Over two decades after Home Improvement aired its last episode, The Walt Disney Company honored the beloved sitcom. Though Tim Allen has moved on to other projects like Last Man Standing and The Santa Clauses, Tim “The Toolman” Taylor remains one of his most iconic roles, second only to Buzz Lightyear.
Home Improvement
Spanning eight seasons, Home Improvement aired on ABC from 1991 to 1999. Based on Allen’s stand-up material, the show helped launch his career. In her first acting role, Pamela Anderson starred as the “Tool Time girl,” Lisa.
The show focuses on accident-prone handyman Tim Taylor, who struggles to balance his television show Tool Time with co-host Al Borland (Richard Karn) and his family. He leans on neighbor Wilson (Earl Hindman) for advice about problems with his wife Jill (Patricia Richardson) and sons Brad (Zachery Ty Bryan), Randy (Jonathan Taylor Thomas), and Mark (Taran Noah Smith).
“Power tools, parenting, and the modern male mystique are the comic building blocks for ‘Home Improvement,’ a heartfelt and funny family comedy dealing with the questions men have about being men,” Disney writes of the television series.
Tim “The Toolman” Taylor in 2023
Tim Allen in a gray button up smiles next to Buzz Lightyear at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
Earl Hindman (Wilson) died of lung cancer in 2003, making a complete Home Improvement reboot unlikely. However, Allen and Richard Karn (Al) have both voiced enthusiasm for a film sequel to the series, focusing on the lives of Brad, Randy, and Mark.
“What I’d love to see is those boys grown up—what they’re doing grown up,” Allen told E! News in 2022. “I think that’d be an amazing piece of television.”
The Wild Hogs (2007) star hasn’t forgotten about the show that started it all. Multiple episodes of his nine-season series Last Man Standing contain references to Home Improvement, including one called “Dual Time.” Karn, Jonathan Taylor Thomas (Randy), and Patricia Richardson (Jill) all guest starred on the sitcom.
Tim Allen as Scott Calvin before transforming into Santa.
Allen told E! that while he wasn’t sure Tim Taylor is “relevant” today, he believed the character lived on in his Last Man Standing character, Mike Baxter.
“Tim Taylor, he kind of graduated in the TV world into Mike Baxter,” he explained. “He’s kind of a gag, and I think we did it on Last Man Standing—we showed the two together in a dream sequence. Tim Taylor kind of grew into Mike Baxter, as an actor and as a man.”
Disney hasn’t forgotten about Home Improvement, either. Despite multiple social media controversies involving Allen’s political views (some say the actor is “canceled”), Walt Disney Archives paid tribute to the series at Disney100: The Exhibition.
The display included a bullet level and hammer used by Tim Allen and a prop tin of Binford paint stripper – the fake hardware and power tool company that sponsored Tool Time.
Allen hasn’t proposed a Home Improvement reboot or sequel since 2022, but you can see a piece of the show for yourself at Disney100: The Exhibition. After its grand opening in Philadelphia, the traveling museum is currently in Chicago and heads to Kansas City in 2024. The exhibit will tour North America for five years; tickets are available here.
An international exhibit of the same name is currently in London after a stop in Berlin but doesn’t include the same props and artifacts as its United States counterpart.
