Home Improvement: The Complete Second Season

Somehow one of the highest rated television series of the '90s, the second season of Tim Allen's ode to Midwestern manhood, Home Improvement gets the second season DVD treatment. Containing 25 episodes, the set features the life and times of Tim Taylor (Allen), a self-proclaimed TV "tool man," his wife Jill (the endearing Patricia Richardson) and their there children Brad, Randy and Mark (Zachery Ty Bryan, Jonathan Taylor Thoma, and Taran Noah Smith). There are also Tim's "assistant," Al (Richard Karn), his wisdom-filled neighbour, Wilson (Earl Hindman), and his original tool girl (Pamela Anderson, in her last season on the series). The result is a conventional sitcom that is certainly above average (during this season at least) but isn't much more than that. There's not much of a recurring plot through out the season, just typical sitcom formations in which a problem arises (often domestic and often relating to some sort of masculine identity crisis) and is solved in 22 minutes with a few laughs along the way. Allen is a fairly gifted comic and thankfully Richardson is a decent actress and portrays Jill with enough feminine strength to even out some of Allen's rather sexist antics. There is really not much in the way of extras, besides a montage of the season's most hilarious moments, which is rather disappointing. But as there are obviously a few Home Improvement fans out there (it ranked number one in the United States for this particular season), this set should probably work out fine. However, for anyone who had any judgement during the 1990s, the fourth season of Seinfeld just came out. (Buena Vista)