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Home Improvement

Set in Detroit, Michigan, the series centers around the antics of the Taylor family, which, along with Tim, included his pedantic wife Jill (Patricia Richardson), and their three mischievous sons, Brad (Zachary Ty Bryan), Randy (Jonathan Taylor Thomas) and Mark (Taran Noah Smith).

In the first few seasons, Brad and Randy would torment their youngest brother and each other as well. The other important side of the show - and explanation of the series' name - comes from Tool Time, the fictional handyman show-within-a-show hosted by Taylor and his mild-mannered assistant Al Borland (played by Richard Karn) who prefers to wear flannel shirts, and whose catchphrase was "I don't think so, Tim." He also came up with many puns. Taylor was always arrogant and prone to accidents. His projects on Tool Time usually go awry. The cautious, insecure, and brighter Borland always bore the brunt of Tim Taylor's jokes and constant put-downs. A running joke was Tim's references to Al's overweight mother, who is usually referred to but is never seen throughout the series - although in one episode, she dies and the characters are at her funeral. Al has a "twin" brother named Cal.

Throughout the series, Jill studied to become a psychologist. In later seasons, Randy was written out of the script by mentioning that he was in Costa Rica. In one episode, Tim also received a Ph.D from his alma mater.

The show featured a few unique gimmicks. During scene changes clever "wipes" were used to comically remove the current image from the screen. For example, the current scene could shatter like glass, fall over like a piece of wood, or deflate like a balloon.

The other gimmick was the character of Wilson (Earl Hindman), the Taylor family's sage, advice-giving neighbor with many historical, philosophical, and literary works to quote. Tim often confusingly misquotes and re-words Wilson's advice when speaking to Jill or his sons. For reasons that were never explained, the lower half of Wilson's face was never seen on the show, and was instead constantly - and sometimes humorously - blocked by various props, such as fences, masks, trees, and unusual costumes. When it came into question whether 'Wilson' was the character's first name or last, he explained that his full name was actually Wilson Wilson, Jr.; his father's name having been Wilson Wilson, Sr. During the show, Wilson is usually working on an unusual project of some sort in his backyard. His usual catchphrase is "Well! Heidi-ho neighbor" when greeting Tim.

The sitcom launched the career of former Playboy model Pamela Anderson, who would later star in the internationally-syndicated television show Baywatch. Anderson played the announcer and "showgirl" in the character Tim Taylor's Tool Time show. As Anderson gained stardom, she was replaced by another actor.

External links

• The original proposal for the show
• The Home Improvement Archive: http://www.hiarchive.co.uk/index.html

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