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Steve Arino
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I have a proposal for Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment: as I'm sure you know, next year, September 17, 2021 will mark 30 years since the debut of the hit '90s Disney sitcom "Home Improvement" on the ABC Television Network (itself owned by Disney since August 1995, when Disney purchased ABC and related subsidiaries); that being said, in honor of the impending 30th Anniversary, it's my Humblest of suggestion that Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment (under the traditional "Disney" banner) issue for the first time ever on Blu Ray "Home Improvement: The Complete Series 30th Anniversary Edition," a 24-disc Blu Ray box set showcasing all 203 half-hour episodes 100% Complete, 100% Uncut, AND 100% Unedited, just the way each episode originally aired on ABC from September 17, 1991 - May 25, 1999.
In case those of you reading at Disney aren't familiar with the show, here's the Inside Info, unless otherwise noted courtesy of "The E! True Hollywood Story" from 2005.
The year is 1990. George "Daddy" Bush, age 66, is U.S. President; the War of the Gulf is in full effect; and Timothy Allen "Tim" Dick (born on June 13, 1953 in Denver, Colorado), known professionally as Tim Allen, is the hottest Comedy Ticket in the U.S.
During the Summer of 1990, veteran TV producers Matt Williams, Carmen Finestra & David McFadzean (former staff writers for "The Cosby Show" and "Roseanne," respectively) conceived a sitcom pilot for The Walt Disney Company called "Hammer Time," a sitcom parody of Bob Vila's "This Old House" then appearing on PBS.
Soon after the show's conception, "Hammer Time" was re-tooled as a vehicle for Tim, and eventually re-named "Home Improvement" by January 1991, after Mike Eisner saw Tim's first of 2 Showtime stand-up comedy specials "Men Are Pigs."
Joining Tim in the cast were a slew of veteran actors who had years of experience in the field (unlike Tim, who before "Home Improvement" had NEVER acted before), among them 40-year-old Pat Richardson (born on February 23, 1951 in Bethesda, Maryland) as Tim's wife of 12 years, Jill, with whom Tim had 3 boys: 10-year-old Brad (Zachery Bryan, born on October 9, 1981 in Aurora, Colorado), 9-year-old Randy (Jonathan Weiss, known professionally as Jonathan Taylor Thomas, born Jonathan Taylor Weiss on September 8, 1981 in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania), and 6-year-old Mark (Taran Smith, born on April 8, 1984 in San Francisco, California); 48-year-old Earl Hindman (born on October 20, 1942 in Bisbee, Arizona; died on December 29, 2003 at age 61 in Stamford, Connecticut of Lung Cancer 6 months after his initial June 2003 diagnosis) as Taylor family neighbor Wilson (whose face was never fully seen until the very end of the final curtain call); and 35-year-old Rick Karn (born Richard Karn Wilson on February 17, 1956 in Seattle, Washington) as Tim's show-within-a-show "Tool Time" sidekick Albert "Al" Borland, a Master Plumber who could handle a Tool.
The series' Pilot was taped on April 19, 1991 on Stage 4 at The Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, California--the series' eventual home for the next 8 years; soon after the Pilot's taping, however, a tabloid threatened a major revelation about Tim Allen.
According to "E! True Hollywood Story," in October 1978, Tim, then age 25, was arrested for attempting to Sell Cocaine to an undercover cop at a local Kalamazoo, Michigan airport (near his adopted hometown of Detroit); Tim subsequently pled Guilty to Criminal Charges in connection with the Coke bust, cooperating with local authorities and began the process of straightening his life out, working at a sporting goods store near Detroit while awaiting sentencing.
The 3rd of 6 boys growing up in Denver, Tim was just 11 years old when his dad, Gerald Dick, a local Realtor, was killed by a drunk driver in Denver after a University of Colorado football game; to say the tragedy had a major impact is to put it mildly, and frankly, I believe it spiraled him to a Drug and Alcohol addiction.
In November 1979, a local Detroit judge sentenced Tim to a Minimum of 8 years in Prison in accordance to Tim's Guilty plea; a Model Prisoner, Tim was Paroled in March 1982 after serving 28 months (2 1/2 years) behind bars, eventually having a brief career as a Commercial Male Model for Print Ads e.g. AT&T; he subsequently worked at a local Detroit Ad Agency while pursuing Stand-Up Comedy every 2nd he could.
Tim eventually married college sweetheart Laura Deibel in early 1984, and in December 1984, just before Christmas, they became parents to a baby girl, Katherine Deibel "Kady" Dick (who coincidentally made a cameo on "Home Improvement" as a friend of Tim's character's twin nieces, her line being "He Thinks It Stinks Too." LOL!)
Rather than allow the tabloid to reveal the info, Tim, along with Disney and ABC, decided that Tim would reveal the info about his past HIMSELF; the positive spin worked, and at 8 P.M. ET on September 17, 1991, "Home Improvement" debuted.
By the end of its debut season, the series tied with "Cheers" at #4 in the Nielsens; nevertheless, in September 1992, "Home Improvement" was paired with the then-struggling NBC/Castle Rock Entertainment sitcom "Seinfeld," with "Seinfeld" regularly being pummeled by "Home" so much that NBC moved "Seinfeld" from Wednesday nights at 9 to Thursday nights at 9 just to give it a chance, making "Seinfeld" a forever classic; "Home" soldiered on, meanwhile, eventually moving to Tuesday nights at 9 in September 1994, with Disney's Buena Vista Television selling the show to Syndication in September 1995 with an episode made exclusively for first-run Syndication: "Tanks for the Memories," an episode eventually included mid-season on the ABC network.
In August 1998, Jonathan Thomas, by this time a month shy of 17, decided to leave "Home Improvement" to concentrate full-time on his impending college studies, eventually graduating from Harvard in 2004; his character Randy was written out of the series 2 episodes into Season 8 by becoming a Costa Rica exchange student.
Despite his studies, Jonathan returned twice to the show after his departure, the 1998 Christmas show and the 2-Hour Series Finale (appearing via archive footage).
On January 11, 1999, Tim Allen announced that the current Season 8 of "Home Improvement" would be its last after he and Pat Richardson both turned down an offer by ABC (by this time owned by Disney) for a 9th and final season; ABC celebrated the series' 8-year success with a 2-Hour Series Finale telecast on May 25, 1999 from 8-10 P.M. ET on ABC (with several ABC stations deciding to air the Season 3 Finale of "Spin City" at 9:30 P.M. that night), the Finale of which was eventually the lone "Home Improvement" episode to be issued on VHS on September 7, 1999.
In the years since, reruns of "Home Improvement" continue to flourish in Syndication, as well as on cable networks e.g. Nickelodeon, TBS, TV Land, The Hallmark Channel, and most recently UpTV and the Digital OTA Laff TV Network.
Tentatively, Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment shall issue "Home Improvement: The Complete Series 30th Anniversary Edition" on Blu Ray on September 17, 2021 (30 years to the day of its ABC debut) at a cost of ONLY $49.99 wherever Blu Rays are sold; although the series is out on DVD in 8 individual seasons, the Blu Rays of "Home Improvement" shall be lovingly Restored by Disney in HD, lovingly restored from the original ABC Prints.
On a personal note, as someone who owns the DVDs in addition to the VHS (which though the VHS broke in recent years I was smart enough to Digitize it myself for entertainment purposes only), I noticed that SEVERAL episodes on the DVDs of various seasons feature the longer version of the opening credits whereas the ABC broadcasts on SEVERAL episodes of the earlier episodes feature the shorter opening.
In case those of you reading at Disney aren't familiar with the show, here's the Inside Info, unless otherwise noted courtesy of "The E! True Hollywood Story" from 2005.
The year is 1990. George "Daddy" Bush, age 66, is U.S. President; the War of the Gulf is in full effect; and Timothy Allen "Tim" Dick (born on June 13, 1953 in Denver, Colorado), known professionally as Tim Allen, is the hottest Comedy Ticket in the U.S.
During the Summer of 1990, veteran TV producers Matt Williams, Carmen Finestra & David McFadzean (former staff writers for "The Cosby Show" and "Roseanne," respectively) conceived a sitcom pilot for The Walt Disney Company called "Hammer Time," a sitcom parody of Bob Vila's "This Old House" then appearing on PBS.
Soon after the show's conception, "Hammer Time" was re-tooled as a vehicle for Tim, and eventually re-named "Home Improvement" by January 1991, after Mike Eisner saw Tim's first of 2 Showtime stand-up comedy specials "Men Are Pigs."
Joining Tim in the cast were a slew of veteran actors who had years of experience in the field (unlike Tim, who before "Home Improvement" had NEVER acted before), among them 40-year-old Pat Richardson (born on February 23, 1951 in Bethesda, Maryland) as Tim's wife of 12 years, Jill, with whom Tim had 3 boys: 10-year-old Brad (Zachery Bryan, born on October 9, 1981 in Aurora, Colorado), 9-year-old Randy (Jonathan Weiss, known professionally as Jonathan Taylor Thomas, born Jonathan Taylor Weiss on September 8, 1981 in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania), and 6-year-old Mark (Taran Smith, born on April 8, 1984 in San Francisco, California); 48-year-old Earl Hindman (born on October 20, 1942 in Bisbee, Arizona; died on December 29, 2003 at age 61 in Stamford, Connecticut of Lung Cancer 6 months after his initial June 2003 diagnosis) as Taylor family neighbor Wilson (whose face was never fully seen until the very end of the final curtain call); and 35-year-old Rick Karn (born Richard Karn Wilson on February 17, 1956 in Seattle, Washington) as Tim's show-within-a-show "Tool Time" sidekick Albert "Al" Borland, a Master Plumber who could handle a Tool.
The series' Pilot was taped on April 19, 1991 on Stage 4 at The Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, California--the series' eventual home for the next 8 years; soon after the Pilot's taping, however, a tabloid threatened a major revelation about Tim Allen.
According to "E! True Hollywood Story," in October 1978, Tim, then age 25, was arrested for attempting to Sell Cocaine to an undercover cop at a local Kalamazoo, Michigan airport (near his adopted hometown of Detroit); Tim subsequently pled Guilty to Criminal Charges in connection with the Coke bust, cooperating with local authorities and began the process of straightening his life out, working at a sporting goods store near Detroit while awaiting sentencing.
The 3rd of 6 boys growing up in Denver, Tim was just 11 years old when his dad, Gerald Dick, a local Realtor, was killed by a drunk driver in Denver after a University of Colorado football game; to say the tragedy had a major impact is to put it mildly, and frankly, I believe it spiraled him to a Drug and Alcohol addiction.
In November 1979, a local Detroit judge sentenced Tim to a Minimum of 8 years in Prison in accordance to Tim's Guilty plea; a Model Prisoner, Tim was Paroled in March 1982 after serving 28 months (2 1/2 years) behind bars, eventually having a brief career as a Commercial Male Model for Print Ads e.g. AT&T; he subsequently worked at a local Detroit Ad Agency while pursuing Stand-Up Comedy every 2nd he could.
Tim eventually married college sweetheart Laura Deibel in early 1984, and in December 1984, just before Christmas, they became parents to a baby girl, Katherine Deibel "Kady" Dick (who coincidentally made a cameo on "Home Improvement" as a friend of Tim's character's twin nieces, her line being "He Thinks It Stinks Too." LOL!)
Rather than allow the tabloid to reveal the info, Tim, along with Disney and ABC, decided that Tim would reveal the info about his past HIMSELF; the positive spin worked, and at 8 P.M. ET on September 17, 1991, "Home Improvement" debuted.
By the end of its debut season, the series tied with "Cheers" at #4 in the Nielsens; nevertheless, in September 1992, "Home Improvement" was paired with the then-struggling NBC/Castle Rock Entertainment sitcom "Seinfeld," with "Seinfeld" regularly being pummeled by "Home" so much that NBC moved "Seinfeld" from Wednesday nights at 9 to Thursday nights at 9 just to give it a chance, making "Seinfeld" a forever classic; "Home" soldiered on, meanwhile, eventually moving to Tuesday nights at 9 in September 1994, with Disney's Buena Vista Television selling the show to Syndication in September 1995 with an episode made exclusively for first-run Syndication: "Tanks for the Memories," an episode eventually included mid-season on the ABC network.
In August 1998, Jonathan Thomas, by this time a month shy of 17, decided to leave "Home Improvement" to concentrate full-time on his impending college studies, eventually graduating from Harvard in 2004; his character Randy was written out of the series 2 episodes into Season 8 by becoming a Costa Rica exchange student.
Despite his studies, Jonathan returned twice to the show after his departure, the 1998 Christmas show and the 2-Hour Series Finale (appearing via archive footage).
On January 11, 1999, Tim Allen announced that the current Season 8 of "Home Improvement" would be its last after he and Pat Richardson both turned down an offer by ABC (by this time owned by Disney) for a 9th and final season; ABC celebrated the series' 8-year success with a 2-Hour Series Finale telecast on May 25, 1999 from 8-10 P.M. ET on ABC (with several ABC stations deciding to air the Season 3 Finale of "Spin City" at 9:30 P.M. that night), the Finale of which was eventually the lone "Home Improvement" episode to be issued on VHS on September 7, 1999.
In the years since, reruns of "Home Improvement" continue to flourish in Syndication, as well as on cable networks e.g. Nickelodeon, TBS, TV Land, The Hallmark Channel, and most recently UpTV and the Digital OTA Laff TV Network.
Tentatively, Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment shall issue "Home Improvement: The Complete Series 30th Anniversary Edition" on Blu Ray on September 17, 2021 (30 years to the day of its ABC debut) at a cost of ONLY $49.99 wherever Blu Rays are sold; although the series is out on DVD in 8 individual seasons, the Blu Rays of "Home Improvement" shall be lovingly Restored by Disney in HD, lovingly restored from the original ABC Prints.
On a personal note, as someone who owns the DVDs in addition to the VHS (which though the VHS broke in recent years I was smart enough to Digitize it myself for entertainment purposes only), I noticed that SEVERAL episodes on the DVDs of various seasons feature the longer version of the opening credits whereas the ABC broadcasts on SEVERAL episodes of the earlier episodes feature the shorter opening.