If a television series is fortunate enough to last more than a few seasons it has to change. The audiences will rapidly become bored if the same old things are shown year after year. If the series features a family with children then another natural occurrence is the children will grow up; animated shows like ‘The Simpson’ being the notable exception. The children stars become teenagers and begin to face that dreaded transition in the business and face having to establish their own careers apart from the show that made them famous. Certain series may begin to jump the shark as they move towards the twilight of their run. Usually audiences abandon them in droves at this point. Some shows are so beloved that a loyal fan base remains and sees things out to the end. One such series was ‘Home Improvement’. For eight years it was a solid part of family entertainment on TV. Even in the eight and final season under consideration here the show still ranked in the top ten for ratings. One of the reasons for this is the fact that although the writers took the show into new directions they always remained true to the original premise that originally made the legion of dedicated fans. For most of the nineties families all over the country sat down on Tuesday nights to watch the antics of this wacky and wonderful group of people.

The series was originally based on the stand up comedy routine of Tim Allen. He is a man that loves tools, sports and belching after a gourmet meal of ribs, hot dogs and chill. He took his on stage persona and created Tim ‘The Tool Man’ Taylor. On the home front he is married to Jill (Patricia Richardson) and together the face the challenges of raising three teenage boys; Brad (Zachery Ty Bryan), Randy (Jonathan Taylor Thomas) and Mark (Taran Noah Smith). They live next door to the wise and whimsical Wilson (Earl Hindman). The running gag throughout the series is through tricky camera angles and imaginative placement of props you never get to see his face. At work Tim is the host of a cable tool oriented TV series, ‘Tool Time’. His co-host and best friend is Al Borland (Richard Karn), the kindest and most magnanimous ma who ever lived. There is also the ‘Tool Time Girl’ Heidi (Debbe Dunning) who has become a major character in later seasons. As this final season progresses the writers had the difficult task to introduce some new character and wind up all the loose threads that have accumulated over the previous seven years.

The first episode here takes the cast on location on final time. In order to celebrate Tim’s birthday she arranges a trip to California for gang including Al, Heidi and Wilson. The purpose is to give Tim an adventure, specifically white water rafting. The guide for the trip, Kyle (Michael Cudlitz) and his wife Luanne (Laurel Green) are hard core survivalist and just a little bit crazy. Back at home the boys are left to their own devices and spill soda on the couch creating a huge stain that just won’t go away. In the second episode the first of many changes occurs. Jonathan Taylor Thomas wanted out of the series to pursue his growing career as a teen heart throb. They had to write him out so the writers came up with a reasonable idea. Randy was always the sensitive, socially conscious one of the sons so they had him receive a chance to study and work for a year in Costa Rica. It was a shame that he couldn’t stick it out for the last 26 episodes.

This season also focused more on the Taylor extended family, Tim’s older brother Jeff (Thom Sharp) starts to make romantic overtures towards Jill’s sister Carrie (Tudi Roche) which has the side effect of ruining a long anticipated romantic evening between Jill and Tim. Later on in the season Tim’s younger brother Marty (William O'Leary) becomes separated from his wife and moves into the Taylor household. He winds up bringing his twin daughters Gracie (Ashley Trefger) and Claire (Lindsey Trefger). This did take the series to a more serious direction as Tim has to help his brother to cope with the end of his marriage. It also allowed the writers to explore such topics while keeping the relationship between Jill and Tim strong. At first Jill is overjoyed too have two little girls in the home. She grew up with sisters and since she only had sons missed the kind of play time she could have with girls. Of course the twins are a little more than anyone can handle. The Taylor family is not the only ones facing marital difficulties in this season. Jill is finishing her master’s work in psychology and during a session with a young woman realizes that she is having an affair with Scott (Mark Dobies), Heidi’s husband. She lets it slip to Tim who can’t keep his mouth shut and spills the beans to Heidi creating a very tense moment. Randy does return for the Christmas episode and is dismayed when he realizes that life has gone on back home without him. He feels left out of the family. There is another traditional holiday special episode for Halloween where Wilson disappears and Tim is the prime suspect. Of course it is only an elaborate prank.

One thing the cast and crew of this series have to get credit for is the final episode was not just dropped on the fans. It was not only the culmination of eight years of the series but was lead up to by story arcs that manifested in this season. Al has been unlucky in love. He had a serious girlfriend at one point but the writes denied this character a chance at lasting love. In this season he meets his soul mate, Tudi (Megan Cavanagh). She is a fan of Al’s and extremely rich. Her wealth leaves Al open to all sorts of jokes by Tim. Harry (Blake Clark), long time friend of Tim’s is selling his hardware store and Tim and Al buy it together and go into business. The parent company of the TV show, Binford, is bought out by Bud Harper (Charles Robinson) who makes drastic changes to the format of the show. He tries to turn it into something that Jerry Springer would be embarrassed over. This all lead Tim to a time in life where he realizes that there is more than his television show to define him. It also makes the finale much more believable and satisfying to the long time fans. Not many series take the time and effort to conclude a series properly but in this case it was done perfectly.

Buena Vista gives the fans this final season with a few extras. There is the ‘Home Improvement User’s Guide’ hosted by Allen and Karn featuring new standup material from Allen. It also has a recorded live reunion with the cast. There is also a blooper reel which is a lot of fun. In all this is a part of American television history and while the series will be missed at least all the episodes are now on DVD.