GNOME IMPROVEMENT

HOME IMPROVEMENT
1991-1999 ABC

GNOME IMPROVEMENT
MAD #311, June 1992
w: A. J. Marly (Arnie Kogen)
a: Angelo Torres

Sitcom was based on the stand-up comedy act of Tim Allen. He plays Tim Taylor, host of the show Tool Time, and the show centers on his home life with his wife Jill (Patricia Richardson) and their three children Brad (Zachery Ty Bryan), Mark (Taran Noah Smith), and Randy (Jonathan Taylor Thomas). His assistant and sidekick on the show within a show was Al (Richard Karn), The neighbor he often talked to was Wilson (Earl Hindman) and the running gag was you only saw the top of his head over the fence. Herve Villechaise of Fantasy Island was not a regular, but his catchphrase there was "Boss! De plane!" Crow from Mystery Science Theater 3000 is about to be taken apart by a "Crow Bar". Get it?

Tim Allen's recurring grunt was from his stand-up act and appears in the opening credits.

   -The character of Tim Taylor is loosely based on PBS personality Bob Villa.
   -Longevity of network TV shows used to be determined by random "Nielsen" families having a box attached to their televisions to see what they watched.
   -I forgot all about Anything But Love, probably so did a lot of people.

Here's Tim Allen pretending to be offended by the parody they probably told him about in advance.

SOME IMPROVEMENT
Cracked #273, August 1992
w: Tony Frank (Lou Silverstone)
a: Walter Brogan

Neil Bush, George H.W. Bush's brother, was implicated in a savings and loans scandal in the early nineties.

Fun Fact: a few episodes of Home Improvement were written by Bob K. Taylor, the only cartoonist to have worked for MAD, Cracked, Crazy, Sick, AND National Lampoon.