parent nodes: Lief Haven
Home Improvement is a television sitcom series that starred Tim Allen as Tim Taylor. The show started in 1991 and ran for eight seasons, with 204 episodes.
Set in Detroit, Michigan, the series centers around the antics of Taylor's family, which along with Tim included his wife Jill, and their three sons, Brad, Randy, and Mark. The other important side of the show - and explanation of the series' name - comes from Tool Time, the fictional handyman show-within-a-show hosted by Taylor and his mild-mannered assistant Al Borland (played by Richard Karn). Taylor was always arrogant and prone to accidents. The insecure, but brighter, Borland always bore the brunt of Tim Taylor's jokes and constant put-downs.
The show featured a few unique gimmicks. During scene changes clever "wipes" were used to comically remove the current image from the screen. For example, the current scene could shatter like glass, fall over like a piece of wood, or deflate like a balloon. The other gimmick was the character of Wilson (Earl Hindman), the Taylor family's sage, advice-giving neighbor. For reasons that were never explained Wilson's entire face was never seen on the show, and was instead constantly - and sometimes humorously - blocked by various props, such as fences, masks, trees, and unusual costumes. When it came into question whether 'Wilson' was the character's first name or last, he explained that his full name was actually Wilson Wilson, Jr.; his father's name having been Wilson Wilson, Sr.
The sitcom launched the career of former Playboy model Pamela Anderson, who would later star in the internationally-syndicated television show Baywatch. Anderson played the announcer and showgirl in the character Tim Taylor's Tool Time show.