Very few shows are as synonymous with the '90s as Home Improvement.
The hit sitcom put Tim Allen on the map and had magazine cutouts of Jonathan Taylor Thomas
taped to millions of bedroom walls.
The show won audiences over week after week with its family-friendly depiction of the
power tool-obsessed Tim Taylor trying to raise three rambunctious boys with his no-nonsense
wife.
"Thank you America!"
But behind the scenes, there were still some pretty dark secrets.
Here's what you might not know about the cast of Home Improvement.
Behind bars
In 1978, Tim Allen was arrested at at Michigan airport for possession of 650 grams of cocaine.
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,
which encouraged him to clean up his life and focus on his stand-up comedy career, which
would ultimately land him on Home Improvement.
However, the days of being in prison still haunt Allen.
He 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.
I want to kill myself."
But Allen's time in prison didn't entirely scare him straight.In May 1997, during the
height of Home Improvement's success, Allen was picked up going 30 miles per hour over
the posted speed limit.
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.
Bad dad
While there's no doubt that Home Improvement rocketed Allen into Hollywood fame, it was
almost as a much of a career boost for Jonathan Taylor Thomas, better known as "JTT" in teen
magazines during the '90s.
But unlike Allen, Thomas became wary of the spotlight and bailed on the eighth season
to prepare for college.
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."
Thomas' on-screen mom Patricia Richardson was supportive at the time.
"I'm sorry Mom I just thought that I was getting a raw deal."
"Well, you were."
She revealed in a Reddit AMA years later, "I think that it was very fortunate that Jonathan
is so smart and well balanced.
When he left the show, he ended up going back to school and got a really good education
and thought a lot about what he wanted to do with his life."
Allen, on the other hand, was not happy that Thomas chose to focus on his education instead
of the series.
Things got so bad that Thomas even skipped the series finale after the two had a confrontation
while filming a holiday episode.
Of course, Allen put it more gently by telling TV Guide, "I mentioned that I was confused
[about the reasons for his departure].
I don't think he liked that."
Regretful exit
After Jonathan Taylor Thomas left the show, Patricia Richardson made the decision not
to return for a ninth season despite reportedly being offered as much as $25 million.
Allen was offered $50 million to return, but he refused to do the show without Richardson.
Home Improvement would tearfully end after eight seasons, but according to an interview
with Richard Karn, who played Tim's bearded assistant Al Borland, Allen had second thoughts
about pulling the plug.
He said, "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."
"Excuse me"
"ow!"
Child star syndrome
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 Allen's on-screen sons.
In her book, Stardom Happens, Smith's mother recalled a terrifying anecdote about her son's
time on Home Improvement.
"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.'"
Unfortunately, that major scare wasn't the last of it for Smith and his mom.
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 to bad from 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.
Bad for business
Zachery Ty Bryan also experienced a series of setbacks after the show's end.
Not only did he star in a terrible version of Thor, but in 2010, he sued two of his business
partners for allegedly siphoning funds from Big Wangs, a sports bar that Bryan co-owned
in Hollywood.
Bryan claimed his partners used the restaurant as their own piggy bank to buy expensive cars,
trips to Hawaii, and even a house in the Hollywood Hills.
Bryan also alleged they even used money to open a competing restaurant.
Ripoff or reboot?
After Home Improvement ended, Tim Allen found commercial success with big screen franchises
like Toy Story and The Santa Clause.
But what he longed for most was another small screen sitcom.
He told NBC San Diego, "I don't know why we would not do a version of the same show."
Eventually, his next long-lived series Last Man Standing was born.
He admitted, "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."
The show has stirred up its own sort of controversy, of course, but at least he knew what formula
would work for his fans.
A reunion?
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 photo shoot with the exception of original Tool Time Girl Pamela
Anderson and the late Earl Hindman, who played Wilson, the next door neighbor with the always-hidden
face.
A few years later, Allen and Thomas would show that they officially buried the hatchet
after Thomas appeared on a much-publicized episode of Last Man Standing.
Meanwhile, Richard Karn had also made a cheeky cameo on Allen's new show…
"Ah, it's gonna be great working with you again, buddy!"
"Man!"
And Patricia Richardson also made a cameo in 2016, which only further fueled rumors
of a Home Improvement reunion down the road, despite her previous assertion that it wouldn't
happen.
"Do you think there will ever be a Home Improvement reunion?"
"Never."
"Really?"
"No."
With Last Man Standing's controversial cancellation announced in 2017, a revival series like Fuller
House could be just the project Allen's looking for to add "more power."
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