Here’s why Pamela Anderson’s Lisa departed Home Improvement after the first two seasons. Tim Allen has several famous franchises to his name. In 2021, he finished up his starring role on sitcom Last Man Standing, which ran for nine seasons. Starting with the 1995 original, he voiced Buzz Lightyear in the Toy Story movie franchise, who is the co-lead next to Tom Hanks’ Woody; Chris Evan will replace Allen as Buzz’s voice in the spinoff Lightyear. Easily one of his popular roles was as Tim “The Toolman” Taylor on Home Improvement.
The sitcom debuted on ABC in 1991 and revolved around Tim, his wife Jill and their three sons. In the series, Tim was the host of the home improvement show Tool Time alongside his sidekick Al, though despite his macho demeanor, Tim is often shown to not be very handy when working with tools. Home Improvement (which Toy Story referenced) was one of the biggest sitcoms of the decade and ended in 1999 after eight seasons. A revival of Home Improvement looks unlikely, though Allen did revive Tim Taylor for an episode of Last Man Standing dubbed “Dual Time.”
Home Improvement was also notable for giving Pam Anderson one of her first big roles on television. The show cast her as Lisa, the Tool Time Girl, who assists Tim and Al and hands them tools as needed. The role was actually first offered to Ashley Judd, who turned it down despite a successful audition as she felt Lisa would be playing second fiddle to Tim and Al most of the time. Instead, Pamela Anderson was cast as Lisa, who managed to make an impression despite the show frequently using her as window dressing. Despite the sitcom proving massively popular from an early point, Pam Anderson – who fronted comic book movie Barb Wire – left after being offered the role of C.J. Parker on the third season of Baywatch.
This worked out in Pamela Anderson’s favor, as C.J. Parker soon became one of Baywatch’s most iconic characters and gave her career a major boost. Anderson attempted to balance the schedules to allow her to film both Home Improvement and Baywatch, but this soon proved unworkable and she chose to focus on the latter. On Home Improvement, its explained that Lisa left Tool Time to become a paramedic, and she was replaced by new Tool Time Girl Heidi, played by Debbe Dunning.
Pam Anderson later returned to Home Improvement for a guest appearance during season 6, which revealed she got her medical qualifications and works at the Detroit Memorial Hospital. Anderson would leave Baywatch – which also gave Jason Momoa an early role – in 1997 and went on to front her own series V.I.P., which ran for four seasons between 1998 and 2002.
