“Home Improvement” — Season 4

By Jae-Ha Kim
Amazon.com

In the fourth season of Home Improvement, the Taylor family faces some important milestones. Tim (Tim Allen) turns 40. Jill (Patricia Richardson) is laid off from work and pursues her master’s degree. And youngest son Mark (Taran Noah Smith) slowly begins to outgrow precocious middle brother Randy (Jonathan Taylor Thomas). (Oldest sibling Brad, played by Zachery Ty Bryan, remains pretty much the same confident kid he always was.)

As for their inner circle, Tim’s Tool Time buddy Al (Richard Karn) gets an ego boost when he’s named one of Detroit’s hottest bachelors, and little seen but often heard neighbor Wilson (Earl Hindman) goes on his first date in two decades.

Add Debbe Dunning, who replaces Pamela Anderson as the new Tool Time girl, and you’ve got the makings of another solid season.

When the ABC sitcom aired during the 1994-1995 TV season, it did well enough to place in the Top 5 for the fourth consecutive year. And aside from some pop culture giveaways (Jill’s clothes; Randy’s use of a floppy disc to backup his computer), the warmth and humor exuded in this 25-episode, 3-disc set hold up remarkably well.

Like Everybody Loves Raymond minus the screeching mother-in-law, Home Improvement is driven by the classic combination of a sensible wife married to a silly man-child husband who thinks about himself first, even when he doesn’t intend to.

When Jill wants to go back to school so she can become a therapist, Tim isn’t supportive. At first it appears he just doesn’t want any changes. But he later confesses he’s worried she’ll lose interest in him if she returns to school.

After she reassures him that this would never be the case, he says, “If your dream is to work with nuts, you should go back to the world of macadamia.”

Look for an appearance from a very young Michelle Williams (Brokeback Mountain, Dawson’s Creek), guest starring as Brad’s makeup-savvy girlfriend who advises him on how to cover up his pimple. As for Lucy Liu (Charlie’s Angels, Ally McBeal), her blink-and-you’ll-miss-her spot as a woman interested in Al is little more than a glorified cameo.