Home Improvement Star Shoots Down Hopes of Reboot

We’re living in a time of sitcom reboots with shows like Frasier, Roseanne, Full House, Saved by the Bell, and more all getting a second life. Last year, Home Improvement star Tim Allen said there was a chance the sitcom could be the next to get the reboot treatment. The show ran for eight seasons from 1991 to 1999 and starred Allen as Tim “The Tool Man” Taylor, the host of a home improvement show. In addition to showcasing his fictional show, Tool Time, the sitcom also focused on the Taylor family, which consisted of his wife Jill (Patricia Richardson) and sons, Brad (Zachary Ty Bryan), Mark (Taran Noah Smith), and Randy (Jonathan Taylor Thomas). Allen said last year that they “keep talking” about a spinoff series, but Richardson recently shut down any hopes of a follow-up.

“It was so weird, I would hear he was coming out publicly and saying this stuff about everyone was on board to do a Home Improvement reunion, but he never asked me and he never asked Jonathan,” Richardson recently said on the Back to the Best podcast (via EW). “I called Jonathan one day and said, ‘Has he asked you about this? He went, ‘No.’ So why is he saying everyone is on board when he hasn’t talked to you or me?”

“I wrote a big thing on Twitter and said I’m not involved in any series with Jill and I’ve also never even been asked to do another Home Improvement reunion thing, but I would not want to,” she added. “I mean, Zach is now a felon,” she continued. “Taran hasn’t acted since he left the show; he’s not an actor anymore. And Jonathan’s not really interested in acting. He wants to direct and write. And we don’t have Wilson [Earl Hindman, who passed in 2003].” 

Here’s what Allen told The Messenger last year: 

“I see Richard Karn [Al Borland] a lot, and I talk to the boys…and I’m there as one of their friends. We keep talking about [a spinoff],” Allen said. “It’s funny, one of the conversations we’ve had recently is how weird it would be if Home Improvement would be about the kids’ kids. Like, if all of them had children, and I’m a grandparent. Home Re-Improvement or something like that. It’s come up.”

While a Home Improvement spinoff may not be in the cards, Allen did reprise his role as Santa Claus/Scott Calvin in the recent Disney+ series, The Santa Clauses. 

Would you like to see a Home Improvement reboot? Tell us in the comments!