"Home Improvement" Pilot (TV Episode 1991) Poster

(TV Series)

(1991)

User Reviews

Review this title
6 Reviews
Sort by:
Filter by Rating:
8/10
Watch out for those electrical shocks!
callanvass13 January 2014
Warning: Spoilers
Tim Taylor has a hit T.V show called "Tool Time", but he's not exactly an expert on home appliances. Tim wants to rewire the dishwasher, Jill is adamant about Tim not touching the dishwater, even going as far ordering him not to touch it. After his neighbor Wilson tells Tim to bring back his male spirit, Tim gathers up the boys to power up the dishwasher. Not only does Jill not get the job, but he destroys the dishwasher. As a result, Tim & Jill get into a heated spat. I love Home Improvement. I've seen quite a few episodes of this show. I'd watch it whenever I would see it on. This is the pilot and it is a damn good one. Tim Allen's smartass persona is hilarious, Patricia Richardson provides the perfect balance as the wife. Even the kids are fun to watch. I laughed my ass off whenever an electrical shock came near Tim. Wait until you see Mark take Tim's facetious suggestion about fixing the dishwasher naked. I won't reveal what happens, but it is a screamer. Who hasn't wanted to disobey their partner? Curiosity tends to get the best of you. Jill's revenge at the very end is great as well. My only major carp is something very clichéd. I'm a guy, and I hate it when they say to their wife or girlfriend "You don't have to work. I make enough money for the both of us" It is perfectly OK for a woman to work. Anyway, this is an excellent pilot episode that I recommend thoroughly

8.4/10
1 out of 1 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
8/10
A Man and His Dish.
ExplorerDS67897 November 2013
Warning: Spoilers
Meet Tim Taylor, not your average man, but rather your average man with more power. He hosts a local cable tool show simply known as Tool Time, with his sidekick: classic straight-man, Al Borland. The best way to describe Tim on Tool Time is to imagine Bob Vila crossed with Daffy Duck. Tim's home life isn't quite as thrilling as his job. He's got a very patient, but overzealous wife, Jill, and three obnoxious sons, Brad, Randy and Mark. On this particular day, Tim tries to get his family to watch Tool Time with him, but they know better. Today he was showing off a powerful auger and talking about how wives complain about power tools. Jill takes offense, so Tim decides to book it to Sears, but he's told he's gotta stay and mind the house while the little woman goes to a job interview. Not only that, but she tells him to load the dishwasher, which doesn't seem to be performing up to Tim's standards, so he wants to give it a manly upgrade. Jill adamantly refuses him, but after having a talk with their wise and worldly neighbor, Wilson, who told Tim of the times when men sat around campfires telling stories naked back when the male of the species was the dominant one, Tim is convinced it is his God-given right as a man to repair the dishwasher, so it's off to Sears.

Tim buys a state-of-the-art compressor as the boys watch on, but when he happens to mention the part about sitting around a campfire telling stories naked, Brad and Randy book it. Only Mark stays, gleefully taking off his shirt. Tim does the same and they get to work on the dishwasher. First, disconnect the power. Since Tim labeled the circuit-breakers in pencil, he couldn't find the one to the kitchen. He throws the switch to what he thinks is the kitchen, now it's on to disconnect the wires. Naturally, he has no clue which one he's supposed to cut, so he chooses one at random, and gets a quick zap. Tim wouldn't let an electrical burn stop him, he kept going until he finally installed that new compressor. There's a phone call, it's for Jill, but Tim takes it. Apparently, she didn't get the job. However, when she does get home, she's very confident, the interview apparently went very well. Her spirits quickly go south when she sees Tim's electrical burn, knowing he disobeyed her and worked on the dishwasher. However, he tries to convince her it was a good thing, but when the "man's dishwasher" blows the dish right through the counter, she is convinced otherwise. It didn't stop there, Mark let the cat out of the bag that Jill didn't get the job. Tim's attempts at consoling her did very little to boost her spirits. He talks to Wilson again, who lets him know that sometimes it's better to listen than to try and solve every problem. On the next Tool Time, Tim mans up to his mistakes and gives an editorial on how men could better communicate with their wives, and Jill seems to have forgiven him. She wants to relive a fond memory and get intimate in the back seat of their car, so Tim eagerly follows her into the garbage, where she locks him in and calls a professional to fix the dishwasher.

And a legend was born. This is the episode that started it all, the Home Improvement pilot. As you know, pilot episodes are often subject to change when the show goes to series, different cast members, set changes and such, but thankfully the changes made between the pilot and the series are minimal. Most changes happened before filming. Jill was going to be played by a different actress, and Al's name was going to be Glenn. Glad they changed that, because Tim and Glenn just doesn't sound as dynamic as Tim and Al. They never did give this an official title besides "Pilot". Maybe something like "Don't Touch the Dishwasher" or "Man of the House" or something. But anyway, all Home Improvement fans should definitely see the first episode, to see how their favorite show got started. Stay tuned, because there's plenty more wackiness on the way.
1 out of 1 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
8/10
Here we are, the episode that started it all
wolfchase-4002724 January 2024
The series premiere opens with Tim Taylor trying to gather his family to watch Tool Time, his show about tools. Unfortunately, his two oldest kids,David Taylor Brad Taylor and Randy Taylor go outside to play sports Jill Taylor her Jill's sister Rachel Taylor is ironing. The show changes its interface and now is displaying Tool Time as if it is airing currently. Tim and his assistant, Al Borland, are showing how to change a dead bolt lock, and when Al shows the proper tool, Tim feels the urge to tweak the standards. He has Lisa, th1e Tool Time Girl, give him a much more powerful tool, to satisfy his "more power" hunger.

Soon, it reverses its interface to its normal status, and shows Rachel Jill and Tim talking about his show and a comment he made about wives. Quickly, Tim runs over to see Randy hanging Mark on the swing set, by his feet. After Tim stops the little scheme, Brad zips through the living room, and Tim sets him aside, and looks to the football he is carrying in his arm. After he tells him to hold it with both arms so he won't fumble, Brad runs upstairs.

Jill tells Tim that he can't go to Sears because she has a job interview. Although he's sure Jill never mentioned a job interview, she insists that she did. He tells her he'll be gone for twenty minutes, and she won't even notice he's gone. Jill runs over to retrieve the Binford measuring tape and says she'll put it in the disposal if he leaves. Tim agrees to stay. She tells him he had better clean the dishes while she's gone for the interview. He begins and says that if the dishwasher cannot wash away egg yolk, that it needs to be a man's dishwasher with "more power."

Tim thinks that he can fix the sprayer, and Jill pops out and immediately disagrees, saying that all he wants to do is bring out his tools and play. After she leaves, he begins to rant on how he can improve its power and how it can be more extreme. Jill hears it all from around the corner, and says that he will not. She tells him, "the blender", for an example. He responds, "It's the only blender in the neighborhood that can purée a brick."

Jill leaves an hour or so later and Tim walks outside to Wilson. He explains his situation and says that Tim feels lost as a man, and needs to reclaim his spirit and superiority. Tim replies to this by stating, "I'll start by reclaiming that dishwasher." He yells out to his sons that they are going to Sears. The scene reappears and Tim says that they need to be finished with the dishwasher before Jill comes home.

Lindsay Brad Zack David Alice Lindsay and Randy run out of the kitchen and into the backyard when Tim uses a quote from Wilson, "or we can all sit around naked at a campfire", in which scares them. Mark and Becky says he'll stay and begins to strip his shirt. A surprised Tim realizes what Mark and Becky doing, and says only bare-chested men. After going through a few safety precautions, Tim leads Becky and Mark into the garage. He says that this is a fusebox, and you need to turn off the electricity in the area they are working in. Of course, that would be the kitchen, but because of the labels and the fact that it was written in pencil, it is smudged.

He decides the letter "K" is close enough to "kitchen". After trotting back to the kitchen, he tells Mark and Becky you need to open the access panel to the dishwasher, and is very surprised to see numerous wires, in which he tries to show Becky and Mark that he is not confused. He repeats the wires' colors, "brown", "red", and then "yellow", where he says that the sun is yellow and heats the ground and therefore the yellow wire should be cut. He cuts it and a huge spark explodes, and Tim is in pain. He tries to hide it and makes an excuse to go the garage, where his scream can be heard.

Tim comes out and tries to "shake it off". He spins around continuously, obviously, in pain. He tells Mark and Becky as he sits down on a bench, that he did that to teach him an important lesson. He also says that it's best when your working with electricity, to shut it all off. Quickly changing the subject, Tim takes Mark and Becky upstairs to show him how to treat a severe electrical burn.

After the commercial break, Tim receives a call from the interviewing people, saying that Jill did not get the job. As he Lindsay and Randy say turtle shell. Tim sits down on a chair out in the backyard, Jill and Rachel comes rushing in, saying that she nailed the interview, and there's no way on Earth she didn't get the job. Tim was going to tell her, but couldn't. She sees the electrical burn on his hand, and knows immediately that he "touched" the dishwasher. Tim tries to demonstrate, by placing the plate with yolk on it into the dishwasher (it's already been fixed). After a few moments of cleaning, the plate shoots straight out of the back of the dishwasher, and pieces of the silverware and plates are scattered everywhere.

Mark informs Jill of her rejection, and she begins to clean up, sulking. She and Tim begin to argue about jobs, and she accuses him of being a man who owns a tool show and walks and grunts around like an ape. Apparently mad about the job, Jill goes upstairs when Tim slips out an unwanted comment. He begins to clean up around the house, and walks into the backyard where Wilson is.

Wilson tells Tim that he should've listened to Rachel and Jill and tried to do nothing, because sometimes doing nothing is the best thing to do. The pre-closing credits scene at the end shows Tim apologizing in a subtle manner on his next Tool Time episode. Jill forgives him, and soon Jill asks him the last time they both spent time in the backseat of the car. Tim pulls off his shirt, and soon when he is almost indecently exposured, Jill takes his clothes and locks the garage door, in which he is in. It shows a short time later with a plumber finished installing the dishwasher, to its old original model. Tim is outside in the backyard, half-naked, pounding on the door, and Jill says to the plumber that he's trying to "reclaim his man spirit".

Positives: Tim Allen was funny Tim and mark having a bonding moment was pretty adorable, Wilson was a good character.

Negatives: Jill was unlikeable And I didn't like randy either.

Sooo...yeah.
0 out of 1 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
10/10
An Extremely Well Written Start To The Best Show In Television History!!!
shawnlaib-14 November 2009
Warning: Spoilers
Home Improvement is the best show ever. That's completely obvious and goes without saying. The pilot episode was no different and set up all the main plot ideas for the series, just like a great pilot episode is supposed to. Basically, Tim wants to give the dishwasher "more power" and that attitude became one of the main trademarks for the series. Jill disagrees and tells him not to, which also became a regular thing with the series. Tim disobeys Jill, which he did often over the course of the show's run, and the dishwasher blows up. Jill is then extremely mad at Tim and he goes to the Taylor's wise and sagacious neighbor Wilson for help. After that, Jill forgives him and the first episode is over. It's a very simple plot, but set up all of the main running gags and ideas for the show. Even though it might not sound that great, just watch the pilot and you will be hooked INSTANTLY! The banter and barbs between Tim and Jill are hilariously hysterical and much, much funnier and in tune than that of other television couples. They had perfect chemistry! Tim's manly man attitude toward life is hilarious and the way he tries to teach his own sons how to "be a man" is funny, funny, funny. Most pilot episodes are not that great, and you can usually tell when it's the pilot of a TV show when you're watching it. But Home Improvement's pilot was so great that when I first watched it, I didn't even know it was the first episode. That's how amazing it was!!
4 out of 4 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
10/10
Why are dishwashers so weak?
RevvedReview26 March 2022
Watched this almost 30 years ago and it has stick with me ever since, like stubborn dried food on a plate. If you have to clean your dishes before using the dishwasher, what's the point? Yet 30 years later since this show there have been no improvements and I constantly think back to this episode.
6 out of 7 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
8/10
The Home Improvement Plane Is Flying High After the First Episode
e_daneva12 January 2024
Pilot ( should be called Dishwasher Drama ) is an amazing pilot. I have only watched this one episode of Home Improvement, and the show is flying high on the ratings plane. I think this episode should have been called Dishwasher Drama and not just a boring name like Pilot. Most shows are unfortunately like that, but the Simpsons first episode is called Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire. Well though, the Simpsons were trying to be unique at the time. One thing that is really annoying is the laugh track. And it's not just for this show, it's for every show with it. Besides all that this show is great!! It has really great humor, and if you like comedy then you would love this episode. If you don't, then you're out of luck. I like how Tim owns a Home Improvement show and he doesn't know anything about home improvement. It's Tim's flaws in the episode that makes him funny and who he is. This shows has a great pilot and I can't wait to watch the next episode!! In all, I give this a 8.4 out of 10. So good!!!
0 out of 0 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

See also

Awards | FAQ | User Ratings | External Reviews | Metacritic Reviews


Recently Viewed