Very few shows are as synonymous with the '90s as Home Improvement. It was consistently one of
the highest-ranked shows of the decade, but the lives of the beloved sitcom's actors have been
marked with scandal and regret. Here are some of the dark secrets of the cast of Home Improvement.
In 1978, Tim Allen was arrested at a Michigan airport for possession of 650 grams of cocaine.
According to CBS News, he was reportedly a well-known dealer at the time,
which made him an easy target for an undercover sting operation. Despite turning informant,
Allen would spend two years and four months in federal prison. It encouraged him to clean up
his life and focus on his burgeoning stand-up comedy career, which would ultimately land him
on Home Improvement. However, the days of being in prison still haunt Allen, who told Esquire,
"When I went to jail, reality hit so hard that it took my breath away, took my stance away,
took my strength away [...] I was put in a holding cell with twenty
other guys [...] and I just told myself, I can't do this for seven and a half years."
But Allen's time in prison didn't entirely scare him straight.
"I did go to college, and I did, I went to prison, so they're kind of mixed the two."
After spending two years in federal prison, you'd think Tim Allen would've learned his lesson.
However, on a May night in 1997, during the height of Home Improvement's success,
Allen had another run in with the law. As E! News reported,
"Tim Allen has been charged with drunken driving after police in Bloomfield Township, Michigan,
stopped him for zooming his 1988 Ferrari at 70 miles per hour in a 40 miles-per-hour zone."
Things went from bad to worse when Allen failed a field sobriety test
and had a blood alcohol level above the legal limit. To his credit,
he didn't contest the charges and entered rehab as part of his sentencing in 1998. He's
spoken glowingly about Alcoholics Anonymous ever since. Allen told HuffPost in a 2013 interview,
"A physician friend of mine told me a long time ago, he said you've just got to ask
for help. [...] How can it be simpler? It's a program that's always got its doors open,
there are no dues or fees, there is no leader, there's no organization. You've just got to go!"
While there's no doubt that Home Improvement rocketed Tim Allen into Hollywood fame,
it was also a major career boost for Jonathan Taylor Thomas,
better known as "JTT" in teen magazines during the '90s. But unlike Allen, Thomas became weary of the
spotlight and bailed on the eighth season to prepare for college. As he told People,
"I'd been going nonstop since I was 8 years old [...] I wanted to go to school,
to travel and have a bit of a break."
Allen, however, was not happy that Thomas chose to focus on his education
instead of the show. In fact, things got so bad that Thomas skipped the series finale after the
two had a confrontation while filming a holiday episode. Allen told TV Guide,
"He said it was about going to school, but then he did some films [...] I mentioned
that I was confused [about the reasons for his departure] [...] I don't think he liked that."
After Jonathan Taylor Thomas left the show, Patricia Richardson made the decision not
to return for a ninth season, despite being offered a whopping $25 million. Per E! News,
"Richardson didn't want to take the gig for money alone;
[Tim] Allen didn't want to do the show without Richardson."
It's perhaps even more surprising that Allen turned down Season 9,
considering that he was offered $50 million to return.
Home Improvement would tearfully end after eight seasons,
but according to an interview with Richard Karn, who played Tim's assistant Al Borland,
Allen decided going out on top was the best way to end the series. Karn told News,
"Tim was ready to go. He really wanted to do other things and at that point it was
also when Michael Jordan was leaving the NBA. Jordan made a big thing about wanting
to go out on top and Home Improvement was the number one show on ABC when we left."
Allen reportedly had second thoughts after
finding out the grass isn't always greener, though. As Karn explained,
"I think immediately Tim regretted that [...] Sometimes you get in a
kind of tunnel vision of life when you're doing this and you
don't realize how wonderful the situation is until you're outside looking back."
"Suppose I don't deserve a second chance."
Of the three child stars on Home Improvement, no one suffered the pitfalls of early fame
more than Taran Noah Smith, who played Mark, the youngest of Tim Allen's on-screen sons.
According to People, in 2001, Smith ran away from home at the age of 17 and began
a series of legal battles against his parents to gain control of his $1.5 million trust fund.
To further complicate matters, that same year, Smith wed vegan chef Heidi Van Pelt
who, at age 33, was 16 years older than Smith. Van Pelt had been welcomed by Smith's family
before she began encouraging him to make a move for his trust fund. Things went from
bad to worse when the couple divorced in 2007. Smith's completely trashed house was foreclosed,
and he'd later be arrested for DUI and drug possession in 2012.
However, Smith eventually rekindled his relationship with his mother,
and in 2016, the two wrote a book together to help other families navigate the often
precarious entertainment business. In an interview with HNGN to promote the book,
Smith seemed genuinely remorseful about his rougher years and acknowledged the unhealthy
nature of his marriage to Van Pelt. He now works as an artist and assists in disaster relief.
"It is very strange. I'm now doing Tool Time for real."
In her book Stardom Happens, Taran Noah Smith's mother Candy Bennici recalled
a terrifying anecdote about her son's time on Home Improvement. Bennici wrote,
"In his first year, Taran was 7 years old, we were in Santa Monica, and a man grabbed my arm.
Taran was maybe 20 feet from me. He said, 'Listen, I need to talk to you. I work for the FBI,
and the three boys from Home Improvement are the top target of pedophiles in the world.
You can't just leave him alone. Don't ever let him out of your sight.'"
It's possible this might just be an outrageous claim to sell copies of her book. However,
there have been other former child stars who have warned of a predator problem in Hollywood,
so it wouldn't be completely surprising if Bennici's shocking story is actually true.
While Jonathan Taylor Thomas' exit from Home Improvement seemingly broke the show,
and Taran Noah Smith got trapped in the pitfalls of being a child star, Zachery Ty Bryan,
who played oldest brother Brad, continued to find steady acting work on TV. However, his career
came to a grinding halt in 2009 after appearing in the SyFy TV movie Thor: Hammer of the Gods,
based on the actual Norse god and not the Marvel character played by Chris Hemsworth.
Reviews for Thor: Hammer of the Gods were not good. Dread Central wrote,
"An assembly line of clichéd plotting, visual effects hampered by the usual budgetary
restraints, and a lead actor so absurdly miscast [...] Honestly now, who the hell thought it was
a good idea to cast the eldest son from Home Improvement as the legendary Thor?"
According to Fox News, Bryan gave up on acting and now focuses his time as a producer.
"But they don't know half of the horrible truth."
In 2010, shortly after Thor: Hammer of the Gods prompted Zachery Ty Bryan to give up acting,
he sued two of his business partners for allegedly stealing funds from Big Wangs,
a sports bar that Bryan co-owns in Hollywood.
According to TMZ, Bryan claims his partners used the restaurant as their own piggy bank
to buy expensive cars, take trips to Hawaii, and purchase a house in the Hollywood Hills.
Bryan also alleged they even used money to open a competing restaurant.
Bryan claims all the purchases were made on the company's American Express card,
and they even blew through 750,000 Membership Rewards points.
No record exists of how the matter was settled, so hopefully Bryan resolved
the issue and learned a valuable lesson about working with questionable business partners.
Also, if he opens another restaurant, he should maybe choose a name that's a tad more subtle.
On October 16, 2020, Zachery Ty Bryan was arrested in Oregon
after allegedly assaulting his 27-year-old girlfriend. Per the Associated Press,
"The Eugene Police Department said officers were dispatched to a North Eugene apartment
Friday night on a report of a physical dispute. [...] Bryan reportedly assaulted the victim,
impeded her breathing, and took her phone away when she tried to call 911, police said.
The victim declined medical assistance."
TMZ spoke to a source and reported,
"After an investigation, cops found 39-year-old Zachery had gotten into
some sort of argument with the woman — with whom he has a relationship — and it allegedly became
physical [...] with the victim claiming [Bryan] put his hands around her throat and squeezed."
TMZ later reported,
"Zachery was released Saturday night on $8,500 cash bail [...] We're told
Zachery has also been issued a no-contact order — typical after a domestic violence arrest — so
he's required to stay away from the alleged victim and can't contact her in any way."
In February 2021, USA Today reported that Bryan had pleaded guilty to two charges related to
domestic violence, and was sentenced with three-years of probation with conditions.
Most people might not remember this, but Pamela Anderson made her acting debut on Home Improvement
as Heidi, the original Tool Time Girl, before leaving the show after two seasons for her
more prominent role as lifeguard C.J. Parker on Baywatch. However, in 1995, Anderson would make
headlines for something other than her blossoming acting career. That year, an intimate video she
made with then-husband Tommy Lee was leaked onto the internet after the couple allegedly became a
nightmare client for a contractor renovating their Malibu mansion, per Rolling Stone.
Since then, Anderson's whirlwind romances with such Hollywood bad boys as Kid Rock have been
tabloid fodder. Anderson is perhaps the most scandalous Home Improvement alum of them all.
After the sitcom ended, Tim Allen found commercial success with roles in Toy Story
and The Santa Clause, but what he longed for most was another Home Improvement. While talking about
the projects he was pitched following Home Improvement, Allen lamented to NBC San Diego,
"I don't know why we would not do a version of the same show,
rather than put me in a legal drama – and there were several of those [...] and
there were some shows – and I can't even tell you because it's too embarrassing."
Eventually, Last Man Standing was born. Allen revealed,
"It isn't rocket science, what I'm doing [...] Instead of tools,
it's sporting goods and guns and ATVs and boats, and I come home to four women [...] I just really
wanted to investigate what it would be like to be around four women that are intelligent
and strong and fun and loving and a family [...] I have two daughters,
a strong wife, and a mom and sisters, and I just love to be able to be in that world consistently."
While the cast of Home Improvement may have had their ups and downs grappling with the
success of the show and its aftermath, in 2011, everyone gathered together for
a happy Entertainment Weekly photoshoot, with the exception of Pamela Anderson and the late
Earl Hindman , who played Wilson, the next door neighbor with the always hidden face.
A few years later, Tim Allen and Jonathan Taylor Thomas would show that they officially
buried the hatchet when Thomas appeared on several episodes of Last Man Standing.
Patricia Richardson would also appear on the show in 2016,
which only further fueled rumors of a Home Improvement reunion down the road.
In the summer of 2020, it was announced that the cast of Home Improvement would
be reuniting for a new show. Well, sort of. As reported by TV Line,
"History is giving Home Improvement fans the next best thing to a full-blown reboot,
reuniting Tool Time duo Tim Allen and Richard Karn for a building-themed
reality competition series." Allen said in a statement,
"Let's face it — we're living in a throwaway society [...] So I've created a show to remind
people of the satisfaction and pride that comes from rebuilding something
on their own. And who better to join me than my buddy from the old Tool Time days — Richard Karn!"
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