“Does everybody know what time it is? Tool time!” Those words, initially uttered by an up-and-coming Pamela Anderson before Debbie Dunning would take over the role of “Tool Girl” on the fictitious show-within-a-show, Tool Time, would quickly find their way into American households in the ’90s, and be cemented in the pop culture zeitgeist for all of time.
Premiering on ABC on September 17, 1991, Home Improvement was a vehicle created around stand up comedian Tim Allen, who plays Tim Taylor, the host of a local Detroit fix it show (and nemesis to Bob Vila) and the bumbling head of household that includes wife Jill (Patricia Richardson) and three sons; Brad (Zachery Ty Bryan), Randy (Jonathan Taylor Thomas), and Mark (Taran Noah Smith).
Tim is known for creating more mishaps and havoc than he is his skill sets, though at the end of the day always solves the problem (even if he may be the cause of it to begin with). He’s joined by his level-headed sidekick/co-host Al (Richard Karn), who often has the foresight needed to work beside him (“I don’t think so, Tim” would become another popular catch phrase thanks to the show) and wise neighbor Wilson (played by the late Earl Hindman) that Tim often seeks advice from over his backyard fence (and as a running gag we never actually see Wilson’s full face throughout the entire show).
A major highlight throughout the shows original run were the holiday episodes, where each Halloween or Christmas Tim would often try to outdo himself with either pranks or massive light displays that competed with family or neighbors, depending on the given circumstance.
The show would last throughout the majority of the decade, eventually ending on May 25, 1999, and by all accounts was one of the last great sitcoms of its kind. But it was impossible not to relate on a personal level to some degree – Tim very much felt like an extension of my own father, Terry (who’s still the ultimate handyman, and one of the strongest guys I’ve ever known to this day in my book), and I of course saw myself in a bit of all three sons – especially towards the later years when Mark began wearing all black and playing in a metal band, something I was very much echoing in my own life at the time – though now as a head of household myself, I’ve definitely feeling as though I’m more in Tim’s shoes these days indeed.
The legacy of the show is not about to going anywhere anytime soon, with rerun episodes still heavily played in syndication, and the occasional Home Improvement item popping up on store shelves over the years (somewhere I still have an actual board game of the show, initially released during its prime). In more recent times, several former cast members, including Richardson, Karn, and Dunning, even made appearances on Allen’s current hit ABC show, Shifting Gears. Indeed, the Tool Man grunt will always be there for us ’90s kids, one way or another.
