Home Improvement: Season 06  (1996)

Theatrical Release Information:
Home Improvement: Season 06

Beginning with the sixth season of Home Improvement, Tim Allen could not only be seen each and every week as Tim Taylor, affable host of the cable TV do-it-yourself series "Tool Time," but was also kept busy behind the scenes as one of Home Improvement's executive producers. One imagines that such a job requires a lot more skill than was exhibited by poor Tim Taylor whenever he tried (and failed) to fix some appliance or other in his own home, while wife Jill (Patricia Richardson) looked on in stoic silence (until she started complaining, that is). While Tim and Jill look none the worse for wear after being in the public eye for six years, their sons continue to grow apace: Brad (Zachery Ty Bryan) is beginning his sophomore year in high school, Randy (Jonathan Taylor Thomas) is pursuing a very serious relationship with a socially conscious girl named Lauren (Courtney Peldon) (who, much to Tim's delight, is a car enthusiast!), and youngest son Mark (Taran Noah Smith) has developed a taste for "grunge" music. Speaking of developments, there are plenty of them this season, beginning with Tim's boss, Bud (Charles Robinson), breaking up with his wife. Also, the Taylor household is besieged by Jill's loony sisters, Linda (Carlene Watkins), Tracy (Maryedith Burrell), Carrie (Tudi Roche), and Delores (Shirley Prestia), on the occasion of their parents' 50th anniversary; "Tool Girl" Heidi (Debbe Dunning), pregnant for months and months, goes into labor during an awards ceremony; we find out that Tim's never-seen neighbor Wilson Wilson (Earl Hindman) is related to the Beach Boys (no kidding); and after three seasons of emotional hills and valleys, Tim's assistant, Al (Richard Karn), and his girlfriend, Ilene (Sherry Hursey), break off their engagement -- on the eve of their wedding. The season finale finds former Tool Girl Lisa (Pamela Anderson) making an encore appearance. For the first time in six years, Home Improvement's lighting director, Donald A. Morgan, did not win an Emmy award, though he'd make up for this lapse the following year. Home Improvement itself fared pretty well ratings-wise, ending up as the ninth top-rated show in America. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide