Tim Allen Explains Why ‘Home Improvement’ Reboot Didn’t Happen As Planned

Recent years have seen classic television sitcoms from the ’80s and ’90s get rebooted for newer audiences, with many original cast members from Full House, Murphy Brown, Roseanne, and Will and Grace returning to play older versions of the characters they once played. Home Improvement was one ’90s sitcom that nearly got a similar reboot treatment, but as Tim Allen explained in a recent interview, there was a reason why the planned continuation of the old series never saw the light of day.

Speaking to E! News, Allen recalled that there were plans for a Home Improvement reboot during the downtime that followed ABC’s decision to cancel his current sitcom, Last Man Standing. The 65-year-old actor lamented that it “didn’t feel right” for ABC to cancel the show in the spring of 2017, but added after Last Man Standing was axed, he had been in touch with the rest of the main Home Improvement cast, pitching some “interesting” ideas for a potential revival.

According to Allen, these ideas included having his Tim Taylor character live in a different house from his wife, Jill (Patricia Richardson), and his now-adult sons Brad (Zachery Ty Bryan), Randy (Jonathan Taylor Thomas), and Mark (Taran Noah Smith) working in the real estate business in Michigan. However, he explained that the Home Improvement reboot never came to fruition because Fox ultimately picked up Last Man Standing and revived it for the 2018-19 season.

“It was real interesting,” Allen said.

“Everybody went, ‘yeah,’ then we got to [ask] if Tim Taylor is relevant now that [Allen’s Last Man Standing character] Mike Baxter is [the same kind] of college-educated guy’s guy, whatever that means. But we were there. We were getting real close and then, boom, this thing happened.”

Tim Allen reveals his ideal 'Home Improvement' revival plot https://t.co/JS72Ucylb8

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According to Variety, Last Man Standing continued its success since switching networks earlier this year, with its latest season having premiered in September with ratings that eclipsed the ones it put up when it was still on ABC. Based on the seventh season premiere episode’s numbers, the show became Fox’s most-watched comedy on any night in close to seven years.

Aside from the Home Improvement reboot that never was, Tim Allen added that he was also on the verge of reviving the 1999 movie Galaxy Quest, where he starred alongside Sigourney Weaver and Alan Rickman. He said that this project would have been “even closer” to pushing forward, had it not been for Rickman’s death in January 2016.