Home Improvement (Season 1) DVD Review

Nominated for 9 Golden Globes and 34 Emmys, including 2 for Outstanding Comedy Series, Home Improvement was the number one family-friendly comedy for most of the 1990's decade. Created by three writers who worked on wide range of sitcoms, such as The Cosby Show (1984) and Roseanne (1988), Home Improvement is one of a number of 1990's smash hit sitcoms built around a lead character who stars as a stand-up comic in real life. Some of the other series include Seinfeld (1990), The Drew Carey Show (1995), Everybody Loves Raymond (1996), and King Of Queens (1998) among others. One of the trailblazers in this area, Home Improvement ranked in the Top 10 among Nielsen-rated shows for seven of its eight seasons (it ranked #11 in Season 7). One notable tidbit of trivia is that Sears was approached to sponsor the show which would've put Craftsman tools in the hands of Tim "The Toolman" Taylor (as opposed to the fictional "Binford" brand), but Sears rejected the offer because they feared Tim Allen's prior conviction on a drug charge might be interpreted as unfriendly to families (funny, since Home Improvement later fell under the moniker of the Walt Disney Company)

Home Improvement centers around the life of Tim Taylor (Tim Allen), a home improvement expert who hosts his own local TV show "Tool Time" on cable access. Tim and his wife Jill (Patricia Richardson) live in a house in the suburbs of Detroit, Michigan with their three boys Brad (Zachery Ty Bryan), Randy (Jonathan Taylor Thomas), and Mark (Taran Noah Smith). On "Tool Time," Tim is flanked by the flannel-clad, easy-going Al Borland (Richard Karn) who is often the butt of Tim's jokes and harbors a neurotic tendency toward perfectionism. At home, Tim's numerous domestic missteps lead him to continuously seek the advice of his well-traveled, near-perfect neighbor Wilson (Earl Hindman), whose lower face is never seen (only his eyes) Marked by Tim's abundant clumsiness as a home improvement guru and his inept ability to display sensitivity toward his wife, Home Improvement is a classic sitcom that relies on formulaic episodes of slapstick humor and zinging one-liners. It's a formula that works, but grows tiresome as the show progresses

The Home Improvement DVD features a number of hilarious episodes including the series premiere in which Jill goes to a job interview after telling Tim not to mess with the dishwasher. But Tim inevitably ruins the dishwasher when his attempt to super-charge it goes awry. When the job interviewers pass her over, Jill returns home dejected, and Tim only makes things worse - leaving room for a bit of Wilson advice to save the day for Tim Other notable episodes from Season 1 include "Flying Sauces" in which the K&B Construction guys show off their jobsite cooking skills on Tool Time while Tim and Jill plot revenge on their eldest boys, and "What About Bob?" in which Tim cheats in a Tool Time trivia contest in order to beat guest Bob Vila

Below is a list of episodes included on the Home Improvement (Season 1) DVD:

Episode 1 (Pilot) Air Date: 09-17-1991
Episode 2 (Mow Better Blues) Air Date: 09-26-1991
Episode 3 (Off Sides) Air Date: 10-01-1991
Episode 4 (Satellite on a Hot Tim's Roof) Air Date: 10-08-1991
Episode 5 (Wild Kingdom) Air Date: 10-15-1991
Episode 6 (Adventures in Fine Dining) Air Date: 10-22-1991
Episode 7 (Nothing More Than Feelings) Air Date: 10-29-1991
Episode 8 (Flying Sauces) Air Date: 11-05-1991
Episode 9 (Bubble, Bubble, Toil and Trouble) Air Date: 11-19-1991
Episode 10 (Reach Out and Teach Someone) Air Date: 11-26-1991
Episode 11 (Look Who's Not Talking) Air Date: 12-10-1991
Episode 12 (Yule Better Watch Out) Air Date: 12-17-1991
Episode 13 (Up Your Alley) Air Date: 01-07-1992
Episode 14 (For Whom the Belch Tolls) Air Date: 01-14-1992
Episode 15 (Forever Jung) Air Date: 02-04-1992
Episode 16 (Jill's Birthday) Air Date: 02-04-1992
Episode 17 (What About Bob?) Air Date: 02-11-1992
Episode 18 (Baby, It's Cold Outside) Air Date: 02-18-1992
Episode 19 (Unchained Malady) Air Date: 02-25-1992
Episode 20 (Birds of a Feather Flock to Taylor) Air Date: 03-03-1992
Episode 21 (A Battle of Wheels) Air Date: 03-17-1992
Episode 22 (Luck Be a Taylor Tonight) Air Date: 04-07-1992
Episode 23 (Al's Fair in Love and War) Air Date: 04-28-1992
Episode 24 (Stereo-Typical) Air Date: 05-05-1992

Britt Gillette is author of The DVD Report, a blog where you can find where you can find more reviews of movies and TV series. Source: http://thedvdreport.blogspot.com/2006/02/home-improvement-dvd.html

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