Home Improvement ended after eight seasons despite plans for a ninth. Pay disparity and declining ratings contributed to its cancellation.
Back in the ’90s, a rather unusual sitcom dominated the television screens in a way no other had done before it. Not only did its distinctive storyline catch the attention of viewers worldwide, but this ABC series also reached some impressive numbers with its viewership, awards, and revenue throughout the time that it aired from September 1991 to May 1999.
This series was Home Improvement, and the charm it left on global viewers was commendable. Though it wasn’t a major favorite with critics, it still appeased general viewers to incredible extents as it spawned 204 half-hour episodes spanning eight seasons and became one of the most watched sitcoms in the United States during the 1990s.
However, as fan-favorite as this sitcom was, which even launched stand-up comedian Tim Allen’s acting career, it was canceled after running for 8 seasons even though there were plans for more. While there was a lot of speculation as to the ‘why’ behind it all, here’s the truth behind why the series ended its run without making the 9th season that the actors were pitched.
Why was Home Improvement Slashed?
From 1991 to 1999, Home Improvement never once failed to deliver as it circled the story of Tim Allen‘s Tim Taylor family. Tim holds a local cable show called Tool Time that celebrates all things manly like tools, hardware stores, and cars. Meanwhile, he also raises three mischievous boys with their own quirks with his loving wife Patricia Richardson’s Jill Taylor.
This family’s story went on till season 8, after which, there were reportedly plans to continue with a ninth season as well. According to Mental Floss, both leads Allen and Richardson were offered respective salaries of $50 million and $25 million for the same. However, even this massive amount of money failed to lure the two into doing the pitched ninth installment.
The reason behind this was reportedly the pay disparity between the male and female leads, which is evident from the reported salaries they were offered for season 9. As Richardson revealed to the LA Times, she put up a proposition for this offer: She would stay if the network paid her $2 million an episode and gave her an EP credit — the same deal they’d reportedly offered Allen.
But that deal never worked out, and even the actress knew it wouldn’t. “I knew that Disney would in no way pay me that much. That was my way to say ‘no’ and was a little bit of a flip-off to Disney,” she said. “I’d been there all this time, and they never even paid me a third of what Tim was making, and I was working my a– off. I was a big reason why women were watching.”
Of course, considering how Richardson managed to bag multiple Emmy nominations for her work on Seasons 3, 5, 6, and 7, she most certainly played a crucial role in the success of the sitcom. But the network, reportedly, was never willing to acknowledge this over Allen’s work, and thus, with the exit of the two major leads, the series got slashed as well.
One other reason behind this was the unexpected exit of Jonathan Taylor Thomas’ Randy Taylor from the series in its eighth season (more on this later), who was a major fan-favorite among the younger viewers. This seemingly affected the show’s dwindling ratings as well. Plus, Richardson had only just gone through a divorce and wanted to be more present in her children’s lives.
Thus, realizing that shooting more than 200 episodes as one character was more than enough, both Patricia Richardson and Tim Allen agreed and came to the mutual decision to leave the series after its eighth season.
Respective Reported Salaries of the Home Improvement Cast
While the series was a smash hit among fans, there aren’t many details about how much each actor in the star-studded lead cast was paid in compensation for their outstanding work on the sitcom. According to Uproxx, Tim Allen, who embodied the lead male protagonist, negotiated a salary of $1.25 million per episode for the final season of Home Improvement.
Patricia Richardson’s exact salary, on the other hand, hasn’t been revealed. Though it is known, as per the Los Angeles Times, that she was “able to renegotiate her contract to be guaranteed four Jill-centric episodes per season, as well as a profit share point, which would give her a back-end percentage of the series earnings.”
However, at the same time, considering how she was offered only $25 million for the ninth season – $1 million per episode, and Allen was offered twice that amount, her paycheck throughout the rest of the series must have been significantly less as well.
Besides these two, their three onscreen kids also played a major role in the series. Embodied by Taran Noah Smith, Jonathan Taylor Thomas, and Zachery Ty Bryan, this younger trio of Mark, Randy, and Brad was reportedly paid a meager $8,000 per episode from the start (see EW and Cafe Mom).
However, their trying to negotiate didn’t work either. While they did try to dispute it by calling in sick on the first week of production and asking $25,000 an episode, the trio was put back in their place when producers just put out a casting call for new kids. Afraid to lose their acting gig, they came running back and soon became the fan-favorite trio of the series.
Home Improvement Viewership Records: Series Finale Nailed It
Throughout the eight seasons that it ran for, Home Improvement really set up some commendable viewership records, though it all started to dwindle down by the ending seasons of the series. Nonetheless, the start of the sitcom was as brilliant as ever as it raked in 28.9 million viewers from its 24-episode comprised first season only that aired from September 1991 to May 1992.
The second and third seasons followed with 25 episodes each and brought in increasing viewership with 31.5 million and 35.2 million viewers each, respectively. This slightly changed with seasons 4 and 5, which were 26 episodes each and ensured a rather decreasing audience of 32.9 million and 25.9 million each respectively.
In the remaining three seasons, 6, 7, and 8, things didn’t go all that fine as the viewership record further plunged down to the first 23.1 million, before it went even lower to 19.5 million and 17.7 million respectively. No wonder Allen and Richardson were worried about the show being ruined because of the excessively decreasing viewership.
Nonetheless, the series finale didn’t disappoint with this aspect as it became the fifth highest-rated series finale television program of the 1990s and the ninth overall series finale ever presented on a single network in television history with 35.5% of the households sampled in America and 21.6% of television viewers being glued to the screens when it aired.
Home Improvement Cast: Then and Now
Over the years, the Home Improvement cast may have gone their separate ways, but each of them has grown immensely in their respective lives and careers.
Tim Allen, for one, had his acting career launched and cemented through this very series as the then-38-year-old actor rose to prominence and fame through his outstanding performance as Tim Taylor. Since then, the now-71-year-old actor has become a part of multiple major pieces, including his all-time best voicing of Buzz Lightyear in the Toy Story saga.
His latest pieces were Toy Story 4 and No Safe Spaces from 2019. His personal life did see him getting into trouble with the law back in the day, but he is currently leading a happy life with his current wife Jane Hajduk, and his two daughters.
Patricia Richardson, on the other hand, played Jill Taylor at 41, also gained recognition and became a household name in the industry through this very sitcom. Receiving acclaim from this, the now-73-year-old actress went on to become a part of pieces like the critically commended thriller drama Ulee’s Gold (1997) and Chantilly Bridge (2023), the latter of which is her latest movie. As for her personal life: Richardson currently shares three grown children with ex-husband Ray Baker.
Taran Noah Smith, in the meanwhile, didn’t stay in the acting lane for long after playing Mark Taylor in the sitcom. Instead, he went on to become a businessman, forming with his then-wife Heidi van Pelt a California-based non-dairy cheese manufacturer and restaurant, Playfood, which specialized in vegan and organic foods.
Legal troubles did catch up with him (via TMZ), but as per the San Francisco Chronicle, Smith is currently seemingly doing good as the Technical Manager for the Community Submersibles Project. Then there was Jonathan Taylor Thomas, who embodied the fan-favorite Randy Taylor in the series and ensured his career stayed lit even after leaving the series during early season 8.
Over the years, he has starred in multiple projects like Wild America (1997) and lent his voice to Simba in the 1994 animated masterpiece The Lion King. His personal life, in the meanwhile, is strictly under wraps, so fans only know he has done all he can for his education and his acting career (see PEOPLE).
Last but barely the least, Zachery Ty Bryan. After he was done bringing Brad Taylor to life in the smash hit sitcom, Bryan stayed in the entertainment lane to become a part of pieces like First Kid and The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006).
Besides that, he also holds some producing credits to his name through his production company Lost Lane. But his personal life hasn’t been all that kind to him as Bryan, for one, has had himself caught up in some serious legal troubles growing up (see THR and PEOPLE).
What Happened to Jonathan Taylor Thomas, the One Who Brought Randy Taylor to Life?
Among all the raging questions about the series after its abrupt end, one of the biggest questions was what happened to Randy’s portrayer Jonathan Taylor Thomas. This is because he decided to leave the series unexpectedly by the beginning of season 8, with his character Randy leaving for Costa Rica to pursue an environmental study program in the episode Adios.
The truth behind his sudden departure was that the actor reportedly wanted to take some time off to focus more on his studies and academics. As per Screenrant, the workload of delivering for Home Improvement wouldn’t have allowed him to do so. Thus, he decided to leave it once and for all and pick up occasional acting projects beside it while focusing on his goal.
Surprisingly enough, Randy didn’t even return for the series finale, and his last appearance was in the episode Home for the Holidays from the final season. The reason behind this was that he was busy with his education as well as filming for his 2001 crime-drama Speedway Junky.
