Very few shows are as synonymous with the ’90s as Home Improvement. The ABC hit sitcom put Tim Allen on the map and had magazine cutouts of Jonathan Taylor Thomas taped to millions of bedroom walls. Home Improvement was consistently one of the highest-ranked shows of the decade. It was so popular, in fact, that the White House seriously considered having then-First Lady Hillary Clinton appear in a cameo. “The outreach would be enormous and it would present Hillary in a very likable light I believe,” Clinton’s former press secretary Lisa Caputo wrote in an internal memo (via Politico).
During the show’s eight-year run from 1991 to 1999, the family-friendly sitcom racked up 34 Emmy nominations, nine Golden Globe nominations, and four straight People’s Choice Awards for favorite comedy series. America couldn’t get enough of the power tool-obsessed Tim Taylor trying to raise three rambunctious boys with his no-nonsense wife.
But while the show won audiences over week after week, behind the scenes, things weren’t as always rosy as they appeared. Let’s peak over the fence like Mr. Wilson at the dark secrets of the cast of Home Improvement.
Tim Allen was a coke dealer in the ’70s
In 1978, Tim Allen was arrested at a Michigan airport for possession of 650 grams of cocaine, according to CBS News. He was reportedly a well-known dealer at the time, which made him an easy target for an undercover sting operation. Despite turning informant, Allen would spend two years and four months in federal prison, which encouraged him to clean up his life and focus on his burgeoning stand-up comedy career that would ultimately land him on Home Improvement.
However, the days of being in a prison still haunt Allen. “When I went to jail, reality hit so hard that it took my breath away, took my stance away, took my strength away,” he told Esquire. “I was put in a holding cell with twenty other guys — we had to crap in the same crapper in the middle of the room — and I just told myself, I can’t do this for seven and a half years. I want to kill myself.”
But Allen’s time in prison didn’t entirely scare him straight.
Tim Allen also got a DUI during Home Improvement’s run
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After spending two years in federal prison, you’d think Tim Allen would’ve learned his lesson about breaking the law. But on a May night in 1997, during the height of Home Improvement’s success, Allen was picked up “zooming his 1988 Ferrari at 70 miles per hour in a 40 miles-per-hour zone,” according to E! News. Things went from bad to worse when Allen failed a field sobriety test and had a blood alcohol level above the legal limit. To his credit, he didn’t contest the charges and entered rehab as part of his sentencing in 1998. He’s spoken glowingly about Alcoholics Anonymous ever since.
“A physician friend of mine told me a long time ago, he said you’ve just got to ask for help,” Allen told the HuffPost in a 2013 interview. “One of the best pieces of advice I’ve heard recently was, if you want help, it’s the first thing you go to in the phone book, and it’s free. How can it be simpler? It’s a program that’s always got its doors open, there are no dues or fees, there is no leader, there’s no organization. You’ve just got to go!”
Tim Allen was kind of a jerk to Jonathan Taylor Thomas
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While there’s no doubt that Home Improvement rocketed Tim Allen into Hollywood fame, it was almost equally as a much of a career boost for Jonathan Taylor Thomas, better known as “JTT” in teen magazines during the ’90s. But unlike Allen, Thomas became weary of the spotlight and bailed on the eighth season to prepare for college. “I’d been going nonstop since I was 8 years old,” he told People. “I wanted to go to school, to travel and have a bit of a break.”
Thomas’ on-screen mom Patricia Richardson was supportive at the time. “I think that it was very fortunate that Jonathan is so smart and well balanced,” she wrote during a Reddit AMA (via E! News). “When he left the show, he ended up going back to school and got a really good education and thought a lot about what he wanted to do with his life.”
Allen, on the other hand, was not happy that Thomas chose to focus on his education instead of the show. Things got so bad, that Thomas skipped the series finale after the two had a confrontation while filming a holiday episode. “I mentioned that I was confused [about the reasons for his departure],” Allen told TV Guide. “I don’t think he liked that.”
These Home Improvement stars turned down insane money for a ninth season
After Jonathan Taylor Thomas left the show, Patricia Richardson made the decision not to return for a ninth season despite being offered a whopping $25 million. She “didn’t want to take the gig for money alone,” according to E! News. Tim Allen was offered $50 million to return, but he refused to do the show without Richardson. “This is a kind of decision that
