen’s manager, Richard Baker also said: “It’s no coincidence Tim Allen has been as successful as he’s been in all these different media. He likes to succeed in everything that he does, whether it’s prime-time television or car racing.”