Synopsis
Tim Allen was fortunate enough to ride a couple of trends and nurture them into a steady paycheck without really having to do anything. He was a stand-up comic in the mid ‘80s and early ‘90s and was pretty good at it. And like many other stand-ups during the time, he was given a sitcom with which to basically recycle his act onto a smaller stage. And to his benefit, the public enjoyed it, and Allen’s pet project Home Improvement was a smash hit, and would later go on to enjoy eight seasons o… ABC, and included a small unknown actress named Pamela Anderson.
To sum up the show, Allen plays Tim (with much imagination), a local TV personality who combined his enjoyment of power tools and large engines, but doesn’t have the full grasp of the power he deals with. On his show, he is guided by Al (Richard Karn). At home, he is married to Jill (Patricia Richardson, Ulee’s Gold), who keeps him in check, but still allows him to renovate cars with his three sons. And like other sitcoms that have characters in crisis, Tim goes to his neighbor Wilson (Earl Hindman, Taps) for counsel on what to do.
The show was enjoyable because Allen was more than willing to be self-deprecating and letting the man of the house be the butt of the jokes. And because it was such an irreverent and enjoyable show, it managed to reach a larger cross-section of viewers and maintain it for quite some time. One of the producers of Allen’s show was Carmen Finestra, who was one of the creative forces behind a mid ‘80s sitcom named The Cosby Show, so she was more than familiar with sitcom success. The show is full of humorous moments, and as far as network TV goes, it was one of the better sitcoms on TV in the mid to late ‘90s. Buena Vista is releasing the show’s seasons on DVD, and with the second season, this could arguably be just before it hit its creative stride, and is worth checking out.
Audio
Nothing out of the ordinary for any TV show, the only audio track of note is a Dolby Digital 2.0 track. It reproduces the soundtrack of the show with an adequate amount of clarity.
Video
As is pattern with TV seasons, you get full frame and like it! There’s nothing overly outstanding about the picture here, it looks like it did several years ago, except a little better.
Special Features
There’s what amounts to a highlight reel of various jocularity and funny moments from the season, entitled Loose Screws. While it’s not an extensive gag reel or episode commentary, it’s still fairly cute, and lengthy at almost a half hour.
Closing Thoughts
Some of the TV series that have been coming out of DVD are stinkers. Others are pretty enjoyable, and this is one of them. Home Improvement makes for cute, clean fun for everyone in the house, and it still packs a comedy punch after a few years too. Fans of the show should definitely pick this up.
Special Features List
- Gag Reel
