Home Improvement dominated the ’90s and although its eighth and final season with the decade, its popularity endures. Soon, fans will be able to stream all 204 episodes, spanning eight seasons, right in one place on Disney+.
Home Improvement did not often win over critics, but the devoted fan reception earned it several awards and nominations, including Golden Globe Awards, Primetime Emmy Awards, and Kids’ Choice Awards nominations.
‘Home Improvement’ is coming to Disney+
Disney+ will soon be streaming all episodes of Home Improvement, giving longtime fans a single place to reliably revisit the Taylor household, while also giving more power to potential new fans who did not grow up with the ’90s sitcom. Episodes will be available for binging – or recreating that once-a-week viewing experience – starting on June 28th, 2023.
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Home Improvement has long been on an ongoing journey since its debut. It was inspired, in part, by the stand-up comedy of its leading Tool Time man, Tim Allen, originating on ABC. From there, it underwent some changes in format, incorporating a cold open after season two, then changing the stylized presentation of that logo from season four onwards.
Originally, there might have been one more season of the show – and thus, one more coming to Disney+, except for one key disagreement that sealed the fate of Home Improvement.
Why didn’t fans get more power?
Tool Time Tim was always vying for more, anything more extreme, more powerful, more turning wheels and grinding gears, slicing saws and roaring engines. Similarly, Patricia Richardson, who played Allen’s TV wife Jill, was asked to come on board for one more season. However, Richardson and Allen disagreed on negotiations to make this happen; Richardson felt she was done with the program.
So, scriptwriters toyed with the idea they might “kill off” Jill. That was a solid line in the sands that Allen refused to cross; he was ready to do a ninth season of Home Improvement, but not without Richardson as Jill. So, he ended up in Richardson’s corner and continuation plans fell through.
Part of what makes Home Improvement so incomprehensible without Jill is the balance she brings to Tim Taylor’s “man’s man” attitude. “[The network said] we need to have someone that challenges him and is as much a feminist as he is a masculinist,” explained Richardson. Richardson admitted to doubting the sitcom when she was first approached about it, but she ended up completely moved when she received fan mail from Americans who felt seen and heard and related so well to the Taylor family.
“Are you looking through our windows?” letters would ask. “The things you and Tim fight about are just like our family.”
Will you be revisiting the all-too-relatable Taylor family when Home Improvement comes to Disney+?