https://www.looper.com/163713/the-reason-why-home-improvement-was-cancelled-after-season-8/

They say money can't buy happiness — and it certainly can't buy Home Improvement co-stars Tim Allen and Patricia Richardson.

If you're not a '90s kid, it's hard to describe just how big of a phenomenon Home Improvement (https://www.looper.com/107763/untold-truth-home-improvement/) was in its heyday. The family sitcom turned Allen into a household name and his signature noise from the series — a mixture of a generic dad character's sigh and the guttural wailing of a monster from a fantasy novel — will forever be etched in the annals of popular culture. (Think about it this way: how many television sitcoms have their own video game adaptation (https://homeimprovement.fandom.com/wiki/Home_Improvement_(video_game))?)

So why did such a successful series end after its eighth season on air? Let's discuss.

During its run, Home Improvement always finished in the top 10 most-watched shows, and the series finale was viewed by an estimated 35 million (https://people.com/celebrity/final-home-improvement-draws-big/) people across the United States with a "21.2 rating and a 34 share" — which means that a third of all TVs were set on ABC to see the ending of the series (https://www.nickiswift.com/17445/dark-secrets-cast-home-improvement/).

However, by the time all was said and done, the actors who portrayed the patriarchs of the Taylor family — Allen as Timothy "Tim" Taylor and Richardson as Jillian "Jill" Taylor — couldn't even be bribed with a combined $75 million to stay on for another season.

By the time Home Improvement season 8 was wrapping up production, ABC and the show's production team wanted to bring everyone back for another season. Pretty reasonable for a show that had never dropped out of the top 10 shows in America, to be sure. But by this time, Allen and Richardson had wanted nothing more than to move on. Richardson had just finished her first major film role a few years before, and Allen was riding the Disney train to Hollywood superstardom with his role as Buzz Lightyear in the Toy Story franchise. Not wanting to lose their cash cow, network executives threw boatloads of cash at the pair — $25 million for Richardson and $50 million for Allen. Both stars turned it down without a second thought.

When asked about the financial windfall that wasn't to be, Richardson said (https://youtu.be/9rDTv_zcuoA?t=2361), "Yeah I would've liked to have had the $25 million, you know, but I already made a lot of money from Home Improvement, I made enough to live well [for] the rest of my life without working, I knew I'd wanna work anyway. You know, do I need a Learjet? No, I really don't."

Both Allen and Richardson have gone on to have lengthy Hollywood careers, and while one can't help but wonder if the pair ever regrets turning down such a lucrative offer, they're surely doing just fine for themselves.

Read More: https://www.looper.com/163713/the-reason-why-home-improvement-was-cancelled-after-season-8/?utm_campaign=clip

Patricia Richardson said she turned down $25 million and refused to do another season of the show because she “was bored.” She told Tim Allen that the only way she would agree to do another season is if she was paid the exact amount they were offering him ($2 million per episode for one more season which amounted to $50 million vs. them offering her $1 million per episode which amounted to $25 million). She also said she wanted to be an executive producer like him etc. or she was out.

The rest of the cast (minus Earl Hindman) began to make demands for one more season also so Tim decided it was time to end it and the $50 million wasn’t worth it.

He also toyed with the idea of doing another season without the wife and making himself a divorced man but that wasn’t flying.

Come to think of it, if Tim Allen really wanted the show to go on, then couldn't he have split whatever he was being offered with Patricia so that they were being paid equally and let her become an executive producer as well? But he didn’t so he must not have wanted the show to go on as much as he claimed to.

To me, eight years is still a good run when plenty of shows never get to such an age.

God bless you always!!!

Holly

I just saw Patricia Richardson (https://www.closerweekly.com/posts/patricia-richardson-has-no-regrets-about-leaving-hollywood-for-family-exclusive/) on Entertainment Tonight (https://www.etonline.com/patricia-richardson-recalls-immediate-on-screen-chemistry-with-tim-allen-on-home-improvement-156685), and there is a part of me who wants to believe that she was kind of embarrassed over her association with the show (https://www.faithwire.com/2018/12/07/i-needed-to-quit-actress-patricia-richardson-explains-why-she-walked-away-from-hit-show-home-improvement/). It's as if she wanted to do more decidedly prestigious work (https://www.wonderwall.com/entertainment/tv/home-improvement-cast-where-are-they-now-32834.gallery?photoId=1054769) than playing the straight woman on what was essentially a blue collar sitcom.

Patricia even admitted in that interview that she didn't want to do Home Improvement at first. When it didn't work out with Frances Fisher (https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/home-improvement-patricia-richardson-wasnt-originally-cast-as-jill-taylor.html/), she was called in, without so much an audition. And she said point blank that she wasn't down with playing a wife and mom (https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/patricia-richardson-look-back-at-home-improvement-stars-career) on a sitcom. So take that for what it's worth.

The show needed to end

I stopped watching the show possibly in the middle of season 3 it was just becoming bland and tiresome and predictable.

I think it was for the best it ended after 8

Patricia Richardson's Relationship With Tim Allen Soured When She Decided To Leave Home Improvement (https://www.thethings.com/patricia-richardson-relationship-with-tim-allen-soured-on-home-improvement/)

Tim Allen wasn't ready to see Home Improvement end following Patricia Richardson's decision to exit the show.

^^^ I love Tim's idea of a reboot. I wonder what the boys would be up to now. I can see Mark being a film maker still like he was when the show ended. Randy could be a person who writes for the newspaper still, and I could see Brad as a mechanic since he was always helping Tim on his hot rods. :) :) :)

God bless you and the remaining cast members always!!!

Holly

P.S. Because of Earl Hindman being gone, would a new show include a character along the lines of the way that Wilson was?

I think Tim could've continued doing the show without Jill, the wife. The show could have focused on his show with minimal home life (Tim could have pretended to talk to the wife on the phone since they didn't want him divorced).

If Tim and Jill were a real life couple, I think Tim and Jill would have been separated if not divorced. They had a realistic marriage, but not a good marriage.