Plot: What’s it about?
Tim Taylor (Tim Allen) runs a show in Detroit, Michigan called “Tool Time”. It’s a fairly popular show that showcases Tim’s passion for building things. The only problem is that Tim is a bit accident-prone and it’s usually up to his more knowledgeable on screen partner Al Borland (Richard Karn), a bachelor firmly devoted to his mother (and both are usually on the wrong end of Tim’s jokes). The show occupies only half of “Home Improvement” as the other focuses on the relationships with his wife, Jill (Patricia Richardson) and his three sons, Mark (Taran Smith), Brad (Zachary Ty Bryan) and Randy (Jonathan Taylor Thomas). Together, they’re always getting into trouble and Tim always solicits the advice of his all-knowing neighbor, Wilson (Earl Hindman). Believe it or not, this formula worked for eight seasons and “Home Improvement” will go down in TV history as one of the more successful shows to air. Imagine that? Love it or hate it, I’ve personally been waiting a long while for this to come to DVD. Don’t get too attached to Pamela Anderson, though as in later seasons Debbie Dunning takes the reigns as the “Tool Time Girl”.
After the show’s runaway success in the 1991-1992 season, the question was “could lightning strike twice”? Some shows come on strong, but once they’re established and fall into a rut, interest rapidly declines. “Home Improvement” defied those odds with clever screenwriting, a more developed cast and the first ever “Halloween” episode and the infamous “Christmas” episode where Tim tries to outdo his neighbors Clark Griswold-style. There were no real additions to the cast, yet Pamela Anderson became more of a reason to watch as this was set in the time between her “Playboy” fame and her skyrocket to superstardom (more “Playboy” shoots would follow, of course). Suffice it to say that if you enjoyed the first season, this delivers more of the same. The gang is all back: Wilson, Al, Jill, Brad, Mark, Randy and of course…Tim. Though this season is lacking on the supplements the first one had – I still give it a hearty “Arr, Arr, Arrgh…” thumbs up.
Video: How does it look?
“Home Improvement” looks fairly good as the episodes aren’t that old (at least I don’t think so). They’re shown in a 1.33:1 aspect ratio and there are hardly any signs of aging or deterioration. There’s not a whole lot to say, these look better than the reruns on cable, but not much better. This was certainly before the days when sit-coms were filmed in High Definition, but this is on par with what we’d expect it to look like. I found no visible faults, but nothing that leapt off the screen as being “super” either. This is a good, solid transfer.
Audio: How does it sound?
Audio-wise, we can expect more of the same. This show wasn’t exactly effects heavy, but did contain some of the most interesting transitions (from scene to scene) and a few of them actually came out of the surrounds! But the rest of the audio is just dialogue which won’t challenge your system too much. Face it, television shows usually aren’t associated with dynamic audio and this is certainly no exception. We get pretty much what we expected.
Supplements: What are the extras?
The only supplement is “Loose Screws: Part Two” which is a montage of the funniest scenes from the past season. Naturally, we see Tim destroy stuff and that’s about the extent of it. I’ve never been much of a fan of these, but it’s at least something extra. The commentary tracks that appeared on the first season are not present here, sadly.
