This week, for whatever reason, UPtv skipped Season 7 and went to Season 8 instead, and . . . I will agree that it wasn't necessarily a laugh-out-loud funny season, I'm not so sure I would call it weak either - but definitely different and interesting. Skipping a season, it felt strange to see Brad and Mark suddenly all grown up (and Randy conspicuously absent altogether, for some reason). One thing I do like about the later seasons is how they went to great lengths to find new and creative ways to hide Wilson's face, aside from just behind the fence - even though it got a tad absurd at times (such as shopping in Harry's Hardware and holding every item he looks at up to his mouth, or going to a hockey game with Tim and Brad and holding all of his concessions up to his mouth as well).
The marathon ended with an episode where Al's mother dies of a heart attack, then went back to the pilot episode . . . it seemed like such a bizarre way to end the series, but I found out that that's actually not how the series ended, there are four more episodes that are omitted from the syndication package: the first three being a 3-parter in which Tim and Al quit TOOL TIME in protest of the new producer making so many changes to the show that they didn't agree with, while the Taylors relocate due to Jill's new job; then a proper finale that's basically a documentary with cast interviews, behind-the-scenes footage, bloopers, and Wilson finally revealing his whole face.