Watched a little bit of this show for this first time in like 20 years. Crazy that I used to love this show - but at least I have an excuse, I was like 14 at the time.
It's tough to even finish one episode, it's just so, so bad. Painfully unfunny. Of course there's just a ton of underlying sexism and focus on gender roles. But it's really just death by a thousand unfunny cuts.
And this was one of the most popular shows in the 90s, and arguably THE most popular among what are now boomers (I'd say Seinfeld, Friends, and ER were mostly watched by Gen-Xers)! But I think I'm starting to understand the brain rot of boomers a little better. Of course Tim Allen turned out to be a massive chud. Boomers think this is the way the world should be. Men should be "men" i.e. an insane stereotype of masculinity not as lived by real people, but as portrayed by actors for entertainment. And the boomers don't get why we don't want to go along with it and anything they don't understand that makes them angry leads to tantrums.
Seriously, maybe I'll make Chapo Chat challenge coins for anyone who can sit through like 3 episodes in a row...
My favorite story from the set, from Patricia Richardson's AMA
"This is a little dirty story from the set: We had a live horse on the set for Tool Time. Well, they had this horse backstage, and we couldn't get it on the scene because we couldn't stop it from having an erection (it was ENORMOUS). The guy who was supposed to be the wrangler for the horse kept hitting his erection with a brush. And everyone on set was yelling "Ah, don't do that." No one knew how to fix it so they could do the scene. There was a woman that had her period backstage and coincidentally when we moved her away from the horse it fixed the problem. We were all on the floor laughing. And it made the wrangler stop abusing the horse."
Al Borland was superior to Tim Taylor in basically every way.
Richard Karn has better comedic timing than "professional" comedian Tim Allen, IMO.
I’m genuinely pleased that people are still paying Richard Karn to do things.
i feel like he was on a hiatus for a bit. im sure work slowed down. every now and then some folks will come back around, i love that
For some reason I can't stop watching. It's like a peak to another era. Kinda reminds me of the first part of Space Odyssey. I was half expecting a monolith to show up eventually.
Home Improvement is peak boomer. Al is the only likeable character on that show and Tim treats him like shit.
Most 90's sitcoms were pretty terrible. They were all unfunny carbon copies of each other but are also a pretty interesting look into the boomer mindset. Everybody Loves Raymond has to be the worst.
They're all from the point of view of the father character, who is always a "super relatable and well meaning" manchild that is super patronising and sarcastic but is somehow supposed to be likable. He always has a "hot" housewife that is portrayed as nagging and bitchy, a son that looks up to dad and a teenage daughter that portrayed as a spoiled brat. I cannot stress how much these guys must hate their daughters, holy shit.
They're a glimpse into the ideal world as seen through the eyes of a rich boomer where he is the centre of attention and the voice of reason, and what a depressing world it is.
They’re a glimpse into the ideal world as seen through the eyes of a rich boomer where he is the centre of attention and the voice of reason, and what a depressing world it is.
I think this totally hits the nail on the head. It's fascinating to me how daughters are treated on these shows. They're all just boy-crazy brats who will try and sleep around if dad doesn't have a watchful eye on them. Tim Allen's character doesn't even have daughters! Shows how much he valued women (and I get in his new show he has daughters, but whatever that's probably just because he thinks that kind of reversal is "funny"; and like you said it's all about the boomer dad being the lone voice of reason amongst the crazy).
Yeah Home Improvement was one of the rare ones without a daughter character.
Everybody Loves Raymond has to be the worst.
the episode where he goes to Italy is HILARIOUS
Creating a hypothesis that Home Improvement was the starting point of the dudes rock movement
I remember when this show ended, they had this big tv event blowout with all these heartfelt stories from the actors about how much the show meant to them and how sad they were it was over, and I remember.... like, crying with my family because of it.... Of course I was like a small kid so I didn't really know what was going on? But I have though back on this moment several times as evidence (as you have pointed out) about how America absolutely must be destroyed.
Also worth pointing out that in addition to the Grandma's Boy failson guy, Tim Allen was recently talking about marxism on Twitter lmao: https://twitter.com/ofctimallen/status/1327362470868971520?s=20
Also worth pointing out that in addition to the Grandma’s Boy failson guy, Tim Allen was recently talking about marxism on Twitter lmao: https://twitter.com/ofctimallen/status/1327362470868971520?s=20
Wait, tf is going on there?
Just to let you know Comrade. Don't feel bad at all for crying during times like that. That shows you have developed empathy. It means you can look at the suffering of others and actually understand it as similar to suffering that you have gone through and you feel that same pain.
IMO its one of the key differences between us and the chuds
Lib confession: Home Improvement was one of my favorite shows as a kid
I definitely loved that show as a kid. I was at most 9 though so I don't feel horrible for having that bad of taste. But I did and do continue to love power tools.
I've been rewatching it with my mum recently and for a Nineties show it's surprisingly forward thinking about a ton of things. Obviously it's not perfect but compared to other stuff from that era it's great.
I would watch the one where Jonathan Taylor Thomas has the mole, the one where the oldest got in a car accident, and the one where Tim sleeps with Mrs. Binford and has to buy his wife a necklace.
