"HOME IMPROVEMENT: THE COMPLETE SIXTH SEASON"
DVD Review
by Kevin Carr
| MOVIE: ***1/2 (out of 5 stars)
DVD EXPERIENCE: *1/2 (out of 5 stars) STARRING Tim Allen as TIM TAYLOR Patricia Richardson as JILL TAYLOR Jonathan Taylor Thomas as RANDY TAYLOR Zachery Ty Bryan as BRAD TAYLOR Tarn Noah Smith as MARK TAYLOR Richard Karn as AL Earl Hindeman as WILSON Debbe Dunning as HEIDI KEPPERT Rated TV-PG Studio: ABC Created by: Carmen Finestra, David McFadzean and Matt Williams Back to DVD Review Home |  |
Since the advent of TV-on-DVD, many of the networks and studios have released classic television shows as box sets. We’re now winding down to the end, with these sets coming out every three to six months with a new season. Some shows from the Touchstone family have reached an end, like “The Golden Girls.” Others, like “Scrubs” and “Home Improvement” are into the bottom of their broadcast decade and nearing the end.
“Home Improvement: The Complete Sixth Season” has hit the market for all the fans of the classic Tim Allen comedy. After seeing five seasons previously, which I found irritating at first, I’m surprised to find myself somewhat fond of the show.
The sixth season continues much down the road of the fifth season, lessening the pretentious nature of Jill and Wilson. Fortunately, it has stepped back from the social reconstruction path that it had in season five, however, you’ll still find a few of those episodes in there (like when Tim and Jill are worried that Brad might be having sex).
By its sixth season, the show had become an institution. It allowed the characters to become caricatures of themselves at times, and to develop further at other times. The character that took the biggest hit was Wilson, which I’m not too upset about. In earlier seasons, he was portrayed as a wise old man whose knowledge was almost infinite. By this season, the show takes a few jabs at him.
Wilson is now shown as an eccentric man with little or no real social skills. Instead of constantly dispensing advice, he finds himself the butt of some jokes, particularly when he gets creamed by a theatre critic or when he struggles with a tenuous relationship between himself and the Beach Boys. (Trust me, that last storyline actually does make sense in the context of that show.)
The character that gets the most development by far is Heidi the Tool Time girl. This was sort of forced on the show considering Debbe Dunning, who plays Heidi, was pregnant through much of the season. Instead of cleverly hiding her swollen body, they wrote the pregnancy into the show. This, of course, leads to a standard baby-born-in-a-car story, but it allowed Dunning to do more than just look pretty.
There are some notable guest appearances, especially from former Tool Time girl Pam Anderson, fresh with her new breasts and face lift. I figure this is a way of mending fences after the on-screen eye candy switch.
Overall, I liked this season, and I feel the show grew by not being so preachy. Jill does slip back into her old attitudes that men would be helpless without women, but it doesn’t happen too often. And sometimes the 90s feminist mentality overburdens a show, such as when Brad’s girlfriend wants to take on traditional roles and Jill beats some feminism into him.
Still, “Home Improvement” has become an enjoyable family sitcom. The writers got rid of the things in the show that annoyed me for the most part, and this was one of “Home Improvement’s” most successful years yet.
See, Hollywood should listen to me all the time.
Specifications: Dolby Digital Surround Sound. Full frame (1.33:1). English language subtitles for the hearing impaired.
