The first season of Home Improvement drew heavily upon the standup comedy routines of series co-creator Tim Allen, herein cast as Tim Taylor, star of the Detroit cable-TV series Tool Time -- sort of a low-rent version of Bob Vilas do-it-yourself opus This Old House (Vila in fact guest-starred on the episode titled What About Bob). Allens humor relied upon barbed but affectionate digs at his wife and kids, and his ever-increasing ineptitude in dealing with the follies and foibles of everyday life. In Home Improvement, Tim Taylor was affirmatively master of his domain on Tool Time -- even though he relied a bit too extensively on his all-purpose solution to any mechanical problem, More Power! More Power! -- but at home he was all thumbs with the household appliances, and a stumbler-bumbler supreme when dealing with his wife, Jill (Patricia Richardson), and three sons, Brad (Zachery Ty Bryan), Randy (Jonathan Taylor Thomas), and Mark (Taran Noah Smith). As for Jill, she spent much of season one fighting a losing battle to imbue her oafish husband with sensitivity and culture (specifically, trying to get him to accompany her to the opera), but loved him all the same. Jill also yearned to find a job of her own, finally landing a position on a high-profile magazine.

The Taylor youngsters were typically mischievous and sometimes irksome but basically good kids, though youngest son Mark (age 6) tended to be victimized by the prankery of ten-year-old Brad and nine-year-old Randy. During the first season, Brad began squiring a classmate named Jennifer Sudarsky (Jessica Wesson), resulting in a variety of amusing and all-too-human puppy love situations. Also in the cast was Earl Hindman as the Taylors philosophical, advice-dispensing neighbor Wilson, whose face was never clearly seen behind the backyard fence that separated the two neighbors houses. Showing up on a recurring basis was Tims long-suffering Tool Time assistant, Al Borland (Richard Karn), and the shows pulchritudinous tool girl Lisa (Pamela Anderson). Likewise making sporadic Tool Time appearances were Rock (Casey Sander), Peter (Mickey Jones), and Dwayne (Gary McGurk), the guys from K&B Construction. Initially telecast on ABCs Tuesday evening schedule, Home Improvement ended its first season as the nations fifth highest-rated program. The series also earned an Emmy award for Achievement in Lighting Direction (the statuette went to director of photography Donald A. Morgan). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide