By Movieguide® Staff
Fans hoping for a HOME IMPROVEMENT reboot got some bad news this week — and a frank explanation for why.
“They keep talking about how it could move forward, but they get stuck [because] there are some personality problems right now with the boys,” actor Tim Allen told US Weekly in an interview published Wednesday.
The beloved ABC sitcom ran eight seasons from 1991 to 1999, starring Allen as Tim “The Tool Man” Taylor. At its peak in 1996, HOME IMPROVEMENT held the No. 1 spot on television — a show built on slapstick humor, blue-collar warmth and a version of fatherhood that was bumbling but genuinely loving. The series followed Tim’s career as a home improvement TV personality alongside wife Jill, played by actress Patricia Richardson, and three sons: Brad (Zachery Ty Bryan), Randy (Jonathan Taylor Thomas) and Mark (Taran Noah Smith).
The “personality problems” Allen cited are well-documented. Bryan — who was just 9 years old when the show launched — has been arrested multiple times, most recently on a second-degree domestic violence charge in South Carolina in January 2025. He was also charged with felony assault in Oregon in 2021 after allegedly strangling his then-girlfriend in 2020 and has been serving prison time due to multiple probation violations.
Thomas, meanwhile, stepped back from Hollywood quietly and shows little sign of returning. He hasn’t appeared on screen since a guest spot on Allen’s sitcom LAST MAN STANDING in 2015.
Related: What Are Tom Hanks’ and Tim Allen’s Favorite Lines from TOY STORY?
“He’s not really interested in acting,” Richardson said of Thomas during a March 2024 episode of the “Back to the Best” podcast. She added that Thomas “wants to direct and write” — and disputed Allen’s earlier suggestion that the entire cast was on board for a reunion.
Allen “never asked me and he never asked Jonathan,” Richardson said. When she called Thomas to follow up, his reported response was pointed: “No, why is he going around telling everybody that we’re all on board when he hasn’t talked to you or me?”
Smith, who played youngest son Mark, hasn’t had a screen credit since a voice part on BATMAN BEYOND in 1999.
“They’ve got their own issues,” Allen said. “I always thought it would be cool if it was a story about them. That’s a little challenging right now, to put it mildly.”
Allen has been pitching revival concepts for years. Movieguide® previously reported on his 2023 remarks where he floated an idea he nicknamed “HOME RE-IMPROVEMENT” — a story following the sons as adults with children of their own, with Allen stepping into the grandfather role. “It’s funny, one of the conversations we’ve had recently is how weird it would be if HOME IMPROVEMENT would be about the kids’ kids,” he told The Messenger at the time.
That concept hasn’t gotten traction, and the cast’s current circumstances make forward movement hard to picture. Allen is in a stronger position personally — he reprised Buzz Lightyear in TOY STORY 5, due in theaters June 19, which has already drawn early acclaim. He also finished reading the entire Bible in 2024 — word for word over 13 months — and said the experience left him “humbled, enlightened and amazed.”
HOME IMPROVEMENT was built on the premise that a well-meaning but chaotic father could, over time, grow wiser. Whether the men who played his sons find their own path to something better remains an open question. Allen, at least, seems to hope the story isn’t over.
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