NathanTool Time Was Inspired By This Old House
The format of the show Tool Time would be awfully familiar to those people who love to watch home improvement shows. The Tool Time show was meant to be a mock show about the PBS home-improvement show called This Old House. The characters of both Tim and Al were originally written to emulate Bob Vila, who was the show’s host and Norm Abram, who takes charge as the master carpenter on the show. Al’s character would also wear plaid shirts and had a full beard, that was no doubt inspired by Abram. Bob Vila appeared as a guest star on Home Improvement multiple times and Allen and Anderson were guests on his show! It is great to know that both the shows did not clash but rather worked in collaboration with one another that certainly helped raise both ratings of their shows.
The Great Race Took Great Effort
As we all know, all of these sitcoms are not that easy to execute. Many of the shows we watch on our television screens on even the shows online take up a great deal of work to be shown on screen. Such was the case for an episode of Home Improvement that ended being a very challenging task. On one particular episode where Bob Vila appeared, there was so much work that needed to be done. It was one from the two-part episode titled “The Great Race II” in the 3rd season, that was also a part of the two-part episode “The Great Race” on the 2nd season. In this episode, Tim challenges Vila to a hot rod race, instead of a lawn mowing competition. This episode was especially challenging because the producers needed to shut down the Burbank Airport runway to film the iconic scene.
Reason Behind John Bedford Lloyd Quitting
The show has had a lot of actors come and go as it has run for a long time. So when the actor John Bedford Lloyd auditioned for a part in Home Improvement, there were two roles he was considered for. The producers wanted him to play both the role of Tim’s Tool Time assistant and his mysterious neighbor, Wilson. The actor made a decision which he would soon regret. He decided on the latter character as there was no prior information about what he would have to do as the character on the show. He was in for a disappointing surprise when he discovered the fact that his character Wilson would always hide behind a fence throughout the whole show. So it was evident that he did not want to play the role, so he dropped out. Lloyd had only given a one day’s notice just before the pilot episode was supposed to be filmed. The producers had to find a quick replacement for Earl Hindman to play Wilson on Home Improvement.
Richard Karn’s Role After Traffic School
There were a lot of mysterious ways in which the actors for this incredible show were cast to play each of their roles. Richard Karn was rolling a stop sign which in turn ended up in him receiving a ticket. This happened soon after he had his Macbeth rehearsal in the city of Los Angeles. Because of his unfortunate traffic episode, he was ordered to join traffic school. While he was there at the traffic school, he happened to meet an agent who talked to him about a new show in the works called Home Improvement. Karn felt like he would have a good chance after his audition due to the fact that he was well acquainted with several of the people involved in the show. Although his role was initially written as a temporary one, he would get to star in all of the 8 seasons of the show!
Allen’s Childhood Neighbor Was The Inspiration
As we all know, Tim Allen is now known for coming up with some of the weirdest characters on his stand-up comedy shows. Even in the case of Wilson, he drew inspiration from the people of his own personal life. Wilson was actually based off of Tim Allen’s childhood neighbor. He had a neighbor who he would often strike up conversations with as a child. However, since he was too little, he could never manage to get a look at his neighbor’s face. So Allen decided to use this idea in creating a character who is always interactive with the main characters but whose face will never be seen on screen! We all know that it is quite common for mysterious characters to exist on shows where they never reveal the faces but most of these shows happen to be animated.
The Final Episode’s Big Reveal
Since no one had never seen the face of Wilson the neighbor in all of the episodes, there was a growing curiosity among the viewers. So, it was high time when on the 8th season, on the 204th episode, Wilson’s face made a surprising revelation for the whole audience to see. Also, on the final episode of the whole show, on May 25th, 1999, Earl Hindman revealed himself after the curtain call, showing the world who Wilson actually was. Wilson’s character was no doubt loved by the viewers so much so that he was ranked #6 of the best-unseen TV characters of all time. Home Improvement’s final episode became the fifth highest-rated series finale among all the shows during the 1990s and 9th of all time! It is truly an incredible achievement that proves the show’s worth and the appreciation it receives from viewers.