Home Improvement was appointment television back in the ‘90s, with Tim Allen’s grunts, Jonathan Taylor Thomas’ million-dollar smile and the neighbor Wilson who never showed his face. Over the years, the cast has often been asked about a reboot or spinoff, and while that’s not likely to happen, we apparently shouldn’t rule out reunions. Three members of the fictional Taylor family got together recently, and I definitely didn’t have this on my Bingo card.
Patricia Richardson, who played Tim Taylor’s wife Jill on Home Improvement’s eight seasons, posted a sweet selfie to Instagram showing her standing between two of her three TV sons — Taran Noah Smith and Jonathan Taylor Thomas. See these smiling faces for yourself:
Taran Noah Smith played Mark the youngest of the Taylor boys, and I very much approve of the long, curly hair he’s got going on. Jonathan Taylor Thomas, meanwhile, was Tim and Jill's middle child Randy. I absolutely love that they’ve stayed in touch with Patricia Richardson, especially since it’s been 27 years since Home Improvement ended. They look so comfortable and happy around each other.
I guess it shouldn’t be too surprising that they formed a real-life bond, since they played a family on TV for eight years during formative years of the young actors’ lives — although acting like mother and son doesn’t guarantee a lasting relationship. After all, Tim Allen has said he wasn’t “anywhere near a mentor” to the boys in Home Improvement’s early years.
I’m not sure what the occasion was that brought Patricia Richardson back together with Jonathan Taylor Thomas and Taran Noah Smith, but it probably wasn’t related to new Home Improvement projects. When Tim Allen spoke publicly about possibly rebooting the sitcom a few years ago, Richardson disputed the claims, saying no one had approached her or JTT about anything new.
The former TV husband and wife did, however, have a Home Improvement reunion on a different Tim Allen series. The Shifting Gears Season 2 premiere featured Patricia Richardson, Richard Karn (Al Borland) and Debbe Dunning (Heidi Keppert) as members of a grief support group.
As for Jonathan Taylor Thomas, he lives a very private life and has had only one acting job since 2005. It was a pretty significant one, though, as he appeared in four episodes of Tim Allen’s Last Man Standing from 2013 to 2015.
Meanwhile, Home Improvement was the final project in Taran Noah Smith’s career, as he quit acting after the 1999 series finale. The fact that these former actors are so rarely seen makes this reunion with their TV mom all the more special.
You may not get to see many new movies or TV shows from Jonathan Taylor Thomas and Taran Noah Smith, but you can still relive the good old days. Home Improvement is one of the best series to binge on Netflix, and all eight seasons can also be accessed through your Hulu subscription.
