Home Improvement (Season 2) DVD Review

by: Britt Gillette

Nominated for 9 Golden Globes and 34 Emmys, including 2 for Outstanding Comedy Series, Home Improvement was the number one family-friendly comedy for most of the 1990's decade. Created by three writers who worked on wide range of sitcoms, such as The Cosby Show (1984) and Roseanne (1988), Home Improvement is one of a number of 1990's smash hit sitcoms built around a lead character who stars as a stand-up comic in real life. Some of the other series include Seinfeld (1990), The Drew Carey Show (1995), Everybody Loves Raymond (1996), and King Of Queens (1998) among others. One of the trailblazers in this area, Home Improvement ranked in the Top 10 among Nielsen-rated shows for seven of its eight seasons (it ranked #11 in Season 7). One notable tidbit of trivia is that Sears was approached to sponsor the show which would've put Craftsman tools in the hands of Tim "The Toolman" Taylor (as opposed to the fictional "Binford" brand), but Sears rejected the offer because they feared Tim Allen's prior conviction on a drug charge might be interpreted as unfriendly to families (funny, since Home Improvement later fell under the moniker of the Walt Disney Company)…

Home Improvement centers around the life of Tim Taylor (Tim Allen), a home improvement expert who hosts his own local TV show "Tool Time" on cable access. Tim and his wife Jill (Patricia Richardson) live in a house in the suburbs of Detroit, Michigan with their three boys Brad (Zachery Ty Bryan), Randy (Jonathan Taylor Thomas), and Mark (Taran Noah Smith). On "Tool Time," Tim is flanked by the flannel-clad, easy-going Al Borland (Richard Karn) who is often the butt of Tim's jokes and harbors a neurotic tendency toward perfectionism. At home, Tim's numerous domestic missteps lead him to continuously seek the advice of his well-traveled, near-perfect neighbor Wilson (Earl Hindman), whose lower face is never seen (only his eyes)… Marked by Tim's abundant clumsiness as a home improvement guru and his inept ability to display sensitivity toward his wife, Home Improvement is a classic sitcom that relies on formulaic episodes of slapstick humor and zinging one-liners. It's a formula that works, but grows tiresome as the show progresses…

The Home Improvement (Season 2) DVD features a number of hilarious episodes including the season premiere "Read My Hips" in which Jill plans a romantic evening at home for herself and Tim, but Tim throws a wrench in her plans when he spends the evening hanging out at a bar with Al and the guys from A&B Construction. When he finally returns home, Jill is upset, fearing that the romance has left their relationship. Meanwhile, Brad ponders the true meaning of Jennifer's physical assaults. Does she really want to kiss him? Other notable episodes from Season 2 include "Where There's a Will, There's a Way" in which Jill finds out that Tim never put the finishing touches on his legal will, and "Shooting Three to Make Tutu" in which Jill insists that Tim take Mark to the ballet despite the fact that he has front-row tickets to the Pistons game…

Below is a list of episodes included on the Home Improvement (Season 2) DVD:

Episode 25 (Read My Hips) Air Date: 09-16-1992
Episode 26 (Rites and Wrongs of Passage) Air Date: 09-23-1992
Episode 27 (Overactive Glance) Air Date: 09-30-1992
Episode 28 (Groin Pulls) Air Date: 10-07-1992
Episode 29 (Heavy Meddle) Air Date: 10-14-1992
Episode 30 (The Haunting of Taylor House) Air Date: 10-28-1992
Episode 31 (Roomie for Improvement) Air Date: 11-04-1992
Episode 32 (May the Best Man Win) Air Date: 11-11-1992
Episode 33 (Where There's a Will, There's a Way) Air Date: 11-18-1992
Episode 34 (Let's Did Lunch) Air Date: 11-25-1992
Episode 35 (Abandoned Family) Air Date: 12-02-1992
Episode 36 (I'm Scheming of a White Christmas) Air Date: 12-16-1992
Episode 37 (Bell Bottom Blues) Air Date: 01-06-1993
Episode 38 (Howard's End) Air Date: 01-13-1993
Episode 39 (Love is a Many Splintered Thing) Air Date: 01-20-1993
Episode 40 (Dances with Tools) Air Date: 02-03-1993
Episode 41 (You're Driving Me Crazy, You're Driving Me Nuts) Air Date: 02-10-1993
Episode 42 (Bye Bye Birdie) Air Date: 02-17-1993
Episode 43 (Karate or Not, Here I Come) Air Date: 02-24-1993
Episode 44 (Shooting Three to Make Tutu) Air Date: 03-03-1993
Episode 45 (Much Ado About Nana) Air Date: 03-17-1993
Episode 46 (Ex Marks the Spot) Air Date: 04-14-1993
Episode 47 (To Build or Not to Build) Air Date: 05-05-1993
Episode 48 (Birth of a Hot Rod) Air Date: 05-12-1993
Episode 49 (The Great Race) Air Date: 05-19-1993

About The Author

Britt Gillette is author of The DVD Report, a blog where you can find where you can find more reviews of movies and TV series. Source: http://thedvdreport.blogspot.com/2006/02/home-improvement-season-2-dvd.html